Tag:heritage
Well worth a day trip is Trentham Falls and the Railway Station. And if coming in from Melbourne, the bakery at Woodend is a must to stop at! Trentham is a little town with a population of 1,411 nestled at the top of the Great Dividing Range. It’s halfway between Woodend and Daylesford and is an easy one hour from Melbourne up the Calder Hwy. The Falls are just a couple of kms out of town. On Sunday, we were there, the carpark was packed, and people were constantly coming and going.
The Falls
The falls flowed well when we visited in August. They are only a short 70-metre (downhill) walk from the carpark. The lookout above the falls is quite good. It formed millions of years ago from molten lava rapidly cooling along the river. They are Victoria’s highest single-drop waterfall, plunging 32 metres into the quartz riverbed below. The Trentham website called it the ‘former’ river, but there was a river flowing the day we were there. I had planned on setting the tripod up in front of the base of the falls. But the water was too deep.
The track to the base of the falls is ‘closed’ with signs of unstable cliffs, but that stopped no one. The barrier is about 2ft high, and no impediment to stepping over or around. So we followed the goat track to the base of the falls and spent a pleasant half-hour down there among the mist, hitting the rocks, photographing the falls and the river. Going back up was a little more complicated. I felt like a veritable explorer. Until I saw a man with his pregnant wife and small son strolling down the goat track!
Trentham Railway Station
Leaving the falls, we headed into Trentham to visit the historic railway station. The station was built in 1880 but closed in the 1970s. It has been restored with some rolling stock and buildings open as a railway museum. A small market is held there on Sundays.
As it was now mid-afternoon, we decided to head back to Woodend for afternoon tea before heading back to Melbourne. After walking uphill and down dale at the falls, then around the station, we were well and truly ready for a sit-down and cuppa!
Looking for more victorian waterfalls? Check out HERE
Melbourne Open House is an annual event held at the end of July. Its goal is “connecting people with good design and architecture in the city”. Over 100 buildings of significance that are generally closed to the general public are open during the two days it runs. Either through tours or self-guided.
It’s always massively popular, with tickets for some locations (all of it is free) going within minutes of bookings opening. I missed out on the tours with ticketed entry. But I was taking part in the ones where you joined a long, snaking queue or took a self-guided tour.
Victoria Police Mounted Branch
Constructed in 1912 and one of the most extensive stables built and remaining in Melbourne, it houses 17 horses. They will move to new, purpose-built, modern stables at Attwood in the next few months. The Victorian College of Arts recently purchased the building.
After a refurbishment that keeps the heritage aspect intact, it will open as an art gallery space. The queue here took an hour to get to the door, and we were in and out in about 20 mins. The police horses are used in crowd control and search and rescue. The horse is nudging the ball (how they teach them to push people back) is massive. He’s the tallest one they have and stands at 17 hands high.
State Library of Victoria
Opening in 1856, with the famous dome completed in 1913, the State Library takes up an entire city block. It is Australia’s oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in the world. They claim to be Australia’s most patronised library, with 1.7 million visitors through the doors each year and another 3 million online. The state library is about to undergo an $83 million renovation, with $53 million being spent on Queens Hall alone. The renovation of Queens Hall will restore it to a reading room, reopen the skylights, and feature a new rooftop garden terrace.
It’s a truly magnificent building, with the Latrobe Reading Room under the great dome at its heart. Its massive rooms and high vaulted ceilings are exhibitions of paintings and sculptures, and books. The forecourt features statues, gently sloping lawns, and two large chess boards. Queens Hall is located in the oldest part of the building and, except for special events, has been closed since 2000. It’s a vast hall 145 feet long and was the original reading room until the domed hall opened in 1913.
Substation J
We arrived at the substation shortly after it opened on Sunday, and the queue was small. Substation J is an operating substation with live electrical equipment. So, we had to dress up with hairnets, lab coats, and hard hats (not that I understand how a lab coat would save me from electrocution. The substation was considered ‘state-of-the-art’ when it opened in 1953. However, Substation J has been a hidden time capsule since it closed in 1980. It remains a functioning power station. However, it is now fully automated, and the old control room is shut off and off-limits to all except a few. As the old control room was offline, there was no danger of us plunging the city into darkness ;). So we were encouraged to play with the buttons and handles while there.
Tasma Terrace
Considered one of the finest examples of a 19th-century, three-storey terrace house, Tasma Terrace began life as a guest house in 18. In the 1970s, there were plans to demolish the building and build high-rise towers. However, the National Trust of Victoria purchased it after a successful public campaign.
