Bulletin

Issue: March 2004

News

La Trobe on La Trobe

La Trobe University has completed negotiations to purchase the historic Argus building on the corner of La Trobe and Elizabeth Streets in the Melbourne Central Business District.

'This is a significant step in our efforts to enhance the profile of the University and to strengthen links with key business and health sectors,' the Vice-Chancellor of La Trobe University, Professor Michael Osborne, said.

'The University's commitment to Victoria and to Melbourne can be no better demonstrated than by our plans to bring back to its past glory one of the city's great landmark buildings,' Professor Osborne said.

He said the acquisition of the building represents a key strategic initiative for the University as it will alleviate an acute shortage of teaching space at the University's main Melbourne campus in Bundoora and provide an excellent CBD base for vocational and postgraduate programs such as Law.

'The location of the building means that students of the University can take advantage of a variety of public transport modes,' Professor Osborne said.

'The University's attractiveness to future undergraduate and postgraduate students who work in the city will also be significantly enhanced.'

The Argus building will be redeveloped to ensure that students and staff are provided with state-of-the-art facilities whilst preserving the historic features of this Melbourne icon.

The building will also be configured to attract commercial tenants whose businesses are linked to higher education and who have a mutual interest in fostering the delivery of quality higher education programs.

With this development La Trobe University intends to develop further links with the business community for the benefit of staff and students and access another income stream that will reduce the University's dependency on government funding.

The purchase of the building which once housed The Argus, one of this nation's great newspapers, is singualarly appro-piate since the University has strongly supported the major task of indexing The Argus as a research instrument

Over the years The Argus building was the scene of many great events.

In the days before radio and television, crowds often gathered around it to buy newspapers containing the first details of major events. One was the announcement of the decision to pursue Federation when Melbourne's population turned out in thousands to voice its approval.

back contents next