Why was part of ballarat closed off?

We hoped to park near Ballarat’s art gallery, but the road was closed. Police stood patrolling. People in iridescent green vests waved potential drivers away, but what was going on was hard to guess. 

A city founded on gold

North-west of Melbourne was Victoria’s Ballarat, home to over 100,000 residents. The first Europeans settled in the area in 1838, but thirteen years later after an Aborigine found a nugget of alluvial gold, Ballarat’s gold rush brought thousands of hopeful prospectors from around the world. Although the alluvial gold became scarce after several years, underground mining continued until 1918.

gasworks arts park

Tucked away in a quiet part of Port Melbourne was a park dedicated to the arts. One building was especially for artists working on sculpture. On a different side of the park was a theatre where plays were often presented.

The world at our fingertips

We headed to Footscray, a western Melbourne suburb and arrived along a street where there must have been a dozen Indian restaurants as well as an Indian supermarket and a couple of glittering clothing shops. But after a quick grocery shop, we headed to the heart of Footscray to experience the rest of what the suburb had to offer.

Acland street

Most tourists strolled along this St Kilda street’s southern end after a Luna Park visit. Crowds dawdled by shop fronts, peered into restaurants or entered the many cake shops that enticed customers with their calorie-laden goods.

why were geelong’s old buildings preserved?

Unlike most cities where highrise dominates the landscape, Geelong’s old buildings were spared demolition. There was a reason for this and it wasn’t just a handful of people who argued against the loss of these tasteful buildings.

geelong’s Federal woollen mills

I headed to the western edge of Port Phillip Bay to North Geelong combing antique stores when I spotted the tasteful Federal Woollen Mills’ main building. The brick factory was constructed by the first Australian Labour Government in 1915 and offered better working conditions for factory employees. Workers were responsible for scouring, carding, dyeing, spinning and weaving Australian wool into cloth using the mill’s own power plant.

beyond port phillip bay

St Kilda’s Pier and Albert Park are well known landmarks in Melbourne, so it was time to explore some of the suburb’s back streets on my daily hike. St Kilda’s terraced houses had gradually disappeared, but there were still majestic homes along the route I took.

Not just in melbourne city centre

Across the street from the downtown NGV, there were hoards of tourists with their cell phones aimed at Hosier Lane’s street art. I boycotted the alleyway and headed to Fitzroy — a Melbourne suburb.

return to fed square’s ngv

Melbourne has two impressive national galleries — one on St Kilda Road dedicated to overseas art and the Federation Square gallery that displays exclusively Australian art. Every time I return to Melbourne, I visit the downtown art gallery and head straight to the Aboriginal section where there’ll be something new on display.