FLINDERS STREET INCIDENT

Today, at 4.42 pm, a 4-wheel drive vehicle attack on a busy pedestrian crossing in Melbourne’s Flinders Street (at the T-intersection with Elizabeth St) left 19 people in hospital, six of them critically injured. A pre-school-aged child who was injured with severe head trauma is now stable.

Police have announced that they believe this attack was the work of a mentally ill drug addict and it is not being treated as terrorism. The driver is thought to be a mentally ill man with a history of addiction to the drug ice. It is understood he has no known links to extremism and is not known to counter-terrorism authorities.

A second man pictured arrested at the scene was unconnected to the attack. He was video-taping the incident and was arrested because police found three knives in a bag in his possession. No other weapons were found in the offender’s car, the vehicle itself of course being weapon enough in the driver’s control.

In these days right before Christmas there will be many households in our city that will be affected by this horrible act of violence. The families and friends of the victims first and foremost of course, but also the family of the offender who must grieving not only for their child but for all those he injured. Add to them every other rational human being who observes this and similar senseless acts of violence and cannot help but feel revulsion, abhorrence and outrage.

All we Melburnians feel rather numb seeing this is the second incident of this type that has occurred in our city this year. On January 20 earlier this year, a car running wild in the Bourke St mall caused the death of six people and injured 28 others. The driver, Jim Gargasoulas 27 years old was charged but has pleaded “not guilty”, his defence being “mental illness”.

Our city is changing, our world is changing, people are changing and I’m afraid that things are not changing for the better. Melbourne was a beautiful city, its people mostly friendly, courteous and law-abiding. In the last 30 years we have seen Melbourne, The Large Modern City – the Most Livable City in the World slowly becoming Melbourne the Post-Modern Megalopolis: Overcrowded, noisy, congested, riddled with crime, corruption, and home of violence related to drugs, mental illness, homelessness, racial tensions, and the ever-present threat of terrorism hanging above our heads.

We have created a monster by allowing our city to become this. Corporate and individual greed, political expediency, public insouciance and a misguided desire to be a “World City” has brought us here. Now we pay the price. Melbourne you have come of age, now you belong there with all the other megalopoleis of the world. Megalomania deserves its own special reward - the loss of soul. I hope against hope that this incident is the last that we shall see, but logic says otherwise - more such incidents are to follow, I think...

My Melbourne is no longer Fresh, and I can no longer post a Daily beautiful offering in a city that is becoming increasingly more and more dehumanized. I still live here because this is my home and I shall try to find pockets of sanity to insulate myself from the increasing madness of the city. I shall try to still find beauty where I can, and continue to associate myself with people who are rational, open-minded, tolerant, charitable and altruistic. I shall continue to try to change my world for the better in any way I can. It is becoming more and more difficult...

This is the last entry for Melbourne Fresh Daily. Thank you to all the loyal followers and readers who have accompanied me here since 11/11/2011. It’s been quite the ride.

My best wishes to you and your loved ones for a peaceful Christmas and a calmer, better, saner 2018.

TRAIN LEVEL X-ING REMOVAL

For a city of of its size, Melbourne has a reasonable number of public transport options. There are buses, trams, coaches, taxis and trains that cover nearly every suburb in the greater metropolitan area, and beyond.

Metro Trains Melbourne operates the metropolitan train network under an agreement with the Victorian Government. There are 15 separate lines in the Metro train network, 837 km of track and a total of 218 stations, 80 of which are premium stations with enhanced facilities. The fleet size consists of 407 three-car sets comprising: 187 Comeng, 72 Siemens, 134 X'Trapolis and 14 Hitachi trains. The annual patronage for the 2012-13 year was 225.5 million passenger trips.

Most of the rail track in the suburbs is above ground as shown here but there is a largely underground rail loop in the City centre. Over the next eight years the Level Crossing Removal Authority will oversee the removal of 50 dangerous and congested level crossings across Melbourne. Construction has already commenced on several sites, and planning and early consultation is underway for the delivery of the entire project.

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 CITY BATHS

City Baths, in Melbourne, Australia, is a historically and architecturally significant building. Located at 420 Swanston Street, it is an instantly recognisable Melbourne landmark.The Melbourne City Council opened the first Melbourne City Baths on 9 January 1860, which housed public baths. The objective was to stop people from bathing in the Yarra River, which by the 1850s had become quite polluted and the cause of an epidemic of typhoid fever which hit the city resulting in many deaths. However, people continued to swim and drink the water.

