MILDURA, AUSTRALIA

Mildura is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura and nearby Wentworth, had a population of just over 53,000 in 2016. It is the largest settlement in the Sunraysia region. Mildura is a major horticultural centre notable for its grape production, supplying 80% of Victoria's grapes. Many wineries also source grapes from Mildura. Other key crops produced in the district include citrus, almonds and dried fruit.

The city's central business district is located just a short distance from the banks of the Murray. Langtree Avenue is the main shopping and dining precinct in Mildura, and part of the street is a pedestrian mall. The other major retail precinct is along Fifteenth Street in the Mildura South area, where a mid-sized undercover shopping mall and several big box stores are located.

The city's name was taken from the Mildura homestead, an early sheep station which covered most of the area. The urban area of Mildura is surrounded by a horticulture area, known as the traditional pumped district, where the original grape and citrus blocks were located with water irrigated from the Murray River.

The Murray River (or River Murray) is Australia's longest river, at 2,508 kilometres in length. The Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains, and then meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between the states of New South Wales and Victoria as it flows to the northwest into South Australia. It turns south at Morgan for its final 315 kilometres, reaching the ocean at Lake Alexandrina.

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COUNTRYSIDE

Victorian countryside in Gippsland, about 100 km East of Melbourne.

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PINK LAKE, AUSTRALIA

A few kilometers west of Dimboola, Victoria, next to the Western Highway, you can find Pink Lake. This lake is easily viewed from the rest-stop beside the highway and you can walk down the path to the edge of the lake. As you walk along the path to the lake, you will see yellow gums, buloke trees and paperbarks, giving way to the smaller and very distinctive salt tolerant plants that grow in this unique environment. The pink colour of the water comes from a pigment secreted by microscopic algae.

The intensity of the pink varies with the amount of water in the lake. When the lake is drier more light is reflected from the white crystallised salt reducing the impact of the pink. The salt was commercially harvested from the lake for many years and some of the relics from that time can still be seen near the edge of the lake. Harvesting and selling of Pink Lake Salt is now carried out again.

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TWILIGHT

By the Yarra River in Melbourne, Australia.

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12 APOSTLES, AUSTRALIA

The Great Ocean Road is an Australian National Heritage listed 243-kilometre stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of Australia between the Victorian cities of Torquay and Warrnambool. The road was built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932, and is the world's largest war memorial; dedicated to casualties of World War I.

It is an important tourist attraction in the region, which winds through varying terrain alongside the coast, and provides access to several prominent landmarks; including the nationally significant Twelve Apostles rock formations. The Twelve Apostles is a collection of miocene limestone rock stacks jutting from the water in Port Campbell National Park, between Princetown and Peterborough on the Great Ocean Road.

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SUNRISE SKY

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VICTORIANA

Many a Melbourne house in the inner city is original Victorian, complete with ironwork lace balconies and sculptural architectural deecorations.

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ON THE WING

Black cockatoos in flight in suburban Melbourne.

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TRAIN TRACKS

Going to a place far away...

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GREAT HALL, NGV

The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) 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 Great Hall, created by Leonard French between 1963-1967 is a magnificent space, often used for performances, concerts and all sorts of other functions. The ceiling is high (13.72 metres), and vast (60.9 x 15.24 metres) and so heavy with glass and steel that its downward projecting triangles need to be held up by a series of slim steel columns. Looking up, one becomes aware of the wonder of one of the largest glass ceilings in the world. The kaleidoscopic tent of light suspended high above the NGV International's Great Hall is part of the building's fabric and an iconic part of the National Gallery of Victoria.

Leonard William French OBE (born 8 October 1928) is an Australian artist, known principally for major stained glass works. French was born in Brunswick, Victoria. His stained glass creations include a series of panels in the cafe and foyer of the National Library of Australia in Canberra, and this stained glass ceiling for the great hall at the National Gallery of Victoria.

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RED DOOR

If one lives in a house with a red door, one must wear red pants!

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WETLANDS

The Cheetham and Altona Important Bird Area comprises several wetland sites on, or close to, the north-western coast of Port Phillip in Victoria, south-eastern Australia. Collectively they total 1223 ha in area and lie within, or adjacent to, the western suburbs of the city of Melbourne. They were classified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because they support more than 1% of the world populations of Red-necked Stint, Chestnut Teal and Pacific Gull.

The IBA includes the undeveloped coast between Williamstown and Seaholme, including the Jawbone Reserve, Altona Coastal Park, Rowden's Swamp, the Cheetham Wetlands, Truganina Swamp, with the Spectacle Lakes complex and RAAF Lake of Point Cook Coastal Park. These contain all the remaining freshwater wetlands, saltpans, intertidal mudflats and shallow inshore waters which support the key bird species.

