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[[image:GPO..jpg width="240" height="180" caption="The GPO in 1872"]]
The foundation of the GPO was first laid down in 1859. It was designed in a neo-renaissance style and was redesigned and had things added to it over the years. The final design of the GPO still looks like it does now on the outside. In 1992, Australia Post announced plans to end Melbourne’s GPO’s major postal role. In early 2001, the GPO was closed as a post office and plans were already underway to develop the historic building into a retail complex. Unfortunately, in September 2001, there was a fire that damaged the ground floor of the GPO, and the interior was restored in 2004-2005. The interior now looks more modern and has lots of expensive shops inside.

Road distances from Melbourne are measured in kilometres from the GPO. The GPO is a Heritage site and considered one of Australia’s most important buildings.

The GPO contributes to the liveability of Melbourne by being a good place for shopping and socialising, jobs for people and is a historic and important part of Melbourne. It is also sustainable because it was reused after they closed it as a post office and the fire. It supports citizenship because it’s good for meetings, employment, fashion and a historic sight.

Flinders Street Station:
Flinders Street Station was originally a Fish Market but the Melbourne Fish Markets were demolished in 1956. Melbourne Fish Markets were demolished because Melbourne wanted to change its image for the Olympic Games. The building is old but one of the most famous and historic sites in Melbourne. Flinders Street station is the central railway station in Melbourne of the suburban rail network. It is the oldest train station in Australia, (it was built in 1910, although the first station on this site was built in 1854).

Flinders street is the busiest suburban railway station in the southern hemisphere even after the completion of the city loop railway subway. Its main platform is the longest in the country at seven hundred metres long.

Flinders Street Station contributes to Melbourne’s liveability because it makes it easy to catch public transport all over Melbourne, good for socialising and meeting, it’s historic and is considered the centre of Melbourne. It’s sustainable because it promotes public transport and lots of people use it and it hasn’t been renovated. It contributes to citizenship because it’s historic and part of Melbourne’s culture as tourists visit there often and it increases employment because it takes many people to help run Flinders Street Station.

**Royal Arcade ﻿ **  **The foundation of the Royal Arcade was first laid in June of 1869. It was completed after 11 months of construction and was officially opened by Mayor of Melbourne, Lord Mayor Charles Amess. The Renaissance Revival architecture of the building was designed by Mr Charles Webb in a competition in 1868. Mr Charles Webb was a 19th century architect from Suffolk England. He designed other historical icons as well like South Melbourne Town Hall and the Windsor Hotel. It most iconic feature, the two mammoth statues of the mythical figures, Gog and Magog, around Gaunt’s Clock was added in 1892. The giant statues strike chimes at every hour since its implementation. In 1902, an annex was added to link the arcade to Elizabeth Street. Between the years 2002-2004, the aged building was refurbished and restored to its former glory. **

**Since being built, the Royal Arcade has been used as a shopping area. Its long corridors were lined with shops selling all varieties of goods, from clothes to decorations and food. The long wide corridor are not wasted space as exhibitions were put up in the centre by the shops, the exhibition we saw were paintings depicting Easter by teenagers and kids. A candy store was also set up in the middle of the corridor. **

**Now, the Royal Arcade is a significant Victorian era building in Melbourne, thus is a part of the Victorian Heritage Register. In addition, Melbourne’s Golden Mile heritage walk runs through the arcade. It is now famous for its fashion stores as well as specialty stores such as tarot card reading store. **  __ **Hamer Hall**  __ The Hamer hall was opened in 1982 so it has been working for 29 years this year. It is pretty young to be and old historical building, it has never changed its look as the first time its being been reformed is right now, it will be reopened in 2012. When it will be opened it will have more shops in it and it will have stairs going down to next to the Yarra. Since it was opened it has been used for opera, concerts, dance concerts and entertainment. It is one of the biggest stages in the world it is also very fashionable and impressive and a lot of people go there. It good in liveability as it is a meeting place for people and it has music and art which enriches the culture of Melbourne. It is also sustainable because even though it is a big space, a lot of people use it every day, and now that it will be renewed, even more, even though it will now have more lights (which makes it look very cool) but also more people will use it. And to finish off, it is a good place for citizenship as it shows that Melbourne is a modern country, shows that it is rich. Hamer Hall is part of Melbourne’s culture. PS: The attractions in Hamer are usually expensive, as they are usually tours of artists around the world.