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The White Hat Guide to 7 Murals of Melbourne

These short articles are currently being published one at a time in the White Hat Melbourne Newsletter. As they form part of the weekly quiz in that newsletter, exact locations are often not given. However it should to take little research to unearth that information.

Melbourne has a variety of public murals. Some are in high profile positions; others are tucked away and rarely seen.

No.1 – A ceiling celebrating the sciences

Destination shopping is not a recent invention. Today the television ads will entice you to Chadstone or Fountain Lakes or DFO because of the implied ambience. In the 1880s and early 1890s the place to be seen was ‘The Block’ – the northern side of Collins Street between Swanston & Elizabeth Streets. Instead of fast food outlets dragging kids in to get the latest piece of tat based on a heavily promoted film, kids would drag their parents in to see Gog & Magog in Royal Arcade. Cole’s Book Arcade always had entertainment, and generations later children would drag their parents into town to see the little man tap-tap-tap on the window. Those were heady days of excitement and entertainment for children, and the youth of today do not seem imbued with the the same sense of wonder. “You mean that’s what he does grandma? On the hour Gog’s hand moves 5cm to strike the bell! You dragged me away from my playstation when I was up to level 6 to see that?”

When a disastrous fire in the middle of The Block destroyed George and George’s drapery store they were forced to move up the hill to set up George’s Department Store. Several businessmen, recognising the value of the site for destination shopping commissioned the building of the Block Arcade. The arcade was loosely based on the Galleria Vittoria in Milan and was designed to provide the ultimate atmosphere of up-market shopping for the ladies of Melbourne. Shopping and promenading on The Block have been celebrated by authors such as Fergus Hume and painters such as S.T.Gill.

It was in this destination strip that the Singer Sewing Machine Company set up their prestigious Melbourne store. Newspapers using fixed metal type imitating the zig-zag patterns which could be produced by this wondrous modern mechanical contrivance. enticed customers to visit their landmark store. There on the ceiling was a mural depicting the wonderful advance being made by the sciences in the 1890s with panels in praise of chemistry, electricity, astronomy and so on.

Although the facades of the grand buildings together with the surface décor have often been retained, there are few shops which have retained their original internal design that contributed to ‘the compleat shopping experience’. The ceiling mural of the Singer Sewing Machine Store is one such reminder. Thousands pass the store every day but few bother to look at the ceiling. As well as the panels representing the various sciences, you will find a young lady holding the Singer logo above her head. Gentlemen are asked to avert their eyes at this point because she appears to have had a wardrobe malfunction (which no doubt could be rectified by the use of one the excellent products she is promoting). Such reminders of the grand days of destination shopping in the 19th century are becoming rarer, but next time you are in the area take time out to have a look.

No.2 - Melbourne Transport

Our last mural left you in the elegance and style of the immersive shopping experience of the 19th century ‘Block’ in Collins Street. Now for a different shopping experience. Follow Collins Street down to Spencer Street. There you will find the new Southern Cross Station. Turn right and follow this building along Spencer Street. It was originally planned that this structure should continue past Bourke Street but, with a Commonwealth Games approaching, money and time ran out and the State Government of the day said "stop there". Southern Cross Station ends abruptly and is continued by an ugly cement slab structure containing something called a Direct Factory Outlet or DFO. There is no factory to be seen and much merchandise does not arrive directly but through the same series of warehouses used to supply other retail outlets. That doesn’t seem to worry anyone.

However, if you enjoy a good giggle, have a look inside. Here you will find the opposite of the immersive retail design in the Block. True, each shop has a facade of fake brick, fake marble, fake wood and so on but don’t bother looking for a mural on the ceiling – there isn’t a ceiling, just aluminium ducts and exposed pipes. It is like walking on the set of a western movie with its fake building fronts. Maybe the designers had a little bet amongst themselves about the design of the facades – “how shallow can we make them before anyone notices?” Judging by the fact that I am the only one giggling, they haven’t yet reached the limit.

At the far end you will find a large mural depicting Melbourne transport throughout the years. This features trains trams, bicycles, horse drawn vehicles, early cars and trucks and a range of other vehicles. If you search around you will find an almost hidden set of stairs leading up to a viewing platform. The mural once graced the walls of the older Spencer Street Station but has obviously been restored since then as it is gleaming like a new pin. In fact it is so bright and shiny it seems to ignore the fact that those many thousands of horses in Melbourne streets had their own emissions and tucked around Melbourne streets you will still see the necessary boot scrapers outside buildings. Note how the horse drawn vehicles often display the name of their owner. I believe it is still illegal to drive a horse drawn in a public place in Victoria without the owner’s name painted in the vehicle in letters of a specified height. I could examine the details for ages but I don’t want to miss out on those boots I saw at a good price and the shop had a brick front so they should be good sturdy ones.