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The White Hat Melbourne NewsletterArchived Newsletter No.190 - 28 September 2006Contents
Current events Film festivals Other festivals Melbourne’s Hidden Gems Last chance Special markets & fairs A Cheap Sunday Outing Music Spring blossoms Country Victoria Advance notice The White Hat Quiz +----------------------------------------------------+ CURRENT EVENTS At this time of year there are so many major things happening that you hardly need us to tell you about them. The Royal Melbourne Show (Question 1 – In recent years one word has disappeared from its name. Which word?) continues until Sunday. That takes care of the kids. Seniors Festival starts on Sunday and runs for a week with tons of free and cheap stuff. That takes care of the oldies. This may become an endangered tradition because, as the baby boomers hit sixty they won’t be prepared to admit they’re aging and nobody will apply for a seniors card let alone show it in public. The Melbourne Fringe Festival continues. That takes care of Gen X and Gen Y. Year 12 are on swot vac – good luck to all of you. Baby Boomers are busy ironing their jeans for Saturday’s grand final BBQ. So there are very few people who don’t have their social calendars mapped out except for those detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure, the terminally daggy, Collingwood supporters (if they haven’t already been covered in the previous categories) and AWB executives. Oh, and some people who don’t fit neatly into any particular category and who read a strange weekly newsletter so I suppose we had better come up with some other suggestions. +----------------------------------------------------+ FILM FESTIVALS The Greek Film Festival continues at the moment and next week there is a Russian Resurrection Film Festival. The following weekend there is the Lorne Film Festival. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/Festivals/Film.asp +----------------------------------------------------+ OTHER FESTIVALS This weekend at Fed Square is the inaugural Peruvian Festival. Expect a lot of Peruvians going along to celibrate being Peruvian. Also this weekend there is Chinese Mid Autumn Festival (think about it) in Dandenong. Expect a lot of Chinese going along to celebrate being Chinese. Next weekend at the Immigration Museum there is a Dutch Festival. Expect a lot of Dutch people going along to celebrate not being Belgian. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/Festivals/Ethnic.asp +----------------------------------------------------+ MELBOURNE’S HIDDEN GEMS If you work in the city, see if you can wangle a long lunch break on Monday. Take the tram up Elizabeth Street to Melba Hall at Melbourne Uni for the free lunchtime concert. Make your way past the statue of Sir Bernard Heinz and the portraits of Dame Nellie and Frances Ormond (Question 2 – Where in the city can you find a statue of said gent?) and into the hall. I am told that Dame Nellie chose the colour scheme herself. It’s a good job she could sing. Settle down for the concert. First is Ravel’s delightful Mother Goose Suite then follows Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals with guest narrator – Bud Tingwell (Question 3 – What did Bud do in the 1940s?). There was a law passed sometime back in the early 90s stating that no Australian film could be made without featuring Bud Tingwell so since then he hasn’t had much time to appear in public. After the concert, take note of the building just north of Melba Hall This unusual museum is, due to its architectural style, sometimes unkindly referred to as the ‘North Melbourne Public Lavatory’. (Question 4 - What is the name of this building). You can now catch the tram back to the city and when people at work asks what you did at lunchtime you can say idly “I just dropped out to see Bud Tingwell. What did you do?” +----------------------------------------------------+ LAST CHANCE The Picasso exhibition at the National Gallery ends soon and this coming Wednesday is the last time it will feature at the ‘Art After Dark’ evenings. This weekend is your last chance to see the exhibition of Da Vinci machines at the Docklands. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/StreetsSuburbs/Docklands.asp +----------------------------------------------------+ SPECIAL MARKETS & FAIRS There are some interesting special markets coming up may give an opportunity to make a start on special shopping tasks (We promise not to mention Christmas in this newsletter until well into December). There are open studios at the Nicholas Building on the 26 & 27 October when resident artists, designers and jewellers will have their wares on sale. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/Buildings/NicholasBldg.asp There is a special market run by “Designs in the Making’ on 17-19 October with over 50 exhibitors. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Victoria/Markets/Occasional.asp There is a fundraising event called ‘Thanks for Looking After Me’ in the form of a special farmers’ market with entertainment on 1 November. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Victoria/Markets/Farmers.asp +----------------------------------------------------+ A CHEAP SUNDAY OUTING For this outing you will need the following - a Sunday Saver ticket ($2.50 but not available from many vending machines so you may need to purchase it in advance), a bicycle, leftovers from your Grand Final BBQ to use as snacks, a map (photocopies of maps 29 & 30 from a Melways would suffice) and a child or two (these are optional, but if you don’t have any of your own, this is the end of the school holidays and there are plenty of parents in your street who will pay you a large amount of money to take their kids away for the day). Make your way to the nearest station (bikes travel on trains for free) and take the appropriate trains to get to Royal Park Station by 10am or earlier. This Sunday there is Community Spring Planting Day with free BBQ. