Australia

Melbourne

Melbourne's magnificent Princess Theatre holds a distinction that few entertainment venues can claim: it's the oldest surviving entertainment site on mainland Australia, with roots stretching back to 1854 when the gold rush was at its wildest. The original building was a rough-and-ready affair called Astley's Amphitheatre, built by entertainment entrepreneur Tom Mooney to cash in on the flood of miners looking for excitement after long days in the goldfields. The transformation came in 1886 when architect William Pitt rebuilt the theatre in the lavish Second Empire style, creating the stunning building that still turns heads today. Pitt was ahead of his time: the Princess Theatre featured the world's first sliding ceiling, a revolutionary mechanism that could roll back to create an open-air effect, bringing the night sky into the auditorium. The theatre also pioneered state-of-the-art electric lighting, making it one of the most technologically advanced entertainment venues of its era. The ornate facade, with its mansard roof, decorative ironwork, and grand entrance, captures the confidence and wealth of 1880s Melbourne, when the city was called "Marvellous Melbourne" for good reason. Local legend says the ghost of baritone Frederick Baker, who died during a performance in 1888, still haunts the theatre. Questo's Melbourne performing arts trail brings you to this gorgeous survivor where gold-rush entertainment evolved into world-class theatre.

The Princess Theatre

When construction began on Melbourne's Parliament House in 1855, the gold rush was transforming Victoria into one of the wealthiest places on Earth, and the colonists decided their government deserved a building to match. Designed by Peter Kerr and John George Knight in the Roman Revival style, Parliament House held its first session on November 25, 1856 and immediately established itself as one of Australia's most significant buildings. Built in stages using bluestone, the building grew grander with each addition, culminating in the impressive west front completed in 1892 in Stawell stone. Colonial observers called it "the most significant building in Australia," and it's hard to argue with that assessment. There's one feature that gives Parliament House an unexpected charm: the dome that appears in the original plans was never built. Whether by design, budget constraints, or changing priorities, Melbourne's parliament sits proudly without its intended crowning glory, making it one of Australia's most magnificent unfinished buildings. The interior is equally impressive, with lavish use of marble, gold leaf, and carved timber that reflects the astonishing wealth of gold-rush Melbourne. The building even served as the seat of the Commonwealth Parliament from 1901 to 1927, hosting the birth of Australian democracy at the national level. Questo's Melbourne governance trail brings you to these grand steps where Victoria's gold built a temple to democracy.

Parliament House

Before the Waldorf Astoria, before Raffles, before the Ritz, and before the Savoy, there was the Hotel Windsor. Melbourne's only surviving purpose-built "grand" Victorian hotel has been holding court on Spring Street since 1883, when it was constructed for George Nipper and designed by architect Charles Webb as the Grand Hotel. The story takes a surprising temperance twist in 1886, when the hotel was converted into a liquor-free establishment and renamed the Grand Coffee Palace, reflecting the powerful temperance movement that swept through Victorian society. Imagine a grand hotel where champagne was replaced by coffee and moral improvement. The current name arrived in 1920 when the hotel dropped its teetotal pretensions and became the Windsor Hotel, embracing a more relaxed attitude to hospitality. Affectionately known as the "Duchess of Spring Street," the hotel has hosted prime ministers, international dignitaries, and cultural figures throughout its long history. The building's Victorian grandeur is unmistakable: ornate plasterwork, grand staircases, and the kind of generous proportions that hotels simply don't build anymore. Its location directly opposite Parliament House means it has been the unofficial living room of Melbourne's political establishment for well over a century. Questo's Melbourne heritage trail stops at this grande dame where Victoria's temperance movement and Melbourne's love of luxury created one of the world's most characterful hotels.

Hotel Windsor

Every great cultural movement needs a birthplace, and Melbourne's legendary laneway bar scene started right here in Meyers Place in 1994. Originally known as Nicholas Lane, this narrow passage is one of the CBD's oldest laneways, and it became ground zero for one of the most significant shifts in Australian hospitality culture. The first laneway bar in Melbourne was created here by Six Degrees Architects on a shoestring budget of just $30,000, with much of the fit-out built from materials scavenged from dumpsters. What made this possible was a 1994 law change that allowed bars to operate without serving food, breaking the old requirement that had kept Melbourne's drinking culture tied to traditional pubs and restaurants. The result was revolutionary. Meyers Place Bar won the 1995 Merit Award and the inaugural Melbourne Prize in 1997, signalling that the city's cultural establishment recognized something genuinely new was happening. From this tiny, scrappy beginning, an entire industry blossomed: the Melbourne laneway bar culture that would transform abandoned alleys across the CBD into one of the world's most celebrated bar scenes. Every speakeasy-style door, every hole-in-the-wall cocktail bar, every hidden rooftop drinking spot in Melbourne owes a debt to this pioneering laneway. Questo's Melbourne bar culture trail starts at the spot where it all began, a narrow passage that changed how an entire city drinks.

