The South West Aspect of the Main Hall from Victoria Street, 1880. Reproduced from a watercolour in Museum Victoria's Collection.
Image: Museum Victoria
Source: Museum Victoria
Museum Victoria, in collaboration with a number of partners, undertook a major project to reconstruct the 1880 garden layout of the western forecourt of the Royal Exhibition Building. Funded by a $5.3 million grant from the Victorian Government, the project commenced in late October 2009 and was completed in February 2011. The western forecourt has undergone many changes over the past 130 years. In 1880 it featured a circular bed and ‘German Kiosk’ which was partly covered in 1888 by a temporary annexe built for the Melbourne Centennial
International Exhibition.
The circular garden bed was reinstated at the close of the Exhibition in 1889, and remained largely intact until the 1950s when the whole site was covered in asphalt.
World Heritage, World Futures: A Sustainable Conservation Project for the Royal Exhibition Building. The funding for this project was provided from the Victorian Property Fund on the approval of the Minister for Consumer Affairs.
