Naweek 24

Dit is nou die laaste naweek voor ek vir die eerste keer Suid Afrika toe gaan van 6 April af.

In hierdie 24 weke het die volgende gebeur:

• Ek het vir die tweede keer voet van die Afrika vasteland af gesit, weer vir 'n projek net soos die vorige keer
• Ek het vir die tweede keer Marlize en Hannes se verjaarsdag gemis omdat ek in die buiteland gewerk het
• Ek het vir 14 weke in dieselfde hotelkamer gebly, waarvan 9 weke alleen was
• Marlize en die kinders se 3-maande vakansie in Australie het begin (toe is ek nie meer alleen in die hotelkamer nie)
• Ons het visas gekry wat ons toelaat om tot 7 Julie 2012 te kom en gaan in en uit Australie uit soveel keer en vir so lank as wat ons wil (solank ek in diens van my sponsor bly)
• Ons het Elmarie se derde verjaarsdag in Australie gevier
• Ons het 'n woonstel in St Kilda begin huur want ons gratis verblyf in die hotel het tot 'n einde gekom
• Ek het einde Augustus my eerste Ozzie dollar betaling gekry
• Marlize en die kinders se 3-maande vakansie in Australie het tot 'n einde gekom en ek het hulle op die lughawe afgesien
• Ek het my verjaarsdag sonder familie in Australie gevier

Saterdag 27 September vlieg ek Suid Afrika toe vir my kleinsus se troue. Na 'n week in Suid Afrika vlieg ek alleen terug Australie toe - tot kort voor Kersfees (11 weke).

Vrydag was my verjaarsdag - happy birthday to me! Andre en Annelie het gereel dat ons gaan uiteet die aand. Dit was 'n baie lekker restaurant met 'n lekker uitkyk oor die see. Marie was ook daar (Floris is nog in Suid Afrika) en Cary en Riana ook. Dankie julle, dit was baie lekker!



Hierdie naweek was ek by die Melbourne Museum. Marlize was al met die kinders daar (22 Junie, Naweek 11) maar ek het die "The Melbourne Story" uitstalling gaan besoek (sien ook Exhibition notes). Na ek teleurgesteld was om nie te kon fotos neem in die immigrasie museum verlede week nie, het ek gaan foto-geleentheid soek op 'n ander plek. Dit was 'n heeltemal verskillende tipe uitstalling, maar die geskiedenis van Melbourne word in soortgelyke tydvakke opgedeel.

1835 - 1850
1850 - 1880
1880 - 1900
1900 - 1920
1920 - 1945
1945 - 1980
1980 - current


Vir elke tydvak is daar 'n inligtingstuk (soos die foto bo) wat 'n opsomming en sleutel datums aandui. Voor ek die details van die tydvakke hieronder uiteensit (vir die wat belangstel) sal ek eers paar ander fotos plaas.


Die eerste koerant in Melbourne is met hierdie Fawkner Press gedruk op 5 Maart 1938 - The Melbourne Advertiser. Teen 1839 was Melbourne reeds 'n gevestigde dorp met 'n populasie van ongeveer 3,000.


"Welcome Nugget, 1958" (replica). Die inligting onderaan lees as volg: "A party of 24 Cornish miners found the Welcome Nugget on 15 June 1958. The nugget set a new world record. Containing a massive 2218 ounces (63kg) of water-worn gold, it was discovered underground at a depth of 55 metres near Bakery Hill, East Ballarat. The Welcome Nugget was sold in Ballarat for 10,500 pounds. After being exhibited in Melbourne, it was exported to London, where it was melted down in 1859. By 1869, the Victorian Geological Survey had recorded 100 nuggets weighing 100 ounces or more, but many more were unrecorded."


Cobb & Co koets wat in ongeveer 1880 gebou is. Die koets was getrek deur 4 of 5 perde en het tot 17 passasiers vervoer. Pos en bagasie was vervoer onder die drywer se sitplek en bo-op die dak. Blykbaar is hierdie die laaste koets wat kommersieel gewerk het in Victoria.
Cobb & Co was in 1853 gestig deur vier jong Amerikaners vir die uitsluitlike doel om passasiers te vervoer tussen Melbourne en die goudvelde in Bendigo (wes van Melbourne).




