I flew into Melbourne on an early flight as it was the cheapest I could get. There was a delay as Virgin Blue had been having problems with their automated check-in service for a few days. Luckily, I had checked-in on the web the night before. Upon arriving in Melbourne I took the bus to the city centre as I was unable to go to the Socs right away. I took the opportunity to wander around in the warm sunlight. I found myself at the Treasury Gardens and being quite exhausted, I had a nap on the park grass. Once I awoke, I made my way to the train station and caught a train to Broadmeadows in the city's northern reaches. I spent the rest of the day around the Socs home preparing for the next day's outing.
The following morning I decided to visit the Fitzroy Gardens and the State Library of Victoria, both fascinating places. The Fitzroy Gardens are an old city park just next to the Treasury Gardens in the heart of the city. Throughout there are various interesting buildings and artworks. For example, there is the cottage that James Cook grew up in in Yorkshire. It was taken apart brick by brick and reassembled in Melbourne. Having been built in the mid 18th Century, Cook's Cottage claims to be the oldest building in Australia. There is also the impressive River God Fountain and the playful Dolphin Fountain. Then there's the whimsical Fairies' Tree which consists of fairies and native Australian animals carved and painted into an old stump. Beside it it my favourite place, the Model Tudor Village. Gifted to the people of Melbourne by the English for supplying food after World War 2, the Model Tudor Village is a miniature representation of a village in the 16th Century. One can clearly discern a church, a mill and the thoughtful artisans even included Shakespeare's and Ann Hathaway's cottages. If it had been like that, I imagine William and Ann first meeting each other on the village path, then courting and finally marrying. The little village is something to behold.
After the gardens, I went to the State Library of Victoria, an imposing building near La Trobe Street. I originally intended to see if I could obtain some documents for my internship essay but it turned out they were unavailable. I decided to explore the library and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. On the upper floors there was an exhibit dedicated to Australia's most famous scoundrel, Ned Kelly. A troublesome son of a convict settler, Ned and his gang of reprobates became bushrangers, robbing what they could, when they could in the 1870s. In doing so, they endeared themselves to the citizens of the Colony of Victoria as they were seen to be fighting the establishment and the corrupt Victorian police. Matters came to a head in 1878 when Ned and his gang burned mortgage deeds, the only copies of that bank's debtors and Crown property. The gang also ambushed 4 police constables, killing 3 of them while the 4th escaped. They were declared outlaws and were finally cornered at an inn in Glenrowan in northern Victoria. The police encircled the inn and a gunfight ensued wherein Kelly's 3 accomplices were killed and Kelly himself captured. In one unbelievable act that ensured their immortality in the Australian psyche, the Kelly Gang made suits of armour out of ploughs and in these they faced the police. Ned Kelly was tried in Melbourne and hanged in 1880, his last words supposedly being, "Such is life."
In the State Library I found that Ned Kelly's armour was on display, or as near as could be figured. It has been restored although it still bears the indentations of the bullet strikes. It also has an apron which Ned Kelly probably did not wear but was worn by one of the other gang members. A little further on was a cast of Ned Kelly's death mask. They are amazing pieces of Australian history that I was glad to find. It is also a little ironic since the library and the vast reading room adjacent to the exhibit was largely the work of Redmond Barry, the judge who presided over the Ned Kelly trial and sentenced him to death. In fact, the library was built in the very same year.
On another floor there was an exhibit about books through the ages. I found myself pulled towards a book about mathematics, printed in the late 15th Century, by Caxton, the father of English printing. I was pleasantly surprised that with only minimal effort I was able to read and understand the English of so long ago.
I made my way to Federation Square where I found a radio show, MTR (Melbourne Talk Radio), broadcasting. And here, I had a chance to win 2 tickets to the Grand Final replay and I completely blew it. I was among 4 people asked to commentate on a fictitious final 30 seconds of the Grand Final and the winner would win the tickets. I was among 4 people and though I slightly rehearsed beforehand when it came my turn (I was 2nd), I completely messed up as I could only remember 1 player's name. Anyway, it was an unmitigated disaster but I did get 2 tickets to a Toni Childs concert the next day and a copy of Ben-Hur which I gifted to Katia and Maria. Slightly depressed, I returned to Broadmeadows intellectually satisfied though shattered in spirit.
The next day I went to the Melbourne Museum and the Royal Exhibition Hall. 1880 seems to have been an eventful year for Victoria as Melbourne hosted the World Exhibition. For that occasion an enormous hall was built, like London's Crystal Palace, although this one is the only original such structure on its original site. It was also where Australia's Parliament met until Parliament House was completed in Canberra in 1927. I couldn't go in as it was closed but from what I could see, it was an impressive building and I could only imagine what it had been like when it had first opened.
The Melbourne Museum is a much more modern structure to which, I was happy to learn, student admission is free. There were a myriad of interesting exhibits dealing with natural history, the human body, dreams and the struggle for Aboriginal rights. I even got to see an IMAX 3-D movie about the Hubble Telescope. At the time there was also a very popular Titanic exhibit but it has been sold out for ages and I didn't really have a desire to see it. Still, the rest of the museum was absolutely fascinating and I hope to go back again. Although I was there most of the day, I still missed a portion of it and I hope to complete my tour of the museum soon.
The evenings entertainment consisted of me going to a club to see Toni Childs, whom I had never heard of but was apparently very big in the 1980s. Later research revealed that although she was an American, she was most popular in Australia. The band that opened for Toni Childs was very good and I enjoyed listening to their bluesy rhythms. One thing I noticed was that much of the crowd was made of of people in their 40s and beyond, who I can only assume have been Toni Childs fans since the beginning. Toni Childs came on after a while and although here music was good, it wasn't really my cup of tea so I left after about half an hour. The club itself was in the very posh suburb of Toorak so it took me a while to make it back to Broadmeadows by train. If there are any Toni Childs fans out there, I hope you're not too mad at me for leaving.
The next day was Saturday the 2nd, the replay of the Grand Final. I managed to get myself invited to a small Grand Final party (just 5 of us) at a friend of a friend's house. We eagerly watched the game which the Collingwood Magpies easily won. It was great fun to watch it with other people over a few pizzas. Later we were invited to a 30th birthday party at a bar in the city called Troika, which had a sort of Soviet theme, much like Kremlin Bar in Canberra. I met many fascinating people at that shindig and I now have new friends to visit in Melbourne.
And at some point during this first half, I ran into someone I hadn't seen in about 10 years and then only in Ottawa, Zirka Reshitnyk. She was just walking down a Melbourne street when I happened to notice her and called out. It turns out that her boyfriend is an Australian who works for a dramatic production company and they live, at least for the moment, in Melbourne. I thought how unbelievable it is to meet someone I hadn't seen in such a long time and from nearly half the world away! What a strange and wonderful continent this is.
Anyway, that's the end of Part 1 and here's the answer to last post's riddle: Why was the dolphin allowed in adduce hearsay evidence against the credibility of a witness? Because he offered the evidence for a non-hearsay porpoise (as opposed to non-hearsay purpose). I welcome your groans.
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