Monash University campus tour: Clayton, Caulfield and beyond

Monash University was established by an act of the Victorian parliament in 1958, the second university in the state, and took its first students in 1961. It is named after Sir John Monash, the civil engineer who became Australia's best-known general of the First World War and later ran Victoria's electricity commission. Unlike Melbourne's older university, Monash was built from scratch in the suburbs, on open land at Clayton, and it has since grown into a network of campuses. This guide concentrates on Clayton, the main one, and explains where the others fit in.

Where Monash is

Clayton is about twenty kilometres south-east of central Melbourne. The campus is large and self-contained, enclosed by a ring road, with teaching buildings in the middle, residences on one side and sports fields on another. It was planted from the start with Australian native trees, and the gum trees are now as much a part of its character as the buildings.

The other Melbourne campuses are smaller and more specialised:

Caulfield: about halfway between Clayton and the city centre. Art, design and architecture, business and information technology.
Parkville: just north of the city centre. Pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences.
Peninsula: at Frankston, on the bay south of Melbourne. Nursing, physiotherapy and other health courses.

The Menzies Building

The Menzies Building is the landmark of Clayton: a long, tall slab from the campus's first decade, visible for kilometres across the flat suburbs. It is named after Sir Robert Menzies, the prime minister of the day, whose nickname "Ming" led students to call the building the Ming Wing. The arts faculty is based here. The lawns in front, shaded by lemon-scented gums, are the campus's main gathering place, and the Campus Centre next door holds the student union, shops and places to eat.

The Religious Centre, the concert hall and the libraries

A short walk away, the Religious Centre is a low circular building from the 1960s, designed to be shared by many faiths. Close by is Robert Blackwood Hall, the university's concert hall, designed by Sir Roy Grounds, where graduation ceremonies are held.

The Sir Louis Matheson Library, named after the first vice-chancellor, is the main library for the humanities and social sciences. Science, engineering and medicine have a library of their own, as does law.

The Learning and Teaching Building

Most students arrive by bus, and the first thing they see is the Learning and Teaching Building, a broad structure with a sawtooth roof beside the bus interchange. Inside, tiered lecture theatres have largely given way to flexible classrooms and informal study areas arranged around tall, daylit spaces.

Science, engineering and the Synchrotron

The eastern and southern parts of the campus belong to science, engineering, information technology and medicine. The most eye-catching building is Green Chemical Futures, whose stacked hexagonal frames suggest a honeycomb, or the rings of an organic molecule; it houses chemistry teaching and research.

Just across the road from the campus is the Australian Synchrotron, a national research facility. It is a circular particle accelerator about the size of a football field that produces intense beams of light for studying materials, proteins and much else. Its presence is one reason Clayton has become one of Australia's busiest research districts.

Caulfield and Parkville

The Caulfield campus sits beside Caulfield railway station and the racecourse. It is more compact and urban than Clayton, and it is home to the Monash University Museum of Art, a public gallery of contemporary Australian art.

The Parkville campus, on Royal Parade, houses the pharmacy faculty, in the same inner-city district as the University of Melbourne and the city's major hospitals.

Monash also teaches overseas. It has a full campus in Malaysia, near Kuala Lumpur, and a study centre in the Tuscan town of Prato, in Italy, which hosts short courses and conferences.

Living and studying at Clayton

Clayton has halls of residence on campus, so it is possible to live a few minutes' walk from lectures, although many students commute from across Melbourne. There is a sports centre with a swimming pool and playing fields, and a small fenced nature reserve where native wildlife is studied.

The suburbs around the campus are known for good, inexpensive food. Clayton itself has a street of Asian restaurants, Oakleigh is the centre of Melbourne's Greek community, and Glen Waverley has a large dining precinct.

The university's motto is Ancora imparo, Italian for "I am still learning", a saying attributed to Michelangelo.

Seeing the campus for yourself

The grounds at Clayton and Caulfield are open, and visitors can walk around freely during the day. Buildings are generally for students and staff, though public venues such as the art museum and the concert hall welcome visitors when they are open. Monash holds events for prospective students and offers campus tours; dates and booking arrangements change, so check the university's official website for current details.

Getting there and around

To Clayton by public transport: there is no railway station at the campus. Take a train on the line towards Pakenham or Cranbourne to Huntingdale, then the frequent express bus to the campus bus interchange. Allow around 45 minutes to an hour from the city centre.
To Clayton by car: the campus is close to the Monash Freeway and the Princes Highway. Visitor parking is paid and can fill up in semester.
To Caulfield: trains from the city reach Caulfield station in about a quarter of an hour, and the campus is beside the station.
Between campuses: the university has long run shuttle buses between Clayton and Caulfield in semester; check the current timetable.
From the airport: Melbourne Airport is on the opposite side of the city; allow well over an hour.

Where families usually base themselves

Central Melbourne: the widest choice of hotels, and practical if you are also seeing other universities. Clayton is a train and bus ride away.
Near Clayton: a small number of hotels and serviced apartments in Clayton, Notting Hill and Glen Waverley, useful for a short visit focused on the campus.
Caulfield and St Kilda Road: between the city and Clayton, and convenient for the Caulfield campus.

Tips for the day

Start at the bus interchange, walk through the Learning and Teaching Building to the Menzies Building and the lawns, then loop past the Religious Centre and the science precinct.
Allow two hours for Clayton.
Comparing Australian universities? See our guides to the University of Sydney, the Australian National University and the University of Western Australia.

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Cover photo: Rob Deutscher from Melbourne, Australia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons