A week in Melbourne, Australia- 5/4- 5/10/2024

Day 4-Walking in Melbourne-5/7/2024

After a relaxing lunch at Gilson, we are headed into downtown Melbourne (the CBD) and stopped by a few places that during our City guided tour we saw very briefly.

We are on Swanston Street right in Melbourne's CBD and the RMIT University precinct is a lively stretch,  with a mix of striking modern campus buildings and heritage-listed red brick facades.

We are now passing through the Campus and headed north.

Next to the Campus is the Old Melbourne Gaol (jail), one of the city’s most historic landmarks. Built in the mid-1800s, it once housed notorious criminals, including the infamous bushranger Ned Kelly, who was executed there in 1880.

 The Old Melbourne Gaol is a grey two-story bluestone building located along Russell Street.  Built from bluestone, a volcanic rock commonly used in 19th-century Melbourne, which gives it that grey, heavy appearance. The architecture is stark and austere with thick walls, small barred windows, and minimal decoration, very much in line with its purpose as a colonial prison.

Construction began in the 1840s, and the gaol operated until 1929. At its peak, it included multiple wings, exercise yards, and watchtowers. Today, only a portion of the complex remains.  The main building serves as a museum, with exhibitions on crime, punishment, and some of the most infamous prisoners, including bushrangers, murderers, and petty criminals.

We wanted to get inside but the next tour does not start until 4:00pm, so we decided to skip it since we did not to wait more a few hours more to get in.

The 888 Monument, near the Old Melbourne Gaol and RMIT, commemorates the Eight Hour Day Movement, one of the most important labor rights campaigns in the world. It stands for the workers’ demand in the mid-1800s: “8 hours work, 8 hours recreation, 8 hours rest.” These are often placed there during commemorations, especially around Labor Day with unions workers, and community groups often hold ceremonies and lay flowers or wreaths at the base of the monument.

Then we walked by the Victorian Trades Hall, one of Melbourne’s most important heritage buildings, both architecturally and historically. It is  a grand, cream-colored building with a classical façade, columns, and intricate detailing that gives it a civic, almost parliament-like presence.

Construction began in the 1850s, right after the stonemasons’ victory in the Eight Hour Day Movement. Over the years, sections were added, making it one of the oldest continuously used trade union buildings in the world. It served as the headquarters for Victoria’s trade unions, hosting meetings, rallies, and campaigns for workers’ rights. Many major social justice and labor reforms in Australia have roots here.

At the corner is the heritage-listed landmark that sits proudly on the corner of Lygon Street and Victoria/Queensberry Street, and is one of the oldest union buildings still in use anywhere in the world. The ornate cream-colored façade, with its tall windows, columns, and balustrades, reflects the Renaissance Revival style popular in Melbourne during the mid to late 19th century. The ground floor has been adapted over time for modern use with cafés, bars, and small eateries bring daily activity to what was once purely a union stronghold.

From Trades Hall it’s just a short stroll through the Carlton Gardens to reach the Royal Exhibition Building. As we are headed in the Carlton Gardens, there are tree-lined avenues, lawns, and ornamental flowerbeds, with sweeping paths that frame the grand approach to the building.

We are now on the path leading to the grand Hochgurtel Fountain, which installed in 1880 for the Melbourne International Exhibition, it was designed by Josef Hochgurtel, a German-born sculptor.

The fountain sits at the heart of the Carlton Gardens, and the pathways from all directions seem to converge around it, making it a centerpiece before the grandeur of the Exhibition Building.

The fountain is cast in Portland cement and decorated with classical figures, mythological creatures, and symbols of industry and science, a celebration of human progress and naturel

The fountain is a spot where the calm of the gardens blends with the sense of history, the same place international visitors gathered more than 140 years ago during Melbourne’s great world exhibitions.

The Royal Exhibition Building is a UNESCO World Heritage-listed building, built in 1879–1880 as part of the international exhibition movement, which presented over 50 exhibitions between 1851 and 1915 around the globe. The building sits on approximately on 64 acres, is 490 ft. long and is representative of the financial wealth and pride that the city of Melbourne and state of Victoria had in the 1870s. Throughout the 20th century smaller sections and wings of the building were subject to demolition and fire; however, the main building, known as the Great Hall, survived.

The Royal Exhibition Building rises dramatically at the center with its huge dome, modeled after Florence’s cathedral dome, dominates the skyline.

The gardens also feature the circular French Fountain, formal flowerbeds, ornamental lakes, and tree-lined avenues with mature European trees that reflect the changing seasons.

At the entrance of the Melbourne Museum there are five huge elongated panels that are part of the Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre, which is integrated into the museum.

The Melbourne Museum is a natural and cultural history museum located in the Carlton Gardens, adjacent to the Royal Exhibition Building, the museum was opened in 2000 as a project of the Government of Victoria, on behalf of Museums Victoria which administers the venue.

