Commissioned in 1880 for the Melbourne International Exhibition, the ‘Hochgurtel’ fountain dominates the southern entrance to the Royal Exhibition Building, about 1996.
Source: Museum Victoria
World Heritage site
On 1 July 2004, the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens were inscribed on the World Heritage List. The Exhibition Building is the only 19th century Great Hall to survive largely intact, still in its original landscape setting, and still used as a palace of industry.
Prior to this, 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.
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A conservation blueprint
The Exhibition Trustees commissioned conservation architect Allan Willingham to prepare the first conservation analysis of the Exhibition Building. His 1983 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 did establish the criteria for all future work to the building, and ultimately led to the restoration of its interior and exterior.
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A Changing Landscape
In 1839, large tracts of land on the outskirts of the city were reserved as public parks. Carlton Gardens, an elevated site to the north of Melbourne, was one of the areas selected.
Paths and other features were constructed in the gardens in the late 1850s, following a design prepared by Edward La Trobe Bateman. Joseph Reed's design for the Exhibition Building also included a design for the gardens. It was laid out by William Sangster, a Melbourne horticulturist, in 1879–1880.
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A Century of Change
Over the course of the 20th century the landscape immediately surrounding the Exhibition Building has seen a lot of change. 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.
While plantings changed in the southern gardens, Reed's 1880 layout remained unchanged.
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The Exhibition Building
In December 1877 a competition was announced for the design of a suitable building for Melbourne's proposed International Exhibition. Eighteen entries were received. The winner was Joseph Reed of the architectural firm Reed & Barnes. Reed was awarded the first place premium of £300 for his Rundbogenstil (round archstyle) design.
The foundation stone was laid by Governor Sir George Bowen on 19 February 1879. Prominent Melbourne builder David Mitchell won the tender to construct the main building. Exhibitors were able to move in by May 1880.
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The Exhibition Organ
The organ was built by George Fincham of Bridge Road, Richmond. With bellows located in the basement of the building, the organ never performed well. The last concert to be performed on the organ took place in 1922; it was removed by Fincham & Sons in 1965.
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The Melbourne International Exhibition, 1880–1881
On 1 October 1880, over 6000 people flocked to the main hall of the Exhibition Building to see the Governor, the Marquess of Normanby, open the Melbourne International Exhibition. Thirty-three nations had responded to the invitation to participate. Over 32000 exhibits were displayed from every corner of the world including Great Britain, France, Germany, India, Japan, China, the United States of America and all Australian colonies.
By the time of its official closure on 30 April 1881, over 1.3 million people had visited the Exhibition. Victoria's population at the time was just over 250000.
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The Melbourne International Exhibition Fountain
Josef Hochgurtel, a recent immigrant from Cologne, and his colleague August Saupe won a competition to design the fountain for the southern entrance of the Exhibition Building. Rich in iconography, the fountain features young boys who illustrate innocence and the purity of youth; symbols of industry, commerce, science and art; and representations of Victorian flora and fauna.
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The Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition, 1888–1889
Opened with great fanfare on 1 August 1888, the Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition commemorated 100 years of white settlement of Australia. At its close on 31 January 1889 the exhibition was deemed a financial failure; it cost the state £238000.
Two million visitors (double the population of Victoria at the time) travelled to the exhibition — many taking advantage of the newly installed cable tram along Nicholson Street — to view displays from nearly 40 nations. Thanks to the installation of electric lighting, the exhibition offered night-time viewing, the first in the world to do so.
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The Centennial Orchestra
Music was one of the main attractions of the Centennial International Exhibition. The conductor of the London Royal Philharmonic Society, Frederick Cowen, was engaged to oversee the musical festival. Frederick Sargood, vice-president of the Exhibition Commission, covered all expenses, including Cowen's astronomical fee of £5000.
Frederick Cowen assembled an orchestra of 73 professional players and a choir of 700 voices. In the six month life of the exhibition, the Centennial Orchestra gave 263 concerts. Cowen returned to England at the close of the exhibition, but his orchestra continued until 1891.
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Federation, 1901
Twelve thousand guests filled the Exhibition Building on 9 May 1901 to witness 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; their state counterparts were seated behind them in the northern transept. Other dignitaries filled the seats in the east and west naves, while the galleries were filled with members of the press and invited guests.
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A City Celebrates
The opening of Australia's first federal parliament in May 1901 was an occasion for great celebrations in Melbourne. Ten days of festivities were planned to mark the occasion and honour the royal visitors, the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York.
