The CBD explained:
CBD: Central Business District.
The CBD is a neatly grafted square of streets. Most of the hills have been levelled. The city was once very muddy as it slid down into the banks of the Yarra River/swap. There were the Yarra Falls (which can’t really be seen anymore) and the Docklands made the area very marshy. Of course, it also rained a lot then and they didn’t yet have tar to make roads. Apparently a lake used to form every Wet/Winter season around the top of Elizabeth Street with muddy banks 6 feet high.
In the “more-or-less” historical text “Bearbrass” the author writes that when they were reconstructing these roads in the 20th Century, a pair of 17th Century men’s boots were dug up from the street, surely having been sunk in the notorious quick-mud of this street during the time. It’s pretty hard to imagine up that up past Southern Cross (Spencer Street) Station there were sheep grazing!
SO basically, the CBD is a grid of downtown core Melbourne streets.
How to Understand the East-West streets:
The “little” streets are always north (further away from the Yarra River) than their older siblings. For instance, Little Collins will be north of Collins Street.
Flinders Lane is the only street which kept its original name (all of the “Littles” used to be “Lanes” as they were only meant to be cartways to the backs of these houses when Melbourne was first developing). But Flinders Lane is still north of Flinders Street.
How To Remember the Pattern of north-south streets in the CBD:
“King William Queen Elizabeth” was the rhyme taught to me by my postie friend. These are the streets which run north-south, according to their position from the west to the east (left to right!).
This little monarchy is bookended by SSStreets Ssstarting with “SSSSS”, thus, we have “Spencer, King, William, Queen, Elizabeth, Swanston”. That’s the main chunk.
The eastern streets you probably won’t go to much as a teacher, except for the odd drink out and discovery. In which case, it pays to know that once you have the main chunk here is your RES rhyme for the other three streets: “Russell, Exhibition, Spring”.
If you ever get lost in or around the city, just look for the Eureka tower. From there you can find the information booth outside of Flinders.