On the lawn there are fragments of stone and foundations that are actually archaeological remains and reconstructions that highlight Melbourne’s layered history. Some of them are reminders of the early 19th-century exhibition grounds and structures that once surrounded the Royal Exhibition Building.

These are architectural fragments, old columns, carved capitals, pediments, and headstones were salvaged from demolished 19th-century buildings around Melbourne.

By displaying them outdoors, the Museum creates a kind of open-air lapidarium (a collection of stone relics), so visitors can walk among fragments of the past while surrounded by the living city.

The Melbourne Museum is a post-modernist building designed by Denton Corker Marshall architects and the long blade-shaped form you’re seeing is one of the most striking features in the outdoor displays near the Melbourne Museum and Royal Exhibition Building. It is called “Blade Wall” (sometimes simply called the Blade).

It’s a massive, elongated, upright wall that slices through the forecourt like a giant blade.  The Blade Wall acts as a kind of threshold or marker,  leading visitors from the Carlton Gardens into the museum precinct. It’s not just decorative; it’s meant to guide the flow of people while also creating a dramatic backdrop to the historic Royal Exhibition Building.

 Its stark, minimalist lines were deliberately designed to contrast with the ornate dome and classical façade of the Royal Exhibition Building right behind it.  The Blade is part of their signature style, bold, geometric forms that define space and act almost like sculptural landmarks.

We are now in the Carlton gardens with a big Moreton Bay fig (Ficus macrophylla), one of the giants of the Carlton Gardens.  Native to the subtropical rainforests of Queensland and New South Wales, it was a popular choice in 19th-century Melbourne when planners wanted to add grandeur to public gardens.

The Moreton Bay fig can reach 115 ft. tall, with massive spreading crowns that create huge areas of shade. Their presence is unmistakable,  a single tree can dominate an entire section of the garden. One of the most striking features is the buttress roots with those tall, flaring roots that spread outward from the trunk, looking almost like walls of timber. They help anchor the giant tree in shallow soils and are as sculptural as they are functional.

Afterward we walked to Flinders Lane which is Melbourne's most atmospheric streets, full of history and character.  In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Flinders Lane was the center of Melbourne’s textile and fashion trade, lined with warehouses, showrooms, and small factories. It earned the nickname “The Lane” and was once the go-to place for clothing manufacturing.

 Today, many of those old warehouses have been transformed into art galleries, boutique shops, restaurants, and cafés, giving the street a creative, bohemian vibe.

We are on Degraves Street, one of Melbourne’s most famous laneways, buzzing with life, art, and café culture.  The black-and-white cat’s head is part of the rotating street art scene in the laneways around Degraves and Centre Place. These walls are like an open-air gallery, constantly being repainted with new murals, from political messages to surreal art and playful designs like the cat.

We are now on Hosier lane which is probably Melbourne’s most famous street art laneway, just across from Federation Square.

Unlike Degraves, which mixes cafés and murals, Hosier is almost entirely devoted to graffiti and murals, with every brick, window frame, and even garbage bin covered in layers of paint.

The works change constantly, sometimes overnight, so the lane never looks the same twice.

There is everything from large, detailed portraits to abstract splashes of color, political statements, cartoon figures, and stenciled designs. It feels raw, energetic, and a little chaotic, which is part of its charm.

Even the garbage bins in Hosier Lane become part of the art. Instead of plain green or black surfaces, they’re covered in tags, stickers, and layers of spray paint,  often blending so well with the walls that they almost disappear into the scene.

Each bin feels like a moving canvas, wheeled in and out daily, carrying the same raw and rebellious spirit of the lane’s murals.

Walking on Hosier lane is like discovering amazing murals and eye-catching graffiti!

This wall is dedicated to hearts and love.

All of mural art are very colorful.

Every square inches is taken over by Street art and graffiti.

Walking through, people are surrounded by bright colors and textures, with tourists snapping photos.

On the right, the artist wrote: "Kill all Rapists" and a picture of a naked woman on her knees, bending down and holding the neck.

Vibrant murals and graffiti are truly amazing to see.

We are now toward the end of Hosier lane.

 This place is a dazzling kaleidoscope of colors, making every corner more exciting than the last. We both really enjoyed walking on Hosier lane.

Dinner at Heng restaurant

Tonight we are dining at Heng Thai local food located on Bourke street, just steps away from our hotel.  The ambiance is cozy and inviting and perfect for a casual dinner.

The restaurant is very popular and there is always a long line.  We came later in the evening and was able to get a table very rapidly.  Heng is known for their BBQ and hot pot.

Crispy BBQ pork with crispy skin and served with sticky rice.

Thai spicy hot pot was delicious!

Tender grilled beef

Grilled Thai chicken wings and legs.

The food here is so tasty.

Papaya Salad.

All the food we ordered was so flavorful and we really enjoyed all the dishes.

Ending the meal with a coconut ice cream.  Overall, we had a really dinner here.  The food was very good, friendly service, and the ambiance was also very nice.

NEXT... Phillip Island tour/Moonlit Sanctuary