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The White Hat Melbourne Newsletter
Archived
Newsletter No.158 - 13 January 2006
Contents
This Sunday is Lunar New Year Festival in Victoria Street Richmond with entertainment, Vietnamese food, dragons and firecrackers. Over at Royal Park there is the Tianjin Dancing Kite Festival with lots of family entertainment. At Federation Square is the Viva Brazil Festival which probably explains the current wax shortage in Melbourne. Details of all these at Ethnic Festivals in Melbourne.
This weekend there is a jazz festival set in evocative mansion and grounds at Coolart on the Mornington Peninsula. On Saturday there is a free jazz performance at Fed Square. Details of both these at Jazz in Melbourne.The Victorian Youth Brass has a free concert at the National Gallery on Saturday.The free music in the parks series gets underway this week and you can find a calendar and listing of performers at our Fitzroy Gardens page. This is a wonderful institution and a great place for locals and visitors to get a flavour of Melbourne when it is relaxing.
“this week was terrific as usual, but the Table of Contents/Kerry Packer ref. particularly funny... Love your work
Cheers, Alison” “Loved your hidden message in the table of contents. It makes me wonder how many subliminal messages I might have missed in past newsletters.
George” “Dear Mr. Hat,
I feel I must add a note to the answers to last week’s quiz given today – SeaChange was shot in St Leonards on the Bellarine peninsula as well as Barwon Heads. All the shop scenes, the pier looking up to the shops were there, and the St Leonards hotel was where the council meetings were held. My mother, and grandparents before her, lived in St Leonards for many years and we had a holiday house there too – bought and later sold through the estate agent whose shop was used in Sea change. Makes me annoyed to see it overlooked like this!
Dawn”
Next weekend there are auditions for a new production in Williamstown. The theatre company is looking for singers who can dance/move and dancers who can sing. If you would like more details let us know.
This week the fleet from the Volvo Ocean Race is due to arrive in Melbourne. Expects plenty of collisions because none of the skippers use their indicators or rear vision mirrors. There are a whole series of parties and free events planned around this visit so it is worth checking the activities at Docklands each week for the next couple of months. Details at Docklands.
An interest in Melbourne history can be useful. Back in 1841, in the earliest days of the fledgling settlement of Melbourne there was a land boom. Serious money could be made in selling and speculating, and the sales people set up their promotions tents and lured prospective buyers with free champagne and entertainment. The warier of the locals in 1841 came along and drank the free champagne, listened politely for a while and then quietly made their exit when they felt there were no more free drinks on offer. The tradition has been passed down through the generations and can still be witnessed today at exhibition openings in suburban galleries. It was soon after the champagne-fuelled land sales of 1841 that Victoria experienced its first major depression and the bottom fell out of the property market. This property-based boom and bust cycle was to repeat itself a number of times – possibly the worst depression happening in the 1890s. For the next few weekends one of our major property developers will be setting up promotional tents on their estates at Edgewater, Caroline Springs, Craigieburn and Pakenham and offering free entertainment for the whole family. For instance, tonight (Friday the 13th) there are free outdoor spooky movies and entertainment at Edgewater (on the Maribyrnong near Flemington Racecourse). The festivals have quite a range of free activities and you can find details at Community Festivals in Melbourne. Go along, enjoy the free entertainment and then go home. But if you think the property cycle is at the right point I am sure you will find sales people there who are willing to talk with you. Having an interest in Melbourne history can be useful. For instance, those readers who saw the topic heading of this section, dismissed it as irrelevant and went straight to the ‘Kids’ section will have missed out on a lot of free family activities for this weekend.
Free sports training sessions for kids continue. Next week they are at Royal Park. For the younger ones there are Peter Rabbit activities at the Botanic Gardens. On Wednesday there is a free Beauty and the Beast panto at Fed Square while later in the week there are performances of Cinderella in Burwood. Details at Children's Activities in Melbourne.
This week there are free painting sessions in Melbourne parks for all ages and abilities. The first series are at the Fitzroy Gardens near the Dolphin Fountain. Details at Classes and Workshops in Melbourne. You can try taking the kids along and see whether they show any flair. If they don't, there is no need to worry. Just choose something they can do and append the word "art" to it. So if Justin's only interest in pictures is putting stickers on the furniture and the walls, you can tell friends that "Justin shows a real talent for Sticker Art".
“On my recent visit to Melbourne, I came across the statue of la trobe upside down. My curiosity has got the better of me and I would love to know why his statue is upside down!
Denise”
The statue that Denise is referring to can be seen at Governor La Trobe. Maybe some of our readers can help Denise out in explaining the meaning of the statue. We also received the following personal message in our inbox: “hi from portc. Its gr8 here xcept we have to wash the dishes every day. joshs mum is such a loser she cant even find a boyfriend whose beach house has a dishwasher. nathan has arrived but didn’t bring his board cos he says the waves are 2 small in victoria. the others are a bit sus of Nathan but thats cos he knows stuff they dont teach you at school but theyll like him when they get to know him. crystal thinks hes cute but thats only cos of his starsign. placement offers come out on monday. i was hoping for melbourne but dad says if I get monash ill need a car and hell help pay so now im hoping for monash. Wish me luck.
love n”
Next Friday the Midsumma Festival starts then at the weekend is the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival and the Frankston Festival. In country Victoria there is the Portarlington Festival, Opera in the Alps and Circus under the stars at Yarrawonga. Details on our web site.
First to last week’s quiz on Melbourne architecture.
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Now to this week’s quiz.
How well do you know country Victoria? Fill in the gaps below. Each gap is the name of a Victorian country town. The wife and her sister had gone to a ---- (as if they hadn’t ---- enough already) and I was looking forward to a quiet read and a drink out on the ----. I was just settling in when “---- piece of cake?” shouts the nephew. In I go to cut a piece of cake for the brat and find that the brother-in-law, who’s not very ----, has messed up the TV aerial trying to adjust it so he could ----. It’s the same every year. Down they come, and what do they contribute to the household costs? ----! “Each year we think of going somewhere else,” he says “but we always end up going to Melbourne”. As far as I’m concerned, they can go to ----.
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