Celebrating 170 years: The Age’s best pictures
100 ImagesSee some of the most iconic images The Age has published over the decades.
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An umbrella isn’t much use against the elements as a pedestrian becomes stranded on a bench on the corner of Elizabeth and Bourke streets during a flash flood in 1972.Credit:Neville Bowler
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In 1977, award-winning news photographer Bruce Postle photographed trainer Tommy Woodcock, 74, with racehorse Reckless on the eve of that year’s Melbourne Cup.Credit:Bruce Postle
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The Beatles at Melbourne Airport during their tour in 1964.Credit:Laurie Richards via Arts Centre Melbourne
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The crowd waits anxiously for The Beatles to appear on the balcony of the Melbourne Town Hall during their tour in June 1964.Credit:The Age archives
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From left: Five-year-old Spitari triplets Jenny, Doris and Phillis, immigrants from Malta, stare from the liner Sydney as it reaches Melbourne, their new home.Credit:The Age archives
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The extended Lacuone family gather at Station Pier in Melbourne in 1994. Loreto Lacuone had first arrived there in 1949 as a migrant from Italy. Credit:Ian Kenins
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Work on tram tracks on the corner of Swanston and Bourke streets in 1949 holds up a cable tram bound for Northcote.Credit:The Age archives
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Phar Lap wins the 1930 Melbourne Cup.Credit:The Age
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A time when hats and binoculars were an essential part of a male racegoer’s gear, the 1959 Melbourne Cup.Credit:The Age archives
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It was a long splash back to the mounting yard for the jockeys in mud-caked silks. Their faces tell their story of the 1976 Melbourne Cup, which was run in the rain. Credit:The Age archives
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Lillian Frank at the 1984 Melbourne Cup.Credit:The Age,
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Prince Charles and Princess Diana watch the Melbourne Cup in 1985.Credit:Fairfax Photographic
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Two elderly men sit outside a house with piles of newspapers beside them.Credit:John Lamb
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Unemployment peaked at 30 per cent in the winter of 1932 during the Great Depression and scenes like this were not uncommon. Credit:The Age archives
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Melbourne crowds watch a Labour Day parade in 1937. A banner reads “8 hours labour, 8 hours recreation, 8 hours rest.”Credit:The Age archives
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Oakleigh Motel, circa 1956. Credit:The Age archives
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Seventy thousand people gathered outside the Melbourne Town Hall in 1970 in a peaceful protest against Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War.Credit:Bruce Postle
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Horses from the Light Horse Brigade drink near Torquay in this undated photograph, which The Age published in 1975.Credit:The Age archives
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A protest message from Franklin River conservationists painted on the Tasmania Tourist Bureau office in Collins Street in 1983.Credit:The Age archives
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“Shoppers wander around in a daze ... someone will get bowled over for sure.” This is how one policeman described the opening of Bourke Street Mall, the first permanent mall in Melbourne’s CBD, in 1978.Credit:Peter Mayoh
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Premature baby Nicholas Kinniburgh in the neo-natal intensive care unit at the Royal Women’s Hospital in 1994.Credit:Cathryn Tremain
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Owner-driver truckies protest against the high costs of running their trucks outside Parliament House in 2000.Credit:Simon O’Dwyer
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Riot police jump over S11 protesters to open the Crown casino entrance for World Economic Forum delegates in 2000.Credit:Simon O’Dwyer
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Federation Square, Melbourne, under construction in 2001.Credit:John Donegan
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Some of about 40 men who were brought to Australia under medevac laws in 2019 and held at the Mantra Hotel in Preston.Credit:Jason South
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Leaving the land of Plenty: Evgnosia (Effie) Tsagalidis on her farm in Plenty, Victoria. With the passing of her husband Apostolic (Paul), Effie put her property on the market in 2023 after years of resisting offers from developers.Credit:Justin McManus
