Flinders Street railway station

The first railway station to occupy the Flinders Street site was a collection of weatherboard train sheds. It was opened on 12 September 1854 by the Lieutenant-Governor, Charles Hotham.[11] The terminus was the first city railway station in Australia, and the opening day saw the first steam train trip in the country. It travelled to Sandridge (now Port Melbourne), over the since-redeveloped Sandridge Bridge and along the now-light rail Port Melbourne line.

There is some confusion over the original name of the station.  In his book "Victorian Railways to '62", Leo Harrigan[12] indicates that it was first named "Melbourne Terminus".  Newspaper articles about the opening in September 1854 refer to "Melbourne terminus" with a lower case t, which may have caused this mis-apprehension.

H.K Atkinson in his book "Suburban Tickets of the Victorian Railways",[13] lists the station as being called "Flinders Street" from its opening.  Early tickets for the railway just show "Melbourne" as the destination.  Moreover, a newspaper report of December 1854 mentions that the Hobsons Bay Railway Company shareholder meeting was held at "Flinders Street Station".

In all likelihood, the station was called "Melbourne, Flinders Street"  from the outset, and the somewhat superfluous "Melbourne" was gradually dropped through common usage.  When Prince's Bridge station opened across the street in 1859, the Flinders Street name would undoubtedly have become more prominent. The platforms for trains arriving from Station Pier retained the "Melbourne, Flinders Street" signage well into the twentieth century, so migrants fresh off the boat wouldn't be confused about where they were.

View of the platforms looking west, 1895

The first terminus had a single platform 30 metres (98 ft 5 in) long, and was located beside the Fish Market building on the south-west corner of Swanston and Flinders Streets.[14] An additional platform was provided in 1877, along with two overhead bridges to provide passenger access, followed by additional timber and corrugated iron buildings and a telegraph station in 1879.[11] The first signal boxes were opened at the station in 1883, one at each end of the platforms.[15] By the 1890s, a third island platform had been constructed.[15]

Entrance from Swanston Street, c. 1890

Melbourne's two other early central-city stations, Spencer Street and Princes Bridge, opened in 1859. Spencer Street served the lines to the west of the city, and was isolated from the eastern side of the network until a ground level railway was built connecting it to Flinders Street in 1879,[16] this track being replaced by the Flinders Street Viaduct in 1889.[17]

Princes Bridge was originally separated from Flinders Street, even though it was only on the opposite side of Swanston Street. Once the railway line was extended under the street in 1865 to join the two, Princes Bridge was closed.[18] It was reopened in April 1879, and from 1909 slowly became amalgamated into Flinders Street.[19] Federation Square now occupies its site. Up until the 1880s a number of designs for a new station had been prepared, but none ever went further.[20]

1883 design competition winner

By the 1880s, it was becoming clear that a new central passenger station was needed to replace the existing ad-hoc station buildings. A design competition was held in 1883, but the winning entry, by William Salway, featuring a pair of grandiose Italianate buildings either side of a rebuilt Princes Bridge, was not proceeded with.[21]

1900 design by Fawcett & Ashworth

During construction, 1908

A second, more comprehensive design competition was held in late 1899,[22] and 17 entries were received. The competition was essentially for the detailed design of the station building, because decisions had already been made about the track and platform layout, the location of the concourse and entrances, and even the room layout to some extent. There was also a requirement for one overall platform roof.[23]

In May 1900, the £500 first prize was awarded to railway employees James Fawcett and H. P. C. Ashworth (Fawcett and Ashworth), whose design, named Green Light, was in the French Renaissance style.[24] It included a large dome over the main entrance, and tall clock tower over the Elizabeth Street entrance, an entrance opposite Degraves Street, and two subways. There was to be a roof over the platforms ‘supported by 12 columns’, of corrugated iron and with minimal amounts of glass to protect against the summer sun, though drawings have not survived.[25] The Swanston Street elevation does survive, which shows an impressive three-arched roof running east–west, with a tall stained glass east end, which most likely was only to cover the concourse. The roof over the platforms may have been a similar arrangement of arches but across the lines rather than parallel.

Flinders Street Station circa 1920

Flinders Street Station and the intersection of Flinders & Swanston Streets in 1927

Work began in 1900 on the rearrangement of the station tracks, while the final design of the station building was still being worked on. Work on the central pedestrian subway started in 1901, with the foundations of the main building completed by 1903.

