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Roots Earth in Melbourne: audio stories about 48 places

Roots Earth has audio stories about 48 places in Melbourne, Australia, in Oceania. The Melbourne stories are in all seven Roots Earth languages: English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The app needs no account: open Melbourne, pick a place on the city's map of places and play. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection. The stories are written by local people.

The 48 places are listed below in the order the app shows them, and again further down with their coordinates. The lists were taken from the Roots Earth catalogue on 15 September 2026.

Published 16 September 2026. Markdown: melbourne.md

The 48 places in Melbourne with audio stories

In the order the app shows them.

  1. Flinders Street Railway Station
  2. Federation Square
  3. Royal Exhibition Building
  4. St Paul's Cathedral
  5. Melbourne Cricket Ground
  6. St Patrick's Cathedral
  7. National Gallery of Victoria
  8. Shrine of Remembrance
  9. Parliament House
  10. Melbourne Town Hall
  11. State Library Victoria
  12. Eureka Tower
  13. Royal Botanic Gardens
  14. Melbourne Museum
  15. Old Melbourne Gaol
  16. Fitzroy Gardens
  17. Captain Cook's Cottage
  18. Carlton Gardens
  19. Arts Centre Melbourne
  20. Princess Theatre
  21. Regent Theatre
  22. Block Arcade
  23. Royal Arcade
  24. Manchester Unity Building
  25. General Post Office
  26. Rialto Towers
  27. Immigration Museum
  28. Crown Melbourne
  29. Scots' Church
  30. Sidney Myer Music Bowl
  31. Hamer Hall
  32. Flagstaff Gardens
  33. Queen Victoria Market
  34. Chinatown
  35. Hosier Lane
  36. Degraves Street
  37. Lygon Street
  38. Brunswick
  39. Fitzroy
  40. Abbotsford Convent
  41. Melbourne General Cemetery
  42. St Kilda Beach
  43. Luna Park
  44. Acland Street
  45. South Melbourne Market
  46. Prahran Market
  47. Albert Park Lake
  48. Edinburgh Gardens

Is there an audio guide for Flinders Street Railway Station?

Yes. Flinders Street Railway Station has its audio stories in the Roots Earth app: a short introduction and a deeper story, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian.

It is place 1 of the 48 Melbourne places in the app, at -37.818078, 144.96681. Every one of the other 47 places in the list above has the same two stories.

Roots Earth is not a guided tour: you choose the place on the city's map of places and play its story yourself.

How to use Roots Earth in Melbourne

Open Roots Earth and choose Melbourne. The city has its own map of places with all 48 of them on it. Tap the place you are standing in front of, or any other, and play its short introduction or its deeper story. You decide what to listen to and in which order.

You can listen in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian, and there is no account. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection.

In full

All 48 places in Melbourne, in the app's order, with their coordinates.

All 48 places in Melbourne, with coordinates

Every place below has a short introduction and a deeper story in the Roots Earth app, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The names, the coordinates (latitude, longitude) and the one line descriptions are the app's own catalogue values of 15 September 2026; a place without a line here has none that this page can print.

1. Flinders Street Railway Station

Coordinates
-37.818078, 144.96681
In one line
Australia's first city railway station crowns the corner of Flinders and Swanston streets. Completed in 1910 in an Edwardian Baroque style, its green dome, golden facade, and row of clocks remain Melbourne's most beloved meeting place.

2. Federation Square

Coordinates
-37.817798, 144.968714
In one line
Opened in 2002 on former railyards, Federation Square is Melbourne's bold civic plaza. Its angular sandstone, zinc, and glass facades, designed by Lab Architecture Studio, frame an open paved square that hosts galleries, screens, festivals, and crowds year-round.

3. Royal Exhibition Building

Coordinates
-37.80472222, 144.97138889
In one line
Built in 1879 and 1880 to designs by Joseph Reed, this grand pavilion hosted Melbourne's great international exhibitions and the first federal Parliament in 1901. Crowned by a 68-metre dome in the Carlton Gardens, it became Australia's first UNESCO World Heritage Site.

4. St Paul's Cathedral

Coordinates
-37.816853, 144.967384
In one line
Melbourne's Anglican cathedral rises on the city's busiest corner, built from 1880 to 1891 to a Gothic Revival design by William Butterfield. Its banded sandstone, soaring spires completed in 1933, and richly tiled interior make it a landmark of High Victorian craftsmanship.

