Friday 1 March 2024

Sightseeing in Middle Earth

 Sightseeing in Middle Earth

I thought I'd bring this one out again for old times sake.



Thursday 1 February 2024

A Day at the Zoo

 A Day at the Zoo

2020


Usually visiting the Melbourne Zoo Royal Park mid-week is one of the best times, uncrowded and except for the odd school tour, relatively quiet. But we picked a day that was cold wet and windy, you know? Melbourne winter.

The animals were on a wet day timetable and weren’t in the mood to be seen that day. We were the ones walking around in the rain. Proof was in the offering that we kid ourselves that we are Mother Nature’s smartest species.

1922

The list of animals I partially saw or just didn’t see included the Lions, Orangutangs, Lemurs, Tasmanian Devils, Great Tortoise, pigmy hippos, wild dogs, and surprisingly, the penguins and seals who really don’t seem affected by bad weather because they’re always wet. 

1950s

The Elephants were staying put, they were having pedicures in their big steel barn. I knew it wasn’t our day when we grabbed a hot tea at the aptly named Giraffe Lookout cafĂ© which sat high and directly opposite the Giraffe enclosure to have them immediately herded into another paddock while the curators cleaned their living quarters. I wasn’t going to let this little trip go to waste. Especially when I realized that the zoo had been operating here for over 160 years. There had to be a lot of history in this place.

1956

I needed to know how much was still here or even hidden away.

The Elliot Ave. entrance is like an old friend and with the brick outer walls extending each side, it has barely changed since I was a preschooler. My earliest memories were of the seal pool, which my dad told me used to be a monkey enclosure until the monkeys realised, they could jump over the moat and escape. I looked it up later, it was true and the enclosure was an art deco masterpiece, though not necessarily the most comfortable enclosure. It has now been replaced by the spectacular Wild Sea exhibit where the seals swim around you.

Just a short walk from Wild Sea, a massive Moreton Bay Fig that has survived many zoo reinventions and has been in the same spot for 110 years and is used as a scientific barometer for environmental studies such as CO2 emission data. Also, nearby which made childhood memories come flooding back, the fun fair which seemed huge when I was younger has been removed, the only thing remaining now is the original carrousel which is now over 140 years old and still operates. 

I thought I was doing a good job of finding the obvious, when I walked up a path that terminated abruptly by a low gate with a Staff Only sign on it. Standing at the gate I could see in between the trees the old Elephant sheds that once sat on a flat sandy area that had a deep concrete pit surrounding it. 

pre 1980

This prompted me to check out some material I have at home. The Zoo’s 150 Anniversary booklet and an old zoo map from the 1980s. Here I found proof of how much the landscape had changed in this relatively small area. I was complaining about the Giraffes earlier but it’s still one of two exhibits that seem unchanged from my childhood memories (which is true, it has been in the same spot for over one hundred years), that and the reptile house, which I will never look at the same way since I saw the first Harry Potter movie. The zoo to its credit doesn’t shy away from what it used to cage the animals in. Two well-preserved brick and steel bar enclosures still stand. 

One small loungeroom sized cage that once housed the big cats, the other a slightly larger and higher cage of similar build that housed the smaller primates and now holds the colourful Macaws which it is more suited to. The former actually held a Thylacine or Tasmanian Tiger back in the 1920s, then it was referred to as a Tasmanian marsupial wolf.

2000s

The Zoo these days is known for its research, breeding, animal studies and education, and more importance is put on the comfort and welfare of the animals. Which shows how far we have come as a society. 100 years ago, the zoo had a museum featuring stuffed animals that had died there and held elephant rides as a supplementary income for the organization. I remember as a child seeing animals crammed into small concrete pits  and steel cages whereas in 2024 the elephants are leaving Royal Park and being transferred to Werribee free range zoo, where they will have an area to wander larger than the whole Melbourne Zoo area, as opposed to the current area equivalent to a small football oval. I may not have seen many animals on this horrible wintery day but at least I got to take a deep dive into exploring some history.

I also recommend a visit to the State Library website and check out the zoo’s maps over the years. Fascinating stuff. Just type Melbourne Zoo map into the search box and explore.

 

Tuesday 2 January 2024

A DAY AT THE LIBRARY

 A DAY AT THE LIBRARY

Visiting the State Library on the corner of Latrobe and Swanston Streets in the city evoked memories of visits as a child to the museum. Memories of the marble staircases and large halls with mezzanine balconies. On the upper floor collections of coins, guns, medals, and machinery in glass boxes, and when you looked down below, arrays of stuffed animals also in glass cabinets, or canons, an FX Holden, and even a large dinosaur skull. Back in the day the library and the Museum were separate parts of the main building, these days the library takes up the whole area, or so I believe. Who knows what is still unattainable? On this visit, everything seemed so small from my memories even the lawns and entrance. The lawns are still full of those enjoying the lush grass, mainly young people, and students on a lunch break or just soaking up the sun, many from RMIT which is across the road.


