Melbourne is renowned for its arts and culture, these are a few of arty sights and sites that we love about Melbourne.
The Princess Theatre
Since 1854, this site has provided entertainment to the people of Melbourne when Astley’s Amphitheatre opened here, named in honour of Astley Royal Amphitheatre in London. The original structure was a large barn-like building enclosing the amphitheatre which featured a central equestrian ring and a stage for dramatic performances. One year later the amphitheatre was renovated and re-opened as the Princess Theatre and Opera House.
By 1885 the theatre had become quite rundown and was demolished to make way for a new theatre which was completed in 1886. Reopened on 18 December 1886 as the Princess Theatre, it featured state-of-the-art electric stage lightning and Australia’s first retractable roof to provide ventilation. The famous copper awning was added during a renovation in 1922.
The ensuing decades saw the theatre change ownership several times and by the 1980’s had fallen into disrepair. Marriner Group purchased the building in 1986 and refurbished the theatre to its former glory, reopening on 9 December 1989 with Les Misérables.
Those of us who are old enough to remember the theatre before Marriner Group took ownership, love the sight of the saved Princess Theatre, especially when it is brightly lit at night and swarming with theatre-goers. We also love the ghost who haunts the building, Frederick Federici, who died on stage here of the opening night of Faust in March 1888. To this day, a seat is always saved for him on opening night.
The Aboriginal Boy in Hosier Lane
Another art that Melbourne has become famous for is our street art and our favourite by far is the aboriginal boy high above our heads on Hosier Lane.
Hosier Lane and its ever-changing street art are one of the most photographed sights in Melbourne. During a regular year (loud sigh), tourists can be found here day and night, taking selfies and admiring the artwork. Those who crane their necks to look up high will spot the lanes most beautiful and permanent piece, being up so high that street artists can’t reach it.
The artwork was commissioned in 2013 to local street artist, Adnate, who has created many works around the city but none so large (23 metres high) or important as this one.
The boy depicted is from the northern suburbs of Melbourne and he is depicted facing South. From his vantage point he can see across Flinders Street to the significant meeting site of his peoples, Birrarung Marr. Birrarung is the indigenous name for the Yarra River and means ‘River of Mists’ while Marr translates to ‘river bank’.
Brighton Bathing Boxes
Victorians have been travelling to Brighton to enjoy sea-bathing since the train line from Flinders Street to Brighton was built and opened in 1861. There have been bathing boxes dotted along much of Port Philip Bay since settlement, but the peak of their fashion, and therefore construction, was around 1910. In 1934, the City of Brighton collected all the scattered bathing boxes in their district and relocated them to the Dendy Street Beach, where they still reside.
Not a single box is connected to electricity, running water or sewers however they are some of the most expensive per square metre of real estate in Melbourne. The last bathing box to change hands here was in November 2019 for $340,000. The occupiers are leaseholders known as Licensees and the purchase of a box does not include the land it sits on. To purchase a bathing box at Brighton, the buyer must already be a resident in the local council boundaries of Bayside City Council.
Although there are beach huts on many European beaches, particularly in England, France and Italy the huts on each beach usually differ in size and building materials used. The boxes here at Brighton have a uniform size and scale and have been placed like a sentry along the beach edge. The boxes here are all timber framed, weatherboard structures with corrugated iron roofs. The only differences between them are the artworks plus the occasional minor structural alteration
The Brighton Bathing Boxes gained Heritage protection in 2000. While we locals have been admiring them for decades, they became part of the Bayside Tourism Strategy in 2001. As such, they now appear in many tourist guidebooks and provide a stopping point for the many ‘Penguin tours’ heading to Philip Island.
Cow Up a Tree
Cow Up a Tree is a 4-tonne, painted bronze sculpture by Melbourne artist John Kelly. Although quite comical, the sight is not unheard of in real life. The dairy farming area of Victoria’s Gippsland region is prone to flooding and the sight of a cow entangled in a tree as floodwaters subside is not uncommon
The sculpture first appeared in 1999 on the Champs Elysee in Paris, France before moving to The Hague in the Netherlands. It has also spent some time in County Cork, Ireland and a brief stint at England’s Glastonbury Festival. The artwork was purchased by the City of Melbourne specifically to place in the then-new Docklands precinct and has been delighting and amusing locals and tourists alike since 2001.
There has been some controversary in recent years over the location of the sculpture since a café serving the ferry customers was built in front of it. As part of new works to upgrade the area, the plan is for the sculpture to be moved to the other side of Central Pier making Cow Up A Tree once more a prominent feature of Harbour Esplanade.
Arts Centre Melbourne
We’ve talked about it in our Iconic Sights and Sites blog post, but our beloved Arts Centre deserves a place here too.
Arts Centre Melbourne is Australia’s largest AND busiest performing arts centre. A typical year sees over 3 million visitors through the doors to visit the encompassed Theatres building and neighbouring Hamer Hall.
The first to open was the Melbourne Concert Hall in 1982, which was renamed Hamer Hall in 2004 in honour of Sir Rupert Hamer whose passion ensured Melbourne could boast a major cultural facility to compete on the international stage. The Theatres building opened in 1984 beneath the now-famous spire. Arts Centre Melbourne is also responsible for the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Kings Domain, which opened in 1959.