Meyers Place

Behind its striking Art Deco facade on Exhibition Street, Her Majesty's Theatre holds a story of fire, reinvention, and theatrical resilience. Originally opened as the Alexandra Theatre on October 1, 1886, it was renamed by the legendary J.C. Williamson Ltd in 1900 in honour of Queen Victoria. For decades, the theatre was one of Melbourne's premier entertainment venues, hosting everything from grand opera to vaudeville. Then came the devastating fire of 1929, which gutted the interior and left only the outer walls standing. Rather than demolishing and starting over, Melbourne rebuilt. The current interior, completed in 1934, was designed by C.N. Hollinshead and Albion Walkley in a gorgeous Art Deco style at a cost of 60,000 pounds. The architects incorporated innovations that were revolutionary for the time: an integrated heating and cooling system and humidity control that kept audiences comfortable regardless of the season. This attention to audience comfort, combined with the sweeping Art Deco curves, metallic finishes, and geometric patterns of the 1934 interior, created a theatre that was both technically advanced and visually stunning. Heritage-listed for its significance in Melbourne's cultural history, Her Majesty's continues to host major touring productions. Questo's Melbourne theatre trail includes this phoenix of a venue where destruction became an opportunity for reinvention.

Her Majesty's Theatre

Chinatown

On October 1, 2004, the Lord Mayor of Melbourne stood in a grimy city laneway and declared: "Highway to Hell? This is a laneway to heaven!" With that, Corporation Lane was officially renamed AC/DC Lane, making Melbourne one of the few cities in the world to name a street after a rock band. The tribute honours the legendary rock group who formed in Sydney but cut their teeth performing in Melbourne's pubs and clubs during the 1970s. What makes AC/DC Lane unique among Melbourne's famous laneways is its free-for-all approach to street art: it's the only location in the city where artists can paint without requiring a permit, resulting in an ever-changing gallery of graffiti, murals, and artistic expressions that cover every available surface. A lightning bolt symbol added by the artist known as Knifey has become one of the lane's most photographed features. In March 2018, a sculpture of Bon Scott, AC/DC's original lead singer, was created by artist Mike Makatron, adding a permanent tribute to the band's wild frontman. Artist Fintan Magee, sometimes called the "Australian Banksy," contributed a stunning four-storey mural that dominates one end of the lane. Questo's Melbourne street art adventures always rock through AC/DC Lane, where the spirit of rebellion and creativity thunders on.

AC/DC Lane Graffiti

Here's a fact that astonishes most visitors: the quaint stone cottage sitting in Melbourne's Fitzroy Gardens was built in 1755 in the English village of Great Ayton, Yorkshire, over 16,000 kilometres away from where it stands today. And here's the twist: it wasn't actually Captain Cook's house. It was the home of his parents, James and Grace Cook, though young James almost certainly visited. The extraordinary story of how it got to Melbourne begins with Sir Russell Grimwade, who purchased the cottage in 1934 and had it carefully deconstructed brick by brick, packed into 253 cases and 40 barrels, shipped from Hull to Melbourne, and reassembled in Fitzroy Gardens as a gift for Melbourne's centenary celebrations. The logistics alone are staggering: every stone, every timber, every roof tile was numbered, catalogued, and transported halfway around the world before being put back together in its new home. The cottage is now one of Melbourne's most visited attractions, a tangible connection to the 18th-century English village life that Captain Cook grew up around before his voyages changed the map of the world. The surrounding Fitzroy Gardens, with their elm-lined avenues and English-style plantings, provide the perfect setting for a building that was literally transplanted from the English countryside. Questo's Melbourne heritage trail brings you to this remarkable cottage where Yorkshire stone meets Australian soil.

