I don't remember what Fed Square looked like before it was Fed Square, so I was hoping the community here might be able to paint me a picture... would love to see some OLD photos of the site!

ps. for those interested, there's a bit of history here (http://www.federationsquare.com.au/index.cfm?pageID=26).

wasnt just railway and Gas and fuel bldgs?

http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an20826235-1-v

demo 1998
http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an20826235-6-v

foundations for fed sq-1998
http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an20826235-9-v

http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an20826235-8-v

Here you go, 2 before Gas & Fuel towers and the 3rd one showing the towers under construction.

http://www.thecollectormm.com.au/private/AerialSouth1.jpg

http://www.thecollectormm.com.au/gallery/postcards/1920s-1980s/slides/Bird'sEye12.jpg

http://www.thecollectormm.com.au/gallery/postcards/1920s-1980s/slides/Bird'sEye13.jpg

awesome, thanks guys :)

love looking at photo's of Melbourne back-in-the-day, just makes you appreciate how much our city has changed for the better.

love looking at photo's of Melbourne back-in-the-day, just makes you appreciate how much our city has changed for the better.


Not always. I don't have the photos on hand, but who could possibly say that Endeavour House was an improvement on the former coffee palace/hotel on the same site? Or that a car park was an improvement on the former fish market in Flinders St?

^^^
The three tallest buildings in those photos are all gone. Pretty strange eh

Yep. Fed sq is such an improvement on what was there when you look at those photos. It came at a price though.

in The collector's first two photos above, you can see the Princes Bridge station I remember from before the Gas & Fuel buildings & the 60's version .... the one below preceded even that. The squat building in the background preceded the Flinders St. dome.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v294/ooompaloompa123/Melbourne/Flinders%20St/prbridge2.jpg

the one below preceded even that.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v294/ooompaloompa123/Melbourne/Flinders%20St/prbridge2.jpg
That photograph is a reasonably famous one dated 1885. Here's (http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/images/12800/12800-00001-000008-020.asp) another copy of it.

Here's a photograph from Mark Bau's Victorian Railways site showing the same area in the 1950s: Click Me (http://www.victorianrailways.net/photogallery/suburb/gal04/pbupp.html). It's a shame that none of this survived. What is left is also kept in continuous darkness.

That photograph is a reasonably famous one dated 1885. Here's (http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/images/12800/12800-00001-000008-020.asp) another copy of it.

Here's a photograph from Mark Bau's Victorian Railways site showing the same area in the 1950sHere are the pics, so that forumers don't have to click on the link that you provided above:

http://www.victorianrailways.net/photogallery/suburb/gal04/pbupper.jpg

http://www.victorianrailways.net/photogallery/suburb/gal04/pbuppenl.jpg

One controversey I remember some years back, They were building a railways control ? building on Batman Ave. Not far from where the BMW theatre is now, its steel frame was rising each day till the newspapers and radio started complaining how tall it was growing....construction halted for sometime then the top few floors were dismanted and the base extended for a lower rise building. I also remember the old Beaurepaire swimming pool further down Batman Ave. It was modernised and roofed over but made news with bad leaks through cracks in the pool. I sometimes sat in the elevated plaza where the shards are now and thought this should be extended to make a better City Square than the one on Swanston Street. I remember my Grandmother taking me into the city to Tim the Toyman where the driveway entrance for the Westin Hotel is now. I have Newspaper cuttings in scap books on every step of the Square saga from about 1965 onward....the later cuttings evolve into the Federation Square story. I snuck into the Town Hall for the competition announcement when Denton Corker Marshall won. I was there on opening day, there when Whitlam had his rally, there for the '96 Olympics city announcement :-( and this year took my Grandson to Federation Square for the entertainment and fire works.....Whether you like the look of it or not..it works!

PS...I have so many photos I've taken, picture books, magazines, post cards and 2 large suitcases full of Newspaper cuttings on all of Melbourne development.. mainly since the 1950's..but some of the books go back to the late 1800's.....some fantastic photograghs from every angle......one day I'll learn how to post pics. Before the days of high security I've climbed up,on or in many projects to take photos.....ofen reprimanded and escorted off but still have great pics..heehee