Kew is a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, 6 km east from Melbourne's Central Business District. Its local government area is the City of Boroondara. At the 2011 Census, Kew had a population of 23,876. Formerly a city in its own right, the cities of Kew, Hawthorn and Camberwell were amalgamated in 1994 to form the City of Boroondara. The suburb borders the Yarra River to the west and north, with Hawthorn to its south and Balwyn to its east.
It is a fairly affluent suburb with most homes being free-standing and surrounded by gardens and tree-lined streets. Most of the properties are of mid-20th century vintage, although there are increasing numbers of new houses being built and (unfortunately) a considerable number of multi-unit and multi-story apartment developments.
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.
The National Gallery of Victoria is an art gallery and museum in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest and the largest public art gallery in Australia. Since December 2003, NGV has operated across two sites. The main gallery, known as NGV International, is located on St Kilda Road, in the heart of the Melbourne Arts Precinct of Southbank, with a branch gallery at Federation Square. The St Kilda Road Gallery, shown here, was designed by Sir Roy Grounds and opened in 1968. It was redesigned by Mario Bellini. The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia at Federation Square was designed by LAB Architecture Studio.
At the time when the first gallery opened, Victoria was an independent colony for just ten years, but in the wake of the Victorian gold rush, it was easily the richest part of Australia, and Melbourne the largest city. Besides donations of works of art, donated funds from wealthy citizens have been used by the Gallery to purchase large collections of overseas works from both old and modern masters. The Gallery currently holds over 65,000 works of art.
The Felton Bequest, established by the will of Alfred Felton, has acquired and donated over 15,000 works of art to the Gallery. The National Gallery of Victoria Art School, associated with the gallery, was founded in 1867. It was the leading centre for academic art training in Australia until about 1910. The School’s graduates went on to become some of Australia’s most significant artists.
This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.
The Sandridge Bridge is a disused railway bridge over the Yarra River, joining Melbourne City and Southbank. The first bridge was built in 1853, the second bridge built 1858, and the current bridge built in 1888. Former rail bridge for the Port Melbourne and St Kilda railway lines, first rail crossing of the Yarra, converted to pedestrian use in 2006.
This post is part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.
The Seafarers Bridge is a footbridge over the Yarra River between Docklands and South Wharf in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The bridge connects the north and south banks of the river while providing a formal entrance to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. The bridge main span is supported by steel ties connected to elliptical arches, with three arches on the north side and four arches on the south side. The bridge was named in homage to the ‘Mission to Seafarers’ centre located nearby on the northern bank of the Yarra River and to represent Melbourne’s rich maritime history.
In the sky, the bright dots are Venus (below) and Jupiter (above).
This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Saturday Silhouettes meme,
and also part of the Weekend Reflections meme,
and also part of the Scenic Weekends meme.
Fairfield is a railway station in Melbourne, Australia, located in the suburb of Fairfield, on the Hurstbridge railway line. Fairfield is classed as a Host Station and is in Metlink. Metro Trains Melbourne is the current franchise operator of the suburban railway network of Melbourne. Metro Trains Melbourne is a joint venture led by Hong Kong based MTR Corporation (60%) together with John Holland Group (20%) and United Group Rail (20%).
Metro Trains Melbourne operates a fleet of 381 three-car train sets on 830 kilometres of track. There are sixteen regular service train lines and one special events train line. Metro Trains Melbourne is also responsible for 212 train stations and employs a workforce of 3,500 rail professionals including train drivers, mechanical and electrical engineers, network operations specialists and customer service representatives.
Fairfield is a predominantly residential suburb, with a small north-eastern pocket remaining a light industrial area. Because it is situated on what many regard as the fringes of Melbourne's popular and much-revived 'inner city', gentrification has been strong, and property prices are high. To the south is the Yarra River and surrounding parkland, and the popular Fairfield Boathouse.
This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Greens meme.
The three-cornered leek (Allium triquetrum) is an invasive weed in the Amaryllidaceae family that can carpet large areas very quickly because of its rapidly germinating seeds that quickly form a dense clump of leaves and flowers. Pretty though this three-cornered leek may be, don't be tempted to pick it as a cut flower because it does reek strongly of an oniony smell! However, all parts of the plant are edible. The leaves and flowers can be added to salads, and the bulbs can be substituted for garlic.
These are growing by the banks of the Merri Creek in Clifton Hill. In the background the brick road bridge. This bridge across Merri Creek at the southern end of High Street was built for the recently created Shire of Jika Jika in 1875 to a design by T.E. Rawlinson, Road Engineer in the Department of Roads and Bridges, although contributions to its design have also been attributed to the Jika Jika Shire Engineer, Evander McIver.
The bridge was constructed of Malmsbury bluestone (basalt) and bricks from local brickworks in Northcote. The bridge was widened in 1890 to allow for the extension of the Clifton Hill cable tram route up High Street. The widening was executed in a similar style to the original design and was supervised by George Duncan, Engineer to the Melbourne Tramways & Omnibus Company.
The last photo is a view of this bridge taken November 1892. Photograph taken by Thomas Beckett, probably from the railway embankment on the south side of Merri Creek. Part of a collection of glass plate negatives taken by Dr Thomas George Beckett, doctor, pioneering radiologist and amateur photographer between 1891 and 1910. The collection is primarily of Beckett's family, friends, homes, and towns and suburbs where Beckett and his family lived, including Charlton in central Victoria and Northcote & South Yarra, suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria. The negative is part of the collection of Museum Victoria and is in the Public Domain.
This post is part of the Floral Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Greens meme.
The Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne are internationally renowned botanical gardens located near the centre of Melbourne, on the south bank of the Yarra River. They are 38 hectares (94 acres) of landscaped gardens consisting of a mix of native and exotic vegetation including over 10,000 individual species. The Royal Botanic Gardens have a second division in the outer Melbourne suburb of Cranbourne, some 45 km south-east of the city.
The 363 hectare (897 acres) Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne have a focus solely on Australian native plants, and feature an award-winning special section called the Australian Garden, which was opened in May 2006. The Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne are adjacent to a larger group of parklands directly south-east of the city, between St. Kilda Road and the Yarra River known as the Domain Parklands, which includes: Kings Domain Alexandra Gardens and Queen Victoria Gardens.
The water features in the gardens are numerous and varied and are host to a variety of flora and fauna.
Southbank is an inner urban neighbourhood of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1 km south of Melbourne's central business district. Its local government area are the Cities of Melbourne and Port Phillip. At the 2011 Census, Southbank had a population of 11,235.
Southbank was formerly an industrial area and part of South Melbourne. It was transformed into a densely populated district of high rise apartment and office buildings beginning in the early 1990s, as part of an urban renewal program. With the exceptions of the cultural precinct along St Kilda Road, few buildings built before this time were spared by redevelopment. Today Southbank is dominated by high-rise development. It is one of the primary business centres in Greater Melbourne.
Southbank Promenade and Southgate Restaurant and Shopping Precinct, on the southern bank of the Yarra River, extending to Crown Casino, is one of Melbourne's major entertainment precincts.
This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.
