The hidden stories of Flagstaff Gardens

[@philipmallis]

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[@RPI79]

Huge Melbourne history nerd here, you absolutely need to bring out that video on the 1850 separation. I've taken the Melbourne Ghost tour twice over the years, and they love telling you how many bodies were left behind underneath the Vic Market carpark while you're standing in the carpark during the tour. Great vid. Keep 'em coming.

[@andrewwestcott9172]

Good job again Philip. I hope your separation day video gets into the detail of why Victorians were so pleased, and the reactions of New South Welshmen. It's interesting that less than a lifetime later both were prepared to federate.

[@philipmallis]

Thank you very much, and it certainly will! It's a very interesting story with a lot of background

[@james7149]

Always a good day when a new Phillip Mallis video is released! So interesting and well done.👏

[@philipmallis]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@spankywestern940]

That Bloke's a genius! Bucket full of brass filings, get the hole dug for my pool over night. Hahahaha. Cheers

[@wallypoffle7796]

Outstanding research Philip. You bring Melbourne back to life !

[@jasonschubert6828]

Somebody has to! 😄

[@presidentxijinpingspoxdoct9756]

You mentioned the Iron houses, of which, I believe three still exist in South Melbourne. That could make for an interesting video.

[@philipmallis]

Yes good idea, and I think there's still one in Collingwood somewhere as well.

[@vsvnrg3263]

that picture is of south melbourne houses, probably patterson street. ive seen it before, many times.

[@charlie-jay]

We need to bring back Separation Day celebrations!

[@sentimentalbloke185]

Activists poisoned the separation tree in the Botanical Gardens a few years back, everyone seem happy or indifferent to this act. No hope of celebrating anything to do with colonialism in this day & age.

[@sergeant5848]

@@sentimentalbloke185 Every movement starts small. It might take 50 years but if we don't start it, it will never happen!

[@mattbowd]

I used to work in La Trobe street, directly across from the gardens, great place for lunch on sunny days! Great to learn about the history of Flagstaff Gardens :)

[@Bobman84]

Used to enjoy lunch here as I went to TAFE across the road many years ago. A historical place, but a nice retreat from the city hustle and bustle.

[@MrSh8ky]

Brilliant…thank you from an appreciative Melbournian.😊

[@anthonyyyyyyy258]

7:21 The building on the SE corner of King and La Trobe streets is still there today :)

[@austingreenough6396]

@@anthonyyyyyyy258 That building you are referring to is my solicitor office. Wonderful old building and has it's own history. In it's day it also had a tunnel to flagstaff gardens. I think he mentioned that originally it was an merchant building Absolutely gorgeous building Another piece in the puzzle.

[@jasonschubert6828]

I honestly couldn't get my bearings in the "Flagstaff Gardens looking north, 1938" image at 7:26 until I realised that the image is flipped horizontally! "Glad" to hear that Melbourne's track record of destroying historic items when they are being removed goes back almost as far as its history.

[@philipmallis]

I also couldn't get my bearings staring at it for 20 minutes - now that makes sense that it's been flipped! It's the way that it's shown on the State Library's website where I found the image, it really threw me off: handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/4191355

[@frankbanks7549]

Philip, I've lived in Adelaide since 1983, but got to know my birth Capital a good bit when I attended RMIT in the late 1970's. I grew up just outside Melbourne at Research. I have subscribed and will pillage your back catalogue

[@philipmallis]

Thanks very much, glad to hear you're enjoying the videos!

[@marksc111]

Thank you for this! Flagstaff gardens is my favourite city park. I had a nice view of it from the balcony of my spencer st apartment, where I lived for over 10 years. In that time I came to think of it as my back yard (well, mine and dozens of other city residents).

[@StevenHateley-hx2xd]

Hi Philip, just thought I would pass on a couple of ideas for your channel, 1.Ascot Vale, has a long history with the Showgrounds, commission flats (soon to be knocked down), the old four & twenty pie factory etc. 2. St.Kilda Road police cadet academy that ended shifting to Spencer Street (Savoy Plaza), the old police hospital 9which was the only one in the world for police only, the building still stands. hope this helps. P.S. may have the odd pic laying around.

[@philipmallis]

Great ideas, thanks very much!

[@octurn]

Of course, New South Wales had a 5 day holiday on Seperation Day. And what's with it with this 11th of November? Ned Kelly gets hung, Armistice Day, Gough gets dismissed & now Seperation Day!

[@andyh5666]

😂

[@SciFiAddict189]

They just love 11/11. Though none of the above were 11/11/xx11 unfortunately.

[@TonyRuth-o2b]

Another great and informative video Philip.

[@philipmallis]

Glad you enjoyed it, thank you!