"Little Lon" (replica) - Die inligtingstuk hier lees as volg: "Every city has its dark side: a place that respectable citizens scare themselves with. In Melbourne from 1860 one such place was 'Little Lon', the crowded streets and lanes bounded by Lonsdale, Exhibition, Little Lonsdale and Spring streets in the central city. Prostitutes, families with children, drunks, nuns, tradesman and recent immigrants - all could be found in Little Lon. Much of life here was lived out in the open, in the streets and laneways, and residents had to find ways to share the public space with their neighbours. Little Lon was much feared, much imagined - and much visited."


Australian Coat of Arms. Die inligtingstuk lees as volg: "The Australian coat of arms was granted royal warrant by King George V in 1912, when Melbourne was the capital of Australia. The Commonwealth star sits on a blue and gold wreath (Australia's livery colours). Its seven points represent the six states and the territories. The shield bearing badges from each of the six states is supported by a Red Kangaroo and an Emu. Both animals are widely accepted as Australia's faunal emblems. The six blazons on the shield represent the states of Australia. Top left to right: New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland. Bottom left to right: South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania. The shield is framed by wattle, officially adopted as Australia's national floral emblem in 1988. This coat of arms was made by staff at Museum Victoria, using taxidermied specimens."



S.S. ORCADES. Die S.S. Orcades was die eerste doelgemaakte passasierskip wat gebou is na die tweede wereldoorlog om passasiers tussen Australie en Engeland te vervoer. Met 'n topspoed van 25 knope (46 km/h) was sy vir 'n tyd die vinnigste passasierskip wat tussen Australie en Engeland gevaar het. Haar eerste vaart in Januarie 1949 het net 28 dae geneem, 10 dae vinniger as die pre-oorlog rekord. Sy het 1542 passasiers akkommodeer, 'n mengsel van eersteklas en toeristeklas. In 1964 was sy verander om net een klas passasier te vervoer (toeristeklas) en het toe 1635 passasiers akkommodeer. Haar fasiliteite het verskeie salonne, winkels, 'n haarsalon, hospitaal en twee swembaddens ingesluit. Sy het 55 keer geseil tussen Australie en Engeland en is in 1973 opgesny vir skrotmetaal.


Hierdie stuk vertoon die ontwikkeling van Melbourne van 1835 tot 2008 (met 'n lopende populasie telling). Soos wat die tyd aanstap, word die nuwe uitbreidings van Melbourne ingelas totdat die totale metropool van Melbourne, soos wat dit vandag lyk, uitgebeeld is. Die aanvanklike uitleg van Melbourne in 1835 is die paar blokke wat vandag die middestad uitmaak (die City Circle trem loop rondom daardie spesifieke gedeelte).

En nou die tydvakke, vir die wat nog nie moeg gelees is nie... In plaas daarvan om alles te vertaal gaan ek die oorspronklike teks op die inligtingstukke direk aanhaal.

1835 - 1850
Summary - Melbourne the Meeting Place
On an early winter's day in 1835, alongside a beautiful stream, a group of Aboriginal men gathered around a bearded stranger.
His name was John Batman. He hoped to become fabulously rich - by buying 500,000 acres of the Aboriginal land in exchange for a few household goods.
This transaction - meaningless to the Aboriginal people that day and immediately rejected by government - marked the beginnnings of Melbourne.

Key Dates
Before settlement thousands of Aboriginal people live in the Port Phillip region.
1803 - Convict settlement established at Sorrento, led by Lieutenant-Colonel David Collins, but soon abandoned due to lack of water, poor soil and unsuitability as a port.
1835 - The Enterprize moors on the Yarra River on 30 August, bringing the first permanent European setlers.
1837 - Melbourne is named after Lord Melbourne, the British prime minister.
1837 - Surveyor Robert Hoddle lays out Melbourne's central grid of streets.
1839 - First shipload of immigrants arrives from Britain.
1842 - First flourmills and iron foundry established.
1843 - First election - the landholders elect Port Phillip District representatives for the New South Wales (NSW) Legislative Council.
1847 - Melbourne town is raised to the status of a city, by the authority of Queen Victoria.
1850 - Royal assent to the separation of the Port Phillip District from NSW, Victoria becomes a self-governing colony.
1850 - Melbourne's population: 20,500

1850 - 1880
Summary - Gold Town
It was June 1851. Melbourne bubbled with anticipation: a reward was on offer for the discovery of gold. Melburnians dug up their own neighbourhoods: Collingwood Flat, Flagstaff Hill, Studley Park and Emerald Hill all rang the sound of digging and premature shouts of 'Eureka!'. Gold was soon found in central Victoria, not Melbourne - even so, the gold rush sparked the biggest boom in the city's history.

