Royal Exhibition Building
The Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton Gardens is one of the world s oldest remaining exhibition pavilions. A World Heritage Site, this magnificent Victoria-era building was a product of the optimism, enthusiasm and energy of the people of Melbourne in the late nineteenth century. Museum Victoria operates four very different museums situated at three separate locations. Australia s largest public museums organisation, Museum Victoria is the State Museum for Victoria, responsible for the care of the state s collections, conducting research, and providing public access. Based in Melbourne, Museum Victoria runs four museums at three separate locations, as well as acting as custodian for the Royal Exhibition Building.
In 1879, when the foundation stone was laid, Melbourne was a prosperous city basking in the wealth from the richest gold rush in the world. How better to publicise the achievements and opportunities in the (then) colony of Victoria than by organizing and hosting an international exhibition. Since the Exhibition, the building has hosted a wide variety of local, national and international events, including trade exhibitions, conventions, concerts and performances, sporting fixtures, lectures, demonstrations and a range of important civic events. The most important of these was the opening of the first Commonwealth Parliament of Australia on 9 May 1901, by the Duke of Cornwall and York, the heir to the throne. More than 12,000 people listened to speeches, sang a hymn and the national anthem ("God Save The Queen"), and watched as politicians were sworn in and a nation was born. The national flag was flown at the Exhibition Building four months later, on 3 September 1901, following a flag designing competition that attracted over 32,000 entries.
Since then The Royal Exhibition Building has served as a venue for: housing Australian War Memorial war memorabilia; a migrant reception centre; weight-lifting and basketball events during the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games; trade fairs, exhibitions, events, displays and exhibitions. The Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens were inscribed on the World Heritage list on 1 July 2004, becoming the first building in Australia to achieve World Heritage listing. Today, the Royal Exhibition Building is a campus of Museum Victoria and the gardens are managed by the City of Melbourne.
Regular guided tours are available on most days at 2pm.
Location: 9 Nicholson St, cnr Victoria St, Carlton Gardens, Carlton.
How to get there: walk north from the city centre along either Elizabeth, Swanston, Russell or Exhibition Sts., left into Latrobe St and Victoria St; by tram No. 86 or 96 to corner of Nicholson and Gertrude Streets.
By City loop train to Parliament Station
By bus Nos. 250, 251 and 402 to Rathdowne Street
Melbourne's Royal Exhibition Building is one of a group of grand monuments and buildings constructed as part of the world exhibition movement of the 1800s. Other such constructions include the Eiffel Tower and London's Crystal Palace. The Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens were designed and built to host an international exhibition in 1880. In the decades before this event, Victoria had been experiencing a period of marked economic growth resulting from the discovery of vast goldfields in the colony. Wealth from this booming economy was being directed to grand and symbolic projects intended to reflect the status and position of Victoria, and the Australian colonies, on the world stage. Hosting the 1880 Melbourne International Exhibition was an expression of this prosperity.
In Australia, as in other countries, the international exhibitions were always matters of pride and an important mechanism for introducing the world to the wealth, capacity and culture of the city and country. Exhibitions were particularly important to countries trying to establish a global profile, to open the door to trade and closer international relations with others, and were often a symbol of the host's aspirations for nationhood.
Most exhibitions had a Palace of Industry or Great Hall. The Exhibition Building, as we now know it, was the Great Hall for the 1880 and 1888 international exhibitions. The design of the Great Hall included many features reminiscent of churches and basilicas at the time, such as naves, aisles, a dome and a cruciform floor plan. It was, in effect, designed to be a 'temple' to industry. The Carlton Gardens were designed as a 'pleasure garden' setting for the building, and also to reflect the scientific interest in gardens at the time.
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