Flinders Street Station - Melbourne's main train station, located in the city center and is an original card. Through this station every weekday runs 1500 trains carrying more than 110,000 passengers.

But the station - it is also a popular meeting place for the townspeople. They say that the residents of Melbourne in the course of the expression "to meet under the clock", which means a meeting at the main entrance to the station building, above which hang watch. And the phrase "meet on the staircase" means a rendezvous on the steps of the main entrance to the station building. And it is this building often depicted on the front postcards of Melbourne.

In 1854, this place is the first railway station of the city, which is called - "Melbourne". That wood was the first terminal in Australia train station, and the opening day he went to the country's first steam locomotive.

Already in 1882 it was decided to build a new station - announced a competition for the best project, which was attended by 17 architects. However, construction work only began in 1900 and was completed in 1910. It is interesting that the latest draft Flinders Street Station was used as the basis for the station of Luz Station in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo.

The first train left the station in 1919, and after only 7 years old Flinders Street has been the busiest station in the world! In the second half of the 20th century, the famous clock on the main facade of the building, purchased in England in the 1860s, was replaced by digital, but the public demanded to return to the place of historical monuments - and the clock again took their place.

In the 1970s, the state government was going to dismantle the station building, because by the time it came into neglect. In its place it was planned to build office buildings. And again intervened the public - many campaigns in defense of the monument of architecture has led to the fact that the government has abandoned its plans and even contributed money to repair. Restoration work began in 1984 and cost the state 7 million Australian dollars. This money had been renovated and improved platform, opened a new restaurant, and stairs of the main entrance equipped with electrically heated to whatever the weather it remained dry.