A New City

The photographs in this collection depict Melbourne and its suburbs at the height of the land boom of the 1880s. Places captured include the University of Melbourne, Botanic Gardens, and Port Phillip Bay as well as shops, offices, and hotels in the central city. Accompanying scholarly commentaries highlight different dimensions of the photographs, including architectural details, economic aspects of development, and changes in the landscape over time. Also included are images of people crossing streets and vehicles in motion that offer insight into the culture and politics at the time of the land boom, which, shortly after these pictures were taken, collapsed into the devastating depression of the 1890s.Read less