RMIT University (officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and often simply referred to as RMIT) is an Australian university of technology and design based in Melbourne, Victoria. RMIT was founded in 1887 by grazier, politician and public benefactor the Hon. Francis Ormond—as the Working Men's College of Melbourne. Its foundation campus is located in Melbourne City, and is a contiguous part of the northern area of the city centre. It opened as a night school for instruction in art, science and technology—to support the industrialisation of Melbourne during the 19th century. It had an initial enrolment of 320 students. As of 2013, it has an enrolment of around 82,000 students across vocational, undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
The view here is towards the East, along Swanston Street. I have played around with the last image, subjecting it to the trials of digital editing with Pixelmator and Photoshop.
This post is part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Mandarin Orange Monday meme,
and also part of the Nature Footstep Digital Art Meme.
Melbourne is a fairly clean city, with well kept properties, clean roads, generally spotless, well-cared for parks. However, occasionally one finds some places that have had rubbish dumped there, some dirty alleyways and rarely some properties that are rundown and dilapidated. Glad these are the exceptions and not the rule... Here are some milk crates that were dumped (surprise, surprise!) in a small empty lot just off one of the alleyways in the City! Come to think of it, it may not be dumped it crates, it may be art...
This post is part of the Weekend in Black and White meme.
The Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre (VCCC) Project will deliver a new, $1 billion facility purpose-built for cancer research, treatment and care in the Melbourne suburb of Parkville, Victoria. Construction is under way to create a brand new home for the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and new cancer research and clinical services for Melbourne Health and The University of Melbourne.
In addition to the new facilities being built, eight world-leading cancer organisations have come together to share knowledge and resources and drive the next generation of cancer research, education, treatment and care. Based on the site of the former Royal Dental Hospital (corner Grattan Street, Flemington Road and Royal Parade) and linked by bridges across to new facilities at The Royal Melbourne Hospital, the VCCC Project will assist building partners to accelerate the discovery of new cancer treatments, attract the nation’s leading cancer researchers and provide a centre of excellence for people affected by cancer.
The VCCC Project is jointly funded by the Victorian and Australian governments. Construction of the new $1 billion facility began in 2011 and will be completed by the end of 2015. The centre will contribute to the area's dedicated health research, disease treatment and patient care facilities already in existence in Parkville.
This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,
and also part of the Weekly TopShot meme,
and also part of the Geometric Friday meme.
In every Melbourne suburb there are a number of public playing and sporting facilities, grounds and fields devoted to a large number of different sports and recreational activities (the little green rectangles on the map of my suburb). The football and cricket playing field are by far the commonest. Here is one in Ivanhoe, the Seddon Reserve. Together with parks and parklands, these provide a way for Melburnians to keep fit and enjoy the delights of running on a lawn covered open area...
This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Greens meme.
Murraya paniculata, or "orange jessamine" is a tropical, evergreen plant bearing small, white, highly scented flowers, which is grown as an ornamental tree or hedge. Murraya is closely related to Citrus, and bears small orange to red fruit resembling kumquats, though some cultivars do not set fruit. It belongs to the citrus family, Rutaceae. M. paniculata is a native of South and Southeast Asia, China and Australasia. It is naturalised in southern USA.
Orange jessamine is a small, tropical, evergreen tree or shrub growing up to 7 m tall. The plant flowers throughout the year. Its leaves are glabrous and glossy, occurring in 3-7 oddly pinnate leaflets which are elliptic to cuneate-obovate to rhombic. Flowers are terminal, corymbose, few-flowered, dense and fragrant. Petals are 12–18 mm long, recurved and white (or fading cream). The fruit of Murraya paniculata is fleshy, oblong-ovoid, coloured red to orange, and grows up to 2.5 cm in length.
Traditionally, Murraya paniculata is used both in traditional medicine as an analgesic and for wood (for tool handles). In the West, Murraya paniculata is cultured as an ornamental tree or hedge because of its hardiness, wide range of soil tolerance (it can grow in alkaline, clayey, sandy, acidic and loamy soils), and is suitable for larger hedges. The plant flowers throughout the year and produces small, fragrant flower clusters which attract bees, while the fruits attract small frugivorous birds. Honey bee farms have been known to plant this tree serving not only as food for the bees but as protection from harsh winds. Honey collected from bee hive colonies that collect pollen from orange jessamines, have a tangy sweet orange undertone.
This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.
The State Library of Victoria is the central library of the state of Victoria, Australia, located in Melbourne. It is on the block bounded by Swanston, La Trobe, Russell, and Little Lonsdale streets, in the northern centre of the central business district. The library holds over 2 million books and 16,000 serials, including the diaries of the city's founders, John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner, and the folios of Captain James Cook, R.N. It also houses the original armour of Ned Kelly.
The landmark Domed Reading Room, which opened in 1913 and was designed by Norman G. Peebles. Its octagonal space was designed to hold over a million books and up to 600 readers. It is 34.75 m in both diameter and height, and its oculus is nearly 5 m wide. The dome was the largest of its type in the world on completion.
This post is a part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.
Last week we visited the Banksia Nursery in Wantirna, an outer suburb of Melbourne. It is located at 530 Burwood Highway, Wantirna South and it is quite a large complex, with nursery, garden supplies, greenhouses, ponds and water plants and also a café on the grounds. We always enjoy visiting there and always come away with a new plant or two.
The murals seem to be de rigueur in nurseries and this one was no exception, with the two illustrated here. The bucolic as well as the humorous...
The blue display is for a good cause, "Beyond Blue", which is an organisation working to reduce the impact of anxiety, depression and suicide in the community by raising awareness and understanding, empowering people to seek help, and supporting recovery, management and resilience.
The orange and yellow display is for the imminent approach of Autumn to the Southern Hemisphere, and there were certainly more than one indication of this in the garden these past couple of weeks.
This post is part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Mandarin Orange Monday meme,
and also part of the Monday Murals meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme.
Our days have become shorter quite noticeably and the evening shadows begin to lengthen a lot earlier. The weather is perfect for late afternoon walks in the park where one may capture the lovely golden ambience of early Autumn.
This post is part of the Scenic Weekends meme,
and also part of the Shadow Shot Sunday meme.
