Category: The Melbourne Files

Flagstaff Hill has been there from the start of colonial Melbourne: cemetery, signal post, scientific observatory, and lunching spot.

Underneath Flinders Street Station was once a unique Melbourne institution: a private club for women run by Ada Gunn.

In March 1959, US evangelist Billy Graham came to Melbourne and set a record that still stands: the largest ever crowd at the MCG.

The lost blue lake of Melbourne was part of a wetland west of the city, swallowed up by Spencer Street station and surrounding development.

The Field Collection at Melbourne’s Botanic Gardens contains cacti from around the world, a passion project for a local plant enthusiast, and an adventurous German botanist.

One of history’s greatest unsolved crimes has a tantalising local connection: was Jack the Ripper in Melbourne?

During World War II in Australia, a shortage of military bases led to a creative solution: thousands of troops at the MCG.

Who is Melbourne named after? Viscount Melbourne: a two-time British Prime Minister and political centrist who was never far from scandal.

Melbourne’s first traffic lights were manually operated and confusing, the city then turned to a unique signal system: the Marshalite Clock.

In 1978, a former residential hotel was transformed into Melbourne’s hottest music venue: welcome to The Crystal Ballroom.