5. Melbourne Cricket Ground

Coordinates
-37.82, 144.98333333
In one line
The spiritual home of Australian sport seats around 100,000 people in Yarra Park. Founded on this ground in 1853, it hosted the first Test cricket match in 1877 and the 1956 Olympic Games, and still draws vast crowds to cricket and football.

6. St Patrick's Cathedral

Coordinates
-37.81, 144.97611111
In one line
One of Australia's largest churches, this bluestone Gothic Revival cathedral was built between 1858 and 1939 to designs by William Wardell. Its triple spires, the central one reaching 105 metres, rise above East Melbourne as the seat of the Catholic archdiocese.

8. Shrine of Remembrance

Coordinates
-37.83055556, 144.97344444
In one line
The Shrine of Remembrance crowns a low hill on Melbourne's southern axis, a classical granite monument built between 1928 and 1934 to honour Victoria's war dead, famous for the sunbeam that touches its Stone of Remembrance each Remembrance Day.

9. Parliament House

Coordinates
-37.811055, 144.97329
In one line
Parliament House presides over the top of Bourke Street, a grand colonnaded building begun in 1855. Seat of Victoria's parliament, it housed Australia's first federal Parliament from 1901 to 1927 and is famous for its never-built dome.

10. Melbourne Town Hall

Coordinates
-37.815145, 144.966777
In one line
Melbourne Town Hall anchors the corner of Swanston and Collins streets, a Second Empire civic landmark built between 1867 and 1870 by Reed and Barnes. Its clock tower, grand portico, and vast pipe organ have hosted everything from royal receptions to The Beatles.

11. State Library Victoria

Coordinates
-37.809801, 144.964787
In one line
State Library Victoria, founded in 1854, is Australia's oldest public library. Its grand neoclassical buildings on Swanston Street culminate in the octagonal La Trobe Reading Room of 1913, crowned by a vast dome, and it holds Ned Kelly's armour.

12. Eureka Tower

Coordinates
-37.82166667, 144.96444444
In one line
Eureka Tower rises 297 metres above Southbank, a 91-storey residential skyscraper built between 2002 and 2006 by Fender Katsalidis.

13. Royal Botanic Gardens

Coordinates
-37.8334, 144.98033
In one line
The Royal Botanic Gardens spread across 38 hectares beside the Yarra River, founded in 1846 and shaped by directors Ferdinand von Mueller and William Guilfoyle. Their lakes, lawns, and fern gully hold thousands of plant species in one of the world's great gardens.

14. Melbourne Museum

Coordinates
-37.803337, 144.971445
In one line
Melbourne Museum opened in 2000 in Carlton Gardens, a bold contemporary building by Denton Corker Marshall. Its galleries hold dinosaurs, a living forest, the racehorse Phar Lap, and the Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre, beside a giant IMAX screen.

15. Old Melbourne Gaol

Coordinates
-37.80805556, 144.96527778
In one line
Built from bluestone between 1841 and 1864, Old Melbourne Gaol is Victoria's oldest surviving prison. Inside its tiered cell block, 133 people were hanged, among them the bushranger Ned Kelly in 1880.

16. Fitzroy Gardens

Coordinates
-37.8125641, 144.9803925
In one line
Laid out from 1848 on Wurundjeri land, Fitzroy Gardens is a 26-hectare Victorian park in East Melbourne. Avenues of English elms, a conservatory, ornamental fountains, and the relocated Cooks' Cottage draw visitors beneath its leafy canopy.

17. Captain Cook's Cottage

Coordinates
-37.81306, 144.98019
In one line
Built in 1755 in Great Ayton, Yorkshire, this ivy-clad stone cottage belonged to the parents of navigator James Cook. Shipped to Melbourne brick by brick in 1934, it now stands in Fitzroy Gardens as a furnished museum.

18. Carlton Gardens

Coordinates
-37.80611111, 144.97027778
In one line
Designed from around 1856 and reshaped for the 1880 International Exhibition, Carlton Gardens frames the Royal Exhibition Building across 26 hectares. Tree-lined avenues, ornamental lakes, and the grand Hochgurtel Fountain earned it UNESCO World Heritage listing in 2004.

19. Arts Centre Melbourne

Coordinates
-37.82027778, 144.96833333
In one line
Crowned by a lattice spire rising 162 metres above St Kilda Road, Arts Centre Melbourne opened in stages during the 1980s. Designed by Roy Grounds, it houses the State Theatre, Playhouse, Fairfax Studio, and the riverside Hamer Hall.