Key Dates
1850 - Melbourne's population: 20,500
1851 - Gold rush begins; in 10 years, more than half a million people arrive in Victoria.
1854 - National Museum of Victoria, Public Library and University of Melbourne are founded.
1854 - First railway and telegraph services are established.
1855 - Victoria passes Australia's first immigration act, restricting Chinese immigration.
1856 - Building workers win an eight-hour day.
1859 - Seven members of the Melbourne Cricket Club codify Australian Rules Football (Footy), making it the oldest football code in the world.
1860 - Burke and Wills leave on their ill-fated expedition to travel across the Australian continent.
1860 - Nicholson Land Act aims to free up rural land for smallholders and limit ownership of wealthy squatters.
1863 - Coranderrk Aboriginal Station established near Healesville for the re-settlement of Aboriginal people.
1870 - Britain withdraws its military forces, leaving Victoria responsible for its own defence.
1872 - Victorian Education Act establishes free, compulsory and secular education.
1880 - Melbourne's population: 281,000

1880 - 1900
Summary - Marvellous Melbourne
It wasn't just another parade. It was opening day of the 1880 Melbourne International Exhibition, the proudest moment of a booming city, spotlit on the world stage.
Eager crowds lined the route to the new Exhibition Building to wath parades of soldiers, sailors, fire-fighters and trade unionists. They were followed by a glittering convoy of state coaches. A burst of gunfire announced that the vice-regal party was on its way.
The exhibition would herald a decade of marvellous growth and optimism for Melbourne.

Key Dates
1880 - Melbourne's population: 281,000
1880 - Bushranger Ned Kelly is hanged at the Melbourne Gaol.
1884 - 'Octopus Act' authorises ambitious suburban railway expansion.
1885 - First cable tram route opens.
1887 - Land in new suburbs sells for up to 20 times more than three years earlier.
1888 - Royal commission investigates Melbourne's poor sanitation.
1888 - New Pinces Bridge is completed over the Yarra River.
1890 - Australasian Federation Conference is held in Melbourne, a step towards a united Australia.
1891 - Imperial Bank suspends payments, marking the start of Victoria's worst depression.
1894 - Kalgoorlie gold rush attracts thousands of enemployed Melburnians to Western Australia.
1899 - Victorian troops parade before embarking of the Transvaal (Boer) War.
1900 - Melbourne's population: 494,900

1900 - 1920
Summary - Melbourne and the Nation
It was the most magnificent crowd Melbourne had ever seen: 12,000 of Australia's leading lights, dressed in their finest frock coats, uniforms and gowns, glittering with jewels, rustling in starched cotton and velvet, breathing the same air as the Duke of Conrwall and York - the future King George V.
Seated beneath the soaring dome of the Exhibition Building, they were waiting for the glorious moment: the opening of Australia's first parliament, in Australia's first capital city - Melbourne.

Key Dates
1900 - Melbourne's population: 494,900
1901 - Sydney's population surpasses Melbourne for the first time since 1861.
1901 - Melbourne becomes the temporary capital of the newly federated Australia.
1901 - 'White Australia policy' and national import tariffs introduced.
1902 - Women win the right to vote in Federal elections; women are not permitted to vote in Victorian elections until 1908.
1906 - Release of the world's first feature film, 'The story of the Kelly Gang', made in Melbourne.
1906 - First suburban electric tram services introduced in Melbourne.
1907 - Harvester Judgement in Melbourne establishes the 'living wage' for Australian men.
1910 - New Fliders Street Station opens.
1912 - Luna Park opens.
1914 - World War One begins; ends in 1918.
1919 - Worldwide influenza pandemic strices Melbourne.
1920 - Melbourne's population: 763,000

1920 - 1945
Summary - Electric City
It was an overcast day in February 1921. Returned war hero General Sir John Monash, now head of the State Electricity Commision, stood in a windswept Gippsland paddock with his pipe in one hand and a roll of drawings in another.
He had come to witness a start to the construction of Victoria's greatest industrial enterprise - the harnessing of brown coal to generate cheap and 'clean' electric power for Melbourne.
If there was a single moment when Melbourne entered the electric age, this was it.

