DONCASTER PUBLIC LIBRARY

A beautiful library and gallery in Doncaster, an outer suburb of Melbourne. This library is part of the Whitehorse Manningham Libraries group, which services several neighbouring suburbs.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

AT THE SHOPPING CENTRE

The Doncaster Shopping Centre, one of the big branded such places around Melbourne. Although I don't particularly like them, sometimes I visit one of them as the specific shop I need is conveniently located there. The shopping centres I like more are the old-fashioned "village style" or "strip shopping streets" (see here). Which do you like?

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme.

DONCASTER LIBRARY

Doncaster is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 17 km East of Melbourne's Central Business District. Its local government area is the City of Manningham. At the 2011 Census, Doncaster had a population of 18,359. The suburb, locally known as "Donny", just as its namesake in the UK, is situated on 8.9 km2 of land, around the top of the 120 m high Doncaster Hill.

The suburb consists of a central area along the top of Doncaster Hill, which includes several historical buildings along Doncaster Road, the Westfield Doncaster Shopping Centre and surrounding high-rise apartments, while the rest of the suburb is typical of many of Melbourne's eastern suburbs, with extensive low-density housing. Today the suburb is perhaps most notable for its shopping centre, one of the largest in Australia.

The modern MC2 (Manningham City Square) building complex houses the Doncaster City Library, which is well appointed and offers many services including book, DVD, CD lending, a home library service, free WiFi, computers and printing facilities as well as meeting rooms for booking. Material in several community languages is also available, including Chinese, Greek and Arabic. More information is available from the library website.

The sculpture outside the library is by Deborah Halpern and is the 2006 "Water Creature" in ceramic mosaic, fibreglass and steel.

This post is part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

MELBOURNE STREET TREES 99 - MAGNOLIA

Magnolia grandiflora, commonly known as the southern magnolia or bull bay, is a tree of the family Magnoliaceae native to the southeastern United States, from Virginia south to central Florida, and west to East Texas and Oklahoma. Reaching 28 m in height, it is a large, striking, evergreen tree with large, dark green leaves up to 20 cm long and 12 cm wide, and large, white, fragrant flowers up to 30 cm in diameter. Widely cultivated in warmer areas around the world, over 50 cultivars have been bred and marketed commercially. The timber is hard and heavy, and has been used commercially to make furniture, pallets, and veneer.

The climate in Melbourne suits this tree very well and there are many fine specimens in gardens, parks, streets and reserves. Once established, the trees are drought tolerant, and are indeed the most drought tolerant of all the Magnolia species.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

MANNINGHAM CITY SQUARE

MC2 (Manningham City Square)  is a community centre that provides a wide range of organisations that focus on health, education, welfare, community, arts, cultural and heritage activities all in the one location. Located at 687 Doncaster Road, Doncaster between the Council Offices and the Doncaster Primary School, MC2 offers services and facilities such as: MC2 Meeting Rooms; Community services; Doncaster Kindergarten; Health Services; Welfare and Support Services; Library; Art Gallery; Art Studios and Café.

The sculpture is “Water Creature” (2006) by Deborah Halpern, crafted in ceramic, fibreglass and steel. Manningham Council acquired the art work in 2011 to commemorate the opening of MC2 (Manningham City Square). It is located right next to community gardening boxes that demonstrate how easy it is to grow one's own vegetables and herbs.

This post is part of the Nature Footsteps Floral Macros meme,
and also part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.

DONCASTER SHOPPING

Westfield Doncaster (formerly Doncaster Shoppingtown) is a shopping centre 50% owned by the Westfield Group and 50% owned by LaSalle Investment Management (as of August 2007) located in Doncaster, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is sited on the corner of Williamsons and Doncaster Roads in the Doncaster Hill precinct, an ongoing planning initiative by the local Manningham council. It is located 20 minutes east of the CBD and is one of the biggest shopping centres in Victoria.

This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,

and also part of the Weekly TopShot meme.

DEEP CREEK RESERVE, EAST DONCASTER

The Mullum Mullum Creek winds lazily through northeastern Melbourne, flowing from South to North and emptying into the Yarra River near Eltham South. Along its path there are many nature reserves where there are picnic facilities and also of course havens for the native flora and fauna. Residents of the outer suburbs of Melbourne have ready access to many such waterways and reserves, which makes living in the big metropolis very attractive - all of the comforts and diversions of a big urban centre, but also the joys of country life all within a radius of a few tens of kilometres. These photos are taken in Deep Creek Reserve close to Warrandyte Rd.

This post is part of the Watery Wednesday meme,
and also of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,
and also of the Nature Footsteps Waters meme,
and also of the Water World Wednesday meme.