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The White Hat Melbourne NewsletterArchived Newsletter No.275 - 14 August 2008Contents
MUSIC This coming week, masters of the guitar Wolfgang Muthspiel, Slava Grigoryan and Ralph Towner come together at the National Theatre. Details at: http://whitehat.com.au/Music/Instruments/Guitar.asp The proposed bands for the Falls Festival on New Years Eve have been announced. Details at: http://whitehat.com.au/Victoria/Regions/GreatOceanRoad.asp
EXPOS Next week is the RACV Home Show and Garden Expo at Jeff’s Shed. Details in all the mainstream media.
THREE MEN & A BOAT “She got into the William Angliss.” “That’s great!” There are a number of names that form part of the everyday language of Melbourne, but, when pressed, many Melburnians would have trouble fleshing out that ‘name’ into a real person. For that reason we felt we should start a little series fleshing out some of these names, starting with a very brief background of William Angliss. MAN No.1 - William Angliss was born in England and learned the trade of a butcher. After a brief stint in America then Queensland, William arrived in Melbourne where he set up a butcher’s shop in North Carlton. His attention to detail and determination to find a use for every last bit of the carcass meant that his business soon flourished and expanded. In the long run, however, a butcher cannot create quality meat from a substandard animal and William realised he needed to have some control over the supply and quality of the cattle going through his butchery operation. MAN No.2 – Sidney Kidman had left Adelaide as a teenager and gradually built up the skills to raise drive cattle in the marginal land of the outback. Sid could supply the cattle and William could process them – it was a natural and profitable partnership and between them they could control the quality of two thirds of the product delivery process. MAN No.3 – James Harrison was scientist, engineer, inventor, journalist, and general all-round businessman who ended up in Geelong. Here he created the world’s first commercial refrigeration plant and later built a similar one in Melbourne near the Victoria Market. A BOAT – Australia had a plentiful supply of beef and lamb. Britain had a great need for such products but the meat would spoil on a long sea voyage – unless it was refrigerated James decided to sink all of the money he had earned into creating shipboard refrigeration, stocking a ship with frozen carcasses and shipping it off overseas. Due to some technical failures both the cargo and James were ruined. THE UPSHOT – Spurred on by James’ effort a rival organisation was able to create the first reliable shipboard refrigeration and William and Sidney’s product began the first of many voyages that placed Australian meat on English tables. All three men had been risk takers, but, unlike America, those who take a risk and fail in enterprise in Australia are rarely given a second chance. William and Sidney were both knighted and died rich. James died poor and largely forgotten. FOOTNOTE – As William and Sid grew older a large part of their land holdings were taken over by the English company, Vesteys. That was to lead on to a story of two other men. Lord Vestey and a man of quiet dignity and determination called Vincent – but that is another story for another time. Meanwhile William Angliss lives on in Melbourne through the institution that he founded and funded. The irony is that most Melburnians know The William Angliss but few know the William Angliss.
FOOD This weekend there is the Specialist Cheese Show at the Crown Complex. Next week is the 4 day Taste of Melbourne expo at the Royal Exhibition Building. A number of Melbourne’s top restaurants and chefs will be producing sample-sized dishes. It is sponsored by one of Melbourne’s two daily newspapers which guarantee that only 50% of Melburnians find out about it. Details of these at: http://whitehat.com.au/Victoria/Other/FoodWine.asp Next Tuesday another free White Hat Food & Wine Newsletter comes out. Next week’s recipe is jumbuck soup. If you have not already subscribed and would like to do so send us an email to foodnl@whitehat.com.au
MARKETS This weekend is the inaugural Wheelers Hill Farmers’ Market. Details at: http://whitehat.com.au/Victoria/Markets/Farmers.asp If you find yourself in country Victoria – maybe there’s a multi-million dollar taxpayer funded government advertising (sorry community information) campaign there – “Find yourself in Country Victoria1” – anyway, where was I before you interrupted, oh, yes, if you find yourself in country Victoria and are interested in antiques, collectables, second hand books, clothes, etc, keep an eye out for the Mills Markets. They are open every day in Newtown (Geelong), Daylesford and Warrnambool. Traders rent a display area by the month and you can come across some remarkable stuff. Details at: http://whitehat.com.au/Victoria/Markets/MarketsV.asp There is a major annual market-fair coming up next month in north east Victoria and they are looking for stallholders. If you would like more information, send us an email to: stallholders@whitehat.com.au
READER FEEDBACK “Just reading your newsletter in Beijing where I am doing one of the less glamorous jobs associated with the Games. I thought you might be pleased to know that know that I could click through to your website and it hasn’t been blocked by the local authorities. Cheers, Geoff”
FAMILY & CHILDREN The Melbourne City Library is now open on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. The City Library in Flinders Lane (not to be confused with the State Library in Swanston Street) is a lending library which is free and open to all comers. It has a larger than usual stock of books since it grew out of the CAE library, as well as DVDs and CDs available for free borrowing. It is a good place to kids on a wet afternoon in the city. Details at: http://librarysearch.melbourne.vic.gov.au/opac/ The following weekend at Albert Park is an event called Defence Attack with all manner of walking and running activities suited to the whole family. Details at: http://whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/Parks/AlbertPark.asp The circus skills performances called Cabaret Vertigo in Prahran finish this weekend and on Thursday there is a free cry-baby concert in Richmond. Details at: http://whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/Lifestyle/Children.asp
CLASSICAL MUSIC This weekend there is Nabucco in Concert at the Northcote Town Hall and Rossini’s Little Solemn Mass in Essendon. Australian Pro Arte performs at BMW Edge, there is a chamber music concert at Rippon Lea and the MSO Chamber Players perform at the Iwaki Auditorium (not long now before Melbourne’s world class chamber music hall opens). Speaking of world class, on Monday week you can hear the Australian who most people regard as the greatest Wagnerian soprano in the world for a fraction of the price you would need to pay to hear her in a European or American opera house. Does that make her famous? Not in Australia – as Robert Hughes put it – "Sport is the only form of elitism that Australia will accept - and that is its great hypocrisy”. Details at: http://whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/Music/Classical.asp
MELBOURNE’S HIDDEN GEMS
ENGINEERING INDUSTRY WEEK Next week is Engineering Industry Week with numbers of guided tours, lectures and demonstrations open to the public. In particular you can get to see the workings of numbers of buildings that are not generally open to the public. Details at: http://www.vicengweek.org.au/index_events.php?n_id=104
THE WHITE HAT QUIZ Last week’s quiz. We had nobody who scored higher than two so we will leave the quiz open for one more week. If nobody gets at least 5 then we will have to keep you all down for a year. Australian Olympic achievements and Australian medal winners 1. The ‘Cube’ and the ‘Birdsnest’ stadiums both involved Australian architects. Name one. 2. The same buildings also relied on major creative input from Australian engineers. Name an Australian engineering company involved with their construction. 3. A Queenslander recently won an international medal for her world leading medical research achievements. What is her name? 4. A Melbourne girl who studied chemistry at Melbourne Uni is considered a strong contender for a future Nobel Prize. What is her name? 5. An Australian mathematician recently won the highest medal available for mathematical achievement. What is his name? 6. An Australian scientist recently won a prestigious medal named after a 19th century scientist. What is his name? And as a supplementary question 7. We have been through a number of schools which have posters of Australian sports people and popular entertainers pinned around the classrooms to serve as role models. Can you name a school that has a photo of any of the above Australian achievers pinned up as a role model? Send your answers to quiz@whitehat.com.au No prizes – just glory and a warm inner glow.
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