Key Dates
1920 - Melbourne's population: 763,000
1924 - Melbourne's first radio starts transmission.
1927 - Federal Parliament moves from Melbourne to the new capital Canberra.
1929 - Start of the Great Depression.
1930 - Phar Lap wins the Melbourne Cup.
1932 - Australian Aborigines' League formed in Footscray to fight for Aboriginal rights.
1934 - Last major flood of the Yarra River.
1934 - Shrine of Remembrance opened.
1935 - Centenary of Melbourne celebrated.
1938 - Housing Commission of Victoria formed to create affordable public housing.
1939 - Black Friday bushfires across Victoria kill 71 people.
1939 - World War Two begins; ends in 1945.
1940 - Last cable tram runs in Melbourne.
1945 - Melbourne's population: 1,180,200

1945 - 1980
Summary - Suburban Dreams
On a cool breezy Sunday in December 1947, a small group of people gathered on the pier at Port Melbourne. Among them was Arthur Calwell, Australia's first minister for immigration.
They awaited the HMAS Kanimbla, a troop ship bringing to Melbourne the first 'displaced persons' from war-torn Europe. A train waited alongside the ship, destined for the newly opened Bonegilla Migrant Reception Centre.
Within two decades, almost one million immigrants had disembarked in Melbourne - from coutries as diverse as Britain, Latvia, Italy and Greece. The city's cultural transformation had begun.

Key Dates
1945 - Melbourne's population: 1,180,200
1945 - World War Two ends.
1948 - First Holden car rolls off the production line at Fishermans Bend.
1954 - Royal visit by Queen Elizabeth II - the first by a reigning monarch.
1956 - Melbourne Olympic Games.
1956 - Television transmission begins in Melbourne.
1960 - Chadstone opens - Melbourne's first suburban shopping mall.
1967 - Ronald Ryan is hanged at Pentridge Prison, the last man to be legally executed in Australia.
1970 - 70,000 people march in protest against the Vietnam War.
1970 - Melbourne's international airport opens at Tullmarine.
1977 - Last ocean liner carrying assisted immigrants docks in Melbourne.
1978 - West Gate Bridge opens.
1980 - Melbourne's population: 2,787,400

1980 - current
Summary - Changing City
It was supposed to be a massive copper spire tipped with gold, soaring over a huge new cultural complex. But when Melbourne's Arts Centre opened in 1984, eyes turned proudly to the lattice-work frame that would become a symbol of Melbourne.
Its opening heralded a new era of Melbourne as a cultural and events capital.

Key Dates
1980 - Melbourne's population: 2,787,400
1982 - Melbourne Concert Hall (now Hamer Hall) opens.
1983 - A massive dust storm hits Melbourne, followed by Ash Wednesday bush fires.
1986 - A car bomb is exploded by criminals outside russell Street police headquarters.
1987 - Mass shootings in Queen Street and Hoddle Street.
1992 - Melbourne's main street, Swantston Street, is closed to through traffic.
1996 - Australian Formula One Grand Prix hosted at Albert Park.
1996 - Construction begins on the CityLink tollway, including the Bolte Bridge and two tunnels under the Yarra River.
1998 - Victorians without gas in winter for two weeks after and explosion at the Esso Longford Gas Plan in Gippsland.
2000 - Melbourne Museum opens.
2002 - Melbourne 2030 plan introduced to shape and concentrate residential growth.
2004 - Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens receive World Heritage listing.
2006 - Melbourne hosts the Commonwealth Games.
2008 - The Melbourne Story exhibition opens.
(Melbourne's population: more than 3,700,000 people)

--end

Naweek 23

Die eerste week alleen is weer verby en ek begin nou alweer onthou hoe werk 'n strykyster...

Vanaand is daar nie veel oor te vertel nie, en net 1 foto.

Ons lente was veronderstel om al aan die gang te wees... Vrydag, Saterdag en vandag was dit warmer, maar die wind het verskriklik gewaai. Gelukkig nie koue wind nie, maar nog steeds. Gister het die stof van die wind wat so gewaai het my so aan die nies gehad het dat ek gaan hulp soek het by die apteek. My maagspiere was al seer van al die nies! Vandag het die wind die hele dag net so gewaai, ek het besluit ek bly in die huis. Terwyl ek 'n National Geographic program gekyk het oor "Violent Earth" oor die uiterste toestande by die noordpool het die wind buite geklik of dit presies inpas in die program. Eers so teen 4nm het die wind begin bedaar.

