Institute of Public Affairs

Bank Place is a street in Melbourne, Australia. It is a laneway running roughly north-south between Collins Street and Little Collins Street in the central business district. Located in the heart of the financial sector, Bank Place features many pre-war buildings dating from the 1860s through to the 1920s. The precinct is subject to heritage restrictions and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. Bank Place is home to several bars, cafes and eateries that serve many of the nearby office workers. Many of the taller heritage buildings have been converted into loft style apartments. The lane also includes several ornate heritage lamp posts and bluestone alleys.

Melbourne Savage Club is a private Australian gentlemen's club founded in 1894 and named after the poet, Richard Savage. Bohemian in spirit, the club was to bring together literary men, and those immediately connected or sympathising with literature, the arts, sport or science. Its membership is particularly secretive with a strong code of silence; members are traditionally the elite or 'savages' in the arts, business and politics. Travelling savages enjoy good fellowship through reciprocal arrangements with other private clubs throughout the world.

The Netherlands Indies Government Information Service (NIGIS) was a civil secret service and propaganda organisation based in Australia, during and after World War II. NIGIS was affiliated with the Netherlands East Indies Forces Intelligence Service (NEFIS) and the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration (NICA). Conrad Helfrich, commander of Dutch forces in the Netherlands East Indies, attempted to have NIGIS merged with NEFIS, for which he had responsibility. Helfrich's attempts were resisted by Hubertus van Mook, acting Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, who wished NIGIS to retain its civil status rather than be absorbed by the military apparatus.The service was established in April 1942, and was based in Melbourne, on the tenth floor of the Temple Court building at 422 Collins Street. In July 1944, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands decreed that a government in exile be established at Camp Columbia, a former United States Army camp located in Wacol, Queensland. The Melbourne-based agencies NIGIS, NEFIS and NICA all moved to Wacol to support the new administration.

Naval Base Melbourne was a United States Navy base at Melbourne during World War II. Naval Base Melbourne became the South West Pacific Area Command Headquarters after the 1941 invasion of the Philippines. General Douglas MacArthur, after escaping the Philippines, set up his Headquarters after his arrival on 21 March 1942. MacArthur was appointed Supreme Commander of all Allied Forces in the South West Pacific Area. The US Navy also set up a Headquarters a Melbourne, Allied Naval Forces Southwest Pacific Area under Commander Vice Admiral Herbert F. Leary. MacArthur and Leary used the empty Trustees Executive building at 401 Collins Street, Melbourne for headquarters. The Port of Melbourne had good fleet anchorage and docks. A new naval base was built at Brisbane, Australia, Naval Base Brisbane, and the Headquarters was moved to Brisbane in July 1942.

AON Centre (Royal Insurance Group Building) is a commercial office complex located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia at 430-444 Collins Street, right in the heart of the Melbourne CBD. A product of a rigorous design process from Australian architecture firm Yuncken Freeman Architects in 1962, the building undertook a two-year construction period and in 1965 it was first opened revealing a 70.00m high structure that spanned 18-storey towards the Melbourne skyline.

The former Bank of Australasia Headquarters is an historic bank headquarters in Renaissance Revival style located on the corner of Queen Street and Collins Street, the traditional heart of Melbourne's financial precinct, with 19th Century banks on three corners. The design is an amalgam of two periods, the first two floors built in 1875-6 designed by noted architects Reed & Barnes, with the top three floors added in matching style along with a new chamber in 1929–31, designed by A&K Henderson.The Bank of Australasia merged with the Union Bank of Australia to form the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group in 1951, and the new bank sold the building in 1974. Since 2013 it has been a rental apartment building known as Treasury on Collins.It was amongst the first buildings listed on the Victorian Heritage Register on 9 October 1974, and later on the Register of the National Estate in 1983.

The Western Market was established in December 1841 on a site bounded by Market, Collins and William Streets, and Flinders Lane. The market was Melbourne's first official fruit and vegetable market but, like the Eastern Market, its popularity was succeeded by the Queen Victoria Market. It traded for 90 years. The buildings were demolished in 1961.

All Star Comics Melbourne is an Australian comic book store co-owned by Mitchell Davies and Troy Varker. The store was first opened in February 2011 and in 2014, won the Spirit of Comics Retailer Award at the 26th annual Eisner Awards. The award was split with the Legend Comics & Coffee in Nebraska.

The Australian Catholic Assurance Building (ACA Building) is an Art Deco office building at 118-126 Queen Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was built as the Victorian headquarters of Australian Catholic Assurance, a commercial insurance firm established with the aim of serving the Catholic community in Australia. The building was designed by Sydney-based architecture firm Hennessy & Hennessy, built in 1935-36, and has a twin in Sydney.The building is one of the most notable Art Deco office buildings in the city, with a City of Melbourne and National Trust heritage listing.

Collins Street is a major street in the centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was laid out in the first survey of Melbourne, the original 1837 Hoddle Grid, and soon became the most desired address in the city. Collins Street was named after Lieutenant-Governor of Tasmania (then Van Diemen's Land) David Collins who led a group of settlers in establishing a short-lived settlement at Sorrento in 1803.The eastern end of Collins Street has been known colloquially as the 'Paris End' since the 1950s due to its numerous heritage buildings, old street trees, high-end shopping boutiques, and as the location for the first footpath cafes in the city. As with all main streets in the Melbourne city centre, the Hoddle Grid is exactly 99 feet wide which would allow for the installation of trams in 1885. Blocks further west centred around Queen Street became the financial heart of Melbourne in the 19th century, the preferred home of major banks and insurance companies, a tradition which continues today with the most prestigious office blocks and skyscrapers found along its length.

Market Street is one of the north–south streets in the central business district of Melbourne, Australia, part of the Hoddle Grid laid out in 1837. Market Street is the only major deviation to the Hoddle Grid, in that it only runs between Flinders Street and Collins Street, such that its vista is terminated by the art-deco Temple Court building on Collins Street. South of Flinders Street, the roadway continues across the Yarra River via Queens Bridge. The street was named after the Western Market, Melbourne's first official fresh food and vegetable market, which operated on the site now occupied by Collins Arch, bordered by Collins, Market and William Streets, and Flinders Lane.Tram route 58 runs along Market Street between Flinders Lane and Flinders Street.

The Head Office building of The Bank of New South Wales was designed by prolific Melbourne architect Joseph Reed and constructed at 368–374 Collins St, Melbourne, in 1856–1857. Reed was awarded first prize, worth £75, in the Bank of New South Wales’ competition to design their new Melbourne headquarters on a vacant block of land facing the prominent Criterion Hotel. Reed's design was chosen for its extensive use of ornamentation on the relatively small scale building. The façade of the Bank of New South Wales building is prized as a leading example of mid nineteenth century Renaissance Revival architecture in Melbourne. Structural shortcomings and the desire for expansion led to the building's demolition in 1932. Reed's original National Trust heritage-listed façade was preserved and gifted to the University of Melbourne, where it can still be seen on the western face of the Melbourne School of Design, opposite Union Lawn.