The White Hat Melbourne Newsletter

Archived Newsletter No.118 - 3 March 2005

Contents

End of summer picnic
Festivals
Jazz
Picnic No.2
Reader feedback
Melbourne’s Hidden Gems
Free public forum
Picnic No.3
From the White Hat Inbox
Country Victoria
Picnic No.4

End of Summer Picnic

A delightful city picnic place.

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.

Festivals

This weekend there is the Annual Knox Community Festival with the theme “City of Dreams”. Now that’s all a bit of a mouthful so we suggest that they call it “Knox? – You’re Dreaming!” The festival has numbers of events including a family bicycle ride in Ferntree Gully. Kew also has a large community festival and, not to be outdone, it has a theme “Imagine Kew”. There is a “Welcome Platypus Festival” at Hurstbridge, but they couldn’t think of a theme so they’re just having a market and lots of family activities. Details at Community Festivals in Melbourne.

When the city fathers were planning Melbourne’s major festival fifty odd years ago they knew they needed a theme and a name so they approached Bill Onus – a Wurundjeri elder (and father of Lin Onus). He suggested “Moomba” which he told them meant “let’s get together and have fun”. We now know it meant something quite different, but we are much too polite in this newsletter to mention what. Anyway, Moomba starts next week and the local media will be full of information.

There is an arts festival at the Abbotsford Convent and a food and music festival in Richmond where Sergio di Pieri (brother of Stefano) both performs and cooks up an Italian feast. Details at Arts & Music Festivals in Melbourne.

There are a number of school fetes and fairs in the inner suburbs. Details at Fairs & Fetes in Melbourne.

Jazz

Those of you who have a digital set top box for your TV may not have noticed that a new all jazz radio station has appeared courtesy of the ABC. It appears to be 24 hours and is not interrupted by ads (annoying) or ABC announcers who think that the listener will be fascinated to hear them chatter at length about what they have just discovered but most of us have known for years (even more annoying). You may need to re-tune your STB to find the new radio station.

Picnic No.2

A country picnic with jazz.

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.

Reader feedback

“We found the Lebanese pizza place you mentioned in your newsletter and it was just the way you described it. We’ll certainly be going back there. You certainly dig up some unexpected places.
Jim & Nicki”

The following feedback contained some impolite words, so in order not to upset your spam filter we have translated them into Wurundjeri.

“Dear Mr White Hat, Knowing you have a great appreciation of ‘your city’ and also a great sense of irony, I wondered if you had seen the advertisement for ‘American Express’ that has been appearing lately and been amused by it as I. It features Robert DeNiro and black and white images of New York, he extols ‘My east side’ to arty pics of a hook and ladder fire station and ‘My West side’ to nice moomba view of mounted policeman, nice horses moomba not policeman's, and raves on about how ‘My life happens here My card is American express’ Now I can see how this patriotic ad would appeal to AMERICANS and be a successful advertising campaign over there but why would they think it would appeal to AUSTRALIANS.

‘My East side’ is beautiful leafy garden homes in Camberwell (where Gran used to live) ‘My West side’ is frantic Footscray (love going to the Vietnamese restaurants there) ‘My North’ (well north west really) is the green or dry shimmering gold valley heading down into Keilor Village (love of where I grew up) ‘My life happens here"’ and hence my card should definitely NOT BE ‘American Express’.

Australians all own ostriches
Four minus one is three.
With olden royals, we're fair and loyal,
Our home is dirt by sea.
Our land abounds in nature strips In booties stitched with care.
In mystery's haze, let's harvest maize And plant azaleas there.
Enjoy full trains and let us in And dance Australia Fair!

Denise”

Melbourne's Hidden Gems

Congratulations to The Age Cheap Eats Guide who presented their gong this year to the Moroccan Soup Shop. You, dear subscribers, have of course known about it for a couple of years. Below is an excerpt from our newsletter of 27 June 2003.

