Every sightseer in the City of Melbourne should visit COLE'S BOOK
ARCADE. It is entirely an Australian institution, being the first of
its kind opened anywhere, and at the present time unequalled in any
city of the world. It is 3 stories high, 600 feet deep, and an
average width of 45 feet, with frontages to Bourke and Collins Sts.,
the two main arteries of Melbourne; its public walkways are half a
mile long, its galleries are supported on brass pillars, while
hundreds of rainbows (the trade mark) decorate the interior and
exterior of the establishment. There are 100 mirrors tastefully
placed throughout the building. The present Arcade was opened on Cup
Day, 1883, and has been visited every day (except Sundays), year in,
year out, by an average of 5000 people, so that during the first 35
years of its existence, more than 50 million visits were paid to it.