Visiting a grand old Dame on a bright Melbourne afternoon
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| Viewed from the North side. |
Until the early 1950s Melbourne was a low-rise city. The dome of the Exhibition Buildings was the tallest structure in the Melbourne area. As a child I can remember the egg-shape dome on the horizon in the direction of the Central Business District. It was visible from the Cooper Hill, Bundoora, in the North and from Doncaster Hill in the East. The Exhibition Building seems to have always been a part of Melbourne, but it was not until a recent tour of the building that I became aware of the integral role this building has played in the historic events of Melbourne. I knew, as did all Australian school children of my era, that the first Australian Federal Parliament was held in this building in 1901. But the story goes back further than that.
A large piece of land, to the north of the city, was reserved for the Carlton Gardens in 1839. Paths and garden beds were designed by Edward La Trobe Bateman on this elevated area in the 1850s. Later, the designer of the Exhibition Building, Joseph Reed, also contributed to the design of the gardens. A well known Melbourne horticulturist, William Sangster was employed to lay out the gardens with perennial shrubs, hedges and trees in 1879-1880, but it took several years for the trees to grow enough to give the crowds shade.
Like the Sydney Opera House, a century later, the Exhibition Building’s design was the result of a competition. Eighteen entries were submitted in 1877 and the winner was Joseph Reed of the architectural firm of Reed & Barnes. Reed won first place recieving 300 pounds for his Rundbogenstil (round arch style) design. The Victorian Governor, Sir George Bowen, laid the Exhibition Building’s foundation stone in February 19, 1879. David Mitchell, a prominent Melbourne builder, won the tender to construct the main building. Exhibitors were able to occupy the space by May 1880.
1880-1881
On October 1, 1880, over 6000 people visited the main hall of the Exhibition Building to see the Governor, the Marquess of Normanby, open the Melbourne International Exhibition. Thirty-three nations participated with displays. Over 32,000 exhibits were displayed from every corner of the world. Displays included Great Britain, France, Germany, India, Japan, China, the United States of America and all Australian colonies. By April 30, 1881, over 1.3 million people had visited the Exhibition. Victoria’s population at the time was only 250,000.
New trading relationships were the reason for Melbourne’s 1880 International Exhibition. Manufacturers competed for prizes, as the medals and certificates awarded by the exhibition’s organisers. This attention generated business for the participants.
Visitors came from around the world. The size and scale encouraged repeat visits. A program of daily events (in a daily free newspaper, printed on site) added to the attractions, including piano recitals, demonstrations, refreshments and temporary shows. Promenading the main avenues was an essential element to visiting the exhibition. For young women of ‘good family’, the exhibition was the first large event in Melbourne that they could attend unchaperoned.
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Josef Hochgurtel, a immigrant from Cologne, and his colleague August Saupe, won a competition to design the fountain at the southern entrance of the Exhibition Building. The fountain has rich iconography, featuring young boys (innocence and the purity of youth), industry, commerce, science and art; and representations of Victorian flora and fauna.
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| The "French Fountain" was originally inside the building for the 1880 exhibition, but was later moved to outside the Eastern entrance. |
On October 1, 1881, building’s management and eight hectares of Carlton Gardens was transferred to the Exhibition Trustees by the Melbourne International Exhibition Commissioners. The Trustees’ responsibility was to maintain the building for ‘future public exhibitions and … general public instruction and recreation.’
The Trustees completed this role in 1996, when management of the building was transferred to Museum Victoria. The philosophy of the Trustees in 1881 continues to inform operations at the Exhibition Buildings.
Visitors to the Exhibition Buildings used to be able to ascend to the dome promenade where they had a ‘fine view’ of the city. Prior to the installation of a lift, in 1888, visitors had to climb 80 steep steps to reach the viewing platform. This area is not accessible to the public today.