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Then prime minister Ben Chifley launches the first mass-produced Australian car, the Holden, at Fishermans Bend plant in 1948.Credit:The Age archives
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Navy divers and police divers search a rock pool at Cheviot Beach near Point Nepean in December, 1967, after the disappearance of then prime minister Harold Holt, who went missing while swimming in the sea near Portsea. His body was never recovered and Holt was presumed to have died.Credit:Dennis Bull
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Former Victorian premier Sir Henry Bolte duck shooting in Kerang in 1969.Credit:John Cook
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Former prime minister Gough Whitlam addresses a rally in Melbourne’s City Square in December 1975, weeks after his dismissal.Credit:Michael Rayner
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The morning after the 1980 election, Malcolm Fraser, still prime minister, relaxes in bed at the Windsor Hotel with a cuppa and the good news in the Sunday papers.Credit:Bruce Postle
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Then federal Liberal MP Andrew Peacock entertaining film star Shirley MacLaine on a beach near Portland in 1982.Credit:Peter Cox
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Then Victorian premier John Cain launches the ALP conservation and environment policy in St Kilda alongside his successor, Joan Kirner in 1988.Credit:John Lamb
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Felicity Kennett checks her shoe after visiting the Acropolis in Athens with her husband, then victorian premier Jeff Kennett, in 1995.Credit:Simon O’Dwyer
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Former prime minister John Howard wears a bulletproof vest at a rally in Sale in June 1996 to argue for gun restrictions two months after the Port Arthur massacre.Credit:Colin Murty
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Former premier Daniel Andrews enters a fiery meeting of the Labor caucus on September 27, 2023 to elect his successor. Credit:Jason South
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An aerial view of the Sunbury Music Festival in 1972.Credit:Michael Rayner
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Coming straight from Melbourne Airport in 1974 to do a sound check, and hoping to avoid the press, Frank Sinatra ducks down the lane at the back of Festival Hall, only to encounter photographers and a television crew.Credit:Geoff Ampt
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TV host Molly Meldrum interviews Prince Charles on Countdown. on the ABC in 1977.Credit:The Age archives
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A big crowd at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl watches ABBA in concert in 1977.Credit:The Age archives
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Boxing legend Muhammad Ali kisses TV presenter Bert Newton at the 21st Logie Awards in 1979.Credit:Bruce Postle
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A rock fan crowdsurfs at the sellout Big Day Out concert at the Melbourne Showgrounds in 1994. More than 20,000 people, mostly aged under 26, gathered to see 39 local and overseas bands.Credit:Sebastian Costanzo
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A preview of the 2007 Swan Lake production at Albert Park Lake.Credit:Wayne Taylor
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Former governor, Sir Rohan Delacombe, police and company officials inspect the site of the West Gate Bridge collapse in 1970, where 35 construction workers died and 18 were injured two years after construction began in Australia’s worst industrial accident.Credit:The Age archives
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Lindy and Michael Chamberlain walk through the scrub at Uluru (Ayers Rock) in December 1981 as the inquest into the disappearance of their baby daughter, Azaria, continues at the site where she went missing.Credit:Michael Rayner
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Constable Graham Dicks helps a kidnapped woman to safety across the Upper Goulburn River near Kevington in 1981.Credit:Peter Mayoh
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On March 27, 1986, a car bomb exploded outside the Russell Street police headquarters, injuring 22 people. Constable Angela Taylor, 21, died from her injuries in hospital weeks later.Credit:THE AGE ARCHIVES
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Police salute at the funeral of Russell Street bombing victim, Constable Angela Taylor, in 1986.Credit:THE AGE ARCHIVES
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Phyllis Chan and her daughters Karen, 8, and Karly, 10, grieve and pray at the site in Thomastown where her daughter Karmein’s body was found in 1992, some time after being abducted from the family home. Her killed was dubbed Mr Cruel and The Age reported in 2024 detectives believed he may have killed himself, died of natural causes or moved to a country that is lax on child exploitation.Credit:Neil Newitt
