History of Transport mural at Southern Cross Station
The
History of Transport mural by Harold Freedman (1915-99) depicts the first 100 years of transport in Victoria from 1835 to 1935. The mural has been fully restored and returned to the redeveloped Southern Cross Station.
About the Mural
The mural was commissioned by the State Government of Victoria in 1973 for the main wall of the Spencer Street Station foyer. It is a realist oil painting on canvas mounted on plywood and measure 36.6 by 7.3 metres. It is highlighted with a background of gold leaf.
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"It's about people, their hopes and endeavours. It reflects the great development of our State." - Harold Freedman, artist
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Harold Freedman undertook six months of painstaking research before making a single sketch for the mural, highlighting his accuracy and attention to detail.
The mural illustrates each significant stage of Victoria’s transport history. It is the largest work painted by Mr Freedman and the most ambitious narrative work of its kind in the State.
The art was painted in five main sections at the East Camberwell railway substation, and erected in stages above the Spencer Street station concourse. It took Mr Freedman and his assistants five years to complete.
The
History of Transport mural is historically important as the first of a series of public artworks commissioned by the State Government following the appointment of Harold Freedman as State Artist in 1972. It was unveiled by the Premier of Victoria on 30 January 1978.
About the artist
Harold Freedman was born in Caulfield, Victoria, in 1915. He studied at the Melbourne Technical College from 1929 to 1935, and from 1936 he worked as a freelance illustrator and cartoonist.
During the Second World War, Freedman enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force and was appointed as a war artist attached to the RAAF Historical War Records Section. Harold Freedman was appointed official State Artist from 1972, a position he held until 1983.
In his career Harold Freedman prepared the
History of Flight series at Melbourne Airport, the mural depicting our military aviation history in the Canberra War Memorial, and the
History of Racing at Flemington Racecourse.
Restoration of the Mural
In 2004, during the development of Spencer Street Station, the mural was professionally removed. Conservators from the Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation at the University of Melbourne supervised the removal, storage and restoration of the artwork. This also provided a unique opportunity to examine and document Harold Freedman’s materials and techniques.
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The mural was returned to the renamed Southern Cross Station in 2006 and received its final treatment by one of the original artists when the joins between the 27 individual panels on which the mural was painted were filled and painted to match the original.