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DOG

Waiting for his master...

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AT PRESTON MARKET

Preston Market is the second largest market in Melbourne selling fresh produce, clothing and homewares with a variety of restaurants and food stalls; it attracts over 80,000 visitors per week. Construction on the Preston Market began in October 1969 when Preston Mayor W. K. Larkins drove home the first stake in the site of the former Broadhurst Tannery. The original investment in the site was $2 million.

The market opened in 1970 and by 1976 the market had grown to include 46 green grocers, 15 delicatessens, 4 fish shops, 4 poultry shops, 19 butchers and a variety of small goods shops including toys, clothes, carpets, plants, and sporting goods. In 2019 the market has grown even more and is still going strong despite threats to oust the merchants and redevelop the site into residential apartment buildings.

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LOOKING GLASS

A road safety mirror at the end of Collins Street in Melbourne City. Seems like a looking glass portal to another dimension...

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BEACH

Altona is a western suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 13 km south-west of Melbourne's central business district. Its local government area is the City of Hobsons Bay. At the 2011 Census, Altona had a population of 9,918. Altona is a large suburb consisting of low density residential in the south-eastern half, with mixed industry in the north-western half. A key feature is Altona Beach on Port Phillip, which is one of only two swimming beaches in the western suburbs (the other being Williamstown Beach). Altona takes its name from the then independent German city of Altona which is today a borough of Hamburg.

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QUEENSCLIFF, AUSTRALIA

Queenscliff is a small town on the Bellarine Peninsula in southern Victoria, Australia, south of Swan Bay at the entrance to Port Phillip, originally called 'Shortland Bluff'. It is the administrative centre for the Borough of Queenscliffe. At the 2016 census, Queenscliff had a population of 1,315. Queenscliff is a former 1880s seaside resort now known for its Victorian era heritage and tourist industry. It is 104 km S of Melbourne 30 km SE of Geelong.

Queenscliff’s famous Black Lighthouse is one of only a handful in the world that are unpainted black stone. It is the only black lighthouse in the Southern Hemisphere. Also known as the High Lighthouse it is located inside the historic Fort Queenscliff guarding the entrance to Port Phillip Bay History The lighthouse was built to replace an earlier sandstone 1843 lighthouse that was under powered and the tower had structurally deteriorated. The new light was built in 1862 in conjunction with the White (Low) Lighthouse and therefore had many similarities in design.

The lamps and housings were manufactured by Chance Brothers in England. The entrance was 3.5 metres above ground level reflecting the English lighthouses that were built on rocks at sea level. The entrance was later rebuilt at ground level. There are two greatly disputed stories of the origins of the bluestone used to build the lighthouse. One version claims that the stone came from Scotland already cut and dressed as ship’s ballast. The other version which is considered to be the official one is that the stone was quarried in Melbourne and brought by barge to Queenscliff. Proponents of this theory claim that the barging in of the stone is what lead to the misconception over the origin of the stone.

Fort Queenscliff was built around the light after fears that ships carrying gold from the gold rush may be attacked by privateers. The light was converted to gas in 1890 and later converted to electricity in 1924. It is believed that the first public telephone service in Victoria was installed in this lighthouse. The light, now automated, is unmanned.

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Shortland Bluff and lighthouse, Queenscliff (c. 1878) 
albumen silver photograph Fred KRUGER, from the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria.

The Black Lighthouse of Queenscliff today.

CITY LANES

The lanes and arcades of Melbourne have collectively become culturally important. The Melbourne central business district's numerous lanes mostly date to the Victorian era and as a result of the original Hoddle Grid, they evolved as service laneways for horses and carts. In some parts of the city, notably Little Lonsdale area, they were associated with the city's gold rush era slums. Among the most notable are Centre Place and Degraves Lane. 

Melbourne's numerous shopping arcades reached a peak of popularity in the late Victorian era and the interwar years. Among the most notable include Block Place and Royal Arcade. Some notable demolished arcades include Coles Book arcade and Queens Walk arcade. Since the 1990s, Melbourne's lanes, particularly the pedestrianised ones, have gentrified and their heritage value officially recognised as well as attracting interest from Australia and around the world. Some of the lanes, in particular have become particularly notable for their acclaimed urban art. The city has several festivals which celebrate the laneways, they are major tourist attractions and frequently feature in tourism promotions, film and television.

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FIRESIDE

Making a fire by a campsite provides flames for a cheery sight as night falls. Then it's time for some fireside tales by the warmth and flickering flame light...

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MURRAY RIVER

The Murray River is Australia's longest river at 2,508 kilometres in length. The Murray arises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between the states of New South Wales and Victoria as it flows to the northwest, before turning south for its final 500 kilometres into South Australia, reaching the ocean at Lake Alexandrina.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

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