60 years of Christmas windows at Myer in Melbourne
VISITING Myer’s Christmas windows has become a festive tradition for generations of Victorian families since 1956. We’ve picked the best over 60 years.
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THE Myer Christmas windows have been a celebrated part of Melbourne since 1956, and they now attract an estimated 1.2 million visitors each year.
The first Christmas windows were first created by Myer visual merchandiser Fred Asmussen in the wide plate glass windows at the front of Myer’s flagship Bourke Street store in 1956.
It was intended as Myer’s first Christmas gift to the people of Melbourne.
The first Christmas window had a typically Melbourne sporting theme.
They featured Santa and the Olympics — fitting, given that the windows were unveiled as Melburnians celebrated the opening of the 1956 Olympic Games.
One scene featured a television screen — television transmissions began in Melbourne in November 1956 — with Santa and his reindeer following an Olympic torchbearer at the MCG.
Ever since, the windows have been a Christmas tradition for generations of Victorian families, one that has spread interstate as Myer’s landmark stores in other capitals took up the idea and created their own little piece of Christmas magic.
What are your memories of the Myer Christmas windows? Are you in one of our images? Let us know in the comments below.
Since 1994, Myer has stepped back from the creation of thee windows and placed it in the hands of a private company, Stage ONE.
This year’s hi-tech display is based on a new children’s book, One Christmas Eve, by Corinne Fenton and Marjorie Crosby-Fairall, which follows the adventures of Bella, who visits her grandparents in St Kilda on Christmas Eve in 1968.
The story is narrated by Jo Hall from Nine News.
Luna Park, Carols by Candlelight at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl and the Palais Theatre can be seen in the windows, along with 120 characters at least 55cm tall who all wear ‘60s-inspired costumes and another 5000 miniature characters.
This year, it took 30 artists, more than 10,000 lights, more than 6km of fibre optic cabling, 500kg of paint and 17,000 hours of work to reproduce the Melbourne of the 1960s for this year’s windows.
The windows are open from 7.30am until 1am each day until Thursday, January 5.
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