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Bank on the south
Author: Kath Dolan
Date: November 29, 2008
Publication: The Age (subscribe)
Southbank is home to the arts and some of the city's best restaurants.
Southgate Crown Casino, the Arts Centre, Hamer Hall, Opera Australia, the Australian Ballet School, the Victorian College of the Arts, ABC studios, Eureka Tower, Riverside Quay, Freshwater Place, the Polly Woodside, ACCA, the Malthouse, the new Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre, Jeff's Shed: for a tiny suburb, Southbank has no shortage of cultural or commercial landmarks.
On top of this is its proximity to the Botanic Gardens, Fed Square, Flinders Street Station, the MCG and the bars, restaurants and galleries in and around fabulous Flinders Lane. Despite this, many Melburnians still confuse Southbank with Southgate, the restaurant and shopping complex on the southern bank of the Yarra.
Southbank sprang from an industrial wasteland that was part of South Melbourne. In the early 1990s the City of Melbourne transformed it into an arts, dining and retail precinct as part of an urban renewal project designed to make Melburnians learn to love the Yarra, the much maligned river that ran through the city's heart and on which the CBD had turned its back.
These days Southbank is a mix of opposing forces: leisurely pedestrian and manic commuter traffic; anonymous office blocks and glitzy ground-floor showrooms for global brands including Aston Martin and BMW; nondescript takeaway joints and temples of gastronomy such as Neil Perry's celebrated Rockpool Bar and Grill; the Blood Bank and the National Gallery; cultural treasures and the casino; and Hanover homeless services agency cheek-by-jowl with Melbourne's most expensive apartments outside Docklands.
Top ten spots
1. Ngargee, Sturt Street. Never knew the name of the strangely spiritual, rusted steel building designed by Wood Marsh Architecture as a funky HQ for ACCA (the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art), Playbox Theatre's set builders and Melbourne's adopted contemporary dance outfit Chunky Move? It's well worth a visit, particularly for anyone fast enough to keep up with the lithe young pros running Chunky Move's dance and yoga program.
2. Red Emperor, Level 3, Southgate. The superb yum cha here is not to be missed.
3. The Famous Spiegeltent, StKilda Road. Erected outside the Arts Centre each October at the start of the Melbourne International Arts Festival, this wacky pavilion offers an intoxicating program of musicians, cabaret artists, circus performers, comedians and DJs.
4. EQ, Riverside Terrace, Southgate. Tucked around the corner from Hamer Hall, this low-key bar and restaurant is one of the best venues for a pre-show bite or beverage.
5. Eureka Skydeck 88, Riverside Quay. A glass cube poking out three metres from the observation deck of one of the world's tallest residential buildings isn't everyone's cup of tea, but if you can stomach the view from 300 metres in the air, it's not a bad way to look at the city.
6. Malthouse Theatre, Sturt Street. This former brewery is Australia's first six-star energy rated theatre.
7. Rockpool Bar and Grill, Crown complex. Disoriented vegetarians probably won't make it past the slabs of meat swinging from chains on the way to the reservation desk.
8. Sunday Market, Arts Centre. This market has more than 150 stalls including textiles, sculpture, ceramics and photography.
9. Pure South, gr2 River Level, Southgate precinct. Wedged between Southgate and Crown, Pure South is a fine dining showcase for the sumptuous produce of Tasmania, including King and Flinders islands.
10. The Magic Store, Shop G18, River Level, Southgate An antidote to the glitzy commercial side of the area, this old-fashioned magic shop is the sole purveyor of juggling balls, garlic candy and fake fingers in the area.
Home truths
Housing
Over the past six years as towers rise faster than you can say "oversupply", Southbank's population has grown by 12per cent annually to more than 8600. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show 94per cent live in high-rise flats (two-thirds are rented). Despite little student accommodation, a quarter of residents are students (many from overseas including Indonesia and Malaysia). Southbank attracts mainly young professionals (the biggest group are 25-34) with few under 12 or over 60. The Real Estate Institute of Victoria says the median price of a Southbank flat is $425,000 but luxury, two-bedroom apartments at Freshwater Place, Riverside Quay and the like can easily set you back $700,000 to $1.15million. A newer attraction is the glass cube at the Eureka Tower.
Education
Most of Southbank's students are at uni and with just 7per cent attending preschools, kindergartens, primary schools or secondary schools there's nothing on offer within Southbank. Popular choices in surrounding suburbs include Melbourne Girls Grammar in South Yarra, Wesley College in Prahran, Melbourne Grammar and the Victorian College of the Arts in StKilda Road and StMichael's primary school in North Melbourne.
Sport and recreation
Melbourne's sports shrine, the MCG, is a stroll up Flinders Street and Telstra Dome a quick tram ride down Collins Street. Small gyms along City Road and the like cater to workers and residents but a huge range of facilities and classes including pilates, meditation and belly dancing are just a tram ride away at the City Baths in Swanston Street.
Transport
Southbank has Flinders Street Station on its doorstep and is well serviced by trams and buses.
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