Regional Rail Link

Work on Regional Rail Link was well underway, with the new flyover outside Fotscray taking shape to carry the new tracks over the Werribee line.

And the cutting closer to Footscray was being widened for the extra tracks.

The new suburban platforms were also taking shape at Footscray station.

And the existing footbridge was being extended north over the future tracks.

The bridge over the low level goods lines was also being widened.

With the rail alignment outside Sunshine also ready for the extra tracks.

While at the stalled Caroline Springs station site, work had restarted – but it was only a road deviation due to RRL related road closures.

The final stage of Regional Rail Link opened in June 2016, but Caroline Springs station had to wait – it finally opened to passengers in January 2017.

And off to Ballarat

I went on a trip to Ballarat onboard a 80 year old diesel railcar.

Along the way we had to give way to some far more modern trains.

Before our arrival into Ballarat.

But there is one thing that hasn’t changed in 80 years – the diesel exhaust belching into the air at Southern Cross Station.

Protective Services Officers

Melbourne’s first group of Protective Services Officers were deployed in February 2012 to Flinders Street and Southern Cross stations, with the roll out ramping up soon after.

The limiting factor on their deployment – providing a prison cell at every railway station.

Ding ding!

A decade ago there were no accessible tram stops or low floor trams running along Elizabeth Street in the Melbourne CBD.

But there was some progress being made – the tram tracks along Elizabeth Street were being relaid.

And Yarra Trams was using their new ‘kletterweichen’ (‘climbing turnout’) to allow trams to terminate short of the works, rather than forcing passengers to walk from the nearest permanent crossover.

However the new crossover still had some teething issues, as the first tram to pass over it derailed!

Yarra Trams having to send their heavy recovery vehicle to the site, to pull the tram back onto the rails.

Meanwhile over on Swanston Street, dimwitted motorists were getting confused by the new platform stops – driving through the bike lanes.

While out at Ascot Vale motorists were inflicting more damage, this driver having impaled their ute on five metres of safety zone fence.

So what was the solution that Yarra Trams has been applying across the network?

Closing tram stops.

“A recent review by Yarra Trams and Public Transport Victoria of the environment and layout at these stops has identified an increased safety risk to passengers and pedestrians. A number of improvement strategies have been trialled with minimal success”

And on the tram stops that remain – hiding network maps behind advertising slogans.

Buses

A decade ago City Sightseeing Melbourne was running a hop-on hop-off bus services around Melbourne using a fleet of open top double deck buses.

The service was a victim of the Covid-19 pandemic, and is yet to restart operations

Another competing tourist service was the Melbourne Free Visitor Shuttle.

It was discontinued in 2017 after years of declining patronage.

Meanwhile out in Footscray, I found a colourful arrangement of Westrans, Sita and Melbourne Bus Link buses running route services.

Today they’re operated by CDC Melbourne, Transit Systems Victoria and Kinetic Melbourne, and the orange PTV livery has replaced that of the private operators.

Myki

Myki had taken over as the only ticketing system in Melbourne, with Metcard ticket machines pulled out of trams, and replaced by an extra seat.

But the reliability of the new system was somewhat lacking – I found this stack trace for ‘log4net‘ displayed on this Myki reader.

And the rest

Remember Melbourne Bike Share?

It ceased operations in November 2019.

Meanwhile over at 447 Collins Street, work was underway to reinforce the failing facade.

The marble facade panels being removed from the lower floors to avoid any further pieces falling to earth.

But it was only a temporary fix – the entire tower was demolished in 2015, with the ‘pantscraper’ known as ‘Collins Arch‘ completed on the site in 2020.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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Completed in 1965 as ‘National Mutual Plaza’, the building made it into the new in January 2012, when a granite panel on the northern facade fell 10 storeys to the plaza below.

I first found a reference to the rooftop restaurant in the May 22, 1970 edition of The Age, in an advertisement sitting beside the newspaper masthead.

The name of the restaurant was ‘Top of the Town’ – not to be confused with the current day ‘establishment’ down the seedy end of Flinders Street!

I’m not sure of the exact opening date, but on the eve of Melbourne Cup Day 1964, the brand new restaurant hosted a fundraising dinner dance that was organised by Edith Bolte, wife of then-Premier Henry Bolte.

Top of the Town emphasised the breathtaking views to be found from the restaurant, such as this advertisement in the dining out guide of The Age – dated February 18, 1969.

These photos by Lyle Fowler show the view soon after the completion of the National Mutual Centre in 1965.

Photo by Lyle Fowler, SLV collection. Accession No: H92.20/7649. Image No: a44461

Photo by Lyle Fowler, SLV collection. Accession No: H92.20/7651. Image No: a44463

By the time the 1970s rolled around, the name of the restaurant appears to have changed – this advertisement from the May 9, 1972 edition of The Age features three restaurants at the top of the town – ‘Nip-In’, ‘Boardroom’ and ‘Pamplemousse’ as well as ‘new decor and design’.

This advertisement for an executive chef dated July 17, 1970 has the restaurant still named ‘Top of the Town’.

Eventually the ‘Pamplemousse’ name stuck, as did the Johnny Edwards Trio: I found this advertisement from 9 November 1979, as well as this one from 30 December 1980:

From there the trail dries up: I found a final advertisement dated May 12, 1981 – then a dead end. The Google News archive of The Age itself ends at December 1989, but the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Does anyone out there know when the Pamplemousse restaurant closed?