The Baths were leased to a private operator, but lack of maintenance resulted in such deterioration of the building that the Baths were closed in 1899. New baths designed by John James Clark were opened on 23 March 1904. Strict separation of men and women was maintained, right down to separate street entrances. Two classes of facilities were maintained, with second class baths in the basement and first class baths on the main floor. The popularity of the swimming pool increased with the introduction of mixed bathing in 1947.

The Baths now house a swimming pool, spa, sauna, squash courts and a gymnasium. To cater for all types of swimmers, the swimming pool is divided into four lanes: an aqua play lane, a medium lane, a fast lane and a slow lane (or 'aquatic education', when swimming lessons are given).

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.

IN THE GARDEN

The Christmas Tree in the background image is the tree in our garden at night. A long exposure picks up the lights and creates the asterism effect. On that I have superimposed the images of the mosaic jewel tree and the greeting.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Macro Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

IT'S BEGINNING TO FEEL LIKE CHRISTMAS...

This post is part of the My Sunday Photo meme,
and also part of the My Sunday Best meme

POND & DUCKLINGS

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme,
and also part of the Camera Critters meme,
and also part of the Weekend Reflections meme.

SUMMER IN THE DANDENONGS

The Dandenong Ranges (commonly just called 'the Dandenongs') are a set of low mountain ranges, rising to 633 metres at Mount Dandenong, approximately 35 km east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The ranges consist mostly of rolling hills, steeply weathered valleys and gullies covered in thick temperate rainforest, predominantly of tall Mountain Ash trees and dense ferny undergrowth.

After European settlement in the region, the ranges were used as a main source of timber for Melbourne. They were popular with day-trippers from the 1870s onwards. Much of the Dandenongs were protected by parklands as early as 1882 and by 1987 these parklands were amalgamated to form the Dandenong Ranges National Park, which was added to again in 1997. The ranges experience light to moderate snow falls a few times most years, frequently between late winter and late spring. In Summer the temperature is several degrees lower than that at Melbourne and the dense vegetation is luxuriant.

Today, the Dandenongs are home to over 100,000 residents and the area is popular amongst visitors, many of which stay for the weekend at the various Bed & Breakfasts through the region.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme,
and also part of the Weekend Green meme.

MELBOURNE STREET TREES 191 - CHRISTMAS BUSH

Victorian Christmas Bush (Prostanthera lasianthos) in the Lamiaceae family, is the largest of the Australian native Mint Bushes and has the widest distribution. It ranges from southern Queensland to Tasmania from coastal to sub-alpine altitudes, and grows from 2 m in exposed mountain sites to at least 10 m high. It is best known as a tall, graceful forest shrub about 5 m high, and is popular also in the gardens of native plant lovers. It grows by creeks and in the moist shade of dense, wet sclerophyll forests, where it may have room to develop a good shape or scramble through a tangle of vegetation.

Not far from Canberra towards the high mountains, it occurs in forest hollows, near tree ferns and luxuriant mosses, reaching 5 m. When not in flower it can be detected by its menthol fragrance when touched; though sometimes too strong, it is more pleasant than in some native Mint Bush scents. Examples in the Australian National Botanic Gardens vary greatly owing to different origins and different planting positions. Plant form, leaf, flower and flowering time all vary, making an interesting study. Moist, shady conditions are not necessary for this species to grow, and it will recover from neglect as shown by older examples in the Gardens - 5 m shrubs 25 years old and growing in full sun. They were shaped by past droughts and storms into sprawling irregular shrubs with thin branches on which the upper bark is attractive and shiny.

Prostanthera lasianthos is unaffected by light frosts and will grow in light or stiff soil in sun or shade, but constant wind should be avoided. It is excellent for hiding a fence, as a tall hedge or by a red brick wall. With a good mulch and some watering it would thrive in city gardens, giving flower when most purple Mint Bushes have finished. Foliage is attractive in plants growing freely and can be bright-yellow green to darker green, hairless, sometimes shiny, and without blemish. Mountain forms and plants in full sun have slightly leathery foliage. Leaves are up to 15 cm long and from 13 mm to over 19 mm wide, larger than in other Prostanthera species. They vary in denseness, taper finely, and the margins are generally toothed, sometimes also waved or curved.

