The bus at the kerb appears to be a pre-war Leyland TS7c.

I am not familiar with Melbourne's austerity buses, but I would have
picked that as being a furniture van. Were they that austere?

Brian, who once contemplated buying a TS7 for preservation.

----- Original Message -----
From:TramsDownUnder@...
To:
Cc:
Sent:Mon, 26 Jun 2017 15:22:50 +1000
Subject:Re: [TramsDownUnder] Fwd: 223_FlindersSt_Y1-Swanston. - TDU
Message - [1 Attachment]

On 26/06/2017 1:19 PM, 'Kevin Taig'ktaig@... [1]
[TramsDownUnder] wrote:
 

  I realise talking about buses is heresy, but what is your
opinion of the fine Ford vehicle passing the half cab further down
Flinders St. Is it an Austerity bus? – can you have a closer look.
  Your reference is to the original pic in the ' handsome
photographic publicity book' prepared for the Olympic Games proposal
in April 1948.
See:
https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/publications/research-papers/download/36-research-papers/13610-2016-3-olympics-hn#_edn14
[2]

That date, combined with the ads on the front of Flinders St and
Princes Bridge stations for trains to the showgrounds means that the
photo (attached) probably dates from September 1947.
http://tdu.to/FlindersSt_c1947.jpg [3]

The bus is almost certainly one of the wartime 'Austerity' buses.
A Leyland (OPS1?) is next to it.

Mal Rowe - committing tram heresy, excused by being distracted by the
bird in flight at top left of the pic.