Forum answer-regarding Dandenongs/Healesville
by amandajayne81
The only section of this question I am able to answer is regarding the Dandenongs. We spent about 2-3 hours in May this year in the Ranges and really did little else but drive and stop for a quick drink. I would do either the Dandenongs or Healesville and that way you will really be able to enjoy one and not half heartedly do both. We really enjoyed the Dandenongs there were quaint and unusual shops around every corner and we had a good look around the train station area and there were many places to pull over and enjoy the natural scenery.
Have a great trip whatever you do.
Melbourne's Pastime - The Flat White
by ATXtraveler
If you were to ask someone what my favorite thing about working in Melbourne is, it would have to be the coffee shops. When I first arrived in Melbourne, I thought it was ridiculous that people would drink 4-5 cups of coffee with milk and sugar in it, but now that I have been here for 9 months, it has really begun to grow on me.
I also used to be of the generation that would take his coffee tall and black, but now I find myself drinking it with milk and sugar.
If you are in town, I would recommend that you grab a coffee at Brunetties, or one of the other wonderful 1000 coffee shops throughout town!
Enjoy that Cuppa!
NGOV - The Felton story
by iandsmith
Alfred Felton was born at Maldon, Essex, England on 8 December 1831. He travelled to Victoria on the ship California in 1853, lured by the metal that made Victoria what it is today - gold interestingly living not far from today's suburb of Maldon in Melbourne.
Instead, in 1857, we find him in business in Collins Street, Melbourne, as a commission agent and dealer in merchandise and in 1859 he was listed as an importer and general dealer. Two years later he was in business in Swanston street, as a wholesale druggist.
In 1866 he went into partnership with F. S. Grimwade and founded Felton Grimwade and Company, wholesale druggists and manufacturing chemists; this was his path to riches. As the business grew over the years, the partners acquired interests in associated industries such as Melbourne Glass Bottle Works, and Cuming Smith and Company, makers of artificial manures.
His own wants were few and he never married. His philantropic bent meant that he gave away considerable amounts to charity, and also gathered large collections of pictures and books which at times threatened to push him out of his rooms at the Esplanade Hotel, St Kilda, near Melbourne where he died on 8 January 1904.
In 2005 Melbourne Grammar Grimwade House opened "The Alfred Felton Hall" in honour of Felton. Felton Bequest
In his will, Alfred Felton established a bequest to support culture and the community, with half the fund benefiting Victorian charities (particularly those that supported women and children, perhaps somewhat oddly in view of his own marital status) and the other half used to acquire and donate art works to the National Gallery of Victoria. Alfred Felton had no direct descendants. Once the payment of legacies and probate duties was met, the residue of the estate was £378,033, a huge sum, the equivalent of over AUS$40 million in today's money.
The National Gallery of Victoria suddenly gained acquisition funds greater than those of London's National and Tate galleries combined. Fortuitously, soon after bequest, the October Revolution happened in Russia. Bolsheviks sold a significant part of collections of such museums as the Hermitage and Pushkin Museum, and some of these were acquired because of the Felton Bequest for National Gallery of Victoria.
The Felton Bequest has also been used to buy many masterpieces of Australian art. Over the past 100 years more than 15,000 art works have been acquired through the Felton Bequest with a current total value of more than AUS$1 billion.
This has come about due to the fact that the money wasn't put in a bank but invested on the stock market and thus the funds have snowballed over the years and the gallery has been able to be a player on the international scene.
These works are the core of today's National Gallery of Victoria and have made the collections of the museum celebrated around the world.
Melburnians are AFL fanatics...
by Ramonq
Melburnians are AFL fanatics and they relate to certain colours of their footy team. Never wear the colours of another team if you happen to be wandering into a particular neighborhood. You will get jeered and hissed at by the locals. AFL gels communities here.
Rock climbing in the city
by xuessium
Itching to climb your way up?
Look no further.
Place yourself into Hard Rock.
Hard Rock Indoor Rock Climbing that is.
I have yet to try it - came close though. The open concept of the place meant that you can't possibly walk past it without glancing up and thinking "What the..."
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Ox tongue with rice Gyu-Tan-Don
Another angle
SQ238Meals4
SpanishChurros
