On 25/02/2021 23:27, David Batho wrote:
> Don’t those cars ‘date’ it?!


The pic is in the archive at: https://tdu.to/i/77357

What it lacks in quality it makes up for in capturing an era.

The cars, an orange tram and (for me) some significant buildings.

The Southern Cross hotel was still there with its original sky blue panels and on the horizon are a couple of the high rise developments of the early 1970s.

I worked on the two buildings in the distance in the early 1970s - 500 Bourke St on the right and BHP House at 140 William St on the left.  When most construction was moving to reinforced concrete with column and slab, BHP insisted (of course) on a structural steel frame - and put it on the outside so everyone could see it.  (My pic from more recent years attached).

The black finish of BHP house meant it was nicknamed The Morgue.

The National Mutual building was built a decade earlier in the same architectural style as the Southern Cross and just a block down William St.  With its white balconies it was nicknamed the Maternity Hospital.

See: https://tdu.to/i/46519

Those balconies proved its downfall - literally.  When they started falling off, a survey lead to its demolition.

Mal Rowe - well off topic