Victoria Point (building)

Harbour Esplanade is a waterfront street and thoroughfare in Docklands, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It runs roughly north-south from Navigation Drive in the south to Docklands Drive in the north. The road also forms the eastern boundary of the Victoria Harbour inlet and is adjacent to Victoria Dock. The esplanade is a core element of the Docklands urban renewal precinct and is known for housing Docklands Stadium and several converted dock buildings that now serve as pubs and function spaces. Harbour Esplanade is also the location of office buildings and restaurants, whilst the Capital City Trail runs parallel along some of its length. It has been described as Melbourne's waterfront boulevard and its future potential is compared to the successful Circular Quay in Sydney.

Docklands (also known as Melbourne Docklands to differentiate it from London Docklands) is an inner suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km (1.2 mi) west of the city's Central Business District (CBD). Its local government area is the City of Melbourne. At the 2016 Census, Docklands had a population of 10,964. Primarily a waterfront area centred on the banks of the Yarra River, it is bounded by Wurundjeri Way and the Charles Grimes Bridge to the east, CityLink to the west and Lorimer Street across the Yarra to the south. The site of modern-day Docklands was originally swamp land that in the 1880s became a bustling dock area as part of the Port of Melbourne, with an extensive network of wharfs, heavy rail infrastructure and light industry. Following the containerisation of shipping traffic, Docklands fell into disuse and by the 1990s was virtually abandoned, making it the focal point of Melbourne's underground rave scene. The construction of Docklands Stadium in the late 1990s attracted developer interest in the area, and urban renewal began in earnest in 2000 with several independent privately developed areas overseen by VicUrban, an agency of the Victorian Government. Docklands subsequently experienced an apartment boom and became a sought-after business address, attracting the national headquarters of, among others, the National Australia Bank, ANZ, Medibank and the Bureau of Meteorology, as well as the regional headquarters for Ericsson and Bendigo Bank.Known for its striking contemporary architecture, the suburb is home to a number of heritage buildings that have been retained for adaptive reuse, and is also the site of landmarks such as the aforementioned Docklands Stadium, Southern Cross Station and the Melbourne Star Observation wheel. Although still incomplete, Docklands' developer-centric planning has split public opinion with some lamenting its lack of green open space, pedestrian activity, transport links and culture.

Docklands Stadium, also currently known by naming rights sponsorship as Marvel Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the Docklands area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 1997 and was completed in 2000 at a cost of A$460 million. The stadium features a retractable roof and the ground level seating can be converted from oval to rectangular configuration.The stadium is primarily used for Australian rules football and was originally built as a replacement for Waverley Park. Offices at the precinct serve as the headquarters of the Australian Football League (AFL) which, since 7 October 2016, has had exclusive ownership of the venue. With a capacity for 53,000 spectators for sports, the stadium is the second-largest in Melbourne and has hosted a number of other sporting events including domestic Twenty20 cricket matches, Melbourne Victory soccer home matches, rugby league and rugby union matches as well as special events and concerts. Seven Network's digital broadcast centre is also headquartered at the precinct.

Monash College is a college located in Docklands, Australia which specializes in transition education. Monash College is owned by Monash University, one of Australia's largest international universities. The school provides a range of programs and services that align with the various diploma programs of a university. Monash College specializes in academic programs designed to support a transition to University study (especially Australian universities), with a focus on industry, government, and business. English tuition is also provided to non-native speakers. The college also provides work experience programs and professional placement initiatives. Similar to the IB Program, Monash College and partners offering the college's program must follow the Unified syllabus, grading guidelines, and testing materials. Some colleges offer a direct pathway to Monash University provided the student reaches a certain pass score.

Wurundjeri Way is a 1.9-kilometre (1.2 mi) road running through the Docklands Development west of the Melbourne central business district. It was constructed in 1999 as part of replanning and development of the former Melbourne rail yards and docks. Wurundjeri Way runs from Montague Street, South Melbourne to Dudley Street, West Melbourne via the Charles Grimes Bridge. When the Melbourne Docklands were redeveloped in the 1990s, Footscray Road was closed as a through route and rebuilt as Harbour Esplanade. To replace the through route, Wurundjeri Way was constructed to the east. To connect to this new road Flinders Street was upgraded, and the north end of the Charles Grimes Bridge was rebuilt on a curve to connect to it. Reconstruction started in June 1999, and was completed by 2001. A feature of the road, and integral to its design and naming, is the gigantic statue of Bunjil the eagle, by Melbourne sculptor Bruce Armstrong which was constructed in the median at the south end of the road. Proposals to develop this area for new buildings including the air rights over Wurundjeri Way, may require the statue to be moved.

