FARMERS DOWN UNDER 2006

Collins Street Sep 9, 2006

Collins Street is at the heart of Melbourne's history. It was the centre of Melbourne's golden years in the late 19th century. Today it is known as the Golden Mile, the home of bankers, stockbrokers, and high-end boutiques such as Hermes, Gucci, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Waterford-Wedgewood. Collins Street showcases historical and modern architecture, including gothic and Romanesque cathedrals and glittering skyscrapers. It includes the Rialto tower with the observation deck we were looking for a few days ago, and also the Old Treasury Museum. On Saturday mornings, dressed in their most elegant outfits, ladies and gentlemen of the colony would promenade along the most fashionable parts of Melbourne. In the 1880s, the place to be on Saturday morning was Collins Street and that's where we spent our day this Saturday. We spent the afternoon window-shopping and gazing at the facades of old buildings. About half of the shops are only open Monday to Friday. We got the usual snobby attitude from a store clerk in Hermes when we wandered in for a look at the silk scarves with our kids in tow. (How do these shops find such snobby people to be their clerks?) At Rialto tower, we loved the panoramic view from way up on the 55th floor. It's amazing, the things you find on other rooftops: tennis courts, yards with lawns and trees, kids' playgrounds. For the most part, the observation deck was glassed in. However there were two balconies on either side of the deck where we were able to go outside to have a look and take pictures. Then we were "treated" to an extended film-version Melbourne commercial complete with a lame jingle. The best surprise of the day came when we stopped in at the Old Treasury. We thought it was just a handsome historic building, then we noticed it was a museum. Curious, we wandered inside. There was an admission charge, but the fellow behind the desk let us in for free since there was only half an hour left before closing. The purpose of the Old Treasury building, built between 1858-62, was to store the colony's gold. It was designed by a 19-year-old architect named J.J. Clark, who also designed other prominent buildings in the country. The building contained the offices of the Governor of Victoria and other public officials. The vaults of gold were located in one half of the basement. The neat thing about the building was that a family with 8 children lived inside it from 1916 to 1928. The dad was the superintendent of the building, and the mom served tea and freshly-made cake to the dignitaries upstairs. Today, the Old Treasury contains informative multimedia exhibits and we jammed everything we could during our 30-minute opportunity. Through the mid to late 1800s the population exploded so rapidly that the infrastructure could barely keep up the pace. In fact, the city was at one time nicknamed "Smellbourne" because of inadequate sewage systems, especially in the boom decade of the 1880s. In 1893, the banks crashed, which slowed things down a bit.

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