The Outer Circle was built during the Melbourne land boom of the 1880s. Money was no object, and greedy capitalists saw the Colony of Victoria as a valuable investment opportunity.

In 1878 the government purchased the Melbourne & Hobsons Bay United Railway Company for £1,320,820 and finished building a direct line from Oakleigh to Melbourne.

At this point, there was no longer a need to build the proposed Outer Circle.

But in 1884 the James Service government passed ambitious legislation which authorised the construction of no less than 65 railways throughout the Colony of Victoria. 

One of these lines was the Outer Circle.

In our documentary we look at the rise-and-fall of this once great feat of railway construction, built by a young civil engineer by the name of John Monash. We speak to people who remember the trains (which stopped running in 1943) as well as historians and an urban planning expert. What would Melbourne look like today if the Outer Circle was still running?

Tickets on-line and at the box office. (Oh, pre-booking *really* helps us to gauge audience numbers!)

Screens with Justin Evan’s short Welcome to Dookie (2013, 5 mins), a father-and-son promotional video made to get the train running to Dookie again and boost the population.

ACMI Cinema 2, Saturday 25th April. See you there!

Event details at: https://www.railpage.com.au/events/the-outer-circle-line-comes-to-a