“Well, that’s been a solid day. Time for a relaxing tea. Off to the Moroccan Soup Shop in North Fitzroy. Lay on a couch, read a magazine. The menu is delivered verbally intertwined with social theory. Time to learn some new phrases and a whole new set of things to feel guilty about. Wonderful fresh tastes, reasonable price and Social Politics 101 thrown in for free. It’s probably just as well the operators don’t know what went on in that building before they took it over. Details at North African Food Stores in Melbourne”

We find that the hidden gems we mention take about two years to make it to the mainstream media and about three years to the tourist guide books, so you have that window of opportunity before the gems are no longer hidden but invaded by large numbers of people clutching their Good Food Guide or Lonely Planet.

Free public forum

Next week there is a public forum on human rights at the Law Institute and featuring Robert Manne and Award Winning Author Klaus Neumann. Details at Forums in Melbourne.

Picnic No.3

A magical secluded place in the inner suburbs for a picnic.

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.

From the White Hat inbox

When you publish a website, as well as the usual generous people showing concern about your physical attributes, you get a strange mix of other correspondence. Here is a small selection from the last week or so.

There are always the clumsy attempts at viral marketing, mainly emanating from local government departments –

“I was at the festival on Sunday and heard that the festival needs to get money from the government or it might die. The festival has an SMS petition going - all the details are at their weblink at -“

We have queries from primary students -

“Hey, YOUR WEBSITE SUCKS!!! my name is Taryn ------ and i am doing an assignment on Caroline Chisholm. Your website does not help me at all and I need Answers quickly! If you have anything that can help me then please send them to ---- thankyou very much Taryn ----“

We have queries from secondary students -

“How you going MCG. my name is xxx xxxx and i am a member of the mcg and was just wondering if i could get some Info off you. i am currently doing a project for (a prominent private school) and if you could be as kind as to answer these few questions it would help me out amazing amounts.
If you coud please answer these questions and get back to me it would be so asppreciated. My E-mail is ----
What is your Trading name?
What Size of Business do you classify your business as and how?
What is a Financial Indicator that you use to judge your business? What is a none Financial Indicator that you use to judge your business?
What Ethical and social responsiblitys do you have to undertake?”

Because we have a page on our website about the MCG he has assumed we are the MCG.

We have queries from tertiary students -

“To whom it may concern, I am currently studying a Business Management course at (a prominent university). The subject I am studying is Business Leadership. I have chosen to study Richard Pratt. Please provide any details regarding Mr Pratt’s theories on business leadership and organisational structure.”

Then we have queries like this -

“I have an old Macrobertson,s tin with a st. bernard on the lid . Would you have any idea when they were produced?”

We presumably received this query because we have an entry on Mac Robertson on our web site.

“I am looking for a round table cover for a 165 Cm diameter table with drop of say 15 cms in heavy fabric Say Tapestry or brocade Can you help please Thanks”

We have no idea why we received this query but if anyone thinks they can help this gentleman (from NZ) then we will pass on his contact details.

Life is rarely dull when we open the inbox at White Hat

Country Victoria

This weekend there are paintings at Cobden, Arts in Mildura, folk music in Bodara, flowers at St Erth, food, wine & jazz at Tatura, country music at Wadong and kites on the foreshore at Rye. For us the pick of country events this weekend is Beating the Retreat at the historic Queenscliff Fort. Military bands, entertainment all culminating in the 1812 Overture with the works.

Picnic No.4

To say farewell to summer, why not a romantic picnic on the beach at Queenscliff? Then maybe a late afternoon gin and tonic at one of the impressive Victorian hotels before wandering back to the beach. The lights have come on at the fort and the bands are starting to play to provide a romantic background. You could go and join the sweaty throngs up at the festival, but it’s much more romantic down here on the beach. You finish the last of the antipasto, and it’s getting a little cool. The bushes underneath the cliff provide shelter and a view of entrance to the bay. Time to snuggle a little closer and it would be a pity not to open that other bottle of champagne. The pop of the cork echoes into The Rip and quickly fades while the band continues to play in the fort above. It’s getting cooler now and you’ve heard that music somewhere before and it is very romantic and the music is getting louder and louder and the physical attraction stronger and stronger and suddenly there are bells and cannons and fireworks . . .

Queenncliff is a good place for a picnic.