The following is the text of the newsletter sent on the date
below. The links were current at the time of publication, but may no longer be appropriate.
|
The White Hat Melbourne Newsletter
Archived
Newsletter No.51 - 13 June 2003
Contents
Over the next week there is an opportunity to examine three of Melbourne’s great heritage buildings for free. You could start at the newly restored domed reading room at the State Library this weekend. Then you could attend the Moot Court at the Supreme Court building on Thursday. On the following weekend, you can examine Parliament House on its open day. And you could also supplement that with a chamber music concert at another heritage building - Rippon Lea. Details of all of these at History & Heritage Events in Melbourne.
Film festivals at Geelong and Warburton this weekend. Details at Film Festivals in Victoria.
This weekend the refurbished domed reading room of the State Library reopens with a week of mainly free activities. Great stuff for the family. We are getting towards the end of the remarkable series of projects and restorations that were initiated in the mid 90s so make the most of it. A full listing of events can be found at State Library of Victoria.
COMEDY DEBATE
"Can you judge a book by its cover?" with Red Symons, Damian Callinan, Tom Gleeson, Jodie Hill and Jo Stanley. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/Events/Dates/06June/19.html
Last week we asked, “Who was Arthur Rylah’s Teenage Daughter?” Our winning entry came from Kelly who also offered some observations on other topics in the newsletter. Kelly writes: “Just a little note about the sales. I couldn't help but laugh at the report in the Herald Sun which quoted that the Owner of the Kelpie that sold for the highest amount at Auction had started its training at 2 weeks.(hence the high price) Now I have a single sheepdog pup at home that is 14 days old today, and I think it rather hard to start its training as a herding dog considering it cant hear yet, cant see yet (its eyelids are still firmly shut), cant walk, and cant do more than find its Mum and suck, but then maybe the sheep will take pity on it and run away "just to give the kid a break". The "owner" must be a fisherman, is all I can say. Anyway, just wanted to thank you for all the interesting things in your newsletter, Which while not always going to something you mention certainly inspires one to get out and about. (We went to the Rutherglen Winery Walkabout tour last weekend), fantastic. Sir Arthur Rylah's teenage daughter was hypothetical and to be protected from reading filth such as Mary McCarthy's The Group. God knows what he would have made of American Psycho or even today's TV, by the way you need to get the Discovery Channel. Hardly ever find nothing to watch when I'm sitting down for a break as it always has interesting things on and they only go for an hour so you don't get stuck for too long.
Kelly”
Thank you Kelly. Arthur Rylah would express his disapproval at a book by saying “I wouldn’t want my teenage daughter to read that”. He was speaking figuratively, because he did not have a teenage daughter. At the time, you might receive a party invitation with the instruction “come dressed as Arthur Rylah’s teenage daughter”. I’d like to investigate the Discovery Channel, but from what I’ve heard in songs, I don’t think I’d want my teenage daughter to watch it.
There was a time in Melbourne when you could head up a dark alley, around a few corners, into an old industrial building and there was a little club that only some people knew about. You knew it was good because there was a wide range of people there and the prices were cheap. In the last year or so, little clubs have started to return to the city. You head up a dark alley, around a few corners, into an old industrial building and there is a little club that only some people knew about. You know it’s good because there is a narrow range of people there and the prices are high. To hear about these places you have to “know” somebody. Well fortunately, you “know” me so I will mention a few of them over coming weeks. You could start with The Croft Institute.
| Please note: This section of the newsletter has been
removed as it forms part of a forthcoming publication or because it
is forms part of our
Questing activities. If you find yourself on a tour where the
guide is White Hat Accredited they are likely to know the answer to
many questions you may have in this area. All guides on
White Hat Tours are White Hat
Accredited. |
This coming Thursday, STEPS Gallery in Lygon Street opens a new exhibition called Water:Fire:Tea featuring ceramics by Jan Bell & art works by Adriano Gemelli. I’m told it is big on teapots, so if teapots as art is your sort of thing, get on down there. In fact the gallery is probably the only place in the whole of Lygon Street where you will find a teapot. Details at Exhibitions in Melbourne.
You can often get cheap hotel rates through last minute bookings. The hotel would rather let out the room at a cheap rate rather than have it stay empty. I can recommend the link on our home page to “Last minute hotel bookings”. I use it, as do a number of our readers. Our readers have also had good service from a real human when they had queries. Just follow the link below
Haunted places in MelbourneSince European settlement of Melbourne there have been many stories of ghosts and hauntings. Many of these don't withstand simple scrutiny but persist as invented myths and are often trotted out by newspaper articles, backpacker publications, taxi drivers and the like. There are however some fascinating stories with their roots in real events. Here are some of our favourites together with the "haunted places" in Melbourne with which they are associated.
| Please note: This section of the newsletter has been
removed as it forms part of a forthcoming publication or because it
is forms part of our
Questing activities. If you find yourself on a tour where the
guide is White Hat Accredited they are likely to know the answer to
many questions you may have in this area. All guides on
White Hat Tours are White Hat
Accredited. |
Moot Courts are a little like the legal version of theatre sports, and combine a whole number of things that appeal to White Hat. They feature some of the brightest and best of young Melbournians, in great surroundings, they’re free, you’ll get to use my brain and go away knowing something new. One of the great things about Melbourne’s heritage buildings is that most of them are still working buildings – unlike Europe where they are often just museums. If you want to see one of our great buildings at work and play I can recommend the Moot Courts. Details at Forums in Melbourne.