Masses of thin, soft flowers in wide-angled tapering sprays are the main attraction. The flowers are around 2 cm long and are funnel-shaped with spreading lower lobes. In the throat are tiny purple blotches and larger orange ones. In some the flowers are white but others, highly prized, appear pale pink or mauve from a distance. Close inspection shows suffused blotches of pale purple or violet, extending sometimes to the calyces and thin flower stems. These latter are slightly viscid and in some cases even more scented than the leaves. A separate light perfume can sometimes be detected in the flowers, but generally it is masked by the minty scents.

The flowering season is November to December, though it lingers till January in some years, and no doubt Christmas flowers could be planned with the right form in a cool position. A magnifier allows one constant feature to be seen in the flowers - they are coated inside and out with fine hairs, a fact which sets this species apart from other Prostanthera spp. Short branches of flowers last well in water, and are graceful and easy to arrange. Propagation is by seeds or cuttings. The only disease noticed has been die-back from the root-rot fungus referred to elsewhere, and as mentioned affected shrubs have fully recovered later.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

WARRANDYTE IN SUMMER

Warrandyte is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 24 km north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District. Its local government area is the City of Manningham. At the 2011 Census, Warrandyte had a population of 5,520.

Warrandyte is bounded in the west by the Mullum Mullum Creek and Target Road, in the north by the Yarra River, in the east by Jumping Creek and Anzac Road, and in the south by an irregular line from Reynolds Road, north of Donvale, Park Orchards and Warrandyte South.

Warrandyte was founded as a Victorian town, located in the once gold-rich rolling hills east of Melbourne, and is now on the north-eastern boundary of suburban Melbourne. Gold was first discovered in the town in 1851 and together, with towns like Bendigo and Ballarat, led the way in gold discoveries during the Victorian gold rush. Today Warrandyte retains much of its past in its surviving buildings of the Colonial period and remains a twin community with North Warrandyte, which borders the Yarra River to its north.

The Warrandyte Road Bridge over the Yarra River connects Warrandyte with North Warrandyte. The first bridge was built in 1861, but after its demise, the current bridge was built in 1952.

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.

TOWARDS THE NORTH

Melbourne's outer northern suburbs are considered to be one of Australia's fastest growing corridors. The high population growth occurring in areas 25-35 km from the city centre in the north continues to drive demand for housing and has resulted in this being one of Melbourne's growth hotspots.

Melbourne's growing northern metropolitan fringe is changing the character of what was a sleepy, bucolic area with acre lots and larger farms into a densely populated suburbia with town centres, schools, health and educational facilities that are servicing the increasing population. Pockets of nature and recreational facilities are being preserved, such as this, the parklands around the Yan Yean Reservoir, which is the oldest of Melbourne's water dams.

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.

SKIES OF MELBOURNE

Our recent bout of changeable weather has made me put together this mosaic of skies of Melbourne and made me chuckle thinking: "Variety is the spice of life"!

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,

and also part of the Through my Lens meme,

and also part of the Seasons meme.

JUST A SMALL COIN...

There are currently 105,237 people in Australia who are homeless. The rate of homelessness (which takes into account population density) is 49 out of every 10,000 people (0.5% of the population), of which 56% are male and 44% female. 25% (or 26,744) are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians 30% are born overseas.

Victoria has 22,789 homeless people (42.6 people per 10,000) +20.7 since 2006, which is 22% of Australia's homeless. How old are they?
Under 12: 17% (17,845)
12-18: 10% (10,913)
19-24: 15% (15,325)
25-34: 18% (19,312)
35-44: 14% (14,484)
45-54: 12% (12,507)
55-64: 8% (8,649)
65-74: 4% (4,174)
75 and over 2% (2,028)

Just a small coin may make a difference...

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

WERRIBEE RIVER BIRDS

Ducks and a cormorant on the River.

This post is part of the Weekend Green meme,
and also part of the Weekend Reflections meme,
and also part of the Saturday Critters meme,
and also part of the I'd Rather Be Birdin' meme,
and also part of the Camera Critters meme.

GLORIOUS SUNSET

Sunset in Werribee, enjoyed on a walk by the riverside nature reserve. It was good to have a respite from the cool and rainy weather with a return of the fine and warm conditions more appropriate for the beginning of Summer.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme,
and also part of the Orange you Glad It's Friday meme.

AGAPANTHUS

Agapanthus praecox (Common Agapanthus, Blue Lily, African Lily, or Lily of the Nile) is a native of Natal and Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. Local names for this species include agapant, bloulelie, isicakathi and ubani. Most of the cultivated plants of the genus Agapanthus are hybrids or cultivars of this species. The plant is reportedly naturalised in Great Britain, Madeira, the Canary Islands, Eritrea, Ethiopia, St. Helena, Victoria, Norfolk Island, New Zealand, Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica and Tristan da Cunha.

