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The Legal Precinct
William Street from the courts up to Flagstaff Gardens.
For thirty years, weekend trains ran straight past the station at the top of William Street. They stop there now, and the streets it serves are still the quietest in the grid: the Supreme, County and Magistrates' courts within a block of William and Lonsdale, the Victorian Bar's chambers across the road from them, and Melbourne's oldest park on the hill above.
The north-west quarter, kept by the courts: the Supreme Court's Law Courts building (erected 1874–84) anchors the corner of William and Lonsdale, with the County and Magistrates' courts within a block and barristers' chambers between them. The former Royal Mint (1871–72) stands on William Street; St James Old Cathedral, Melbourne's first permanent Anglican church, was re-erected opposite Flagstaff Gardens in 1914. Court hours, not retail, set the rhythm.
- Supreme Court Law Courts
- Erected 1874–84; Smith & Johnson. A square of eighty-five metres a side — the largest single-design court building in Australia.
- VHR H1514
- The Justice figure
- The bronze Justice above the William Street door is not blindfolded, and her scales rest on her knee.
- VHD
- Flagstaff Station
- The last City Loop station to open, in 1985; weekend trains first stopped on 1 January 2016.
- Premier of Victoria
- The Victorian Bar
- Owen Dixon Chambers East opened in October 1961 by Robert Menzies; the Bar's chambers company houses more than 1,300 barristers.
- Barristers' Chambers Ltd
- Flagstaff Hill
- The town's first colonial burial ground, 1836–37; the 1850 separation from New South Wales was announced from this hill with a bonfire.
- City of Melbourne
- Open court
- Hearings are public — the daily list is published each morning, and anyone can sit in the gallery.
- Supreme Court of Victoria
- St James Old Cathedral
- Melbourne's first permanent Anglican church, begun 1839; Robert Russell. Re-erected on King Street opposite Flagstaff Gardens, 1914.
- VHR H0011
Buildings to start with.
- 01Mitchell HouseArt Deco1937
- 02365 Little Bourke StreetVictorian Warehouse1887
- 031996
- 041995
- 05CentroModernist1968
- 06Equus (Melbourne Terrace Apartments)Postmodern1994
- 07Henty HouseInterwar Commercial Palazzo1924
- 08Republic TowerContemporary
- 09Temple CourtClassical Revival1924
The day belongs to the courts.
The Supreme, County and Magistrates' courts sit within a block of William and Lonsdale, and the Supreme has been at 210 William since its first sitting in February 1884 — a perfect square, eighty-five metres a side, and still the largest single-design court building in Australia. Across the road, Owen Dixon Chambers East was opened by Robert Menzies in October 1961, and the Bar's chambers company now houses more than 1,300 barristers. The day's hearing list goes up each morning. Anyone can sit at the back and watch.
The oldest park in the city.
Flagstaff Gardens has been public since 1862, which makes it Melbourne's oldest park, and it was the town's first colonial burial ground before that, in 1836. The flagstaff that gave it the name went up in 1840 to signal ships coming in to Williamstown, and it was from this hill, in 1850, that separation from New South Wales was announced by lighting a bonfire. Clement Hodgkinson laid it out in 1865 — elm avenues, Moreton Bay figs — and the bowls club, the netball courts and the barbecues came later. It is two blocks north of the Supreme Court.