A series of workshops for teenagers interested in writing this coming Wednesday. Details at Family Events in Melbourne.
What did the site of Melbourne look like 10,000 years ago?
| Please note: This section of the newsletter has been
removed as it forms part of a forthcoming publication or because it
is forms part of our
Questing activities. If you find yourself on a tour where the
guide is White Hat Accredited they are likely to know the answer to
many questions you may have in this area. All guides on
White Hat Tours are White Hat
Accredited. |
This coming Monday, the 16th June, is celebrated internationally as Bloomsday – the day documented in great detail in James Joyce’s novel Ulysses. Joyce wrote in a rambling, obscure stream-of consciousness style with scant regard for conventional punctuation or syntax – there aren’t many of us left. There are events at the State Library, and doubtless celebrations at Molly Bloom’s in Port Melbourne and the Celtic Club in the city. I’m not sure about the plastic paddy franchises – I think that in many of them the pretence at being an Irish pub stops with the mass produced pseudo Celtic décor. Ironically, the literary scene is creeping back into more traditional Australian pubs. Next week we will tell you about a reading of Homer’s Iliad at a pub near the Vic Market.
Talking of hotels, we recently stumbled onto the Buckingham Hotel on the corner of Buckingham and Ann Streets (just think of Princess Anne from Buckingham Palace) in Footscray. The name might be wrong and the address might be wrong but that will get you within shouting distance. Each day is a different roast for $4.50. Don’t expect nouvelle cuisine and I don’t think there is a wine list, but there is a tray with a good selection of sauces. The clientele is down to earth and civil – which is more than I can say for many a suited pub in the city. Décor is genuine 1960s suburban pub – not self-conscious fake retro. And you know that it is a proper pub because it has a happy hour - in the morning! We’ll be back from time to time.
A reasonably priced concert in evocative surroundings. Details at Rippon Lea
We are often approached to appear on lifestyle programs. Recently, a pleasant young lady from a high profile program wanted me to appear on camera with her and explain why I get excited about Melbourne. “Anything at all as long as it’s fun. And it will be anything up to three minutes long,” I thought of telling her about walking home from the pub with Noel described above. I gazed at her for a short time and thought, “no, she probably won’t think that’s fun”. Better to send her off to someone else to tell her about the Real Melbourne in three minutes. Meanwhile I’ll just bore White Hat newsletter readers with aspects of it from time to time.
On the weekend of 21-22 June, Parliament House will be open to the public. Lots of free activities. Details at Parliament House.
“hey guys...love the odd things my kids and i get to experience from your newsletter info..my god there's so much out there!!!!! BUT.....i promised to take my girlfriend on a Melbourne Cemetery tour for her birthday, and i haven't seen anything on it lately. Are you still conducting them?”
Kel."
(Yes Kel, we still run cemetery tours – details at Tours of Melbourne Cemetery "Love the newsletter. I was reminded of your comments on John Batman being a complex character when I opened the local paper today. There is an article on city monuments in which a “left wing historian” dismisses Batman as “an alcoholic syphilitic Alan Bond of his day”. The same historian later states about these monuments “One of the things I like most about these statues is that, actually, the majority of the population pay so little attention to them. Not one of the students who go past the Francis Ormond statue know or care who he was or what he did”. Is that what history has become nowadays – historians being pleased that students don’t know or care about aspects of their past?
Peter"
(Yes, Peter, the ‘subtractive myth’ is highly fashionable with historians at present. Never mind, I will don my White Hat and fly to the rescue dispersing clouds of ignorance and prejudice and include a short profile of Ormond in the next newsletter. It’s jolly tiring, not to say unfashionable, dispersing clouds of ignorance and prejudice, but, golly Peter, someone’s got to do it if you and your children are to have a better life.) "lesbian stuff - am coming to melbourne for one week and one week only - get there on 14 aug and come home on 21 aug - me and my gay friend phil, tell us what to do with ourselves!
X"
(I am afraid this is not my area of expertise. Thanks for the kiss though. I don’t suppose you’re interested in teapots? No, I thought not. If any readers have suggestions and recommendations, I can forward them on.)
All contents are Copyright © White Hat 1995 -
2011
Feel free to
forward this newsletter to a friend but please forward it in full so as not to violate copyright.
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions about this newsletter can be
found at Newsletter
FAQs
Listings
To submit an event or attraction for listing on our web site (and thus
possible mention in this newsletter) go to Event
Listing.
|
| 
