A "physical culture" class set up in the ballroom, C.1930
The Victorian Railways Institute Ballroom at Flinders Street Station.
Many Melburnians are surprised to learn that high above the bustle of Flinders Street Station sits a ballroom that has been largely unused since the early 1980s.
What we now refer to as ‘the ballroom’, was originally opened as a lecture and concert hall in 1910. It was just one room of the station’s newly constructed third floor, the headquarters of the Victorian Railways Institute (VRI). The VRI was set up to provide facilities for the betterment of railway employees, but it was also thought it would encourage ‘a corporate culture to counteract trade union influence’ following railway strikes in 1903.
Table Talk magazine spoke glowingly of the new facilities when they opened in January 1910:
‘In the new institute rooms, comprising over a dozen, every comfort and equipment of a modern club has been installed. There is a splendid large concert hall, with ante-rooms, a billiard room, with three of the best tables, a gymnasium, with all - the latest equipment, dressing and bath rooms, games room, reference and lending library (the latter containing not far short” of -10,000 volumes elaborately numbered and indexed), reading and smoking rooms, and class rooms…
The rooms are furnished in an ornate and substantial manner, and the walls are decorated with tastefully framed and artistic pictures.’
The person responsible for this grand fitout was James Fawcett, an architect, and Railways Department employee, who won a competition to design the station itself, and was later made architect to the VRI. A notable feature of the concert hall was its intricate vaulted pressed metal ceiling. In fact, the Art Nouveau-inspired pressed metal at Flinders Street is considered some of ‘the most diverse and extensive’ in any Australian public building.
Each month VRI members would receive a newsletter which outlined ‘Amusements at the Institute’. These included an amateur dramatic society; music and orchestral societies; picture entertainments; and classes in gymnastics, physical culture, boxing and wrestling.
The newsletter also provided updates on new titles added to the VRI’s lending library – if members couldn’t make it to Flinders Street they could have their items sent to them through the rail network.
As early as 1918 various clubs were hosting socials and dances at the concert hall. These became increasingly popular, and in 1933 the VRI began converting the concert hall to a ballroom, which opened in 1934. By 1935 the ballroom was being extensively used by outside organisations and was a real social hub in the center of Melbourne. The conversion to a ballroom saw the removal of the stage to increase room for dancing, and the construction of a boxing ring, for boxing and wrestling displays. When it wasn’t hosting dances, amateur bouts often took place there.
The 1930s and 1940s were the height of social dancing in Melbourne, and the VRI Ballroom was one of the largest dance venues in the city. The two main styles of dance were modern and old time, and the VRI Ballroom ran 50/50 dances, featuring a mix of both styles. Compared to other Melbourne venues, the VRI Ballroom attracted a lot of people from the country and had a reputation for hosting real ‘old time’ dances.
The ballroom was never licensed and only sold soft drinks and snacks, but this didn’t stop some attendees partaking in a sly drink – they would pop out to a nearby establishment, Young and Jacksons across the road was a likely venue, before coming back smelling of beer. In contrast to the glamorous image we may have of the ballroom, some found the facilities less than welcoming. Mary Murray, who was a regular, said “the lifts used to be very quiet and the long passageway there used to give me the creeps, especially when you were leaving the dance.”
The Ballroom and VRI facilities existed largely without controversy, aside from an unfortunate problem with falling objects. In January 1948 a 150 lb block of masonry fell from the façade of the VRI shortly after peak hour. It tore a hole in the verandah roof on its way down and nearly hit several pedestrians. (The Argus, 7 January 1948) There are also stories of errant tennis balls, basketballs, and even a medicine ball flying through the open gymnasium windows to the street below.
Although still heavily used, by the 1970s the ballroom was no longer hosting the packed schedule of dances it once did. Ron Richards and the Bachelor Boys were still hosting Thursday night dances there, which they had since 1925, but the popularity of rock and roll meant interest in ballroom dancing had declined. By this time, the various rooms at VRI were being rented out to an eclectic variety of groups, including ‘the Chihuahua Club, the Cat Protection Society, Australian Matchbox Collectors, Melbourne, St. Kilda and Collingwood Cheer Squads [and the] Victorian Trugo Association.
As the 1970s went on, the cost of maintaining and repairing the Ballroom became untenable, and the last dance took place on 10 September 1983. The VRI moved their operations to Flinders Lane in 1985. The facilities were mostly converted to offices in 1995, however the ballroom and gymnasium were left intact, falling into disrepair over the years.The roof of the ballroom has been recently restored, and the space has been used sporadically over the years. There was talk of reopening it as an alcohol free entertainment venue and art gallery in 1996, and Melbourne Open House has run tours of the ballroom in past festivals.