The White Hat Melbourne Newsletter

Archived Newsletter No. 136 - 5 August 2005

Contents

Potter Gallery re-opens
Cary Lewincamp concert
Gaswork Park open day
Reader feedback
Free RAAF wind concert
My Fair Lady finishing
The naming of Melbourne's Suburbs
Banyule Winter Festival
Advance notice
Country Victoria
The White Hat Quiz

Potter Gallery re-opens

This weekend the Ian Potter Museum of Art at Melbourne Uni re-opens with three days of free entry and activities. Details at Ian Potter Museum.

Cary Lewincamp concert

This week Cary Lewincamp, the Tasmanian guitarist, has a concert at BMW Edge. How do you know whether you will like his music? Easy. Go to his website at: www.cary.com.au and listen to clips of his music. It is easy to tell that Cary is a man of intellect and refinement when you see what he says about White Hat at ABOUT->LINKS. It is also clear that he has been influenced by Nita in having his name registered as a domain name. Those of you who are expecting a little one shortly should do a search on available domain names so that you can give your child a name and a domain at the same time. Maybe you could even have the baptism at the domain registry office.

Gasworks Park open day

This Sunday is open day at the Gasworks Art Park where you can visit the artists’ studios and chat with the artists. Why not make a day of it? Buy some dirt cheap public transport Sunday Saver tickets and potter off to the Potter (any north-bound tram in Swanston Street) then to the Gasworks (Port Melbourne tram in Collins Street). And if your art collection is constrained by what can fit on the fridge door, you may find you have to buy a larger fridge after this.

Reader feedback

“Po-Faced Gillian in the Middle Suburbs Responds
Dear Mr. Hat,
What a pleasure to see a direct address to me, by name, in the middle of the latest newsletter. I feel famous now.
You wrote: This Sunday is Horse's Birthday celebrations (that's where the Racing Museum put the hyphen Gillian) at Fed Square with lots of activities for kids. But my dear White, there is no hyphen in the phrase! Did you mean the apostrophe? If so, I agree with your implied observation that it's an odd placement. I'd have thought the Racing Museum would have called it the "horses' birthday" since it is the birthday of many horses -- neigh, of ALL horses.
Some people just don't care. I'm glad that you and I do.
Best, Gillian”

“Hello WhiteHat, I thought that you might be interested in this webpage: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/publishing.nsf/Content/health-archive-mediarel-1998-mwsp980403.htm.
It is from the Australian Government Department of Health website, and tells us why the “Do not Spit” signs are in Flinders St Station, apparently they were also put up on the walls of the Marriage Registry office. They are the remnants of a public health campaign designed to help prevent flu and were put in place in 1919 at the height of the influenza epidemic which ravaged post war Australia.
Liz”

Last week we mentioned several poetry festivals. Gayle responded:

“If you want value for money --the spoken word scene has it --well respected multitalented people --strutting their stuff --for love --cause dam there's not much money in poetry BUT those who have the passion for HAPPINESS know what true wealth is --& anyway its a good way to play with creative others --AND TEST that COMEDY routine --your famous for --or display that Artwork with a poem. If you are LOOKING FOR talent or LOVE (i got engaged at the inaugral festival--though new to the scene) or to spread Happiness/share the HERO in you venting beautifully edited pain --SCOUT HERE --the overload poetry festival --on the web & in your face at greta venues in Victoria not just Melbourne
Take care
Gayle”

So those of you looking to get engaged had better brush up on your iambic pentameter.

Sam, a new subscriber, wrote

“I am looking for volunteer work to assist with my events management course if any is available.
Sam”

If any of our readers belong to organizations that are looking for volunteers, let us know and we will place it in the next newsletter.

Free RAAF wind concert

Free concert this week at BMW Edge. Details at Classical Music in Melbourne.

My Fair Lady finishing

My Fair Lady is having only a very short run at the Comedy Theatre so in the words of Eliza Dolittle you will need to “shift you’re a…." if you want to see it.

The Naming of Melbourne's Suburbs

Andrew sent this lengthy and excellent response to Rowena’s query. Don’t bother checking in the text books because – I know – you won’t find a better or more succinct summary than this.

“Dear White Hat, Re: Lost Suburbs of Melbourne

I wish to add to the information supplied in relation to the question posed by Rowena in the newsletter dated 15 July 2005. Having studied the development of the City of Melbourne in a history course at university, I have quite a good knowledge about this subject.

First of all, it is arguable as to whether (i) some of these localities were ever fully gazetted as suburbs and (ii) these places really have been lost. All official place names in Victoria are searchable on the Victorian Place Names Register database accessed through the LandVictoria website, part of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE). Additionally, it is generally the case that officially-recognised suburbs have their own post code. A list of suburbs and other place names is also included in the Melway street directory on the inside back pages.

