Category: The Melbourne Files

The Flinders Street Station Ballroom was built to provide leisure activities to railway workers. It is now used as an exhibition space.

Holt’s Matrimonial Agency provided a matchmaker service to turn-of-the-century Melbourne. It was also the place, for a quickie wedding.

The Yarra Waterfall used to stretch across the river where Queen Street is today. It was demolished in 1883.

The Melbourne Landmark Competition was launched in 1978 to find a southern equivalent to the Sydney Opera House. It was (mostly) not successful.

In 1962 the Southern Cross Hotel opened on Exhibition Street, and the international jet set came to Melbourne.

In 1966 the heir to the British throne came to Australia for two terms of high school. This is Prince Charles at Geelong Grammar.

In 1976 Willi Koeppen, a Melbourne celebrity chef and owner of ‘The Cuckoo’, disappears without a trace. The case has never been solved.

Salvatore, the Yarra Seal, is currently frolicking around the river in Richmond and Abbotsford. He has been visiting, on and off, for 7 years.

In 2003, a world famous musician played a secret gig at a small Melbourne night club. This is Prince at Bennetts Lane.