Flinders Street Station is the central station of the suburban network of Melbourne and was designed by J.W. Fawcell & H.P.C. Ashworth in 1901 and completed in 1910.
Melbourne Terminus
Flinders Street Station was built on the site of another railway station known as the Melbourne Terminus. The Melbourne Terminus was built in 1854 and consisted of weatherboard train sheds. The terminus was officially opened by the Lieutenant Governor Charles Hotham on the 12th of September, 1854 and it was at this terminus where Australia’s first public steam train departed.
World Wide Competition
By 1859 there were two more central train stations, Spencer Street Station and Princes Gate. However, in 1882 the government made a decision to build a new station. A world-wide competition was held with a 500-pound prize money. From a total of seventeen entries the winners were J.W. Fawcell & H.P.C. Ashworth. Platform 1 is 708m long, making it the longest railway platform in Australia and the 4th longest railway platform in the world. The steps at the main entrance to the station were fitted with electrical circuits (in 1985) to assist in keeping the steps dry.Over 1,500 trains arrive and depart from Flinders Street Station per day, servicing approximately 105,000 passengers.