Removal of Palm Trees at Sloss Street Reserve Melbourne

In August 1934, The Age published this scathing report on the removal of trees, including Palm Trees, along part of St Kilda Road, at  Sloss Street. The removal of these trees was considered especially egregious as Victoria was about to celebrate its Centenary and Prince Henry, the  Duke of Gloucester, was visiting the State in connection to these celebrations. St Kilda Road was one of Melbourne's premier boulevards and would have been traversed by the Duke and many considered the once hidden buildings in Sloss Street were unattractive.

Sloss Street no longer exists - it was named after a City of South Melbourne councillor, John Sloss and was closed in 1961 to allow construction of the Victorian Arts Centre. (1)

 You can see Sloss Street at the top of this map, running parallel to St Kilda Road, and you can also see the tree reserve, the subject of this article. 

Collins' Melbourne and suburban street directory, 1922

State Library of Victoria https://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/288556

The Tree-felling Orgy. St. Kilda-road Defacement. A Regrettable Misunderstanding. 

Move to Have Trees and Palms Replanted.

Strong criticism is likely to be expressed at to-day's quarterly meeting of the City Council with regard to the tree-felling orgy in which the parks and gardens committee has been freely indulging at the St. Kilda-road - Sloss-street reserve. The parks and gardens committee met yesterday, but this very contentious subject was "merely mentioned." It will be "mentioned" again at to-day's meeting - but without the gentle modification that is implied by the "merely." Many members of the City Council yesterday protested that when they voted for the cleaning up of this reserve they had no idea that so many beautiful trees and palms would be ruthlessly sacrificed. Indeed, the mention of tree felling was cunningly omitted from the memorandum submitted by the parks and gardens committee to the City Council when this "beautification" scheme was recommended. The committee's memorandum referred to the cutting down of a mound. There was nothing about the cutting down of trees and palms. So members of the council will seek an explanation from the chairman of this committee (Alderman Stapley) about the whole matter.

Criticism has become so strong that it was proposed yesterday by leading members of the council that the only way to repair the artistic damage thus done to this reserve is to replant trees and palms on the flattened reserve. This course will be proposed by a member of the council at to-day's meeting, and the proposal may be agreed to.

The most regrettable part of the whole business is that the position has been misunderstood, even by members of the parks and gardens committee, and there is a strong feeling that the City Council was actually misled by the diplomatically worded memorandum which accompanied the recommendation concerning the "beautification" plan for this reserve.

The bareness of the reserve, now that the trees have been removed, is sufficient to make anyone, even only remotely threatened with a sense of beauty blink. Instead of lovely trees and stately palms there is a nerve-shattering vista of a conglomeration of structures which would easily earn special awards in an ugly buildings competition. There they stand on Crown land in the municipality of South Melbourne, in all their drab unattractiveness without a tree to decently shield their naked ugliness. And the parks and gardens committee calls this "beautification." No wonder the City Council will demand the replanting of trees and palms at to-day's meeting. 

Silence is the strongest weapon of the curator of the City Council's parks and gardens (Mr. J. Smith) in refuting the arguments of his critics, but yesterday he said that all he wanted was time. That requirement is just what cannot be conceded to him. The Centenary celebrations will be commenced in a very few weeks from now, and what ever is to be done to remedy this regrettable disfigurement at such a time of the famous St. Kilda-road avenue must be done quickly. (2)

Sloss Street

The following images all referred to the ugliness of Sloss Street

Caption: Today's Picture Of The "Perfect" Sloss Street View

"Let Trees Grow as God Intended," will be the request of the Victorian Town  Planning  Association, when it forms a deputation to the City Council garden committee. The use of the axe in the plantation which separated St Kilda Road from Sloss Street, South Melbourne, will probably be criticised. In this picture, the view unsightly buildings, which was objected to when the work began, is now nearly complete. The 15 trees which were removed concealed this area from beautiful St. Kilda Road.

The Herald, August 22, 1934 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243104678

Caption: "The Wreckers" in Sloss Street.

Progress on the "beautification" of the St. Kilda Road plantation. This work caused a great public outcry. For illustrations of the extent to which this scheme has spoiled the beauty of the city's approach, see Back Page.

The Herald, October 4, 1934 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243060884 

Caption: The Duke will see Sloss Street.

Those responsible for tearing down the plantation between St. Kilda Road and Sloss Street said the view of unsightly buildings would be veiled when the trees were in leaf. The top picture shows the

"beautification" scheme practically complete, but the leafy trees are unequal to the task of hiding the eyesore. Beneath, Burns statue (seen also above) set in the "spinney" which originally extended for the whole distance.

The Herald, October 4, 1934 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243061026

Footnotes

(1) This site - Arts Centre Melbourne, see here, gave me the information about Cr Sloss and the date of closure, however it incorrectly states that  Sloss Street linked Sturt Street to Grant Street, it clearly did not; John Sloss obituary - Emerald Hill Record, June 22, 1918, see here; 

(2) The Age, August 9, 1934, see here.