Footnote

Here is the Google Maps satellite view of the rooftop of 447 Collins Street – there doesn’t seem to be much up there other than air conditioning chiller units and plant rooms. Maybe the restaurant was on the top floor of the office section?

More clues

In March 2012 architectural historian Miles Lewis completed a report on the National Mutual Centre for the City of Melbourne. In it, he cites the following from a contemporary description of the building:

To keep the plaza alive when the office crowds are gone, there will be
out-of-hours use of the theatrette, squash courts, observation deck and roof-top restaurant; and, although a little out of the way for general pedestrian use, the fountain will provide a spectacle worth visiting. …

Architectural historian Peter Andrew Barrett also had this to say in a Facebook post dated June 2014:

Internally the building had squash courts in the roof space (where the signage is), and on the top floor was the upmarket Pamplemousse Restaurant. Diners in the 1960s and 70s at the restaurant could step out on to the balcony after their meals and enjoy the expansive views the building provided.

I wonder if there are any interior photos of the restaurant and rooftop squash courts out there?

Restaurant menu (via Theo K)

Down in the comments section Theo K mentioned they had a copy of the Pamplemousse menu at home – here it is.

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One of around 1,200 panels that clad the building, thankfully no one was injured when it fell to earth around 11am, with the plaza being relatively empty at this time of the morning. This photo below (by Andy Park of The Age) shows the resulting rubble that covered a large area of the plaza, the panel having been propelled away from the wall on impact with the balustrade on the level below.

Photo by Andy Park of The Age, January 31 2012

In the aftermath of the fall the City of Melbourne issued an Emergency Order requiring the surrounding pedestrian areas to be cordoned off.

Within a few days temporary fencing had been erected along the footpaths surrounding the entire building – occupying the city block bounded by Collins Street, William Street, Flinders Lane, and Market Street.

With the main entrance on Collins Street closed, all tenants of 447 Collins Street have had to access the building via the Market Street carpark driveway.

The Emergency Order also required a structural engineer to inspect the building to determine what remedial works may be needed. From February 1st abseilers were inspecting the side of the building, checking up on each of the facade panels to see if any more were loose.

Along the Flinders Lane frontage much more intensive work has been undertaken, with all of the exterior windows being covered with plywood sheets.

With the windows here being flush with the marble panels, the workers have been gaining access to the facade with scissor lifts, bolting ‘top hat’ steel channel running between the vertical window mullions, which provides a base for the plywood.

I’m not sure what purpose the plywood is intending to achieve, but a number of marble panels on the Flinders Lane frontage have been removed. Perhaps they don’t want the abseilers bashing their feet on the windows all day?

By February 10 some remedial work has also commenced on the upper levels of the building, with scaffolding being bolted over a selection of facade panels, presumably to hold them in place after the inspection works found they were loose.

Access to the panels on the upper levels is achieved in two ways: workers walking along the exterior balconies, and abseilers handing down from the roof.

Two weeks after the panel fell, I am now wondering how long the rectification works will take, and whether more permanent gantries will be erected over the surrounding footpaths to restore a bit of normality to the area.

Further reading

• Tenants yet to get compensation guidance after emergency closure of Collins Street office building, an article from ‘Property Observer’ by Alistair Walsh.

June 2012 update!

The 22 June 2012 edition of The Age had an article titled ‘Sky-high cost for falling marble facade. It now appears that the rectification works have been completed, with about 40 per cent of the facade now clamped to the building to avoid further marble panels falling. In addition tenants have been slowly moving out of the building, with the last to leave by mid-2013, allowing the owner ‘Industry Super Property Trust’ to carry out permanent repair works without disruption.

May 2013 update!

It appears that the permanent repair works are the installation of steel mesh sheets to each of the marble panels, in order to contain any future loose debris. Work has started on the north-west corner of the building.

February 2014 update!

Two years on, and it looks like demolition awaits the building:

The owners of the former Suncorp office building on Collins Street have applied for a permit to destroy the 27-storey tower, which has sat empty since 2012 when slab of the building smashed to the ground of the forecourt.

A council report to be tabled next week has called for the permit to be approved, despite the fact they have previously recommended the site for heritage protection. That advice was rejected by Planning Minister Matthew Guy last year, subject to further review.

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It’s the intro to a Channel 9 newsbreak, with the sponsor being National Mutual. The full name of the company was “The National Mutual Life Association of Australasia” and as a mutual insurance company, they had no shareholders, being entirely owned entirely by their policyholders.

The company was formed in 1869 by actuary John Montgomery Templeton, and was continually headquartered in Melbourne, with their final head office being National Mutual Plaza at 447 Collins Street. Construction commenced in 1960 on the 24 story tower, built in International style with an open plaza to Collins Street, a 3-story podium to Flinders Lane, and wrap-around balconies and marble clad finishes to the exterior walls.

As well as their office building dating, by the 1990s the concept of policyholders owning a company was also becoming old hat in the eyes of some. Many financial wizards pushed mutual insurers to “demutualise” – offering policyholders cash or shares in the company, allowing it to be listed on the share market. The list of Australian companies that have demutualised is long, and contains many familiar names:

1. AMP Limited
2. Colonial Mutual
3. NRMA Insurance
4. St.George Bank

National Mutual was demutualised in 1996, with French firm AXA purchasing 51 percent of the shares, and renaming the company to AXA Asia Pacific in 1999. The new company remained in their Collins Street building until 2009 when they moved into a new building at Docklands. Today National Mutual Plaza is occupied by another insurance company: Suncorp.

You can find a longer history of the company in this article on “The AXA Collection” held by the University of Melbolurne.

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