Down the Yarra Podcast

BGM_The Secrets Beneath the Clocks - Flinders Street Station

What secrets lie behind Naarm - Melbourne’s most iconic meeting place? In this episode of Down the Yarra, we step inside Flinders Street Station- past the clock, through the platforms, and then upstairs to the forgotten ballroom, gym, and library that once pulsed with life above the trains.
Discover the station’s surprising origins, the design twist with Mumbai (India)’s Victoria Terminus, and the bold ideas for the future- including a museum, live music venue, and even having not only trams running through the station yet have ferries running up the Birrarung (the Yarra) as well.
From the myths and ghost stories to the hidden staircases and the untold social histories, that is Flinders Street like you’ve never heard it before.
Trigger Warning: This episode contains historical references to inequality and displacement. Listeners discretion is advised.
Next Stop: Naarm - Melbourne’s notorious 1850’s shanty settlement - Canvas Town.

BGM_Canvas Town: Naarm - Melbourne’s Forgotten Shanty City

In this episode of Down the Yarra, we take you deep into the forgotten heart of the 1850s Naarm - Melbourne - Canvas Town. Once home to tens of thousands, this notorious tent city rose from desperation during the VictorianGold Rush era, sprawling along the Birrarung (the Yarra) southern bank to Emerald Hill (now South Melbourne). Discover its chaotic origins, tragedies stories, hidden crimes, and the people who lived - and dead - beneath Canvas roots. From the overwhelming and disease to resilience and community, this is the story that Naarm - Melbourne tried to erase.
Trigger Warning: This episode contains references to poverty, death, disease, colonial displacement, and child mortality. Listeners discretion is advised.
YouTube recommendation: Goldfields Guide’s episode on Melbourne’s notorious Canvas Town of the 1850’s offers a powerful visual comparison.
Next Episode Teaser: We journey next just a little further down the road into the Royal Botanic Gardens and King’s Domain - from volcanoes and war memorials to the tragedies buried beneath the beauty.

BGM_Battle Lines of the Burbs: Naarm - Melbourne’s Firrcest Rivalries

From the hpster havens to the high - end boulevards, today we dive headfirst into the ultimate local showdown - North vs South vs East vs West. In this episode of Down the Yarra, we break down the deep - rooted rivalries that define Naarm - Melbourne’s neighbourhoods - from the class crashes and cultural shifts to who really holds the city’s heart and soul.
Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussions of class, social divisions, and urban stereotypes that may be confronting to some listeners. Listeners discretion is advised.
And next time, the stakes get even higher as we zone out for “the mother of all 9f decider “Sibling Rivalries Down Under” - State vs Stat, Capital vs Capital. Will Naarm - Melbourne finally come out on top? Stay tuned.

BGM_Gardens of Secrets: Thr Royal Botanic Gardens & King’s Domain

Beneath the blossoms and picnic rugs of Naarm - Melbourne’s beloved green heart lies a history that’s anything but tranquil. In this episode of Down the Yarra, we explore the Royal Botanic Gardens and King’s Domain- from their volcanic origins and colonial roots to their role in music, power, and remembrance.
We Walk The Tan, revisit the grandeur of Government House, and take you to the Sidney Myer Music Bowl - but we also confront the devastating Royal Botanic Gardens Massacre of 192, when gunman Norman Albert List opened fire on a summer crowd, leaving eventually 4 people dead and and many forever changed.
Plus, we’ll reveal hidden stories, haunting legends, and why this list oasis is more than just a pretty place for a picnic.
Trigger Warning: This Episode contains discussions of mass violence and suicide. Listeners discretion is advised.
And stay tuned - next episode, we reveal the sharp and subversive legacy of the Women of Naarm - Melbourne… and their deadliest accessory, the humble hairpin.

BGM_Chloe’s Watching Eyes: The Story of Young & Jackson

She’s been watching over Naarm - Melbourne for more than a century - from an upstairs room at one of the CBD’s most iconic pubs. In this episode of Down the Yarra, we step inside Young & Jackson and uncover the haunting, beautiful story of Chloe - the nude portrait who became a symbol of hope, sorrow, and resilience. From the pub’s late 19th century beginnings to Chloe’s scandalous arrival, wartime farewell’s, and the ghostly legends, this is a tale full of art, tragedy, and Naarm - Melbourne’s soul.
Trigger Warning: This episode contains references to mental illness, suicidal, and war. Listeners discretion is advised.
Next Up: we head just across Swanston St Walk to the towering St Paul’s Cathedral - where history, architecture, and sacred secrets await.

