East Melbourne Walking Tours

Kicking off our walking tour on the steps of Victoria’s Parliament House sets the scene for providing a brief overview of government in Australia and Victoria. You will hear about the remarkable politicians, famous and infamous, who have left their mark on this place.

Construction of the building started in 1856 and has never been completed. Following Federation, it was home to the Federal Commonwealth Parliament from 1901 to 1927, until Canberra was built. Architects Peter Kerr and John Knight were respectively responsible for the original design and construction.

'Great Petition' constitutes a contemporary interpretation of the Monster Petition – a petition with more than 30,000 signatures presented to Parliament in 1891 as evidence of the widespread support to give women Victorians voting rights. Female suffrage was finally granted in 1908 with the passage of the Adult Suffrage Act.

Hear the story of the designers and the history of women’s suffrage in Australia

Now a museum and wedding registry office, we'll see this remarkable building and hear the architectural significance of the building and the history of gold and its impact on Melbourne’s development.

The gold rush era from the 1850s necessitated the construction of gold vaults to store the gold bullion coming from the Golden Triangle in Central Victoria, soon to be UNESCO listed for it’s gold history. The Old Treasury Building was therefore built in 1858-62 in the grand Renaissance Revival style, designed by “wonder boy” architect JJ Clark, at the remarkable age of nineteen. Hear the story of JJ Clark and the stunning story of this Treasury Building

We’ll explore some of the hidden secrets within the spectacular heritage listed gardens. The gardens are one of the major Victorian era landscaped gardens in Australia and add to Melbourne's claim to being the garden city of Australia. Set within the gardens are an ornamental lake, a scarred tree, a visitor information centre and cafe, a conservatory, Cooks' Cottage (a house where the parents of James Cook lived, brought from England in the 1930s), tree-lined avenues, a model Tudor village, a band pavilion, a rotunda, the "Fairies' Tree", fountains and sculptures. including the Conservatory housing stunning sculptures,

Designed by Architect William Wardell. The architecture is English Gothic of the style of the fourteenth century. Landscape Painter Sir Arthur Streeton said “it rises up in the sky in the most inspiring position in Melbourne.”

Described as the peoples cathedral, we will hear about the famous and infamous people who have walked the cobbled blue stone exterior and interior of this place.