FLINDERS STREET STATION (MELBOURNE)

Melbourne meets 'under the clocks'

Photos by Yomiuri Shimbun Photographer Yasushi Wada

By Masayuki Murata

Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

If you want to meet someone at Flinders Street Station in Melbourne, all you have to say is "Meet me under the clocks." Of course, there are countless clocks in the city. Some of them, such as the ones outside the historic town hall and the old central post office, have a solemn look about them.

But when Melbournians say "under the clocks," they mean the huge clock with 13 smaller clocks below it over the main entrance to the station, which is an icon of the city.

The station was built in 1854 — the first city train station built in Australia. When the trams began operation, people from the suburbs traveled to the city by train, then caught the tram downtown.

Sisto Malaspina, 60, who came to Australia from Italy at the age of 18, was surprised and confused, when he first saw the station.

"All the 13 clocks showed different times than my watch. Only the big clock at the top showed the same time as my watch. I asked myself, 'What's this?'"

Malaspina later discovered each of the 13 clocks displayed the departure time for a different train line.

When a proposal was made in the 1980s to replace the clocks with video screens it attracted such passionate opposition from Melbournians and the press that the proposal was dropped.

While the city's landscape may change, the hearts of Melbournians never will. The clocks keep ticking in a steady rhythm like the heartbeat of the people.