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Retaining Wall

Location Flinders Street Extension,, MELBOURNE VIC 3000 - Property No B6442 File Number B6442 Level State

[1/1] B6442 Retaining Wall

Statement of Significance

The Flinders Street Extension Retaining Wall is considered to be historically and culturally significant at the State level.
It is a major engineering work associated with the redevelopment of the Docklands area in the late 19th century, and also graphically illustrates the location of Batman's Hill, a place associated with Melbourne's foundation. Batman's own house appears to have been located in the vicinity of the crest of the wall.
Constructed by the Victorian Railways in 1890, the wall was part of the reconstruction and growth of the Melbourne (Railways) Yard, it is part of and enhances a significant group of railway structures including the Spencer Street Viaduct (1896/7, in similar polychrome brickwork), the former "A" Goods Shed (1890), and the Railways Administration Building (1893).
The decorative brickwork is unusual for a retaining wall, and indicates the civic nature of a road which was effectively an extension of the regularity of the city grid.
Classified: 16/06/1993