In 1904, in mid construction, the plans were extensively modified by the Railways Commissioners. The proposed single platform roof was replaced by individual platform roofs, and it was decided not to include the arched concourse roof. To increase office space, a fourth storey was added to the main building, which resulted in the arches above each entrance on Flinders Street being lowered, decreasing their dominance.[26]

In 1905, work began on the station building itself, starting at the west end and progressing towards the main dome. Ballarat builder Peter Rodger was awarded the £93,000 contract. The building was originally to have been faced in stone, but that was considered too costly, so red brick, with cement render details, was used for the main building instead. Grey granite from Harcourt was used for many details at ground level on the Flinders Street side, "in view of the importance of this great public work".[27] The southern facade of the main building consisted of a lightweight timber frame clad with zinc sheets, which were scored into blocks and painted red to look like large bricks. That was done to create corridors instead of what were to be open-access balconies inside the scrapped train shed.

Flinders Street Station illuminated for the 1954 Royal Visit

Work on the dome started in 1906. The structure required heavy foundations as it extended over railway tracks. In May 1908, work was progressing more slowly than planned, with the expected completion date of April 1909 increasingly unlikely to be met. Rodger's contract was terminated in August 1908.[28] A Royal Commission was appointed in May 1910, finding that Rodger could be held accountable for the slow progress in 1908, but he should be compensated for the difficulties before then. The Way and Works Branch of the Victorian Railways took over the project, and the station was essentially finished by mid-1909. The verandah along Flinders Street, and the concourse roof and verandah along Swanston Street, were not completed until after the official opening in 1910.[28]

The building had three levels at the concourse, or Swanston Street, end, and four at the lower Elizabeth Street, or platform, end. Numerous shops and lettable spaces were provided, some on the concourse, but especially along the Flinders Street frontage, many at lower than street level, accessed by stairs, which created a fifth/basement level. The top three levels of the main building contain a large number of rooms, particularly along the Flinders Street frontage, mostly intended for railway use, but also many as lettable spaces. Numerous ticket windows were located at each entry, with services, such as a restaurant, country booking office, lost luggage office and visitors help booth, at the concourse or platform level. Much of the top floor was purpose-built for the then new Victorian Railway Institute, including a library, gym and a lecture hall, later used as a ballroom. Those rooms have been largely abandoned and decaying since the 1980s. For a number of years in the 1930s and 1940s, the building featured a creche next to the main dome on the top floor,[29] with an open-air playground on an adjoining roof. Since 1910, the basement store beside the main entrance has been occupied by a hat store, known as "City Hatters" since 1933.

The first electric train service operated from Flinders Street to Essendon in 1919,[17] and by 1923 it was thought to be the world's busiest passenger station, with 2300 trains and 300,000 passengers daily.[30] In 1954, to cater for increasing traffic, as well as for the 1956 Summer Olympics, the Degraves Street subway from the station was extended to the north side of Flinders Street, creating Campbell Arcade.[17] In March 1966, platform 1 was extended to 708 metres (2,322 ft) long.[31]

Plans arose at various times from the 1960s to the 1970s for the demolition or redevelopment of the station, as well as the adjacent Jolimont Yard area. The station had fallen into disrepair, having not been cleaned in decades, and covered with advertising hoardings and light up signs.[32]

In 1962, the Minister for Transport and HKJ Pty Ltd signed an agreement for a £30 million redevelopment of the station that would have resulted in the demolition of the clock tower and replacement with an office building up to 60 storeys high.[33] Work was to begin in 1964, but instead the Gas & Fuel Building was constructed over Princes Bridge station.[34] In 1967 a company purchased the option to lease the space above Flinders Street Station, planning to build a shopping plaza and two office towers, the dome and clock tower being kept as part of the design, but strong opposition saw this project lapse.[34]

Looking north across Yarra River towards Flinders Street railway lines and buildings, circa 1914.

In 1972, Victorian Premier Henry Bolte unveiled another redevelopment plan, to cover 11 hectares (27 acres) of space above the station and Jolimont Yard for a complex of shops, offices, theatres and other community facilities. A newspaper report of 1974 said that planning was still underway for the $250 million proposal, but by 1975, public perceptions had begun to turn towards retention of the station.[34] A Builders Labourers Federation green ban at the time helped preserve it in its existing form.[35] The controversy over these proposals led to a re-apprasial of the architecture and significance of the station, which had been seen as something of an oddity, or even simply as dirty and ugly, such that it was classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) by 1976, and eventually listed on the state Heritage Register in 1982.