Collins Square is one of the largest commercial developments in Australia and the largest in the Melbourne central business district of Victoria, covering an area of c. two hectares (five acres).

The Jim Stynes Bridge is a pedestrian bridge over the Yarra River at Docklands precinct in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The new bridge provides a vital link for pedestrians, cyclists and commuters between Melbourne's CBD, and the key precincts of Docklands and Northbank. Designed as a horizontal suspension bridge, it arcs out 30 metres over the river and creates the illusion it is hovering unsupported above it, passing under the Charles Grimes Bridge.The bridge was named after Jim Stynes, a prominent Ireland-born player of Australian rules football who died in 2012. Two bronze plaques outlining Stynes' achievements are installed at each end of the bridge.

The Charles Grimes Bridge is a dual-carriageway bridge that carries the Docklands Highway over the Yarra River in the Docklands precinct of Melbourne, Australia. It was named after New South Wales surveyor general Charles Grimes, who was the first European to see the Yarra River. This crossing of the Yarra River was located approximately 700m downstream of the Spencer Street Bridge, supporting dual four-lane structures; the Country Roads Board (later VicRoads) began construction on the bridge and its approach roads in January 1975. It connected Footscray Road on the northern side of the river to Johnson, Lorimer, Montague and Brady Streets on the south side of the river, and was designed to be compatible with a future extension of the West Gate Freeway. The low clearance of the new bridge over the water would prevent shipping access to wharves and dry-dock facilities upstream, resulting in the closure of a number of the river wharves on the upstream side. The bridge was known during the construction as the Johnson Street Bridge, and was opened under that name by the Acting Minister of Transport, the Hon A H Scanlan MP, on 4 August 1978, with the total cost of the bridge and approach works at approximately $30 million; it was renamed the Charles Grimes Bridge in 1983.With the Melbourne Docklands redevelopment of the 1990s, Footscray Road was closed as a through-route and rebuilt as Harbour Esplanade, with Wurundjeri Way was constructed to the east as a replacement route. To connect to this new road, Flinders Street was upgraded, and the north end of the Charles Grimes Bridge was rebuilt on an easterly curve to connect to it. Reconstruction started in June 1999, and was completed by 2001. The bridge superstructure consists of five 33.5m long main spans the river, with five smaller spans between 12m and 24m in length over the existing wharf and riverbank. Each of the bridges carries four traffic lanes in one direction, and a footpath. Computer analysis was required during design due to the complex geometry of the spans.The Jim Stynes Bridge was opened in 2014 to carry pedestrian and cyclist traffic underneath the Charles Grimes Bridge, to connect the Docklands precinct to the Northbank area.

No. 2 Goods Shed is a large railway freight shed in the former Spencer Street rail yards off Flinders Street Extension, Melbourne, Australia. It was constructed in 1889, originally called 'A Goods Shed', and at the time was the longest single building in Australia. Its address is at 733 Bourke Street, Docklands.

Southern Cross railway station (until 2005 known as Spencer Street station) is a major railway station in Docklands, Melbourne. It is on Spencer Street, between Collins and La Trobe Streets, at the western edge of the Melbourne central business district. The Docklands Stadium sports arena is 500 metres north-west of the station. The station is owned, operated and maintained by Civic Nexus, a subsidiary of IFM Investors and operating as Southern Cross Station Pty Ltd, under a 30-year lease to 2036 from the Victorian State Government, as part of a public-private partnership. Southern Cross Station Pty Ltd contracts Infranexus Management Pty Ltd (Infranexus) for management services. Infranexus is also wholly owned by IFM.The station is the terminus of the state's regional railway network operated by V/Line, The Overland rail service to Adelaide, and NSW TrainLink XPT services to Sydney. It is also served by suburban rail services operated by Metro Trains, being one of five stations on the City Loop, a mostly underground railway that encircles the Central Business District. It is the second busiest railway station in Melbourne's metropolitan network, with 18.614 million passenger movements recorded in 2017/18. This figure excludes V/Line passengers who use the station. Southern Cross also has a coach terminal underneath the Spencer Outlet shopping complex. Skybus Super Shuttle services to Melbourne Airport and since 2017 to Avalon Airport operate from there, as well as Firefly Express and Greyhound Australia interstate coach services, a coach ran public bus (684) and V/Line coach services to Mildura, Yarram, Mansfield, and other parts of Victoria not served by rail.

