Agenda: Elton John concert, free street tour, online work…
I landed in Melbourne but spent my first day getting ahead online. That has been my strategy. Work like a demon to plan further out before doing anything else, build quizzes, look at the resources I had already had in place for the rest of the school year and adjust… I also created screencasts of a simulation I wanted them to use but they may have trouble opening in China.
I’ll start with Elton John. It’s the reason I flew here as I saw I could see one of his shows before I move on to another area. Earlier in the day I stumbled on this street art from his last world tour.
The concert
Amazing. 3 hours with no other band and no intermission. I am so glad I went. All my favourite songs!
My favourite is Philadelphia freedom. It brings back good feelings.
Free tour of Melbourne
The first person to establish a settlement was named Batman. He was the only one in Australia who made a treaty with the aborigines. But the settlement was not sanctioned by England. He called it Batmania and looked like a shanty town. It was later renamed after the prime minister of England. And then there was the gold rush.
The design of the city was based on neoclassical architecture. This is the Treasury building.
The Parliament building was the first capital for the 1st 30 years in Australia. Now it is Canberra as Sydney and Melbourne fought for the right to be the capital.
Windsor hotel
House of Pisco which is a Peruvian cafe and bar.
ACDC lane features grafitti art as the murals have bands represented such as Rage against the machine, Beatles… Though the grafitti is illegal it keeps it off the main streets and some are even commissioned by businesses.
Lanes like these kept the rubbish and deliveries and human waste off the main streets. The city’s nickname was Smellbourne.
This purple rat stencil is from Banksy.
The glass room.
St. Paul’s cathedral.
Flinders Street station
This Lisa King art is in Centre Place where restaurants are.
The Block Arcade. This is what the inside of buildings back then used to look like.
Inside, the Tea House is exactly the same since late 1800s. The treats look yummy and they serve high tea. This building is in the Milanese style. Its purpose was a place to meet people you want to date. They would walk past each other. Men line on one side and women on the other. They then walk past each other and if you liked summertime you talked. If you weren’t the best prospect you would leave and walk around the block to go through again! Block arcade!
The royal arcade was the first arcade with shops. 1870.
Bourke street. This shopping area had a saying that caught my eye.
This used to be the post office. When posts came in they would run a flag up the pole to let people know. It is a very large building that wraps around the block.
This Chinatown is the oldest continuous one in the Western world since Gold Rush. It is also the oldest immigrant group here. Some came from CA after that gold rush.
This restaurant is called Section 8. It has an Orphans Christmas Day for those people whose family is on the other side of the world. It is found on Tattersalls lane.
State library of Victoria which is a library, gallery, and museum. This is also a place for protest action. Today was Climate change protest.
RMIR architect university. This is a sustainable building and interesting architecture.
Front gatehouse of the Melbourne jail. 1840. All prisoners kept together in one big pen whether female, male or child. Many died of violence and disease.
1880, Ned Kelly and gang became an infamous prisoner. He was a Bush ranger, then a term for criminals on the run. He was a poor Irishman and the oldest of 8. He started with Petty crime and then a policeman was shot in the arm when confronted him. He then became roadside robbers with 3 others. They made iron suits of armour from stolen plows. He was liked by people even though he never gave money directly. He would burn all the loan receipts in the banks. No evidence left of what people owed. Farmers helped them then!
The telegraph invention could tell police where they would go and they caught up with the gang. The gang took the town hostage and there was a gun battle. Many died. He got away but ambushed the police. They noticed his armour did not protect his legs and he was shot in the knees.
Ned Kelly to hang in Melbourne. Took him to the pub to hide in case of jail break.
Why this story? He was taken to Captain Melville’s hotel when they feared people would try to break him out of the jail. It is the oldest pub. Ned’s last words: Such is life! His quote.
