As they say Mal "you can't argue with city hall". So be it. Thanks to
all for their investigative endeavours.
TDUers will sort it out one way or another. Cheers.
On Saturday, October 9, 2021 at 1:44:54 PM UTC+11 Mal Rowe wrote:
> I would assume that the City of Melbourne is the ultimate authority.
>
> Their call is clear on the attached map - Swanston St to Princes Bridge.
>
>
> On 09/10/2021 13:37, Jeremy Wainwright wrote:
>
> A quick look at reasonably modern directories in my possession is not
> conclusive: my early-50s Morgan's *suggests* (the edge of Map 1A is too
> close for one to be sure) that Swanston St ends at Flinders St and my 1998
> UBD is unequivocal that St Kilda Rd extends as far north as Flinders St
> ((main) Map3), while my 2007 Melway is adamant that Swanston St extends to
> the northern end of Princes Bridge (Maps 1B, 1D and 2F). The argument in
> favour of St K Rd being the correct description is bolstered by MMBW 40':1"
> plan 874/875, which boldly shows 'St Kilda Road" both on and north of the
> bridge. My guess is that, back before the grand Princes Bridge that we know
> today, St K Rd started at Flinders St, crossed the rather ramshackle (1843)
> bridge known colloquially as Balbirnie's Bridge and later the first
> Prince's Bridge (a stone arch structure opened in 1851, known also as
> Lennox's Bridge after its designer) and it was accepted that the bridge (in
> whatever form) had no effect on the name of the road. But names get
> changed, as witness the Yarra Bank Road on the MMBW plan, which became
> Batman Avenue and now survives in diminished state as Princes Walk, and
> Madeleine St, which was absorbed into Swanston St (north of Victoria St).
> Just to look at it, one would think that the section from Flinders St to
> the bridge is part of Swanston St, as compared with the gracious boulevard
> on the other side of the river, so perhaps an official name change took
> place some time after the diversion of Batman Avenue to Exhibition St.
> However, startling as it may seem, it appears that the correct caption for
> the photo would refer to St Kilda Rd. What do the street signs say these
> days?
>
> JWW
>
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