In 1885 an aquarium, picture gallery and museum opened in the eastern annexe. Aquatic creatures, natural history specimens, antiquities, fine arts, a suit of armour worn by a member of the Kelly gang, a cyclorama, a children’s theatre and a planetarium were displayed here. This complex was destroyed by fire in 1953.
1888-1889
The Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition, 1888-1889 opened on August 1, commemorating 100 years of white settlement in Australia. The opening was accompanied by great fanfare and publicity but when closed on January 31, 1889, the exhibition was deemed a financial failure. It had cost Victoria 238,000 pounds.
Two million visitors (double the population of Victoria at the time) had travelled to the exhibition with displays from nearly 40 nations. Many visitors rode the newly installed cable tram along Nicholson Street. With the instalment of electric lighting, the exhibition was the first in the world to offer night-time viewing.
In 1888 the temporary annexes and permanent buildings covered 31 acres.
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| The western nave was transformed into a concert hall. A false ceiling and partitions were installed, along the galleries, to improve acoustics. An organ was built and installed by George Fincham of Bridge Road Richmond. Its bellows were in the basement of the building, but the organ never performed well and it was removed by Fincham & Sons in 1965. The last concert performed on the organ took place in 1922. Above Left: The organ in its heyday. Above Right: The organ being dismantled. |
Music was one of the main attractions of the Centennial International Exhibition. The conductor, Frederick Cowen of the London Royal Philharmonic Society, was employed to oversee the musical festival. Frederick Sargood, Vice-President of the Exhibition Commission, covered all expenses, including Cowen’s hefty fee of 5000 pounds.
The orchestra included 73 professional players and a choir of 700 voices. In the 6 months of the exhibition, the Centennial Orchestra gave 263 concerts. Cowen returned to England at the end of the exhibition, but his orchestra continued until 1891.
Politician and temperance advocate, James Munro, tried to ban the display and sale of alcohol at the exhibition. He was unsuccessful.
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| The cellars in the basement underneath the great hall were divided into bars, where visitors to the exhibition could sample colonial and foreign wines. A German ‘lagerbier kiosk’ situated on the South Terrace of the Exhibition Building 1888-1889, served beer to thirsty patrons. |
Federation 1901
Twelve thousand guests filled the Exhibition Building on May 9, 1901, for the opening of the first Federal Parliament of Australia by the Duke of Cornwall and York (later to become King George V).
The Royal party was seated on a raised dais under the southern transept. The new Commonwealth parliamentarians were seated under the dome. State politicians were seated behind them in the northern transept. Other dignitaries occupied the seats in the east and west naves, while the galleries were filled with members of the press and invited guests.
The opening of Australia’s first Federal Parliament was a great occasion for Melbourne society. There were ten days of festivities to mark the occasion and honour the royal visitors.
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| Charles Nuttall’s depiction of the opening of the first federal Parliament was commissioned be the Historical Picture Association, a syndicate of private gentlemen. There are 344 identifiable heads in the painting, which measures 3.6 x 2.4 metres. Painted in a studio within the Exhibition Building, it was unveiled by the Governor General on June 19, 1902. The artist Tom Roberts also painted this occasion but the Nuttall painting is more historically correct, although the artists manages to paint his own portrait within the crowd. Reproductions of the painting were produced by Goupil et cie in France. In the early 20th century, copies were hung in schools, municipal buildings and Australian homes. Many Australians will remember this painting from their school days. |
In 1901, there was no Federal capital and no Federal parliament building. Plans to retro-fit the Exhibition Building were drawn up, but it was decided that the Federal parliamentarians would occupy the Victoria State Government building on Spring Street, while State Parliamentarians moved into the western annexe of the Exhibition Building. During its 26-year tenure much important legislation was passed, including the Vote for Women in 1908.
Dame Nellie Melba performed at the Exhibition Building in December 1907.
The exhibition hospital
On February 4, 1919, the Exhibition Building was converted to a hospital to treat Melburnians struck down by the Spanish flu.