Agapanthus praecox subspecies orientalis (shown here) occurs in Eastern Cape and southern KwaZulu-Natal. It has up to 20 poisonous, strap-like leaves per plant which are arching and are not leathery. These range in length from 20 to 70 cm long and 3 to 5 cm wide. Flower colour ranges from various shades of blue to white.

Shiny black seeds are produced in three-sided capsules. These have perianth segments which are less than 50 mm in length. Agapanthus praecox subsp. orientalis is highly regarded for being tough in sun and heat, long-flowering, and is a favourite for many councils in Australia for the landscaping of roads and other public areas which do not get watered. The plant is still widely planted but in some areas it is considered a weed, and planting has been discontinued, although it is not generally regarded as highly invasive.

In Melbourne these plants grow luxuriantly and bloom for several weeks around Christmas. They are a common garden plant, but are also planted on nature reserves and verges along roads.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA

Victoria (abbreviated as Vic) is a state in southeastern Australia. Victoria is Australia's most densely populated state and its second-most populous state overall (at the end of 2015 Victoria's population was an estimated 5,996,400). Most of its population lives concentrated in the area surrounding Port Phillip Bay, which includes the metropolitan area of its state capital and largest city, Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city. Geographically the smallest state on the Australian mainland, Victoria is bordered by Bass Strait and Tasmania to the south, New South Wales is to the north, the Tasman Sea is to the east, and South Australia is to the west.

Named in honour of Queen Victoria, who signed the division's separation from New South Wales, the colony was officially established in 1851 and achieved self government in 1855. The Victorian gold rush in the 1850s and 1860s significantly increased both the population and wealth of the colony, and by the time of the Federation of Australia in 1901, Melbourne had become the largest city and leading financial centre in Australasia. Melbourne served as federal capital of Australia until the construction of Canberra in 1927, with the Federal Parliament meeting in Melbourne's Parliament House and all principal offices of the federal government being based in Melbourne.

The city of Melbourne has many attractions, including shopping, the Crown Casino, Melbourne Zoo, Melbourne Museum, Melbourne Aquarium, Melbourne Docklands, Southbank and St. Kilda. Melbourne is also the home of cultural and sporting icons such as The Arts Centre, National Gallery of Victoria and the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) which held the 1956 Summer Olympic Games.

The historic cities of Ballarat, Beechworth, Bendigo, Castlemaine, Maldon and Daylesford which were all towns built on the goldfields during the 1850s. Natural attractions include The Twelve Apostles on the Great Ocean Road, Wilson's Promontory, The Grampians, Buchan Caves, Gippsland Lakes and the penguins on Phillip Island. The Dandenong Ranges just east of Melbourne has the Puffing Billy Railway and Healesville Sanctuary.

The Murray River which is the state's northern border, has towns including Echuca and Mildura. Boating, fishing and other water sports are popular along the river. Geelong, south west of Melbourne on Corio Bay, has many beaches, and hosts the Australian International Airshow. Nearby is the Bellarine Peninsula, which has many famous beaches such as Bells Beach, Torquay and Queenscliff. The Mornington Peninsula is well known for its beaches and wineries. The Victorian Alpine Region in the Australian Alps is popular for skiing with resorts at Falls Creek, Mount Hotham, and Mount Buffalo.

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'S GRAND PAST...

The architecture of Melbourne is characterised by an extensive juxtaposition of old and new architecture. The city is noted for preserving a significant amount of Victorian architecture and has some of the largest in the country. Additionally, it features a vast array of modern architecture, with around 60 skyscrapers over 100 m in the city centre which have deliberately been set back from thoroughfares and streets to preserve historic architecture—leading to the title of "Australia's most European city".

The juxtaposition of old and new has given Melbourne a reputation as a city of no characterising architectural style, but rather a city possessing an accumulation of buildings dating from the present back until the European settlement of Australia. The city is also home to Eureka Tower (2006), which was the tallest residential tower when measured to its highest floor for some time. Here are some Victorian gems, landmarks of our city.

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.

Como House, South Yarra 1840s

Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton, 1880 (World Heritage Site)

Melbourne General Post Office, begun 1859

Melbourne Town Hall, 1870, and St Paul's Cathedral, 1891

Melbournia Terrace, Carlton, 1876

Victorian Parliament House, 1855

Royal Terrace, Sth Yarra, 1890

St Patrick's Cathedral, begun 1858