Elk geval, terug by gister. Dit raak nou al moeilik om nog nuwe goed in die stad te ontdek, so ek was by die immigrasie museum.


Geen fotos toegelaat binne nie. Wel, nie met 'n flash nie, maar dis nie reg belig dat mens andersins kan fotos neem binne nie.

Die gebou was in die vroee jare van Melbourne die Customs gebou. Op 'n stadium was vier uit elke vyf dollar wat in Victoria ingekom het deur daardie kantoor. In 1998 was die gebou gerestoureer en huisves nou die immigrasie museum.

Daar is baie te vertel oor wat mens alles binne sien, en mens kan ure lank daar spandeer, maar in kort is die statistieke min of meer die volgende (ek hoop ek onthou alles nog mooi):

Die geskiedenis in die museum begin by 1788 (op 26 Januarie 1788 het die Britse kolonie in New South Wales se nedersetting begin, en die datum het later "Australia Day" geword - daar was egter reeds vroeer westerlinge in Australie). Meer as 9 miljoen mense het na Australie geimmigreer sedert 1788. Aanvanklik was meeste immigrante gevangenes uit Brittanje en Ierland, maar teen 1830 was dit gestaak. Dan is daar die "gold rush" tydperk van 1840s to 1900 (meestal Europeers, en baie Suid Afrikaners), die Federale tydperk (1901 tot 1945; op 1 Januarie 1901 het die ses state van Australie 'n Federasie gevorm), post-oorlog en vroee sewentigs (1946 - 1972) en laastens die tydperk van 1973 tot vandag. Tydens die verskillende fases was immigrasie gedryf deur verskillende faktore (goud, "populate or perish" waar mense aktief gewerf was om te immigreer, ontsnap van toestande soos oorlog en die gevolge daarvaan waar miljoene mense haweloos gelaat is, en in die laaste fase waar Australie se immigrasie beleid fokus op "skilled migrants" wat Engels magtig is). Tot in die vroeg 1970s het Australie 'n "wit Australie" beleid gehad en dit was gereflekteer in die immigrasie beleid. Dit beteken tot in die vroee 1970s het hulle net Europeers (hoofsaaklik Britte) toegelaat om in Australie in te immigreer.

Die grootste populasie groei tydperk was tydens die "gold rush" (1800 - 1850), met 'n groei van 5,200 af tot 405,400 (7,696.2%). Die staat van Victoria is in 1951 gestig na die ontdekking van goud dit die voorste industriele en kommersiele sentrum van Australie gemaak het.

Vandag is die populasie van Australie ongeveer 21 miljoen, meer as 4 miljoen van Australie se permanente inwoners is nie in Australie gebore nie. Dit is gelykstaande aan die hele populasie van Melbourne.

Maandag tot Woensdag verwag die weerburo weer koue weer so ons gaan nog 'n keer koud kry, en van Donderdag af tot in die naweek weer lekker warm weer. Ek hoop hierdie is die laaste koue front - ek kan doen met bietjie somer!

Naweek 22

Die laaste week met almal hier se weer was meeste van die tyd nie baie lekker nie. Dinsdag was darem 'n lekker sonskyn dag en Marlize het die kinders weer stad se kant toe gevat want Hannes wou nog na die groot blomme horlosie toe gaan...


Die horlosie is gemaak deur "The Watchmakers of Switserland" en is in 1966 installeer. Die blomme om die horlosie word gereeld vervang.

Daarna het hulle sommer na nog bietjie in die parke rondgeloop en na van die ander monumente ook gekyk.




In hierdie foto is die toring bokant die "Melbourne Arts Centre" mooi sigbaar met van die middestad se geboue in die agtergrond.


Hulle was ook weer by Federation Square - Hannes hou van die gebou waar die nommertjies loop... dis die elektroniese letterborde wat allerhande inligting op het, soos "upcoming events" ens.


Die familie se vlug terug was 06:10 Saterdag oggend. Ons het baie vroeg opgestaan om betyds daar te wees sodat hulle vroeg genog ingeboek kan wees. Hulle is reeds veilig by die huis en my plek is vandag baie stil.


Dit lyk darem of Melbourne ook binnekort sal lente sien - volgens die weervoorspelling raak dit volgende week elke dag warmer en teen Vrydag behoort ons 20 grade celcius te sien, al kom dit saam bietjie reen.