Category: The Melbourne Files

In November 1986, the Turkish embassy in Melbourne was bombed. This is the Toorak Terrorist Attack.

Yarra Bend Asylum was Melbourne’s first, and biggest, mental hospital.  The grounds are now a public park, but traces still remain.

Melbourne is a city of laneways and many of these have exotic, and unusual, titles. Here are Melbourne’s most unusual laneway names. 

Melbourne Central is one of Melbourne’s most well known landmarks. But before Melbourne Central, that part of the city looked very different.

Melbourne is an artistic city, and our public spaces are like an open air gallery. Here is a guide to Melbourne Public Art, featuring works in the CBD.

In the Victorian State election in 1985, something straight out of a bad Hollywood movie went down. A tied election, decided by a lucky dip.

In 1910, Harry Houdini came to Melbourne. He performed magic, flew a plane, and jumped into the Yarra shackled in chains.

Princess Caroline of Brunswick was involved in one of the 18th century’s most notorious scandals. It is why her name is now on one of Melbourne’s best known suburbs.

170 years ago, most people worked 6 or 7 days a week, and about 12 hours each day. But the eight hour day, was coming. And it started right here in Victoria.

In March 1978, armed gunmen took over a Melbourne restaurant: this is the Waiter’s Restaurant Siege.