20. Princess Theatre

Coordinates
-37.81097, 144.97197
In one line
Constructed in 1886 by architect William Pitt in exuberant Second Empire style, the Princess Theatre stands on Spring Street as Melbourne's oldest surviving theatre. It once boasted the country's first sliding roof, and legend keeps a ghost in residence.

21. Regent Theatre

Coordinates
-37.8155, 144.9675
In one line
Opened in 1929 as a lavish picture palace on Collins Street, the Regent Theatre was designed by Cedric Ballantyne. Rebuilt after a 1945 fire and saved from demolition, it reopened in 1996 and now stages musicals above its Spanish Baroque Plaza Ballroom.

22. Block Arcade

Coordinates
-37.81583333, 144.96444444
In one line
The Block Arcade is an ornate Victorian shopping promenade between Collins and Elizabeth Streets, built in the early 1890s. Its glass roof, mosaic floors, and domed rotunda recall Milan's famous Galleria.

23. Royal Arcade

Coordinates
-37.8145, 144.9641
In one line
Opened in 1870, the Royal Arcade is Australia's oldest surviving shopping arcade. Designed by Charles Webb, its glass-roofed walkway runs from Bourke Street to Little Collins Street, guarded by the giant figures of Gog and Magog.

24. Manchester Unity Building

Coordinates
-37.8154, 144.9664
In one line
Completed in 1932, the Manchester Unity Building is Melbourne's celebrated Gothic Art Deco tower. Designed by Marcus Barlow and clad in cream terracotta, its stepped, ribbed silhouette rose at remarkable speed at the corner of Swanston and Collins Streets.

25. General Post Office

Coordinates
-37.81384, 144.963028
In one line
Melbourne's grand General Post Office, built from 1859, anchors the corner of Bourke and Elizabeth Streets. Its Renaissance Revival facade stacks three classical orders beneath an ornate clock tower, and once marked the very centre of the city.

26. Rialto Towers

Coordinates
-37.81888889, 144.95833333
In one line
Completed in 1986, the Rialto Towers rise 251 metres over Collins Street, sheathed in blue mirrored glass that shifts colour through the day. For years they ranked as the tallest office building in the Southern Hemisphere.

27. Immigration Museum

Coordinates
-37.8191, 144.9604
In one line
Housed in the grand 19th-century Old Customs House on Flinders Street, the Immigration Museum opened in 1998. It tells the stories of the people who journeyed to Victoria, set within a richly restored Renaissance Revival landmark.

28. Crown Melbourne

Coordinates
-37.822324, 144.960099
In one line
Crown Melbourne is a vast entertainment complex stretching along the Yarra at Southbank, opened on its riverside site in 1997. Its casino, hotels, and restaurants are famous for the towers of fire that erupt over the promenade each evening.

29. Scots' Church

Coordinates
-37.8145, 144.968468
In one line
A soaring Gothic Revival landmark on Collins Street, this Presbyterian church was built between 1871 and 1874 to a design by Joseph Reed. Its 61-metre spire once ranked as the tallest structure in colonial Melbourne.

30. Sidney Myer Music Bowl

Coordinates
-37.8233149, 144.9746821
In one line
An open-air concert venue in Kings Domain, opened in 1959, famous for its sweeping cable-suspended canopy. Designed by Barry Patten of Yuncken Freeman, its pioneering tensile roof seats around 2,000 with lawns for thousands more.

31. Hamer Hall

Coordinates
-37.82027778, 144.96833333
In one line
Melbourne's premier concert hall beside the Yarra, opened in 1982 as the Melbourne Concert Hall to a Roy Grounds design. Seating 2,466, it was renamed for Premier Sir Rupert Hamer and rebuilt in a 2010 to 2012 redevelopment.

32. Flagstaff Gardens

Coordinates
-37.8105, 144.9544
In one line
Melbourne's oldest public park, spread across roughly 7 hectares on a rise once known as Burial Hill. It served as the colony's first cemetery, then a signal station and observatory, before being proclaimed a garden in 1862.

33. Queen Victoria Market

Coordinates
-37.807, 144.9569
In one line
A sprawling 7-hectare market trading since 1878, the last great open-air market in central Melbourne. Built over the old Melbourne Cemetery, its iron-roofed sheds and 1869 Meat Hall draw roughly 10 million visitors a year.

34. Chinatown

Coordinates
-37.81167, 144.96889
In one line
Centred on Little Bourke Street since the 1850s gold rush, Melbourne's Chinatown is the oldest in the Southern Hemisphere and one of the longest continuous Chinese settlements in the Western world, marked by paifang arches and the Chinese Museum.

