Ask a librarian, Buildings & streets, Cities & towns, Our stories, Such was life, Victorian history:

In September 1932, hundreds of people congregated in and around a new building on the corner of Collins and Swanston Streets in central Melbourne. These crowds hoped to experience a new phenomenon: the escalator. As the twentieth century progressed, each decade saw more cities in Australia embrace the continuous movement that was possible with the introduction of the moving staircase.