Jean: Flagstaff Gardens

THE FLAGSTAFF GARDENS

 Melbourne was built, not on seven but on four hills. These were Batman Hill, Flagstaff Hill, Parliament Hill and Eastern Hill. Batman Hill stood above a beautiful blue lake. The lake was filled in and Batman Hill demolished and the topsoil moved to the eastern suburbs. The Hill was considered as a site for Botanical Gardens, but the ‘miasmas’ from slaughtering yards down the hill led city planners south of the Yarra River.



The Flagstaff Hill was known as the Western Hill and, after early settlers were buried there, Burial Hill. It was covered with sheoaks. These gave it the appearance of a primeval park where timber cutting and tree felling were unknown. Not one sheoak remains in the current Flagstaff Gardens.
 There are two large palm trees:

 Morten Bay figs:

 Gum trees:

and flower beds:

 But none of the original sheoaks. It is a lovely spot to have a barbecue Lunch :

 and entertain the children:

but little remains in this oasis in the inner city of Melbourne to suggest its long and colourful history.
 In 1840 it was decided to erect a signalling station that could inform the settlers of the arrival and departure of shipping from Williamstown. On 15 September of that year a flagstaff which resembled the mast of a ship was equipped with a device for hoisting a black ball. Just behind the Flagstaff, an octagonal building with windows in each wall was constructed to house the telescopes and signalling flags . This was later developed as an observatory. In 1841, a higher flagstaff was raised and a small cannon placed at its base. Upon the arrival of an important vessel the lookout would fire a shot. This was the signal for many of the shopkeepers of early Melbourne to clap up their shutters and rush as soon as possible to Sandrich ( Port Melbourne ) or meet on the Hill to gain the latest tidbits of gossip from home.

Flagstaff Hill was a favourite gathering place for settlers who strolled there in the evening, obtaining the latest shipping information and examining the temperature readings for the day. Governor LaTrobe was a frequent visitor.

 It was the site at which the proclamation of Victorian self-government was made on 11 November 1850. It was the area from which early settlers could view the bay, the Western District and the Great Dividing Range as well as the Dandenongs. According to legend the first Melbourne Cup race was run around this hill, and, at the time of the Eureka Stockade, it was the scene of radical protest. On a clear day the citizenry of Melbourne town could watch the ships on the bay, and look across to their neighbours at Williamstown. For some, this was the most historic view in Victoria, if not Australia.

Yet in Australia’s bicentennial year, 1988, the view was lost. It was not lost without a fight.

 Ray Nilsen:

 and his fellow members of the West Melbourne Action Group tried to prevent development which obliterated the view. The protesters succeeded in cutting a slice off a building so that a ‘tunnel’ view was saved. But in the 1990s the Kennett government permitted more high rise buildings and even that view was lost. All that remains is the lonely flagpole, dwarfed by city buildings.

The gardens are surrounded on two and a half sides by high rise city buildings. But the streetscape has been kept to two storeys on part of the King Street side. The historic St. James Old cathedral with its pepperpot tower nestles between the trees when you stand on the hill.

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This is where I will leave you as I walk down those steps, navigate King Street and enter the warm Georgian Old Cathedral. It helps that there is an organ there tht I can play.