Cook's Cottage

Deep in the leafy pathways of Fitzroy Gardens, a tree stump has been home to an enchanted community of gnomes, fairies, koalas, and flying foxes since the early 1930s. The Faeries Tree was carved by sculptor Ola Cohn between 1931 and 1934, transforming the stump of a Red Gum tree into a magical tableau of Australian and European folklore creatures living together in wooden harmony. Cohn was so inspired by her creation that she wrote a children's book called "The Fairies Tree," bringing the carved characters to life in illustrated stories that delighted young readers. The level of detail in the carvings is remarkable: tiny faces peer from behind bark, miniature doors suggest hidden homes within the trunk, and Australian native animals mingle with traditional European fairy folk in a cross-cultural fantasy world. In the 1970s, when the aging stump showed signs of decay, the trunk was carefully extracted and chemically preserved to protect Cohn's delicate carvings from further deterioration. Today, the tree sits on a concrete base with a protective fence, a necessary compromise between preservation and the desire of every child who visits to reach out and touch the fairy doors. The Faeries Tree has been delighting Melbourne families for nearly a century, creating a tradition where parents bring their children to discover the same magical creatures they found as kids. Questo's Fitzroy Gardens trail leads you to this whimsical treasure where imagination carved itself into wood.

The Faeries Tree

Larry La Trobe

St Paul’s Cathedral

St Paul's Cathedral 

Federation Square

"I'll meet you under the clocks" is Melbourne's most famous phrase, and the clocks in question hang above the entrance of Flinders Street Station, Australia's first city railway station. Opened on September 12, 1854, this is where Australia's first steam train made its inaugural journey, a moment that changed the nation's transport history forever. But the building most Melburnians love was completed much later: the current station was designed by James Fawcett and H.P.C. Ashworth, with construction beginning in 1901. Their vision combined French Renaissance and Romanesque styling with Art Nouveau touches, creating the distinctive domed, arched, and ochre-coloured facade that has become Melbourne's most recognizable landmark. The row of indicator clocks above the main entrance, each showing the next departure time for different lines, has been the city's favourite meeting point for over a century. Heritage-listed since 1982, Flinders Street Station handles more than 110,000 passengers daily, making it one of Australia's busiest transport hubs. The copper dome, the grand ballroom upstairs (yes, there's a ballroom in a train station), and the ornate ironwork all speak to an era when public buildings were designed to inspire civic pride. Questo's Melbourne trails begin at this beloved landmark where the phrase "under the clocks" means everyone knows exactly where to find you.

Flinders Street Station

Cashmore On Collins

Queen Victoria Market

MCC Museum and MCG Tours

La Mama HQ

Sir Donald Bradman Statue

In Parliament Gardens, a gleaming stainless-steel fountain invites you to do something unusual: step inside it. Created by sculptor Robert Woodward and gifted by the G.J. Coles company, the Coles Fountain was opened on November 27, 1981 by Premier Thomson, and its innovative C-shaped design allows visitors to walk right into the centre and be completely encircled by cascading water. It's one of those rare public artworks that doesn't just ask you to look but to participate, and watching people's faces as water arcs overhead from every direction never gets old. Woodward designed the fountain as an interactive experience, understanding that the best public art creates moments of joy and surprise. The C-shaped stainless-steel structure catches the light beautifully, creating patterns that shift with the sun's position and the breeze's direction. Children are especially drawn to the fountain's playful nature, earning it a reputation as one of Melbourne's most family-friendly public artworks. In 2011, the fountain was refurbished to use recycled water, bringing a modern environmental consciousness to a design that was already ahead of its time. The surrounding Parliament Gardens provide the perfect setting: green, peaceful, and just far enough from the city's bustle to make the sound of cascading water feel restorative. Questo's Melbourne garden trail includes this interactive gem where art and water create pure delight.

<ul><li>Dynamic Water Display: Features an array of water patterns that are both unpredictable and captivating, designed to mimic natural water flow.</li><li>Nighttime Illumination: At night, the fountain is lit up with vibrant lights that enhance the visual spectacle and draw attention to its fluid dynamics.</li><li>Urban Oasis: Provides a serene spot for city dwellers and tourists to pause and enjoy a moment of tranquility amidst their busy day.</li></ul>

A Splash of Art: Coles Fountain

Walls That Speak: Melbourne's Street Art

Experience the Coles Fountain in Melbourne's Parliament Gardens, a C-shaped stainless-steel sculpture by Robert Woodward from 1981 that you can walk inside.

Coles Fountain, Melbourne — Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

O Coles Fountain

Plan Your Visit

Explore Coles Fountain with a Questo quest