A new book detailing the history of Melbourne Airport will hit shelves on 1 August, telling the story of how Tullamarine became what its authors describe as the world's first purpose-built Airport City.
Melbourne Airport Tullamarine: A History, written by Arun Chandu and Matt Harvey and published by NewSouth Books, traces the airport's development from planning through to its current expansion, including the approved third runway and planned rail link.
The book credits much of Tullamarine's original design to planner Bill Bradfield, son of John Bradfield, the engineer behind the Sydney Harbour Bridge. According to the publisher, the airport's 1970 facilities were unmatched internationally at the time, with a golf course, hotel, conference centre, art gallery, cinema, bottle shop, exhibition centre, multiple bars, a VIP lounge and a fine-dining restaurant under an executive chef who later went on to earn three Michelin stars.
Architecture academic Philip Goad called the book a "dazzling and comprehensive account" of the airport's design history, while urban planning commentator Michael Buxton described it as an "outstanding contribution to Australia's cultural history."
Chandu is a member of the Professional Historians' Association and a Senior Research Fellow with the Civil Aviation Historical Society and Airways Museum, alongside his work as an oral and maxillofacial surgeon and honorary clinical associate professor at the University of Melbourne. Harvey is a senior lecturer in law at Victoria University Melbourne and a practising lawyer who has lived under the southern approach to Essendon Airport for 25 years.
Melbourne Airport Tullamarine: A History is 232 pages, paperback, RRP $49.99. Pre-order now: https://unsw.press/books/melbourne-airport-tullamarine/