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Swanston Street North, looking South towards the Shrine of Remembrance

Swanston Street from Princes Bridge in 1959

Swanston Street is a major thoroughfare in the centre of Melbourne, Australia. It is the main street of Melbourne and is part of the Hoddle Grid, the layout of major streets that makes up the central business district, which was laid out in 1837 by Robert Hoddle. It is named after Captain Charles Swanston, a Tasmanian banker and prominent member of the Port Phillip Association.

Swanston Street runs roughly north to south, between Elizabeth and Russell streets, just to the east of the centre of the rectangular Hoddle Grid. After crossing the Princes Bridge over the Yarra River at its southern extremity, it becomes St Kilda Road. As it runs north and leaves the CBD, it passes the University of Melbourne, and ends at the Melbourne General Cemetery. This section was originally named Madeline Street.

Swanston Street was a major thoroughfare, funnelling traffic from the northern suburbs onto St Kilda Road, but as of the 1990s it was closed to daytime private through traffic between Flinders and La Trobe Streets, roughly half its length. This section is known as Swanston St Walk. Nine tram routes run along the street, and the frequency of trams is the highest in Melbourne. It has two railway stations: Flinders Street Station at its southern end, which is the hub of the suburban railway network; and Melbourne Central station, an underground station beneath the Melbourne Central shopping centre, at La Trobe Street. Swanston Street is also a major route for commuting cyclists from the University of Melbourne and the northern suburbs, through the city, joining up to the bike lanes on St Kilda Road, and the Capital City Trail on the Southbank of the Yarra River.

Swanston Street passes a number of Melbourne landmarks, including St Paul's Cathedral, Federation Square, Flinders Street Station, the Melbourne Town Hall, the State Library of Victoria, the City Square, the Melbourne Central and QV Village shopping centres, the pub Young & Jackson as well as the Hi-Fi Bar, which is a prominent live music venue. Both the University of Melbourne and RMIT University are on Swanston Street.

Swanston Street has historically not had the best of reputations, due to problems with homelessness and loitering, and a plethora of discount stores, fast food outlets, and sex shops. However, in recent years, after lobbying from local traders, the Melbourne City Council has begun to turn the street's image around, enticing many new shops to move in, and driving several major developments.

Many protests involve the use of Swanston Street, resulting in road closures. It is also used for the annual Anzac Day parade, which passes through much of the city centre, but uses Swanston Street as a centrepiece on its way to the Shrine of Remembrance in St Kilda Road.

Swanston Street was also the shooting location for the 1976 video for AC/DC's song "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)".

The parking of tour buses along the street caused controversy in September 2008 when a young cyclist was killed by a bus as it turned out of a parking spot.¹ There had previously been calls to the council to relocate the large buses from the street where there was little space between them and trams.

Newly elected Lord Mayor of Melbourne Robert Doyle in November 2008 made an election promise to return private vehicle traffic to the street.² The move attracted opposition from the Public Transport Users Association, Australian Greens and Bicycle Victoria.

Landmarks

(from south to north)

St Paul's Cathedral	Flinders Street Station	Young & Jackson	Nicholas Building. Built in 1925 to the design of Harry Norris
Melbourne City Square	Manchester Unity buildings	Melbourne Town Hall	Town Hall administration buildings. Built in 1908 to the design of John James Clark and E.J Clark.
Swanston Street, looking north from the corner of Bourke Street	Capitol Theatre	Leviathan Building. Corner Bourke Street	State Library of Victoria
The Church of Christ designed by Charles Webb dates back to 1863.	Swanston Street, Iraq war protest passing the State Library of Victoria	Melbourne Central Shopping Centre main entrance podium (corner La Trobe Street) after re-development	Looking North towards the University of Melbourne from Latrobe Street
The "Green Building". RMIT.	Former Hibernian Hall at RMIT. Built 1887 to the design of Tappin, Gilbert & Dennehy.	RMIT Building 9. Built 1993 to the design of Edmund & Corrigan.	Melbourne City Baths

References

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