The creation of the smaller suburbs like Hartwell, Auburn and so forth owe their existence to the electrification of the Victorian railways. When railway travel first became available, passengers were carried in coaches powered by steam locomotives. Steam engines require a certain amount of time to accelerate and deccelerate and hence the Victorian Railways planned stations at intervals of every 2 miles or something like that. As you might imagine, land developers and speculators snapped up the land surrounding the stations, and these became the first locations where people lived in the suburbs. Later, when steam locomotives were replaced by electric-powered trains, these trains could stop and start over shorter sections of track, and as a result the Victorian Railways constructed newer stations in between existing ones. Direct access to a station saw a great opportunity for new residents and it is not surprising that these parts were also quickly occupied. But there was a dilemma, as local government boundaries had been fixed from an earlier date and the position of the new station was within the geographical area covered by the original suburb. For convenience, the Victorian Railways needed names for the intermediate stations, but names had to chosen which did not clash with the names of existing stations.

In many parts of Melbourne the names that were selected were based on the nearest cross-street to the railway line eg Montague, Bell, Croxton, Balaclava, Macauley, Patterson, Glenferrie, Auburn, Westgarth. The New York subway stations and some London Underground stations are named in a similar manner. Some people may argue that the station name and road name present a “chicken and egg” dilemma, which was named first ?

Some stations were named by developers as part of their estates eg Parkdale and others were named after important persons or events eg Seddon (named in honour of the then NZ prime minister but who had grown up in Footscray), Alamein (due to the location of veterans homes) etc. Others involved slightly less imagination, East Richmond, East Camberwell, North Richmond, West Footscray, South Kensington. Some names have even changed, Bentleigh station on the Frankston Line was originally called East Brighton.

A quick inspection of the architecture of the station will demonstrate as to whether or not it was used in the steam-age or post-electrification. On my nearest line (Sandringham) the existing stations were South Yarra, Windsor, Ripponlea, North Brighton, Brighton Beach and Sandringham, and the newer ones are at Prahran, Elsternwick, Gardenvale and Hampton.

Strip shopping centres tended to be created around the railway station, and one tenant would in most instances have been the Post Office. For mail delivery purposes, these post offices needed to have names which were not connected with the name of the major post office in the area, hence the reason why they took the name of the newly built station. However, now that post offices were “officially” taking the same name of the stations, some of these localities began to develop into suburbs in their own right. This applied especially to those localities further out of town where the local government areas were not as well defined.

In the case of Hartwell and Shenley, located within the City of Camberwell, a decision was made to close the outer circle railway line. These names were lost when the railway line was closed.

Kind regards Andrew

Re: Streets of Melbourne: - there are several good reference books regarding the naming of streets. One additional point is that Exhibition Street was clearly not named by Hoddle/Russell as Exhibition Street, since this was only named after the Exhibition Building was constructed. The City of Melbourne apparently keeps records of the personalities behind street names - I remember a new item about the persons featured in the names of the laneways in the QV complex, eg Jane Bell from Jane Bell Lane. I have not been able to find any information about these people via the internet.”

Banyule Winter Festival

Banyule’s annual festival is held in winter to avoid the danger of Banyoulians from going all bohemian, discarding their clothes and cavorting through the streets of Banyule. Details at Arts Festivals in Melbourne.

Advance notice

Next weekend the Rainbow Warrior visits Station Pier. Expect large crowds. There is a specialist cheese show in the city and an open day at Rupertswood (the birthplace of 'The Ashes’) in Sunbury.

Country Victoria

This weekend there is the Rushworth Possum Walk, the Daylesford Words in Winter Festival and the Geelong Schools’ Festival of Music and Movement where you can see much more movement than on the Geelong forward line.

The White Hat Quiz

How well do you know Melbourne?

We have looked at what some Melbourne streets and suburbs are named after. Let us ask you about things that are named after some Melbourne streets and suburbs.

1. Melbourne is named after Lord Melbourne. At least one person and one overseas city is named after the city of Melbourne. Who and where?
2. Gurners Lane in the city is named after Henry Gurner, Crown Solicitor in the nineteenth century. Who was named after Gurners Lane and why and when was his birthday?
3. What bicycle was named after a Melbourne suburb?
4. Certain major crimes are named after the streets in Melbourne where they took place. Name three.

“Hi I have recently moved to Brisbane but still subscribe to your newsletter to find out what is happening back there. The answers to the quiz are as follows . . . Paul”

“Dear White Hat I remain bloodied but unbowed by your gratuitous comments about my previous quiz effort, which I can only presume relate to the fact that I'm from Perth. I will try to resist both: (a) referring to my efforts this week as "guesses", and (b) making any reference to the current state of the AFL ladder, as I submit answers which are a result of substantial research (and asking the person at the next desk, who is incidentally from Melbourne, what they think).
...
Rob"

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.

So to this week’s quiz.

A number of Melbourne’s suburbs have changed their names.

1. What are the current names of Hotham and Sandridge?
2. What were the original names of North Coburg and Carnegie and why did they change them?
3. The Ballarat suburb of Cape Clear is nowhere near the sea. How did it get its name?