Asia and Australia 2025
Day 4: Wednesday 09 July 2025
Melbourne
Royal Arcade
This historic shopping arcade passes from Bourke Street south to Little Collins Street. The oldest extant arcade in Australia, it was opened in 1870. It was refurbished in 2002-4.
The clock at the south end, ‘Gaunt’s clock’, triggers the arms of the statues Gog and Magog to strike bells each hour. Gaunt was the best-kown clockmaker at the time of the arcade’s construction.
Gog and Magog, Royal Arcade
Information board: These two 7-feet giants have been striking the time on Gaunt’s clock since 1892. They were carved from clear pine and modelled on the figures erected in Guildhall, London, In 1708, to symbolise the conflict between the ancient Britons and the Trojan invaders.
Mythology tells of the giants Gog and Magog (also known as Corineus and Gogmagog) having been captured in battle by the Trojans and made to serve as porters at the gateway of an ancient palace on a site later occupied by the Guildhall. It is traditional for Gog to stand to the north, and Magog to the south.
St. Paul’s Cathedral, Anglican cathedral church of the Diocese of Melbourne, Seat of the Archbishop of Melbourne.
The location is the site of the first Christian service in 1835. First a corn market, the site saw the construction of a bluestone church, consecrated in 1852. The current cathedral was designed in the Gothic Revival style and completed in 1891, with the spires added in a different design from 1926-32. It is unusual in being oriented north, to match the city grid pattern, rather than the traditional east.
The strident colouring is created by Waurn Ponds limestone with contrasting stripes of dark local bluestone, and High Victorian Gothic polychromy.
St. Paul’s interior, and organ
St. Paul’s pulpit
Flinders Street Station at night
The original station opened in 1854, the oldest in Australia. The current station was completed in 1909, and is the busiest in Melbourne’s metropolitan network, with more than 77k daily entries. Its Edwardian style has an iconic dome, tower and clocks. The clocks show the time of departure of the next train on each of the 14 tracks. There is a popular myth that the design was originally intended for Mumbai’s Victoria Terminus, but the designs were swapped in the post.
Travel Diary
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