BLOCK 1 is framed by Spencer, Flinders, King and Collins Streets. The first allotments [or plots] at Block 1 were auctioned on 11 June 1840, three years after the first land sales took place in the newly established settlement of Melbourne. The highest combined value at the sale was £1 030.00, which was paid by James Hannibal Rose who bought Allotment 5 [where 544 Flinders Street can be found] and Allotment 6 [the current site of Aura on Flinders at 534 Flinders Street, as well as, Katherine Place].
Block 1, Melbourne © 32 BlocksJ. H. Rose died unmarried at No. 6 Victoria Parade, Fitzroy, [where the Collingwood MacDonalds now stands] on July 20th 1879, aged 71 years. He was immensely wealthy and left behind a valuable collection of jewels and estates which later became known as the ‘Rose Millions’. No other member of the Rose family could draw income from the fortune due to the fact that the documents relating to the English estates had been lost. As late as the 1930s family members were still trying to get their hands on the estate which was then valued in excess of £25 million.
Please enjoy the following gallery of images that I have captured over the last six years of Block 1:
