Sights in Melbourne
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Point Gellibrand Coastal Heritage Park
Along the waterfront of this expansive stretch of parkland, the roadway has intermittent information panels. These explain the area’s significance as the first disembarkation point for early Victorian settlers. Historic buildings also dot the area, such as the convict-built Timeball Tower, once used to calibrate ships’ gauges, and the remains of Fort Gellibrand, which staged many a mock battle. Access to the park is via Nelson Pl.
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Eureka Tower & Skydeck 88
Eureka Tower, built in 2006, has 92 storeys. Take a wild elevator ride to almost the top (don't miss a glance at the photo on the floor) and you'll do 88 floors in less than 40 seconds. 'The Edge' – not a member of U2, but a slightly sadistic glass cube – propels you out of the building.
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St Kilda Botanic Gardens
Only a few blocks from Acland St, the Botanic Gardens are an unexpected haven from the St Kilda hustle. Wide gravel paths invite a leisurely stroll, and there are plenty of shady spots to sprawl on the open lawns. There are local indigenous plants and a subtropical rainforest conservatory to ponder, as well as the springtime splendour of the Alister Clarke Rose Garden. The duck pond is a favourite for children.
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Christine Abrahams Gallery
This airy commercial gallery shows a mix of well-established, interesting local and national artists. These include iconic photographer Wolfgang Sievers and ceramicist Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, as well as midcareer sculptor Bronwyn Oliver and painter Matthew Johnson. There is a works on paper and ceramics room, and a large stockroom with a rack storage system that allows additional works to be viewed by visitors.
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See Yup Temple
Prayers have floated heavenward here since 1866 and it’s still a working place of worship. The high-Victorian architecture is infused with many traditional Chinese elements and the space is embellished with exquisite hand-carved artefacts from Guangzhou. Three memorial halls off the main temple space hold the only existing records of the lives of around 13, 000 early Chinese immigrants who died in Australia.
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Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi
Gabrielle Pizzi, one of Australia’s most respected dealers of indigenous art, ran this Flinders Lane stalwart from the 1980s until her death in 2004. Her daughter has continued her work and shows contemporary city-based artists such as Julie Gough and Leah King-Smith, as well as traditional artists from the communities of Balgo Hills, Papunya, Utopia, Maningrida, Haasts Bluff, and the Tiwi Islands.
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Nicholas Building
The Nicholas Building, designed by Harry Norris in 1926, is a classical palazzo (grand building) in terracotta tile. Built as a demonstration of the wealth of the Nicholas family, the building today is full of artists’ studios and designers. Having managed to escape being turned into apartments, it’s one of the few unrenovated buildings of its type left in the city.
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Centre for Contemporary Photography
This not-for-profit centre has a changing schedule of exhibitions across a couple of galleries. Shows traverse traditional techniques and the highly conceptual.
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Edinburgh Gardens
Established European elms line the tranquil walking paths of this 140-year-old parkland. Not far from the North Fitzroy cafe strip, these gardens are an ideal place to laze about. On weekends, wedding parties invade the rotunda while picnic blankets are spread, Frisbees flung and barbecues fired up. Should the mood take you, there's a lawn bowls green next door .
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South Melbourne Market
The market's labyrinthine interior is packed to overflowing with an eccentric collection of stalls selling everything from carpets to bok choy (Chinese greens). Its hangover-relieving dim sims are famous and sold at various cafes around Melbourne (as 'South Melbourne Market Dim Sims' no less!).
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Tolarno Gallery
Tolarno was an integral player in Melbourne’s most famous midcentury marriage between Georges and Mirka Mora. Once raucously bohemian, now many years and several sites later, it’s a serious, cerebral contemporary space with a very diverse and well-regarded stable of artists. The location, on the corner of Flinders Lane, is quite special.