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Nursing victims of the Spanish 'flu'
On 4 February 1919, the Exhibition Building was turned into a hospital to treat Melburnians struck down by the Spanish 'flu'. Initially housing 500 beds, the hospital grew to accommodate 2000 patients: females were located between the concert platform in the western nave and the dome; male patients occupied the spaces beyond.
The basement housed a morgue. In an attempt to make the hospital less 'draughty and cheerless', nurses called on the public for donations of plants and flowers, and electric lights were slung from wires festooned above each bed.
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The Australin War Memorial Museum
In 1921, 80 000 visitors made their way to the eastern annexe of the Exhibition Building to see an exhibition of photographs on display in the new Australian War Museum.
On ANZAC Day 1922, a permanent display of military relics and dioramas of battle scenes opened in the renamed Australian War Memorial Museum. Over 800 000 people visited this display before its relocation to Sydney in January 1925, then Canberra in the 1930s.
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RAAF occupation of the Exhibition Building, World War II
Between March 1941 and December 1945, the RAAF No. 1 School of Technical Training occupied the Exhibition Building.
Two thousand personnel were camped on the floors of the great hall; 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, laundry block and store-room was built on the arena to the north of the building.
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Royal Exhibition Building
It was during this visit that the Princess bestowed the Royal title on the Exhibition Building.
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Royal Visitors
The Exhibition Building has hosted a number of royal visitors. The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) attended a People's Day at the Exhibition Building in 1920. He stood for two hours as people filed past at a rate of 200 a minute.
A similar event was held for the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth) in 1927. The Duchess returned in 1958 as the Queen Mother.
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HRH Queen Elizabeth II
In 1954, the new Queen and her consort Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, attended a Lord Mayor's Ball in the Royale Ballroom and a state reception in the Exhibition Building.
A gala reception was held in 1970 during the royal family's visit; the Queen and Prince Philip being accompanied by their children Prince Charles and Princess Anne.
And in 1981 the Queen again visited the Exhibition Building for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
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A Centre of Popular Entertainment
In 1885 an aquarium, picture gallery and museum opened in the eastern annexe of the Exhibition Building. On display in this 'world of wonders' were 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. The complex was destroyed by fire in 1953.
The concert hall in the western nave of the Exhibition Building continued to attract audiences well into the 20th century, and the exhibition oval was a popular venue for early bicycle races.
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Cycling at the Exhibition Oval
Many cycling tournaments held at the Exhibition Oval were sponsored by the Australian Natives Association, like this one on Australia Day, 26 January 1899.
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The Royale Ballroom
The Royale Ballroom opened in the eastern machinery annexe in 1952. Its two air-conditioned ballrooms were decorated in shades of rose. At its peak it hosted 250 functions a year. The ballroom closed for renovations in 1968 but never reopened. It was demolished in 1979.
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Working Building
On 1 October 1881, management of the Exhibition Building and eight hectares of Carlton Gardens was handed 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 successfully fulfilled this role until 1996, when management of the building was transferred to Museum Victoria. The approach embraced by the Trustees in 1881 continues to inform operations at the Royal Exhibition Building today.
From 1901 to 1927, the Victorian state parliament relocated to the western annexe of the Exhibition Building while federal parliamentarians occupied state parliament on Spring Street.
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‘Ménage à transport’
After the departure of State Parliament in 1927, the western annexe became home to the Country Roads Board. It was 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.
During the agencies' tenure, the courtyard on Rathdowne Street became a vehicle inspection area, and temporary buildings, including a weighbridge, were constructed behind the annexe.
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British migrant reception centre
In 1949 the Exhibition Trustees leased the oval at the rear of the Exhibition Building to the commonwealth government for the establishment of a migrant reception centre. At its close in 1961–62, the centre comprised 29 bungalows over 1.4 hectares.
The centre provided temporary accommodation for thousands of recent arrivals from Britain, who remember the bungalows as being freezing cold in winter and stifling hot in summer.
Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show northern plaza
Image: Jon Augier
Source: Museum Victoria
Events
Since 1880, 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.
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 at the Exhibition Building for more than 80 years.
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Events
In 1935 a jubilee motor show, marking King George V's 25 years on the throne, was held in the Exhibition Building.
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Events
The Honourable Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which was held at the Royal Exhibition Building in September-October 1981.
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Events
The Exhibition Building set up for Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology examinations, December 1984. Every June and November the Royal Exhibition Building is set up with rows of desks for university exams.