Memories aside, the main reading area, The Latrobe, or as it is more commonly known: The Dome, is probably one of the most beautiful rooms in the city. With its hexagonal design and four balconies/floors surrounding it filled with ancient books. A quick elevator ride up to the top floor gives you an amazing view of the room and its surroundings and a beautiful light-filled ceiling. Actually, the view from all floors is just as spectacular just from a different height. The first floor above the reading room floor is full of displays of the library’s collection of rare and historical books. 

These displays range from biological and natural studies to Religious and popular works and it had me dreaming of just popping open one or two of the cases and turning some pages to see more. As mentioned earlier the old  Museum area has been transformed into more reading and research areas. The Redmond Barry room is the area I described at the start of this piece and I find it amusing that the patron of the library in its inception, who was also the judge that sentenced Ned Kelly to hang, has Ned Kelly’s armour proudly on permanent display outside the entrance of the hall.

Now that I have finally gotten around to coming back to the library (I have been a member for a decade, but do everything online) I plan to make more visits because the resources available are just so encompassing. Since the museum moved to its location at the Carlton Gardens in 2000 I must have made about ten visits but it was my last where I visited the permanent Melbourne exhibit which featured many old exhibits from the original site that I felt a real need to visit again, and I’m so glad I did. Knowing that it was just the revamped library something inside wanted to climb those marble staircases. What I found was so much more. I could get lost for months just in the newspaper archive, let alone the Australian reference section. I nearly forgot to mention the stunning art collection featuring large and local paintings from the colonial area. Lovers of design and architecture will have a wonderful time soaking up the inspiration and the atmosphere.

A trip I plan to make again soon for a much longer stay and one I recommend to anyone.


Previously published in BBCN April 2023 Issue 320

Friday 1 December 2023

FOX POINT RAILWAY

 

Fox’s  Point Scenic Railway.


There is always something new to discover up in the Dandenong Ranges, and when I say new, of course I mean old. For a while now on local history pages, I’ve seen promotional postcards and advertising of a scenic railway at a place known as Fox’s Point. The railway was privately owned and was on the Mt. Dandenong Tourist Road at the edge of Kalorama and ran 200 feet (61 metres) up the Northern side of the mountain to a lookout platform that gave amazing views, and had a kiosk and museum. According to an article in Melbourne Walker Magazine in 1956, it states that through an astronomical telescope at the lookout, it enabled you:  “…to see planes at Essendon airport…and…to tell time by the Lilydale clock five miles away”.

1961 Melbourne Walker
 Built in the early 1950s by Neil Foxcroft it began operation in 1953 as a tourist adventure after he constructed the rail as a way to transport building materials to site when he was building his house further up the mountain on the less truck friendly Scenic Avenue, where the house proper was. It was reported that visiting engineers to the site: “Expressed surprise and admiration at the enterprise and ingenuity of Mr. Foxcroft in designing and constructing the whole concern single handed.” This was faint praise as the railway was forced to close around 1960/61 as it had been declared unsafe for passenger use by authorities. The railway had already escaped damage from the 1958 bushfires but would not have survived the  infamous 1962 fires that devastated the area and destroyed Mr. Foxcroft’s house. In 1965 the tracks were removed, and the scenic railway faded into oblivion.









But as usual, I had to check it out for myself. There just may be some evidence left.

For a change, the original site was easy to find. Records show it was a mile (1.6 Km) past the Montrose township and was accessible on the Croydon to Mt. Dandenong bus. This was convenient as the bus stop and the bus route still exist today. In one of the early photos, the siding for the bus stop is visible. To make things even easier, when the road was realigned curbing was built and a driveway/crossover was conveniently placed where the railways entrance was.

An original film of the ride cica: late 1950s

Now, this sounds all  well and good for finding the site, but much has happened to that side of the road since then. Besides the entire railway being removed in 1965, bushfires also hit the area again in 1972,73,74,83 and 1997.  In addition, during the early 1970s landslides occurred, with the main road becoming blocked. Though repairs were made by the Government, further slippages required major restoration of the road, and additional drainage was built into the hillside to avoid slips reoccurring in the future.








The site now

The site 1960


It was believed that these landslides were the result of the land being cleared for the railway infrastructure and previous bushfires.