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Melbourne Town Hall
The 1874 Melbourne Town Hall was once the main concert venue in town, and has enjoyed tea with the Queen in 1954 and thousands of psychotic Beatles fans courtesy of the lads themselves appearing on the balcony in 1964. Take a free one-hour tour to learn more about the ‘largest grand romantic organ’ in the southern hemisphere.
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Australian Racing Museum
Not November? Never mind; trackgoers can sample some Spring Racing fervour at this museum dedicated to thoroughbred horses, jockeys and trainers. Exhibits cover the history of racing and reverently trumpet the social and cultural importance of the sport in Australia. The line up of Melbourne Cups is a fascinating look at changing tastes.
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Alcaston Gallery
Set in an imposing boom-style terrace, the Alcaston’s focus is on living indigenous artists. The gallery works directly with communities and is particularly attentive to cultural sensitivities; it shows a wide range of styles from traditional work to contemporary artists. There’s also a space dedicated to works on paper.
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Melbourne Sport Tours
Footy fiends get to touch the turf at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and smell the liniment in the change rooms on the half-day Sports Lovers Tour. But not before checking out the track at Flemington Racecourse, cruising by the Commonwealth Games Village and driving Albert Park's Grand Prix circuit - albeit in a bus.
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Monash University Museum of Modern Art
If you have a particular interest in contemporary Australian art, then a trek out to Monash University Museum of Modern Art is worth the effort. It has an inspired collection and promotes Australian work through regularly changing exhibitions and public programs known for their curatorial nous.
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Princes Park
Joggers and walkers make early morning sorties to pound the 3.2km gravel path around the perimeter of the park. Former home to the Carlton football club, the ground is known as MC Labour Park; the sprawling park has a number of other sporting ovals, a children’s playground and barbecues.
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Uplands Gallery
Uplands space is hard to find, but that’s part of the appeal. The gallery shows both emerging and established artists, and while being taken increasingly seriously by collectors, loves to push boundaries. With past shows entitled Big Dirty Love and The Fucking Weird Show, you get the picture.
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National Design Centre
The rather ambitiously named NDC (it’s actually a privately run affair) comprises a retail shop and the ShowBox gallery space, and showcases excellent work from local and international designers. The centre also hosts workshops and events, including the annual Melbourne Design Festival, held in July.
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Westspace
One of Melbourne’s oldest artist-run galleries, Westspace has a varied exhibition program. It’s on the 1st floor of a 1940s’ light-industrial building and features young and emerging artists working in a range of mediums from traditional forms to digital technologies and installation.
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Studley Park Boathouse
The Studley Park Boathouse dates back to the 1860s, and houses a restaurant, kiosk and cafe. There are also boats, canoes and kayaks available for hire. Kane’s suspension bridge takes you across to the other side of the river, and it’s about a 20-minute walk from here to Dights Falls.
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Shrine of Remembrance
Beside St Kilda Rd stands the massive Shrine of Remembrance, built as a memorial to Victorians killed in WWI. Thousands attend the moving Anzac Day (25 April) dawn service. From the CBD, follow Swanston St as it turns into St Kilda Pde.
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Etihad Stadium
The 52,000-seat Etihad Stadium is the city’s alternative footy arena, with a state-of-the-art sliding roof. Other sporting and entertainment events take place here on a regular basis. Tours of the stadium are conducted on weekdays, but night and weekend tours can also be arranged.
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Optus Oval
The last surviving suburban ground, Optus Oval, in Princes Park , has been Carlton's home venue and training base since the club entered the league competition in 1897. The Blues still train but no longer play here. It accommodates 35,000 fans, and is the closest suburban ground to the city.
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Australian Centre for Contemporary Art
The ACCA is one of Australia's most exciting and challenging contemporary galleries. Shows include work specially commissioned for the space. The gallery shows a range of local and international artists. The building is fittingly sculptural, with a deeply rusted exterior evoking the factories that once stood on the site, and a slick, soaring, ever-adapting interior designed to house often massive installations. From Flinders Street Station walk across Princes Bridge and along St Kilda Rd. Turn right at Grant St then left to Sturt St.
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