Fact or fiction? Urban myths of Melbourne dating to the 1930s

Quirky stories about Melbourne — from the random to the supernatural — have circulated since the city’s birth. So which are truth and which are just tall tales?

Modern Melbourne may be young but there is no shortage of quirky tales — from the random to the supernatural — about the city’s history.

Here are some of the most outlandish.

Was this the design intended for Flinders Street Station, or was it meant for a train station in India? Picture: Jay Town

Flinders St Station

Rumour has it the architecture of Melbourne’s iconic Flinders Street Station was never actually meant to come to Australia.

A competition to design a new Flinders Street Station had been held in 1899, with the winning entry designed by partnership Fawcett and Ashworth.

As the story goes, there were two designs shipped out from London in the 1800s.

One was intended for Flinders St and the other was intended for Victoria Terminus in Mumbai (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus).

During the dispatch from England, legend says the two blueprints got mixed up, meaning Melbourne’s famous clock tower was originally destined for India.

The gothic facade of Chhatrapati Shivaji was supposedly meant to complement the rest of Melbourne’s architecture, while Flinders Street Station’s vaguely East-Indian style was meant for the bustling streets of South Asia.

While historians have shirked this theory as folly, the quirky myth persists and is still told by many as gospel.

Is there a secret network of tunnels and a morgue beneath Crown Casino? Picture: David Crosling

Crown Casino morgue

One of the more macabre tales of Melbourne, there is a legend that Crown Casino is laden with secret tunnels and passageways to deal with gambling-related fatalities.

A hobby long since associated with declining mental health, there is a baseless rumour that highrollers who can’t book a win.

This imaginary network of tunnels is supposedly for Crown employees to clandestinely escort the bodies of those who have taken their own lives from over-gambling.

However a former employee of Crown put a firm stop to the story.

“As an ex-employee, I can spoil this legend for you,” they said.

“While there are a huge amount of back of house corridors and passageways throughout the entire complex, they are specifically for staff to move around the various floors and gaming areas without having to transit the gaming floor itself.

“However, in a worse case scenario people who may have committed suicide or have passed away could be taken to a loading dock through one of these back passageways.”

Did the Americans bring species of big cats to Victoria in World War II? American soldiers march in Three Nations’ March in November 1943. Picture: Supplied

Gippsland phantom cats

In a country with bushlands as rugged as Australia, it is no wonder tales of mystery animals lurking in the shadows gain legs.

Cryptids are animals that some believe could exist in the wild, but their existence is disputed or unsubstantiated by evidence or science.

Stories of miscellaneous big cats roaming in Gippsland date back to the 1930s, with many at the time believing they had been brought to Victoria by American soldiers.

Others thought they were pumas or panthers, triumphant escapees from local circuses who had gone to live in the bush.

Those who claim to have seen the cryptid cats have described them to be “as large as Labradors”, but as of today they are still unregistered as a species.

Is there a detailed network of tunnels connecting all of Melbourne’s landmarks? Picture: Supplied

Secret tunnels of Melbourne

Like many big cities, there are swirling conspiracy theories and myths of complex tunnel networks connecting Melbourne from underground.

This apparent labyrinth is rumoured to line every major street of Melbourne and connect every major building, from St Paul’s Cathedral to Parliament to the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Other buildings apparently linked by the tunnels include the Regent and Princess Theatres, Melbourne High School, Rialto Towers, Myer and The Supreme Court.

Supposedly also buried in this network are ghostly train platforms, American World War Two bunkers, flooded car parks, a cinema and even squash courts.

Whether or not the tunnels are as sophisticated as the rumours detail, it is typically accepted that some form of network exists – as used by 1920s gangster Squizzy Taylor, who dodged police by escaping through the tunnel under Goodwood St in Richmond.