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From left: Daniel Green, Billy Chmielewski, Dean Eastway and Cameron Chalmers, the tradesmen who rescued children from the Exford school bus crash near Melton in 2023. Credit:Simon Schluter
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Eildon Weir at Bonnie Doon in 1983, when it turned from a glistening lake into a parched dustbowl in drought.Credit:John Krutop
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Hillside farmer David Mitchel in South Gippsland with ruined fences after a drought turned to floods in 1998.Credit:Jason South
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CFA strike team leader Phil Charles among the flames during bushfires in Omeo in 2001.Credit:Simon O’Dwyer
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The 2003 drought: Neville Worth runs a water pipe for 1.5 kilometres in the cracked earth bed of Lake Eppalock, where he and wife Rosalie run Lake Eppalock Holiday Park.Credit:Jason South
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The water level at Hume Weir at 5 per cent capacity in 2003.Credit:Jason South
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Tom Johnston from Omeo fixes his fences after a wildfire in 2003.Credit:Simon O’Dwyer
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A bygone era of an Australian backyard in summer. Water restrictions meant this type of entertainment was frowned upon in 2004.Credit:Jason South
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A firefighter reacts as a blaze rages out of control from the Bunyip State Park towards Labertouche and Tonimbuk during the Black Saturday bushfires, which claimed 173 lives in 2009.Credit:Jason South
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Rob Greig with his prized Harley Davidson, now a twisted wreck in his garage in Flowerdale after the Black Saturday bushfires.Credit:Jason South
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A body lies covered on the side of the Maroondah Highway after a bushfire ripped through Narbethong during the Black Saturday bushfires.Credit:Justin McManus
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Angus McGillivery sits in the ruins of his Coyles Road home near Terang after a bushfire ripped through the area in 2018.Credit:Jason South
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Day turns to a blood-red sky in Mallacoota as residents prepare for a second bushfire assault in the Foreshore Caravan Park in 2020.Credit:Justin McManus
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Kioa Island, Fiji resident Lotomau Fiafia and his grandson John in 2023. Lotomau was born on the island in 1952 and has seen erosion of the shoreline in the past decades. He stands in the water roughly where the shoreline used to be when he was young.Credit:Eddie Jim
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A member of a group of heavily armed men opposed to then East Timor prime minister Mari Alkatiri holed up in the mountains during unrest in 2006.Credit:Jason South
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A child plays in overgrown grass in a war cemetery in 2000, a year after East Timor gained independence. Credit:Jason South
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Angie Claridge, great-granddaughter of the last Anzac veteran Alec Campbell at Kum Limani, Gallipoli National Park in Turkey in 2003.Credit:Joe Armao
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An aerial view of flowers covering the steps of Parliament House, Melbourne in memory of the Bali bombing victims in October 2002. A week earlier, 88 Australians were among 202 people killed in the bomb attacks.Credit:Simon O’Dwyer
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Beaconsfield mining disaster survivor Brant Webb waves to onlookers in April 2006. Webb and colleague Todd Russell were rescued six days after being trapped underground in the Tasmanian mine. Miner Larry Knight was killed.Credit:Wayne Taylor
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A man walks past a makeshift memorial on the walls surrounding the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand on March 22, 2019. A total of 51 people were killed in shootings at the mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre the week before.Credit:Jason South
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Nicky Winmar bares his chest to Collingwood supporters in a defiant anti-racism gesture on April 17, 1993.Credit:Wayne Ludbey
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Legendary boxer Muhammad Ali prepares to light the olympic flame at the 1996 OLYMPIC Games opening ceremony in Atlanta.Credit:Vince Caligiuri
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Pete Sampras cools off after winning the 1997 Australian Open.Credit:Joe Armao
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Girls aged 12 to 17 take the ramp out to the water before swimming to the starting line at the Pier to Pub swim in Lorne in 2005.Credit:Rebecca Hallas
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A windy Oaks Day in Flemington poses a racewear challenge in 2005.Credit:Angela Wylie