[@squishyhippie4059]

Bring back 4 day public holidays :-)

[@philipwatersdeaf]

Haha yes. But who should we separate from this time??

[@squishyhippie4059]

@@philipwatersdeaf Could be a 4 day public holiday to stop a separation lol

[@RPI79]

​@@philipwatersdeaf Geelong would be a start!

[@JohnBloggs-m8l]

Haha yeah very Australian, Ive always said Australia is the only country where out of 365 days per year at least half of them are bloody public holidays. We'd make a public holiday for anything in this country.

[@evelynharber6077]

Retail really don't get public holidays now. Retails works almost every day. Public holidays are only for the white collar workers and most factories but as said not retail!

[@icascone]

Interessting as always! Also look forward to hear more about separation days as I never learned in school!! Also really understand the rivalry now!

[@christopherharvie8716]

No mention of the relocation of Batman Hill that filled in source of the stream that formed the valley that Elizabeth St runs down?

[@Gort58]

Thanks for the video. Regarding the old cemetery, late last year I had a chat with one of the staff members in the front office of Melbourne General Cemetery in Parkville, and it seems that many of the marked graves were relocated there. However, it seems that many of the unmarked graves were left in place, and currently sit beneath the QVM carpark. If true, this would require some careful consideration for future plans to redevlop that site.

[@melbournegirl7]

Our history is not taught to us. We should all know this about our state. Love your videos.

[@StevenRyan-d1w]

With regards to the use of the flagstaff to communicate with ships in the bay, when 383 King St was built in 1990’s, its design was required to allow a continuation of the views from Flagstaff Hill through to the bay. This is the reason the southern side of that building is at a 45 degree angle to the rest of the building, so that the bay could still be seen from the sight of the original flagstaff (and vice versa). Unfortunately, the development of the western part of the CBD over the last 2 decades means the intention of maintaining that historic view has now been lost due to the many tall towers built along that line of sight.

[@justanaverageguy1351]

7:45 Proof, even way back then, we had Ye Old Karens!

[@kerrieannebaker8595]

where would we be without us ?

[@richardweston4493]

My grandfather, Evan Harold Edward Weston, lived and worked in Flagstaff Gardens before during and after WW2. His nickname was Flaggy and was also a local Justice of the Peace. We have many written stories and tales from my family during these times. My father Eric Edward Weston, grew up here and they would shoot at the possums in the trees until one day a high ranking policeman, an acquaintance of my grandfather, knocked on the door and said that some of the stray bullets were making their way up on to the roof of the law courts!!

[@philipmallis]

That's a wonderful story, thanks for sharing!

[@richardweston4493]

@@philipmallis You’re welcome, thanks for making these terrific vids. My grandfather was also somewhat of a gatekeeper at Camp Pell; one your other vids i recently enjoyed. Thanks again, all the best with the channel 👍🏼

[@paul4199-e7e]

Image of Flagstaff Garden looking North 1938 is back to front. Great video though, very informative. Thanks

[@Brunobull234]

Can you do a story on the Longford Gas explosion and the impacts it had on the state of Victoria?

[@David_Griffin]

The image at 7:30 looking north is mirrord for anyone that's confused.

[@pearsonator123]

What program do you edit with Phillip? Love the simplicity of your videos

[@Noosa21]

Ive taken my social group several times thru Flagstaff Gardens in my North Melbourne history walks.

[@CentreHalfBack]

Flagstaff Hill had a timeball? I thought that the Timeball tower in Williamstown had the time ball, and Flagstaff Hill looked across to Williamstown, and that time ball drop, it then changed/lowered a flag...

[@CityBeatEntertainme5]

"It was not until the Flagstaff Observatory was set up by Georg Neumayer in 1958 that a telescope was used to observe the time ball drop at Williamstown. From 1854, time balls in the city were dropped by telegraphic signal from Williamstown Observatory using the first telegraph line in the southern hemisphere". - Is in a comment under a State Library of Victoria Blog. That Article is titled Telling time in Early Melbourne, if you wish to look at it. As there's a both a plaque & the replica flagstaff at Flagstaff Gardens that commemorates the history & importance of The Flagstaff there, & there's no info board or plaque with mention of any timeball, I didn't know there was one. Maybe I just missed a info board re that, or forgotten I seen it, but Phillip's mention of a timeball at Flagstaff Hill is first time I've heard of one, & I'm very familiar with history of Flagstaff Gardens, the Flagstaff, & that Cemetery which did become a proper cemetery albeit small but there were shrubs & small trees around it, & some proper gravestones. There's a photo on SLV, & while it doesn't show the cemetery clearly, it does show a path leading to an iron picket style fence

[@CityBeatEntertainme5]

BUT & Yet: By August 1853 the Williamstown Observatory was providing a time service at 1pm each day, by dropping timeballs erected on a flagstaff at Gellibrand's Point, Williamstown, and another at Flagstaff Hill in Melbourne. MelbourneMusems article: 'Melbourne Observatory & Standard Time in Victoria'.

