Description of the attraction
Flinders Street Station is the main railway station in Melbourne, located in the city center and is its kind of business card. 1,500 trains pass through this station every weekday, carrying more than 110 thousand passengers.
But the station is also a popular meeting place for citizens. They say that the inhabitants of Melbourne use the expression "meet under the clock", which means a meeting at the main entrance to the station building, over which a clock hangs. And the phrase "meet on the stairs" means a rendezvous on the steps of the main entrance to the station building. And it is this building that is most often depicted on ceremonial postcards in Melbourne.
In 1854, the first railway station of the city was located on this site, which was called “Melbourne”. That wooden terminal was Australia's first train station, and on the opening day, the country's first steam locomotive departed.
Already in 1882, it was decided to build a new station - a competition for the best project was announced, in which 17 architects took part. But construction work began only in 1900 and was completed in 1910. Interestingly, later the project of Flinders Street station was taken as the basis for Loose Station in the Brazilian city of São Paulo.
The first electric train left the station in 1919, and just 7 years later, Flinders Street was already the busiest train station in the world! In the second half of the 20th century, the famous clock on the main facade of the building, acquired in England in the 1860s, was replaced with digital ones, but the public demanded that the historical landmark be returned to its place, and the clock took its place again.
In the 1970s, the state government was going to dismantle the station building, because by that time it had fallen into disrepair. It was planned to build office buildings in its place. And again the public intervened - numerous campaigns to protect the architectural monument led to the government abandoning its plans and even allocating money for repairs. Restoration work began in 1984 at a cost to the state of A $ 7 million. With this money, platforms were repaired and improved, a new restaurant was opened, and the staircase of the main entrance was equipped with electric heating to keep it dry in any weather.
