Around the cruise
Southbank before and after dinner
What stands beside the Yarra at Southbank, where the dinner cruise boards: the promenade, Southgate, the Arts Centre and the way back over Princes Bridge.
Book the Yarra dinner cruise ↗Quick answer
The dinner cruise boards on Southbank Promenade, a riverside walk opened in 1990 that runs from Princes Bridge towards Queens Bridge. Southgate, the restaurant and shopping precinct beside it, and Arts Centre Melbourne, along the same bank, make it easy to build an evening around the sailing. Leave time at both ends, and share the promenade with cyclists.
Southbank in a paragraph
Southbank is an inner-city district one kilometre south of the central business district, bordered to the north by the Yarra River. It was a mostly industrial area until an urban renewal program began in the early 1990s, and today it is dominated by high-rise apartment and office buildings. The cultural precinct along St Kilda Road is the main exception. For a visitor, the useful part is the riverside, where the promenade, Southgate and the Arts Centre sit within one stretch of the south bank.
A short Southbank history
Before European settlement the area was a series of low-lying swamps. Melbourne was established in 1835 on the opposite bank, and after the Port Melbourne railway line was built across the area in 1854 the swamps were filled and the land became an industrial district. By 1900 the site of the present Arts Centre was an entertainment precinct with a dance hall, a circus site and an ice-skating rink. The National Gallery of Victoria opened on St Kilda Road in 1968, and the Arts Centre opened in stages in the early 1980s.
The promenade
Southbank Promenade was completed in 1990, designed by Denton Corker Marshall, and it runs from Princes Bridge along to Queens Bridge. It came out of the give the Yarra a go campaign of the 1980s, which set out to make the south bank a more useful part of the city, together with the Evan Walker Footbridge. It is part of the Capital City Bicycle Trail, so cyclists share it with pedestrians, and a speed limit of 10 kilometres per hour applies to them. Walk with some attention near the water, especially after dark. Together with the footbridge it won an urban design award in 1991.
Southgate and Ophelia
Southgate is the restaurant and shopping precinct on the promenade, built in stages between 1990 and 1993 with a new Sunday arts and crafts market that attracted tourists. Its Ophelia sculpture by Deborah Halpern has been used to represent Melbourne in tourism campaigns. The cruise boards at the Southgate Arts and Leisure Precinct Landing, so this is the part of Southbank you will see first. A drink at the river's edge before boarding is a simple way to arrive without a rush.
The towers behind the promenade
Behind the riverside, Southbank is now one of the most densely populated parts of Melbourne, with a large cluster of apartment towers. The Eureka Tower, begun in 2002, was completed in 2006, and the Australia 108 tower is the tallest in the country measured to its highest floor. The towers are what you see lit on the south bank from the water, and they are a measure of how fast the district changed once the urban renewal program began in the early 1990s.
Arts Centre Melbourne
Arts Centre Melbourne stands beside the Yarra and along St Kilda Road, in the Melbourne Arts Precinct. Its architect was Sir Roy Grounds, the masterplan was approved in 1960, Hamer Hall opened in 1982 and the Theatres Building in 1984. Major companies that perform there include the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Melbourne Theatre Company and The Australian Ballet. If you want a performance on the same night as the cruise, check the starting time of the sailing first, since the cruise runs for three hours.
Getting back across the river
Princes Bridge carries road, tram and pedestrian traffic between St Kilda Road in Southbank and Swanston Street on the north bank, so it is the natural way back to the city centre on foot. Flinders Street Station, the busiest railway station in Victoria, stands on the far side near Federation Square. The Melbourne saying meet me under the clocks refers to the clocks above its entrance. Check the last services for your line before you eat, because they vary by day.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Southbank?
On the south bank of the Yarra, one kilometre south of the central business district.
Can I walk to the berth along the river?
Yes. Southbank Promenade runs along the south bank from Princes Bridge towards Queens Bridge. Check the berth number on your confirmation.
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