Revealing Melbourne's long-obscured planning culture

Shortly after I arrived in Melboume in 201 I, PauJ Mees took me on c1 guided tour of what he called a 'rogues gallery' of buildings at the University of Melbourne, which, he argued, epitomised the early history and culture of town planning in the city. We passed the Redmond Barry, Baldwin Spencer and Richard Berry buildings as Paul regaled me with s tories of the eugenic sympathies and activities of their eponyms. Redmond Barry, first chancellor of the University of Melbourne, was known as 'the hanging judge' for his verdicts on Ned Kelly and the ' rebels' of the Eureka Stockade, and his reputation for harshness to offenders. As standing counsel for the Aborigines (1841-50), Barry defended Indigenous Tasmanians Tunnermlnnerwalt and Maulboyheenner, the first people executed in Melbourne, in 1842 (Galbally 1995; Webb 2014).