Moving Melbourne: Cities Don't Stand Still

This image of a
Supa Roo BMX (Bicycle Motor Cross) was taken around 1980 at a
Melbourne skate park for ABC TV Melbourne to be used as a backdrop image. Supa
Roo bicycles were manufactured in Adelaide, South Australia in the early 1980s.
They were made for the burgeoning BMX scene which arrived in Australia in the
late 1970s having originated in the US in 1969; although similar sports like
the United Kingdom’s Cycle Speedway
and the Dutch Fietscross have been around since the 1920s. Competitive BMX
racing is usually on dirt tracks where riders perform extreme stunts. The shoes
are Dunlop Pancakes which were
marketed specifically to BMX enthusiasts. The word pancake has two meanings in
BMX parlance: the first is to lay the bicycle on its side, parallel to the
ground, mid-jump; it also means to crash while attempting to land a jump. This
shoe didn’t last long as it was essentially an expensive re-branded version of
the more popular Dunlop Volley. 

The 1960s were an era of leisurely paced travel, where
passengers regularly chose ships, rather than aircraft to take them to their
international destination. Passenger liners varied greatly in price and
comfort, from the workhorse migrant liners to luxury cruisers. The passengers in
this image are enjoying the facilities aboard the Sitmar flagship TSS Fairsky, which brought British
immigrants to Australia throughout the 1960s and 1970s and began purely
recreational services in 1962. This photograph was used in promotional material
advertising Sitmar’s luxury cruises to Victorian holiday makers.

A stream of commuters make their way up an
old timber footbridge despite Footscray Council’s repeated requests to the
Railway Department to replace it, arguing the narrow and out of date ramps were
often an obstruction for users. Many complained that this was inadequate for a
station where the volume of traffic was second only to that of Flinders Street.
The stark contrast of the lone woman in black making her own way away from the
bustling crowd draws the eye, and highlights the many women in the scene who
are travelling professionals in their workwear and carrying suitcases. From the
1920s, commerce and public administration were predominantly female
occupations, clerical work in particular. Despite their professional
contribution, their wages, on average were only 54% of the basic male wage and
their participation in the workforce was considered secondary to their domestic
responsibilities. 

Here are St Kilda commuters boarding
Tram No.41 which was in service until
1958. It was one of the work-horses of Melbourne’s public transport system
before the network was modernised. The former Victorian Railways tramcar sat
abandoned for some 30 years in Brighton until the
Melbourne Tramcar Preservation Association in Bendigo started restoring it in
2001. By 2004 it was the first electric tramcar to be returned to its
former operating condition.

Even as modern technology takes hold, a
restoration industry lives on as these iconic vehicles are preserved for future
generations by groups like the Bendigo Heritage Rail Workshop who restore
retired trams for novel purposes like art pieces and restaurants. Tram No. 918,
for example, circled the city for over 50 years but is now the Dja Dja Wurrung
Tram. Last year it became part of Bendigo Tramway’s Vintage fleet adorned
inside and out including audio narration by Clan members sharing the
40,000-year traditions of Bendigo’s first people. Time may move forward but
these icons move with it, continuing to serve and connect the people of
Victoria.

The Great Ocean Road was first planned
in the 1880s but the project didn’t gain momentum until the end of the First
World War. The chairman of the Country Roads Board contacted the State War
Council with a proposal that funds be provided for re-employment of returned
soldiers and a road be built as a memorial to all those who were killed in the
‘Great War’. The road is essentially the world’s largest war memorial.
Construction of the Great Ocean Road officially began in 1919, when the Premier
of Victoria detonated an explosive charge near Lorne. It was back-breaking work
for the returned soldiers traversing steep coastal mountains with no heavy
machinery to help, only picks, shovels and horse-drawn carts. After fourteen
years of construction, the Great Ocean Road was officially opened in 1932.
Early road travellers initially paid a toll, drivers paid two shillings and
sixpence, and passengers one shilling and sixpence. The toll was removed when
the trust which funded the construction handed over the road as a gift to the
State Government in 1936.

The weekend drive is a mainstay of Australian
culture, and where better to visit than Victoria’s alpine region. This
camper-van is heading towards Bright with the Kiewa Valley and snow-capped
Mount Bogong in the background. Before European settlement, the Kiewa region
was home to the Dhudhuroa and Yaitmathang clans who lived off the Keiwa river.
Each summer, many neighbouring clans would travel to Mount Bogong to meet with
the locals, perform rituals, settle disputes and gather supplies. During the
first part of the 20th Century, the State Electricity Commission
(SEC) established townships in the area to house Kiewa Hydro Electric Scheme
workers. Once the project was completed, many stayed in the area to establish a
thriving tourism-based economy. Nearby Mount Beauty was, and continues to be, a
popular tourist destination where visitors can ski, hike, horse ride and
mountain bike along the scenic rivers and through picturesque bushland.

From 1908 to 1959 government travel
experts offered their services to the public for free at the Victorian Government Tourist Bureau. The Collins
Street office is pictured here during the 1940s with customers lined up ready
to book their vacations. This particular office opened in 1939 and developers
hoped the striking interior features would promote tourist traffic. The
interior murals were created by Gert Sellheim who won the 1939 Sir John Pulman
prize for his work. The flooring is an example of Sellheim’s interest in
Aboriginal art - note the crocodile figure by the little girls’ feet.
Newspapers at the time highlighted that the Aboriginal motifs were faithful
representations of cave drawings in Western Australia and a striking feature of
the new building. Appropriating Aboriginal art was common among post-war
artists, who saw it worthy of imitation as it showed what made Australia
unique. Although they deeply appreciated the art, this photograph belongs to a
time before inappropriate cultural absorption and Indigenous intellectual property
rights were recognised.

This photograph is part of a large series of images
created or collected by the ABC Melbourne to be used as backdrop images behind
news readers to illustrate concepts, events or places that appeared in their
nightly news broadcasts. The long exposure photograph of vehicle lights as they
cross the Bourke and Spring Street intersection in Melbourne CBD evokes a city
in constant transit. Perhaps ironically though, this photographic trick removes
most of the evidence of people from the scene. The only humans viewed are those
waiting patiently for a tram; their lack of movement allowing them to be
captured on film. 

After decades of conflict, anti-Japanese sentiment
and trade restrictions, Australia began developing strong trade partnerships
with Japan throughout the 1960s and 70s. By the 1980s road vehicles were
Japan’s biggest export commodity to Australia. These cheap and reliable cars
flooded the market, outselling all but the local favourite’s Ford and Holden. Pictured
here is a newly arrived shipment of Honda, Mitsubishi and Daihatsu vehicles. Among
them are the ubiquitous workhorse van, Mitsubishi
L300 Express and the popular small family car, Honda Civic.