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Shane Warne salutes the crowd at the MCG for the last time after taking seven wickets and making 40 runs against England at the Boxing Day Test in 2006. Warne died in 2022.Credit:Paul Rovere
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The first day of the athletics competition of the 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in London.Credit:Jason South
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Great Britain’s Mo Farah embraces daughter Rihanna after winning the final of the men’s 10,000m event. at the London Olympics in 2012.Credit:Pat Scala
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Departing Essendon coach James Hird leaves Windy Hill in 2013.Credit:Wayne Taylor
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The Australian Open squad of 380 ball kids with Chinese player Li Na at Melbourne Park in 2014.Credit:Penny Stephens
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Magpies Brayden Maynard and Darcy Moore celebrate with the 2023 AFL premiership trophy after Collingwood’s grand final win over the Brisbane Lions at the MCG in 2023.Credit:Eddie Jim
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Leigh Matthews embraces Brisbane coach Chris Fagan after the Lions’ AFL 2024 grand final victory against the Sydney Swans at the MCG.Credit:Joe Armao
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Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan in action at the Australian Open in 2024.Credit:Eddie Jim
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Australia’s 100m record holder Torrie Lewis, photographed in July 2024 before the Paris Olympics.Credit:Eddie Jim
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Stonnington dog shelter in 2011.Credit:Ken Irwin
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Sumatran orangutan mother Maimunah and baby Dewi go outdoors for the first time at the Melbourne Zoo in 2011.Credit:Joe Armao
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Sir David Attenborough visits the Melbourne Zoo to inspect a Lord Howe Island stick insect in 2012.Credit:Angela Wylie
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Dr John Mulder, deputy head of intensive care at Western Health, reflects on coronavirus deaths and how they are impacting healthcare workers in 2020.Credit:Jason South
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Dr Sachin Patel, who runs Aged Care GP, which sends doctors into 70 aged care facilities around Melbourne, photographed in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.Credit:Eddie Jim
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Former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews walks to a media conference in 2020 to give a daily update on the coronavirus pandemic.Credit:Eddie Jim
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Locked down Flemington public housing tower residents during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Credit:Justin McManus
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Terminal cancer patient Robyn Becker touches her sister Jennifer Cook’s hand through the window as daughter Alex watches on. Cook travelled from California to visit Becker during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. She was quarantined and could only visit in hour-long blocks. Credit:Chris Hopkins
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Police arrest a man and try to put a mask on him at an anti-lockdown rally at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne in 2020.Credit:Justin McManus
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Thousands of people angry about COVID-19 vaccinations and lockdowns shut down parts of the city and descend on the Shrine of Remembrance before being forced out by riot police in 2021.Credit:Jason South
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Police used tear gas and capsicum spray to disperse thousands of anti-vaccination and anti-lockdown protesters in Melbourne CBD in August 2021.Credit:Chris Hopkins
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Purana detectives get their man. Underworld kingpin Carl Williams on the ground after his arrest in Beaconsfield Parade, Port Melbourne in 2003.Credit:Angela Wylie
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Jailed drug boss Tony Mokbel leaves the County Court in a prison van in February 2024.Credit:Jason South
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The father of the deceased alleged victim of cardinal George Pell in 2019. In 2020, the High Court acquitted Pell of five child sex offences. Pell died in 2023.Credit:Simon Schluter
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Djab Wurrung man DT Zellanach sitting on a canoe tree near the site of a birthing tree in 2019.Credit:Justin McManus
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The NAIDOC march culminated on the steps of Parliament House in Melbourne in 2023.Credit:Justin McManus
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Yorta Yorta, Wurundjeri, Wemba Wemba and Wongaibon man Paul Briggs on his Country on the Dungala (Murray) River in 2021.Credit:Justin McManus