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/Parks/RoyalPark.asp If you arrive early enough explore the area to the west of Royal Park. This was originally designated by Governor La Trobe to become parkland, but much of it never did and was instead used to ‘hide’ potentially dangerous industries (such as the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, and socially ‘inconvenient’ institutions such as a large psychiatric hospital and a juvenile detention centre. Then of course there is the ex Commonwealth Games Village, now a mixture of public and private housing. Off to the tree planting. Make sure note the location of one of the trees planted by the kids and take their photograph. That way you can return with them every so often and photograph the progress of the tree and the child. Alternatively, in years to come you can sit underneath that tree in years and read a book having just visited your child in the nearby juvenile detention centre. At the end of the planting there is a free gourmet BBQ for participants. A gourmet BBQ is usually one where you get the choice of tomato or barbecue sauce with your sausage in bread. It is now one o’clock, you’re fed and you have only spent $2.50 each. Time for some historical sleuthing. In the late nineteenth century two rail arcs were built – the ‘inner circle’ and the ‘outer circle’. Both served only a short time as fully functioning passenger and freight lines and were gradually truncated and removed over time. However there still plenty of reminders of their existence in the suburbs. The inner circle ran from Princes Park Station to Rushall and Clifton Hill with a branch running to a Football Ground in the Edinburgh Gardens (Question 5 – Which football team had this as their home ground?). If you look towards the bottom of maps 29 & 30 in a Melways street directory, the current street layouts should give you a good clue to its route. Join the Capital City Bike Trail near Royal Park Station and see how many railway remains the kids can spot along the way. The trail goes underneath Royal Parade through an old railway tunnel near the north-east corner of the park. Along the way you will find occasional railway tracks still embedded at street crossings, some railway signals and a complete railway station without a train in sight. You may want to detour into the Edinburgh Gardens and see of you can find the high pedestrian bridge crossing long-vanished railway tracks. You may also want to take a slight detour to visit the historic Old Colonists Homes at Rushall Park. You will find a brief description and photograph in a recent newsletter at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Newsletter/Previous/060824.asp If you are feeling really fit you can follow the bike path through various parks and along the Yarra all the way to the city. If, on the other hand, you are starting to flag, head for Clifton Hill Station and catch a train to Flinders Street. You will find plenty of places near Fed Square or in Birrarung Marr where you can chain up your bikes. You now have time to examine the remarkable photographs of ‘The Earth From Above’ in the River Terrace then proceed into Fed Square to join the Peruvian Festival. Here you can sample Peruvian delicacies and listen to Peruvian music played on authentic folk instruments and amplified through a 500 watt sound system which dates back to the Incas. Time for a head count. Someone tell dad he can’t take that Peruvian delicacy home, go and get your bikes and back to the train. Most Sundays in Melbourne there is plenty that you can do for next to nothing – provided you remember to check your email before heading out. +----------------------------------------------------+ MUSIC Currently the Melbourne International Festival of Brass is running and there is a public jazz concert at BMW Edge on Friday night and a brass band concert in St Paul’s Cathedral on Saturday night. The Spring Early Music Festival continues at Melbourne Uni with a variety of concerts featuring music from the Middle Ages to the early Romantic period. On Friday night you can hear Congolese music in a free concert at the George Adams Gallery or the Howells Requiem at St Pats. On Saturday and Sunday the MSO play music written for young people including ‘Peter and the Wolf’ and Britten’s ‘Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra’. Next weekend Melbourne City Opera’s production of Barber of Seville opens at the Athenaeum and The Production Company’s short season of Thoroughly Modern Millie opens at the Arts Centre. The following weekend is the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival. Details of all these at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/Music/MusicM.asp +----------------------------------------------------+ SPRING BLOSSOMS There are some Melbourne streets which have trees which blossom for a short time in spring creating a magical avenue before reverting to their more respectable Melbourne demeanor for the rest of the year. If you know of any that are worth a visit at the moment send us an email to blossoms@whitehat.com.au Rather than wait to mention them in the next newsletter because the special time can pass so quickly, we will place your recommendations (if any) at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Newsletter/Hidden/Blossoms.asp By the way, next weekend is the Gardening Australia Festival at Caulfield Racecourse. I expect there will be plenty of advertisements for it on the ABC, otherwise you can find some information at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/Festivals/Garden.asp +----------------------------------------------------+ COUNTRY VICTORIA This weekend in the country events include the Deni Ute Muster, the Mildura Country Music Festival, a Tulip Festival in the Dandenongs and the Grampians Wildflower & Art Show. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/victoria.asp +----------------------------------------------------+ ADVANCE NOTICE The following weekend sees a particularly large choice of events. Some of the highlights include open day at the Botanic Gardens, the Melbourne Marathon and a large display of historic trams in the Docklands. For details, go to our home page and choose the appropriate weekend form the drop-down menu of what’s on dates. +----------------------------------------------------+ THE WHITE HAT QUIZ How well do you know Melbourne? First to last week’s quiz
Now to this week’s quiz You may have noticed that this week’s 5 questions are scattered throughout the newsletter so you may need to go back and look for them. Send your answers to quiz@whitehat.com.au No prizes – just glory and a warm inner glow.
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