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| Initially with 500 beds, the hospital grew to accommodate 2000 patients. Females were housed between the concert platform in the western nave and the dome, while male patients occupied the spaces beyond. The morgue was in the basement. |
The hospital was said to be ‘draughty and cheerless’, so nurses called for donations of plants and flowers, and electric lights were slung from wires above each bed.
A team of professional nursing staff and volunteers cared for the patients. Many of the staff also fell ill, causing shortages. At one stage the Catholic Church offered the services of the Sisters of Charity and the Sisters of Mercy, but a sectarian argument caused the offer to be rejected.
The exhibition hospital closed on mid-August 1919. In the six months 4046 patients had been treated, with only 391 deaths.
After the hospital
In 1921, 80,000 visitors came to the eastern annex to see an exhibition of photographs on display in the new Australian War Memorial Museum.
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| On ANZAC Day 1922, a permanent display of military relics and dioramas of battle scenes opened in the Australian War Memorial Museum. Over 800,000 people visited this display before its relocation to Sydney in January 1925, then to Canberra in the 1930s. |
After State Parliament departed in 1927, the western annexe became the offices of the Country Roads Board, joined by the Motor Registration Branch in 1932, and the Transport Regulation Board in 1934. The three agencies co-existed in the cramped office spaces until the 1960s. Between 1927 and 1960, the courtyard on Rathdown Street was a vehicle inspection area, and temporary buildings, including a weighbridge, were constructed behind the annexe.
Between March 1941 and December 1945 the RAAF No 1 School of Technical Training occupied the Exhibition Building. 2000 personel were camped on the floors of the great hall and a shower block was set up in the vestibule behind the organ. The concert hall in the western nave was transformed into a recreation room, and a kitchen, hospital and laundry block and store room was built on the area to the north of the building. It is thought that the demise to the organ started during this period when troops were known to remove parts of the organ to sell to a scrap metal merchant in Richmond to get drinking money.
In 1949 the Exhibition Trustees leased the oval behind the Exhibition Buildings to the Commonwealth government to establish a migrant reception centre. When it closed in 1961-2, the centre included 29 bungalows and covered 1.4 hectares. The centre had given temporary accommodation for thousands of new arrivals from Britain. The bungalows were said to be freezing cold in winter and stifling hot in summer.
In 1952 the Royale Ballroom reopened in the eastern machinery annex with two air-conditioned ballrooms, decorated in shades of rose. At its peak it hosted 250 functions a year. The ballroom closed for renovations in 1968 and never reopened. It was demolished in 1979.
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| In the mid 1950s, in preparation for the 1956 Olympics, the circular garden to the west of the building was asphalted. The area to the north of the building became a car park. Fencing competitions were held under the dome during the 1956 Melbourne Olympic games. |
The Exhibition Building narrowly escaped demolition in the 1960s when a vote to demolish the building was defeated by one vote in State Parliament.
The concert hall in the western nave continued to attract audiences well into the 20th Century, and the exhibition oval was a popular venue for early bicycle races.
Royal Exhibition Building
An International Centenary Exhibition was held to mark the Exhibition Building’s 100th Birthday in 1980. HRH Princess Alexandra of Kent, on behalf of her cousin the Queen Elizabeth II, declared the exhibition open on October 1. She also opened the newly constructed Centennial Hall, a mirrored extension to the building. It was during this visit that the Princess bestowed the Royal title on the Exhibition Building.
Since 1980 the Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens have hosted bazaars, exhibitions, commercial events, trade shows, international meetings and community events. They continue to be used in this way today.
Royal visits to the building included
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| HRH Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York 1901 |
HRH Duke and Duchess of York 1927
HRH Queen Elizabeth II 1954
HRH Princess Alexandra of Kent 1980
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| The longest-running continuous event is the Hot Rod Show, which first booked the Exhibition Building in 1965. |
Another regular booking is for university exams, which have been held in the Exhibition Building for more than 80 years.
