Arcades and laneways - and a bit more of Melbourne

Wandering through Melbourne’s historic arcades and art-filled laneways might be the ultimate way to see Melbourne on foot.

Driver Lane

Rankins Lane, where balconies overflow with greenery

Hardware Lane - with lots of outdoor dining

Royal Arcade, Australia’s oldest shopping arcade dates to 1870.

Gaunt’s Clock, guarded by two medieval warriors.  These two 7-feet giants have been striking the time since 1892.  They are modeled on the figures erected in Guildhall, London in 1708 to symbolize the conflict between the ancient Britons and the Trojan invaders.  Mythology tells of the giants Gog and Magog (also known as Corineus and Gogmagog) having been captured in battle by the Trojans and made to serve as porters at the gateway of an ancient palace on a site later occupied by the Guildhall.

This 1893 glass canopy marks one of a few entrances into the Block Arcade.

The Block Arcade was built between 1891 and 1893 and is considered one of the late Victorian era’s finest shopping arcades and ranks among Melbourne’s most popular tourist attractions.  It is one of Melbourne’s most richly decorated interior spaces, replete with mosaic tiled flooring, glass canopy supported in cast and wrought iron and tall, elaborate timber shop fronts.  The arcade takes its name from the practice of “doing the block”: dressing fashionably and promenading around this section of Melbourne. 

Some architecture on Elizabeth Street in downtown Melbourne.  The red building on the right was built in 1905 and is called the Paton Building,

Built in 1928 is this Spanish Moorish Majorca Building.

Centre Place - originally called Cummings Alley, the street wound around warehouses in the 1890s and the western portion was lined with urinals.  Centre Place became one of the ‘first generation of revitalized laneways’ in the 1980s.

Named after an 1851 steam-powered flour mill, today Delgraves Street is a hotspot for street art and alfresco brunch.  Delgraves Street was one of the first Melbourne laneways.

Across the street from Flinders Street Station is Federation Square.  Abstract buildings flank this block-size plaza, filled with restaurants, museums and arts venues.

I went to two very different aboriginal art exhibits at Federation Square.  The first one, in the Koorie Heritage Trust was by artist Josh Muir (1992-2002).  The exhibit was called “Forever I Live” and was curated together with Josh’s mother and partner.  The artworks in this exhibition reflect Josh’s staunch love of family and community, and draw on a range of themes including cultural identity, the impacts and legacies of colonization, metal health, addiction, personal loss and grief.

Untitled (Sunrise Joy); Untitled (Sunset! Peace) c. 2010

The second exhibit was in The Ian Potter Centre and is the world’s first major gallery dedicated exclusively to Australian art, including many works by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities.  For First Nations peoples around the world, art and design are part of a continuum where the past intersects with the present, different materials converge, and diverse perspectives come together.  The central role of art in passing down important cultural knowledge is celebrated in this display.

“Federation series: 1901-2001” by Julie Dowling, is a series of history paintings produced in response to the centenary of Federation.  The work registers Dowling’s dismay that the Australian constitution did not include First Nations people when the country was declared a nation.  The narrative cycle of ten canvases, each symbolizing a particular decade, present a profound and multidimensional First People’s history of the twentieth century.

“Horizonless encyclopedias”.  Artists create horizonless maps of Country as a way of expressing their profound connection with the spiritual power of place.

Back down to the Yarra River again and you can see lots of different organizations, many of them schools, getting ready for rowing practice.

Even more Melbourne

Some more exploring around Melbourne - to start, back around Ringwood where my friends live, this time following the same trail but in a different direction, over to Ringwood Lake and surrounding park. Ringwood Lake Park is a 8.5 hectare park with a little, man-made lake that has just over a kilometre of walking trail around it.

Some very noisy cockatoos kept me company while I was walking.

Unlike at home, as you can see there’s nothing other than a sign to alert walkers to the train tracks - no barricade or anything.  You can, quite literally, walk out onto and along the tracks if you’d like.  And yes, this is a very active commuter train line.

Back into Melbourne again, and this time I wanted to explore a part of the city that was only just beginning to be developed the last time I was there - an area known as Docklands.

Before the foundation of Melbourne, what is now Docklands was a large wetlands area of the Yarra estuary consisting of a large salt water lagoon and a giant swamp.  During the early to mid 20th century the area gradually turned from the west Melbourne swamp to slum and then to a shipping port, which at the time became Melbourne’s busiest.  However, by the 1960s the docks in this area became inadequate for the new container ships, effectively rendering redundant a vast amount of vacant inner-city land to the immediate west of Melbourne’s CBD.

When I made my first trip to Melbourne, in the 1990s, Docklands was notable for its underground rave dance scene.  In 2000, urban renewal began in earnest with the apartment boom, and as it became a sought-after addresses several independent and privately owned businesses as well as national corporations moved their headquarters here.  Although now a location with some very contemporary architecture the area has also been highly criticized for its lack of transport and ‘wind tunnel’ effect, lack of green spaces and community facilities…and is currently being labelled as a ghost town due to rapidly declining activity, especially now, post-COVID.  Although I certainly enjoyed walking around here for the day it was definitely not a busy place, especially given that it has a lovely, waterfront esplanade.

The low-rise brown building on the right is a public library.  Nice place to sit, relax and read!

One really neat thing about Docklands was the public art!!  I’ve heard there’s about 70 pieces in the area of which I only saw a smattering today - and here’s a few.

“Shadow Trees” by Sally Smart

“Toy Rabbit” by Emily Floyd

“Continuum” by Michael Snape

“Aurora” by Geoffrey Bartlett

“Whitecaps” by Ari Purhonen 

My absolute favourite, “Cow up a tree” by John Kelly

“Silence” by Adrian Mauriks 

Native black swans can still be seen calling Docklands home.

Loved these buildings!!

“Monument Park” by Callum Morton

The Melbourne Star is a 120 metre tall ferris wheel in Docklands.  It opened in 2008 but closed 40 days later due to structural defects and unfortunately repeated delays in reconstruction meant that it did not reopen again until December 2013.  Due to COVID the wheel closed again, this time permanently, in 2021 and now it remains in situ, but still non-operational.

Established in the 1850s during the Victorian gold rush, Chinatown in Melbourne is notable for being the longest continuous ethnic Chinese settlement in the Western World and the oldest Chinatown in the Southern Hemisphere.

Cohen Place

The Sum Kum Lee building, built in 1887

The first Melbourne Post Office was erected on this site in 1841.  The present building was erected 1859-1867.