Menzies Hotel Melbourne

This was the 1st of my many menus, the start of my collection. As a Hotel Management student at William Angliss Institute, I heard about the demolishment of this Melbourne icon, so I went with my fellow student (current London Resident) Don to have a look around. Of course in those days (1969) there was no such thing as Occupational Health and Safety, so we just wandered onto the demolition site and strolled through the building. In the kitchen was a skip bin into which workers were shovelling debris into. I noticed it included some old menu so I thought, they look interesting, I'll grab those.
The menu is from 1947 and is luncheon with a liquor permit Number 104.The price of the table d'hote meal was 5/6 (five shillings and sixpence) the equivalent in decimal currency of 55 cents. The menu listd the 8 courses which would not have been degustation size, so its a marvel that people could actually eat all that food.

In 1896 itwas remodelled by the addition of two extra stories making it one of Melbourne's largest hotels designed for the wealthy landed families. Some famous guests include Alexander Graham Bell, Dame Nellie Melba and Mark Twain. During the second world war it was the Allied Pacific Forces headquarters under General Macarthur.