The Banana Alley Vaults are near the Flinders Street Station

Flinders Street Station

Flinders Street Station is the central railway station of the suburban railway network of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets next to the Yarra River in the heart of the city, stretching from Swanston Street to Queen Street and covering two city...

 in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and extend onto the North Bank of the Yarra River

Yarra River

The Yarra River, originally Birrarung, is a river in east-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stretches of the river is where the city of Melbourne was established in 1835 and today Greater Melbourne dominates and influences the landscape of its lower reaches...

.

Built in 1891-92, whey were originally known as the Viaduct Buildings, and were built in conjunction with the tracks of the Flinders Street Viaduct

Flinders Street Viaduct

The Flinders Street Viaduct is a railway bridge in Melbourne, Australia. Made up of six tracks of varying ages, it links Flinders Street Station to Southern Cross Station and forms the main link between the eastern and western parts of the Victorian rail network.The viaduct takes a twisted path,...

 that run overhead. The vaults were originally used by produce agents and fruiterers to store their wares before market. The name "Banana Alley" stems from bananas being stored and ripened here (using ethylene

Ethylene

Ethylene is a gaseous organic compound with the formula . It is the simplest alkene . Because it contains a carbon-carbon double bond, ethylene is classified as an unsaturated hydrocarbon. Ethylene is widely used in industry and is also a plant hormone...

 gas) before being sold. The vaults are divided up into 33 separate spaces, with first tenants being recorded in 1893.

With the construction of the Spencer Street Bridge

Spencer Street Bridge

The Spencer Street Bridge is a road and tram bridge over the Yarra River in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It connects Spencer Street on the north bank with Clarendon Street on the south....

 in 1930 Queens Wharf was rendered inaccessible to cargo ships, and the vaults fell into disuse. A cafe was opened in one of the vaults in 1936, being joined by the 'Pieteria' cafe selling pies 24 hours a day from the 1950s. Hernes Hobbies also occupied a vault from 1946 until they moved into the basement of Flinders Street Station. Other vaults were used by newsagents as a distribution point, and the Victorian Railways

Victorian Railways

The Victorian Railways operated railways in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companies failed or defaulted, the Victorian Railways was established to take over their operations...

 refreshment branch as a storage area.

The vaults were neglected and disused for many years and subsequently developed a sinister reputation in the 1970s and 80's. The vaults were used by homeless persons as shelter from Melbourne’s cold nights, and numerous attacks and murders occurred here.

In 1987 the State Government carried out a $4.5 million refurbishment of the vaults in a project aimed at promoting Victorian tourism. The drawcard was 'Wine Victoria', which closed after only 2 years of operation, with other vaults becoming vacant as well. The area is again considered one of the sites ripe for development in the central business district, with the redevelopment of the rest of the north bank of the Yarra.

The TV series Canal Road

Canal Road (TV series)

Canal Road is an Australian television drama series on the Nine Network. The series was produced in-house, under producer Susan Bower, in collaboration with writers Sarah Smith, John Ridley and Dave Warner, and directed by Kevin Carlin. It was filmed at Channel Nine’s GTV Studio 11 and on location...

is set at the Banana Alley Vaults. Canal Road is the fictional name for Banana Alley, which contradictory to the show is inaccessible by cars. The fictional Canal Road Centre is located within a shop space of the Banana Alley Vaults.