After seven years of lobbying by Melbourne City Council, the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens are now safely on the World Heritage List. The building, which featured the first sitting of Federal Parliament, is the only complete surviving example of the international exhibition building type and gardens popular in the 19th century.
Joining the Great Barrier Reef and Kakadu National Park, it is the first building in Australia to make the World Heritage List. Other buildings include the Statute of Liberty in New York and the entire city of Venice in Italy.
Melbourne Lord Mayor, John So, said the inscription, announced by the Federal Environment Minister Dr David Kemp, secured the global recognition for Melbourne’s most historic building and the surrounding Carlton Gardens.
“Council is very pleased the Federal Government nominated and gave its full support to the World Heritage listing for the exhibition buildings and gardens,” he said. “I also want to thank the State Government, Heritage Victoria and the Melbourne Museum who helped to progress the nomination.”
“The Exhibition Building, which sparked the Marvellous Melbourne era in 1880, put this city of the world map during the 19th Century. It symbolises Melbourne’s emergence from a colonial backwater into a key centre for industry and commerce and a world leader in innovation.”
