Loved and Lost: The Battle for Melbourne

Opens 21 December

Tasma Gallery, 4 Parliament Place, East Melbourne. 9.00am - 5.00pm Mon - Fri

Take a journey through Melbourne’s changing streetscape since the 1950s. Loved and Lost is a new National Trust exhibition telling the stories of the battles fought for key buildings in the Melbourne CBD. The exhibition will open in the Tasma Gallery on December 16 and then embark on a touring schedule taking it to sites around the CBD, including the Atrium at Federation Square, and to regional and interstate locations.

The National Trust’s formation in 1956 was in response to public concern at the widespread demolition of heritage buildings. Our commitment to advocacy, education, conservation and the community has only strengthened since then. Our new exhibition Loved and Lost – The Battle for Melbourne tells these stories about our formation, the broad preservation movement and Melbourne city itself.

A fascinating exhibition of historic photographs and documents, focusing on the Melbourne CBD, has been compiled over the past year from the National Trust archives, featuring images of buildings which once stood tall in the central city and also those which were saved from demolition. The exhibition weaves a story of struggle between the forces of ‘progress’ and the community, a struggle that can rightly be called the ‘Battle for Melbourne’.

Loved and Lost examines the controversies, rallies, editorials, letters and public protests that saved the Regent Theatre, Flinders Street Station, 1-9 Collins Street and Tasma Terrace. It also looks at what we have lost and is irreplaceable.

Proudly supported by City of Melbourne, FedSquare, Helen McPherson Smith Trust, Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, Public Record Office of Victoria, State Library of Victoria.