BGM_St Paul’s Cathedral: A Sanctuary of Sone & Secrets

In this episode of Down the Yarra, we step through the grand gothic doors of St Paul’s Cathedral - a sandstone sentinel standing opposite Flinders Street Station- to uncover its hidden past, mismatched spires, carved mosaics, and its underground crypts. From its disputed archaeological origins and quiet spiritual labyrinth to its role as both a place of faith, empire, and resistance.
But before it was a cathedral, this land was a Wurundjeri ceremonial ground. And long after the bells stop ringing, the story will continue to echo.
Trigger Warning: This episode includes references to colonisation, spiritual loss, and grief.
Next Time: We walk from here to Princes Bridge to Federation Square and Birrarung Mar - tracing morgues, forgotten markets, and the secrets that lie just beneath the footpaths.
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BGM_The Woman of Naarm - Melbourne’s Deadliest Hair Accessory (Hairpins)

They held up bans, arched hats - and sometimes stopped man in their very tracks.
In this sharp and very pointed episode of Down the Yarra, we uncover the lethal legacy of the humble hairpin in Naarm - Melbourne. From self - defence in Fitzroy alleyways to the suffragette protests heading down and down Swanston Stree, discover how these Women wielded this everyday object as a quiet weapon of power, protest, and survival.
Trigger Warning: This episode contains references to violence, self - har, and gendered oppression.
YouTube Recommendation: For a deeper dive, check out Tony Robinson’s Down Under or Time Travels on YouTube - especially the episode exploring the untold stories of colonial women and the tools they used to fight back.
Next Episode Teaser: Don’t miss our next stop - Naarm - Melbourne’s North vs South vs East vs West. Watch, which side reigns supreme finally? The Battles will be drawn.

Princes Bridge to Birrarung Mar: Departed, Designed & Buried Below

Beneath Naarm - Melbourne’s Princes Bridge and Federation Square lies a world of secrets - some chilling, some cutting edge. In this episode of Down the Yard, we trace the path from the city’s former morgue and funeral trains to Fawkner and Springvale, as well as to the former fish market, through the archaeological wonders of Federation Square and its hidden underground cooling labyrinth, and finally down to Birrarung Mar - home to one of the advanced storm water systems in the Southern Hemisphere.
It’s a story of death and design, of sustainability and spirit, all resting quietly under one the busiest parts of the city.
Trigger Warning: This episode contains references to death, burial practices, and the former city morgue.
Teaser: next stop - Flinders Street Station, where ghosts, forgotten ballrooms, and an Indian station switch await.

BGM_Long Live the Kings Weekend

What does the King’s Birthday Long Weekend actually mean in Naarm - Melbourne.
In this special episode of Down the Yarra, we dive intro the past, present, and future of one of city’s most curious public holidays. From the old colonial days pageantry to footy fever at the ‘G’, from fireworks on the Birrarung (the Yarra) to the growing calls for reflection and change, this episode unpacks the contradictions of a weekend that’s more about Naarm - Melbourne than the British monarchy.
We explore its royal roots of a public holiday, its transformation into a local winter ritual, and the cultural complexities that come with honouring the crown on stolen lands. Plus- where to go, what to do, and how the city makes this long weekend to very much its own thing.
Trigger Warning: This episode contains references to colonisation, war, and systematic inequality.
Teaser: Next up, we visit Naarm - Melbourne’s iconic Young & Jackson- and the women who’s been watching over the CBD go by for well over a century from the pub’s upstairs wall - Chloe.
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BGM_Pints, Power & Publicans: Mitre Tavern & the lost Yorkshire Stingo

What do Naarm - Melbourne’s oldest surviving pub and a long-lost beer garden with dancing bears have in common? Actually more than you might think.
In this episode of Down the Yarra, we dive into the hidden history of the Mitre Tavern, still tucked away at 5 Bank Place in the CBD, and the legendary - but vanished - Yorkshire Stingo, once one of the wildest venues in the colony. We explore their colonial origins, ghost stories, murders, and mysteries - from whispers Ned Kelly connections to walled-up tunnels, beneath hospitals.
Trigger Warning: This episode contains references to colonial violence, alcohol abuse, and death. Listeners discretion is advised.
For a deeper dive into Naarm - Melbourne’s pub myths and how they hold up to the facts, check out the Dead & Buried’ podcast’s Myth Busted episode.
Next Episode: We’ll steam up the windows on this long-lost Western Market & Bathhouses of Old Melbourne.
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Podcast by Andy - proudly exploring the stories of Naarm - Melbourne and South Central Victoria.