To complete the picture, the area from the road up to where the platform had been, was purchased and integrated as part of the Dandenong Ranges National Park in 1987.

After all that, I really wasn’t expecting to find a lot, but I am an optimist.

As usual, I brought my trusty assistant, Madelyn, because on a site as steep as this with questionable stability and hugging the side of the highway (not to mention it rained the night before) , my ambitions and ability are totally mismatched. I need Madelyn to remind me of this before I create a new gymnastic routine whilst stumbling down the mountain and breaking countless bones. And all this before I get hit by a passing car.

Arriving at my destination, I was excited to see that where the crossover was, there seemed to be a track leading up the hill. It quickly became apparent that this was from earlier excavating work from years earlier. Whether it was for a fire track or temporary parking for trucks during old works was unclear as it was covered in thick bush and quickly became part of the steep incline. As I looked back towards the road, I also could see it didn’t align with the road as earlier pictures indicated. The whole face of the hill had changed dramatically. Knowing that the rails and infrastructure were long gone and that the area where the platform once was, wasn’t accessible, I concentrated on the lower level where the ride entrance used to be.


Rummaging down near the road and a few metres up the hill and to the side I started to notice that some of the rocks were of a different colour and more square in appearance. It was then I realised it was weathered and dirty concrete. Either from the stairs from the base ride entrance or the platform above. With the landslides and excavation work, it was impossible to tell. But it was an artifact from the original scenic railway.

It was satisfying that the mountain still was willing to give up some of its past for today.



References:

 I can’t recommend highly enough the website https://bpadula.tripod.com/foxpoint/ which was an invaluable resource in this adventure.


Originally published in the BBCN November 2023 Issue 327





Wednesday 1 November 2023

Why is local history important?

Why is local history important?

To me, local history is a passion, one that grew as I became acquainted with the area. Local history helps us understand the development of our community, the people who lived and still live there, and the events that shaped its character. By learning about the local history, we can gain a deeper appreciation of the area and the people who call it home. Preserving our history helps to keep alive the stories, traditions, and culture of the people who reside there, and helps to pass them down to future generations. Something that nearly every native culture has done throughout the millennia.

Local history helps to support the identity of a community. It provides a sense of place and belonging and helps to foster a sense of pride and attachment to the place they call home. When learning about the history of a community, we can gain insights into the social, economic, and political forces that have shaped our world today. It also provides an opportunity for education, not just via established educational institutes but by members of the community.

Published works and readily available resources can also be an important factor in tourism. Visitors are often interested in learning about the history of the places they visit, and local history can provide a unique and interesting perspective on a community.

We are lucky in this particular area of Melbourne thanks to the foresight of its residents, many, not necessarily scholars, recording our history, and even more locally with people like Ric Coxhill, the Knox Heritage Society, and the many clubs and societies who preserve the history of the area and their particular field. 

Who knows, we all have the chance of being mentioned in the future, either as a subject or as an author.


Previously published Boronia & the Basin Community News Issue 326 Oct 2023 as the Editorial


Sunday 1 October 2023

Chelsea Australian Garden Olinda.

 

Chelsea Australian Garden Olinda.

A woolemi Pine

Chelsea Australian Garden Olinda at the Dandenong Ranges Botanical Garden (DRGB) on Wurundjeri land has finally opened and for someone like me who needs no excuse to visit the old rhododendron Garden no matter what season, this was a long-awaited event, having watched its construction from afar since the park had reopened post CoVid. Based on Phillip Johnson’s Chelsea Flower Show Grand prize-winning garden from 2013, it is a beautifully designed showpiece.

Whilst many options were explored the perfect outcome was to bring it back to where the garden was originally designed and inspired. In Olinda where Johnson calls home. The new garden is 20 times larger than the original and has been incorporated into the DRBG seamlessly on land that was unused from the bordering golf course. Another factor that makes the garden appealing is the effort to introduce native plants as far-flung as Western Australia & Queensland. Including the world’s oldest and rarest tree the Woolemi

Pine. The centre piece is the Billabong with its waterfall and huge Waratah sculpture, but it is these introduced natives like the Boab or Bottle trees In another section, which I loved, where the Grass trees with their black spires shooting out the top and with Acacia waterfall trees they looked like something straight out of Dr. Seuss’ Whoville. The rich red volcanic soil of the area has made it possible to plant this type of flora, and as it is an experimental garden, hopefully, thrive. I cannot recommend the garden highly enough and suggest everyone take the opportunity to see it. It’s only up the hill, free to visit, and is going to be there forever.











Originally printed in the BBCN issue 325 Sept 2023