Warning cones? Really?

Last weekend the Man and I spent our once yearly weekend in the city, staying in a nice hotel, getting frocked up, and going to a speeches-and-dinner event all thanks to his employers.

We spent Saturday afternoon wandering around the streets without purpose, just being stickynoses and having cuppas. Of course, before dinner we did what all couples do when they have dumped the kids with the Grandparents and have a king-sized bed and a hotel room to themselves. We went back to the room and had a nap. Oh yeah, we’re living on the edge… 😀

wall monster

One thing I do like to look at while we are in the city is the street art. I hate graffiti and tagging but I love the amazing pieces of art that people can create.

Melbourne is internationally famous for its street art and you can even go on walking tours to see the best of it.*

When I looked up some of the details on our street art I was very interested to find that it is controlled by a permit system.

After seeing these guys at work in a laneway off the Bourke Street Mall I shouldn’t have really been surprised that it is heavily regulated. After all, they had orange warning cones out….

*According to EllaDee Sydney is no slouch  when it comes to street art though!

A Foggy Day. 1924.

We are in the midst of winter here now, it is getting quite cold in our little valley, and yesterday was the first day it didn’t rain for what seems like weeks.

Fortunately, the weather has taken a small turn for the better and even though this morning you could barely see the other side of the road for the fog the sun managed to break through by 11, I even managed to get some washing on the line. Woo Hoo!

Foggy mornings are my favourite kind of morning, especially when we are camping (and I am wrapped up in a  warm jacket with bacon and eggs sizzling away over the fire of course!)

I doubt the man in the picture below who was driving this cart in front of Flinders Street Station on a misty 1924 morning had the same appreciation for them that I do though!

Flinders Street Station, 2012.

I wonder if the Argus photographer had to wait for a while for the traffic to clear before snapping this moody picture, can you imagine the Flinders Street of today being so quiet? –>

According to a City of Melbourne website it is ‘the busiest suburban railway station in the southern hemisphere, with over 1500 trains and 110,000 commuters passing through each day. Its 708 metre main platform is the fourth longest railway platform in the world.’

Interesting figures, although I wouldn’t have thought Flinders Street Station could ever be described as suburban, surely you couldn’t get much closer to the city than this!

The Argus 11 June 1924 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4327687

Look before you leap. 1912.

After the insanely cute Dumb Ways to Die song I posted about yesterday I thought this article from 1912 was a pretty good example of a dumb way to die.

The Daily News 9 Apr 1912 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article79894307

Edward Dyon was the secretary of the Wildwood Campers and that makes me think that he had probably done a bit of wandering around in the outdoors in his lifetime. It makes me wonder then, why he didn’t pay a little more attention to where he was going when he started chasing a rabbit.

Clearly the rabbit had a pretty good escape plan, it headed for a cliff. Poor Edward Dyon didn’t end the chase in time and went over the edge, into a creek 40ft below, and was killed. Doh! 😉

The first Melbourne Cup. 1861.

Here in Melbourne it is the first Tuesday in November and that means normal life has ground to a halt. Melbourne Cup day is upon us.

This iconic horse race is held on this Tuesday every year which sits conveniently with the great Australian tradition of using the slightest excuse to have a long weekend. Yesterday the Melbourne Cup parade was held in the city with tens of thousands of people lining the streets to see past winners and members of our racing royalty pass by. (Herald-Sun)

The Melbourne Cup, and the associated Spring Racing Carnival, is supposed to be about horse racing for but for many it is all about frocking up, having too much to drink and waking up in a place you don’t remember getting to. Possibly a garden bed.

I have done other posts about the Melbourne Cup if you are interested in finding out more.

The actual cup itself is famous in its own right- The Iconic Melbourne Cup.

The fashion- Melbourne Cup Fashion. 1888.

The history- Melbourne Cup Meeting 1862.

This is an illustration published in 1938 of the first Melbourne Cup, which was run in 1861. If only they knew what they were starting!

Morning Bulletin 1 Nov 1938 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55998956

Banana Alley Vaults, Melbourne

One of the place names I love the most in Melbourne is the Banana Alley Vaults.

Those three words don’t really belong together do they? The Banana Alley Vaults are at the end of the beautiful Flinders Street Station. They are situated under the rail line and they were originally called the Flinders Street Viaduct.

The Brisbane Courier 28 Sep 1917 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20184769

A post from My Town Melbourne about a tiny cafe under the viaduct (complete with banana yellow banana lounges out the front) prompted this post. I love the look of the whole row of frontages, they look like they are tiny cubbyhouses set into the wall. Clearly they are not all tiny as it is mainly a 24 hour gym under there now.

The vaults themselves have had a chequered history. After they were built they were used for storing fruit and veg for the markets which led to the name Banana Alley.

Businesses were housed under there over the years but they eventually fell into disrepair. In the 1970’s and 80’s the vaults were used by the homeless and the area developed a dangerous reputation before being refurbished by the State Government in the late 1980’s.

I was extremely pleased to find this 1879 drawing of the proposed viaduct in the archives. What an amazing thought that Flinders Street once looked like this!*

Illustrated Australian News 24 Dec 1879 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60094126

The Man and I had recently spent a weekend in the city staying in a hotel which had originally been the Commercial Travellers building and was right across from the Banana Alley vaults. Looking back through the photos I took that weekend I found one taken from the car on the very intersection that this drawing is representing (but not one of the vaults themselves… grrrrr!).

cnr Flinders and Williams Streets 2012.

In this photo a small part of the viaduct is visible on the left and the Yarra Family Hotel is the building on the corner of the drawing but has now been replaced with a big shiny….. thing …. I don’t know what is inside, it is just big and shiny and a disappointing replacement as far as I’m concerned.

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*I found a webpage called Melbourne’s Lost Hotels, the second photo down is a great photo of the Yarra Family Hotel with horse and carts etc and the viaduct on the side, remarkably similar to this drawing!

It’s a Long Way to the Top (If you wanna be in the National Archives).

I was interested to read the list of this years additions to the National Film and Sound Archive’s sound registry. There are some great things on it but I believe that the most popular addition will be It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock n Roll) by AC/DC. (ABC news)

It is such an icon of Australian rock that the song, film clip, and the bagpipes riff are each worthy of individual fame!

AC/DC are beloved by Australians, so much so that Corporation Lane in Melbourne was officially renamed AC/DC lane some years ago.

The famous video clip for this song was filmed in Melbourne in February 1976, on the back of a moving flatbed truck. Very cool, and a great way of avoiding having to get the proper permits to film.

The line-up of the band has changed many times over the years and is one of the few I can think of who have gone on to massive successes despite the unexpected death of one of their main members. In 1980, lead singer Bon Scott (who sings in this clip) died after a night of drinking. He was replaced by the big-voiced Brian Johnson.

AC/DC have many iconic songs, and I couldn’t even narrow their song list down to my top 5 because I love so many of them. I think they should just submit their entire back catalogue to the archive, surely any official who rejected it would be required to hand in their Australian citizenship for such a crime!