Summary

Black and white wood block engraving from The Illustrated London News, titled 'The International Exhibition Building at Melbourne, Australia', printed on page 164 on 14 February, 1880.

The image presents an aerial view of the Exhibition Building, temporary annexes & gardens from a south easterly aspect. Numerous people are depicted approaching the building via foot and horse-drawn trams along Nicholson Street, and walking in the gardens, the layout of which are clearly depicted. The suburb of Carlton can be seen in the background.

The Exhibition Buildings were still under construction in February 1880. The buildings were ready to receive goods in May and the Melbourne International Exhibition (MIE) opened to the public with great fanfare on 1 October 1880. The exhibition closed on 30 April 1881, and in that period, over 1.3 million people visited the exhibition; Melbourne's population was around 282,000 at the time.

Physical Description

The aerial view of the buildings is a full page illustration. On the reverse side is three columns of newspaper text mostly concerned with proceedings in the House of Commons, London.

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