35. Hosier Lane

Coordinates
-37.81639, 144.96889
In one line
A bluestone laneway off Flinders Street, opposite Federation Square, famous worldwide as Melbourne's street-art showcase.

36. Degraves Street

Coordinates
-37.8173386, 144.9636001
In one line
A narrow bluestone laneway between Flinders Street and Flinders Lane, gazetted in 1837 and named for merchant brothers Charles and William Degraves. Today it crowds with café tables, canopies, buskers and street art, a heart of Melbourne coffee culture.

37. Lygon Street

Coordinates
-37.79944, 144.96694
In one line
Carlton's famous strip and the heart of Melbourne's Little Italy. Settled by Italian migrants from the 1950s, it claims Australia's first espresso machine and first pizzeria, Toto's, open since 1961. Today it teems with restaurants, cinemas and the annual Lygon Street Festa.

38. Brunswick

Coordinates
-37.7667, 144.9628
In one line
An inner-northern suburb 5 kilometres from the city, settled from the 1830s and named for Brunswick in Germany. Once Victoria's brickyard capital and a textile hub, it is now a multicultural, gentrified strip along Sydney Road, full of cafés, music and street life.

39. Fitzroy

Coordinates
-37.7984, 144.9785
In one line
Melbourne's first suburb, planned in 1839 and named for colonial governor Charles FitzRoy. Famous for Victorian terraces, the Brunswick Street strip, a deep Aboriginal community history along Gertrude Street, and a bohemian arts and music culture now layered with gentrification.

40. Abbotsford Convent

Coordinates
-37.8025, 145.00388889
In one line
A 14. 5-hectare complex of Gothic Revival buildings on a bend of the Yarra, founded by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in 1863. For over a century it housed orphans and women in institutional laundries; since 2004 it has become Australia's largest multi-arts precinct.

41. Melbourne General Cemetery

Coordinates
-37.78888889, 144.96527778
In one line
A 43-hectare Victorian-era cemetery in Carlton North, established in 1852 and opened in 1853. Resting place of six Australian prime ministers and many others, it holds bluestone chapels, cast-iron pavilions and an unexpected memorial to Elvis Presley.

42. St Kilda Beach

Coordinates
-37.86583, 144.97389
In one line
Melbourne's most famous beach, about 700 metres of sand on Port Phillip Bay, 6 kilometres south of the city. A seaside playground since the 1800s, it pairs gentle bay swimming with St Kilda Pier, Luna Park, and a little penguin colony on the breakwater.

43. Luna Park

Coordinates
-37.868036, 144.976369
In one line
A St Kilda fairground opened in 1912, entered through the grinning Mr Moon face. Its Scenic Railway is the world's oldest continually operating roller coaster, still ridden with an onboard brakeman beside the bay.

44. Acland Street

Coordinates
-37.86778, 144.97917
In one line
A St Kilda street famous for its continental cake shops, born when European Jewish refugees settled here from the 1930s. Once the heart of Melbourne's Jewish life, it is now a busy weekend strip of bakeries, cafes and crowds.

45. South Melbourne Market

Coordinates
-37.8321, 144.9565
In one line
Melbourne's oldest continuously operating market, trading since 1867 beneath red brick and timber. Famous for its dim sims, it mixes fresh produce with clothing and goods stalls in a much-loved corner of South Melbourne.

46. Prahran Market

Coordinates
-37.846376, 144.992355
In one line
A historic food market on Commercial Road, South Yarra, trading since 1867. Its 1891 facade, with Anglo-Dutch detailing and a mansard roof, still fronts halls of fruit, fish, meat, deli goods and cafes near Chapel Street.

47. Albert Park Lake

Coordinates
-37.84778, 144.97083
In one line
A Y-shaped artificial lake of 49 hectares south of Melbourne's centre, proclaimed parkland in 1862 and named for Prince Albert. Ringed by a walking track, it hosts sailing and rowing, and since 1996 the Australian Formula One Grand Prix.

48. Edinburgh Gardens

Coordinates
-37.789039, 144.980906
In one line
A 24-hectare Victorian park in Fitzroy North, laid out by Clement Hodgkinson from 1862 and named for the Duke of Edinburgh. Its elm avenues, 1925 rotunda and heritage-listed 1888 grandstand make it a much-loved neighbourhood green.

Roots Earth in short

Roots Earth has audio stories about 5,665 places in 130 cities, 25 countries and 6 regions, written by local people.

  • No account
  • Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection
  • Audio stories in English and German in every city, and in Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian in 126 of the 130 cities

Roots Earth for Android is available on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rootsearth.app.