In 1989, under the John Cain government, an agreement to construct a "Festival Marketplace" was signed. Designed by Daryl Jackson architects, it was to be built over the existing platforms in a style sympathetic to the existing station, and be completed by 1992. Planned to feature shops, restaurants and cafes, the project was abandoned in 1991 after the inability of the financiers to come up with the $205 million required due to the early 1990s recession.[36]

In November 2011, the Victorian Government launched a $1 million international design competition to rejuvenate and restore the station. In October 2012, after receiving 118 submissions, six finalists were selected.[37] The public could vote and the jury's choice and people's choice winner were announced on 8 August 2013. The competition winner was Hassell + Herzog & de Meuron, while the people's choice winner were University of Melbourne students Eduardo Velasquez, Manuel Pineda and Santiago Medina.[37][38][39] No funding was attached to the competition, and no major changes were undertaken.

View of the station from the west

Main concourse

The station at night

View showing the repainted facade of Flinders Street in 2021 in softer heritage colours

The Swanston Street concourse has undergone the most change of any part of the station, and is now three times the depth of the original structure, is located near Federation Square and only the canopy and roofed area on Swanston Street remains of the original. After the first round of works in 1985 a City of Melbourne councillor, Trevor Huggard, described the renovation as "vandalism of historically important sections of the station", and in 1997 the National Trust of Australia described the additions to the concourse as unsympathetic and detrimental to the station, having "the character of a modern shopping centre".[40]

The television displays used to display next train information were added to each platform in July 1980.[41]

In 1982, a $7 million refurbishment was announced by the Minister for Transport, Steven Crabb, divided into four phases, designed by the railways architect Kris Kudlicki.[42] Completed by 1984, the first escalators at the station provided on platforms 2 and 3 replaced ramps, and new public toilets were provided, replacing those over the platforms.[43] The main station concourse was tiled and extended westward over the tracks, with skylights added above the ramps, and 16 new shops opened on the concourse. A restaurant was built on the southern side facing the river,[44] which opened in October 1985, but closed soon after, instead becoming the "Clocks on Flinders" poker machine venue in 1994.[45] The main steps were embedded with electrical circuits to keep them dry in June 1985.

In 1993, the Elizabeth Street subway was extended and opened at the Southbank end.[45] Conservation work was also carried out to the main building, with the external facade repainted, exterior feature lighting installed, and the stained glass feature windows above each entry restored.[46] Further changes were made through the late 1990s with the opening of access from the main Swanston Street concourse to platform 1, platform resurfacing with tactile tiles, and the replacement of the remainder of the original platform access ramps (except platform 10) with escalators and elevators.[47][48]

The tracks to the east of the station were rebuilt between 1997 and 1998 to clear the way for the Federation Square project.[49] Jolimont Yard was eliminated, with $40 million spent to reduce 53 operating lines between Flinders Street and Richmond Station to just 12. The number of points was also reduced, from 164 to 48.[50] These changes also saw a reallocation of platform usage at the station, country trains being shifted from platform 1 to platform 10, and Clifton Hill group trains being shifted from the deleted Princes Bridge station to platform 1.[31]

The final round of changes were completed by 2007. It included refurbishment of the building roof and concourse foundations, an upgrade of platform 10 with escalators and a lift replacing the ramp, the relocation of all ticket booking offices to the main entrance under the main dome and new LCD passenger information displays installed on the platforms, subways and concourse.[51] In March 2009 an escalator replaced the lift to platform 12 and 13, with platform 13 also extended west into daylight along the alignment of the former platform 11.[52]

In 2008, the retail pavilions on the concourse were rebuilt, increasing their area. An investigation of the potential of the abandoned spaces in the station, overseen by a task force comprising representatives from Connex, the Committee for Melbourne, Melbourne City Council, Heritage Victoria, was completed the same year, but the conclusions were not made public.[53] In January 2010, one of the first announcements by the new Minister for Public Transport was that the government was investigating the refurbishment of the abandoned spaces for "cultural uses".[54]

The facade as viewed from Flinders Street, showing tram lines

In mid-February 2015, Premier Daniel Andrews and Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan announced that $100 million would be spent for urgent refurbishment works to upgrade station platforms, entrances, toilets, information displays and to restore the exterior of the main building.[55] By July 2017, the station had been almost completely repainted in the original 1910 colours.[56][57] The distinctive yellow mustard colour was replaced with more muted shades of stone and red, which were determined based on a forensic analysis of the original paint layers on the surface of the building.[56]

As painting continued in January 2018, a further round of works was announced including the renewal of the Elizabeth Street pedestrian subway and rebuilding of the subway's south entrance to include direct access to platform 10.[58] In 2018 the pedestrian forecourt in front of the station's main entrance was expanded and new security bollards were installed to protect pedestrians from cars, as part of the security response to the January 2017 Bourke Street car attack.[59]