On 3 February 2003, a Comeng electric multiple unit train rolled away from Broadmeadows station in Melbourne, Australia, before it ran for nearly 17 kilometres (11 mi) out of control without a driver and eventually crashed into another train about to depart Spencer Street station. Train controllers attempted several times to stop or redirect the train, but were limited in their ability to intervene, instead being forced to alter the route of other trains to avert a more serious collision. Eleven people on board the stationary train were injured; authorities did not know until after the crash if any passengers were on board the runaway. An investigation identified driver error as the cause of the accident, but the runaway event prompted significant debate about the role of government authorities and private operators in ensuring safety and reliability on the Melbourne rail network.

Batman's Hill in Melbourne, Australia was named for the Vandemonian adventurer and grazier John Batman. Now removed, the 18-metre-high hill was located to the south of today's Collins Street and Southern Cross railway station, and is the site of a steel marker the same height as the original hill.The hill, on the traditional country of the Wurundjeri, was first claimed for John Fawkner by his representative Captain John Lancey of the Enterprize, who named it 'Pleasant Hill', and wrote to Fawkner in 1835, Your lordship has been fortunate in the lot I chose for you. A more delightful spot, I think, cannot be. Beautiful grass, a pleasant prospect, a fine fresh-water river, and the vessel alongside the bank discharging at musket-shot distance from a pleasant hill where I intend to put your house. The garden will trend to the south by the east side of the hill ... The west side of the hill is a beautiful prospect. A salt lagoon and piece of marsh will make a beautiful meadow and bounded on the south by the river. The hill is composed of rich, black soil, thinly wooded with honeysuckle and she-oak. Good grass, a quantity of herbage that I cannot name more than three, viz., parsley of good flavour, peppermint, as good as any I ever tasted, and geraniums in abundance. In April 1836 the hill was settled by Batman and his family, who built a house at the base where Batman lived until his death in 1839. His widow and family then moved from the house and the government requisitioned the house for government offices.In 1837, the Hoddle Grid, the first town plan was designed with Batman's Hill as its western boundary. The hill had many other uses, in February 1839 it acted as a grandstand for Melbourne's first horse race, with the site later the site of navigation beacons, and a hospital. Around the same time, Batman's Hill was also the site of the first cricket match played in Victoria by the founders of the Melbourne Cricket Club. The western slope of Batman's Hill was sold to the government in 1847 and a powder magazine was built. At the foot of the slopes were tanning pits and melting works. In 1853 the Victorian Government offered a concession to the Melbourne, Mount Alexander and Murray River Railway Company to build a railway from Melbourne to Echuca, including land to the east of Batman's Hill for the terminus. In 1856 the company failed, and was taken over by the government who formed the Victorian Railways to complete the works, the railway station being erected at Spencer Street in 1858. Growing traffic lead to an expansion of the freight sheds in 1863, with a contract being signed in November that year for the removal of the hill. Demolition was completed by the middle of 1866. Further changes came with the construction of the No 2 Goods Shed, the Railways Headquarters Building in Spencer Street, Flinders Street Viaduct, Flinders Street Extension and the retaining wall just south of the goods yards in the 1880s and 90s.The site now forms the eastern border of the Melbourne Docklands (a precinct of the Docklands development is also named Batman's Hill) and is dominated by Southern Cross station and the Collins Street bridge built in 2002 to replicate the original curve and shape of the hill. The new headquarters of The Age newspaper are located to the southern side of the bridge. A significant portion of Batman's Hill is now being developed by the Walker Group as a commercial office precinct called Collins Square. A 1920s hotel, the Batman's Hill Hotel was named after Batman's Hill.