[@philipmallis]

Yes it seems they both did! From the Victorian Heritage Council citation: "In 1840 a flagstaff and signal station were established on the hill. Different coloured flags were displayed to announce the arrival and departure of ships as well as their country of origin. A yellow and a blue and white pennant for example would indicate that a ship was from South Australia. Most Melburnians knew the meaning of at least twenty different flags (blainey). In addition there was a ball that was placed on different parts of a yard to indicate whether the arriving vessel was a ship, barque, schooner or steamer. A time ball was also used to indicate midday." vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/1841 There are other references to it, including this 1933 retrospective article from The Argus: nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4521938

[@a7128]

The photo at 7:28 is inverted

[@romanr9977]

Thank you, I was wondering why the QV market was on the left!

[@philipmallis]

Thanks yes I was also very confused by this photo - that certainly explains it! It threw me off because that's the orientation shown on the State Library website: handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/4191355

[@denisegore1884]

We used to feed the possums there at night in 1988. I may have pics of that somewhere. The possums especially enjoyed raw peanuts and would gently take them from our fingers.

[@Dbriskit]

Nice Video mate - very enjoyable/informative. Always found Flagstaff a little mysterious. Growing up east of the city, it just wasn't on our itinerary any where near as much as places like the Fitzroy or Botanical Gardens. If I could offer some constructive criticism: I felt like the program could have benefited from a pause for breath somewhere in there. The quantity of high quality information was just a little too much to all be delivered in one constant stream. Otherwise - top marks all around.

[@philipmallis]

Sure thanks very much :) I'll keep that in mind when making future videos

[@soutarm]

Flag! Staff! *mind blown*

[@MelbourneGardensAus]

As far as I know the bodies buried are still there. Unless you have some record of them being removed??

[@hypercomms2001]

Excellent, I do look forward to your videos. Thank you

[@philipmallis]

Glad you like them, thank you!

[@gavanwhatever8196]

Three of the buildings at 7:22 still exist. 330, 347-349, and 351-355 King Street.

[@orgillmathew]

I thought they stopped using flaggstaff ibecause of Telegraph which moved to William street.

[@TimChuma]

There were pictorial front pages in the 1870s but they were woodcut/linocuts. The usual stuff like people being run down by a cow, women stopping burglary and a knife fight on the street.

[@sentimentalbloke185]

Interesting stuff, Philip. Have you done a video on the Old Melbourne Cemetery? It's a fascinating story: it was interesting in recent discussions on the redevelopment proposal for Vic market that the issue of the thousands of bodies buried under the site was little mentioned. Also, being pedantic, the word is interred not interned when talking about burial.

[@philipmallis]

Thank you! And yes that's a good topic, there's certainly a lot to cover there

[@jonatmelbourne7239]

Thank you - an excellent video

[@philipmallis]

You are very welcome!

[@MrJaz8088]

Vic market was a Cemetery too

[@romanr9977]

Thank you for this informative post. I worked opposite for many years and appreciate the photos I’ve never seen such as the one with the classical statues. Pity they were removed. I note in that photo in the middle right a building with an iron awning. The building remains to this day as is. It’s long been a cafe catering to office workers. Question: would you know where the original signal station was located ? And the observatory ?

[@philipmallis]

Thank you very much! The original signal station was located right next to the summit of Flagstaff Hill - where the memorial is today on the western side of the Gardens. The observatory took over the same site and even reused some of the old structures I think.

[@PiersLortPhillips]

Wonderful. Thanks, mate

[@redjjj213]

Great video thank you

[@philipmallis]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@MrJaz8088]

Quarry's of Melbourne would be a Good Topic In 1974 i lived in Dennis St Northcote across the road was the quarry, later i lived near Sunshine Quarry

[@GeoffFav]

great story thx

[@Cheesychicken98]

Awesome!

[@aussiegooner]

We should be making a much bigger deal about Separation Day.

[@ZiiiiingBANG]

Photo at 7.27 is inversed.

[@andrewstrongman305]

If the 7 graves were relocated, there's no valid reason to leave a large memorial in the Gardens when a small plaque would better reflect such historical trivia.

[@colinross6259]

Thanks.

[@vascoemyer]

[@jaxwhyland]

The possums at flagstaff Gardens are free, you can just take them

[@Shapuranushirvani]

There's more "hidden stories "at Flagstaff gardens then you'll ever reliaze or know about dude 😂

[@williamtran4727]

yoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo