Winner Victoria Community History Awards
At the Victoria Community History Awards held on Thursday, 19 August, 2010, at the Experimedia Room, State Library of Victoria, the Hon. Peter Batchelor, MP, Minister for the Arts declared Jenny Davies the Overall Winner for 2010 for her publication titled, Beyond the Façade: Flinders Street, more than just a railway station.

“This year’s awards have generated huge interest with more than 150 entries and the eight awards going to recipients from across Victoria,” Mr Batchelor said.

“This year’s overall winner was Jenny Davies for her work Behind the Façade: Flinders Street, more than just a railway station which celebrates the intrigues and history of one of Victoria’s most significant landmarks."

As a result of the win, Jenny walked away with $10,000 in prize money in recognition of her contribution toward the advancement of community history across Victoria.

Courtesy Kit Haselden Photography.

Citation by Judy Maddigan on behalf of the panel of Judges
The title of Jenny Davies’ bountiful history of one of Melbourne’s most significant urban icons sums up the historical content and writerly instinct of this beautifully produced and lavishly illustrated volume. While on one level mundane, utilitarian, and functional, at another level the railway station is also the city’s heartbeat. Its citizens move through and beyond its built form, yet are momentarily captivated by its multiple functions and charms.

Davies first establishes the origins of Melbourne’s railway infrastructure and then documents the winning plans of Fawcett & Ashworth for the design of the new central station, construction of which commenced after 1900. Drawing widely on oral history, photography and archival material, the book then documents the great variety of functions and institutions associated with the complex, from refreshment services and other amenities to City Hatters, the famous station clocks, the Victorian Railways Institute and its host of social, cultural and sporting clubs and facilities.

The pursuit of detail is never subjugated to the clarity of the text and the engagement of the narrative. Inspired to research and write the book by a family story about her grandparents meeting in the station ballroom, Davies’ narrative weaves into the family stories of many Melburnians over the course of a century. In Davies’ book, Flinders Street Station has found its historian, its muse and its champion..