Symbolism and design
A visitor to the interior of the building cannot help but notice the richness of decoration within the building.
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| The lunettes lunettes (above the central archways) were rich with allegorical symbolism. They are Federation (West), The Arts applied to Peace (North); Government (East); Arts applied to War (South). |
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| The sylphs decorating the piers of the dome represent Summer, Justuce, Autumn, Night, Spring, Morning, Winter and Truth. |
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| The mythological figures (representing Hercules, Mercury, Venus and Mars) are in the pendentives. |
Four mottoes are painted under the windows of the dome: Die Grecia (By the grace of God); Carpe Diem (Make the most of the day); Aude sapere (Dare to be wise) and Bendigno numine (With benign power).
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| Eight plaques representing eight different nationalities are above the lower archways under the dome. To the viewer today they appear to convey racial stereotypes, but rather they were meant to signify that all the nations of the world were represented at the exhibitions held in this building. |
Restoration
In the 1980s the building was re-floored, and the installation of 1880 light fittings according to the 1888 lighting plan was carried out. In the 1990s John Ross Anderson’s 1901 decorative scheme was reinstated. The interior conservation work was completed in 1995.
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| A replica gasolier based on a John Danks and Company design of 1880, adapted for electric use. |
The building’s 1980 interior facelift coincided with the building’s centenary celebration. The exterior was painted following the advice of heritage consultant Peter Lovell who used paint-scrape techniques to determine the colour scheme.
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| Looking South from the Northern Nave. |
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| Looking East from the Western Nave. |
The Trustees commissioned conservation architect Allan Willingham to prepare the first conservation analysis of the Exhibition Building. His 1982 report was too late to save the two machinery annexes. The Western Annexe was destroyed between 1962 and 1967, the Eastern Annexe between 1971 and 1979. However, Willingham’s report established the criteria for all future work on the building, and ultimately led to the restoration of its interior and exterior.
The Building was fully restored to its former glory in 1996. Allan Willingham’s conservation analysis outlined a ten-year program of restoration.
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| Looking up into the central dome is a spectacular sight. |
All the corrugated iron was replaced between 1980 and 1995. In 1992 the external slate cladding was restored on the dome. The lantern at the top of the dome was regilded in 22-carat gold leaf at this time.
During the 20th Century the landscape around the Exhibition Building has seen much change, but Reed’s 1880 layout remained unchanged.
John Mather (1880), John Clay Beeler (1888) and John Ross Anderson shared similar approaches to their decorative treatments of the interior of the Exhibition Building: allegorical and emblematic art treatments, virtuous mottoes and stencilled ornament.
In July 1, 2004, the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens were inscribed on the World Heritage List. The Royal Exhibition Building is the only 19th Century Great Hall to survive largely intact, in its original landscape setting, and still used as a palace of industry. Earlier listings by the National Trust of Victoria (1958), the Victorian Register of Government Buildings (1972) and the Australian Heritage Commission (1975) helped ensure the building’s survival in an age of modernisation.
In 2013 the Exhibition Building still stands beautifully within its environment, reflected in the glass walls of the adjoining museum, to its North. This gracious old dame of Australian architecture holds the optimism of early Victorians and their pride in their fledgling colony. In a city where skyscrapers punctuate the skyline this grand building holds a majestic presence within the landscape and the hearts of Melburnians.
A visit to the building will be an enjoyable interlude for visitors to Melbourne and locals alike. The Museum runs tours of the Exhibition Building for $5 or $3.50 concession.
Tours are held most days at 2pm, subject to availability. Tours may not run when the building is in use for certain events and exhibitions. Call 13 11 02 prior to your visit to confirm.
Source: Museum Victoria
I would like to acknowledge the huge amount of information displayed in and around the Exhibition Building as the primary source used in this article.
Related links to videos about the REB and the Carlton Gardens produced by Museum Victoria.
