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I'm not sure if you'll agree, but despite my somewhat nostalgic view of Melbourne, in the back of my mind I know its just a city of the many. This is now. What about then?.
Would it surprise you to know, that 35 years after being declared a city by the queen in 1837, it had become the wealthiest in the entire British Empire, and second in population only to London? Population; 1837- 177, 1891- 490,000.  What changed?
Greed
A tale of greed, wealth, over investment, and ultimately an economic bubble waiting to burst ensured the depression Melbourne never recovered from. Seems almost a shame really, to think that if the decade of the 1890's didn't occur, I could be sitting in the capital of Australia.  
But even then, like the most recent economic crisis, we recovered, and once again Marvellous Melbourne was back in the spotlight. Flinders-street station 1927, was the busiest in the world. Tokyo-Central[JPN]? Kings Cross[LDN]? Grand Central[NY]? Flinders Street. The palatial grandeur, wide tree-lined boulevards and one of the most advanced rail networks continued once more. The roaring twenties it seems, were not just 'roaring' for the United States. So what changed? Was it greed again? Maybe. Exact reasons cannot be accurately pinpointed as to why our 'Marvellous' city became mediocre once more.
Interesting fact; during the 1940's, Melburnians were more likely to catch public transport than any other person. How's that for environmental credentials. Oh but then, we can't forget the Bolte-era of government; progression, they called it. Maybe it was, but in what direction? After all it is possible to progress backwards. Ever wondered why the top-end of Collins street is called the Parisian Corner? Once upon a time, this was due the type of architecture dominating the so called golden-mile. Some bright spark in the department of planning and regulation decided that these buildings had to go.  
Then along came the infamous transport plan of `69. And the freeway city we know today was born. The plan proposed a budget of $1.675 billion for freeways, $64 million for divided arterial roads, $28 million on new arterial Roads, $359 million on widening existing roads and bridges, $95 million for road/rail grade separations.

  • Tullamarine Freeway
  • Eastern Freeway
  • Southeastern Freeway – now known as the Monash Freeway
  • Lower Yarra Freeway – now known as the West Gate Freeway
  • Dingley Freeway
  • Mornington Peninsula Freeway
  • Frankston Freeway
  • Greensborough Freeway
  • Southern Bypass – now known as CityLink
  • Western Bypass – now known as CityLink
  • Western Ring Road
  • Northern Ring Road – now known as the Metropolitan Ring Road
  • Eastern Ring Road – now known as Eastlink
No, I wasn't just listing any freeway I could think of, plans for every one of these were detailed in the plan, some of which are still being completed.


Ah, but we had the biggest tram network in the world, and originally the largest train network too, so what does it matter? 
Interesting fact #2; this is the proposed rail map of the plan.



Notice none of the proposed new lines have been completed? The city loop was however, Kudos to them. The St. Kilda line is now closed, the 'outer loop' originally stretching from Oakleigh, to Camberwell, remains now as the Alamein line. The south-gippsland line now goes as far as Cranbourne, and the Healsville/Maryborough line terminates at Lilydale.  



The city has changed, for the better is anyone's guess, but beneath the grimy surface there is potential. There always has been, from the Batman-Fawkner origins, this great city has had its up's and downs. This cyclical nature lends to the possibility our cosmopolitan metropolis is on the cusp of greatness once more.


H.