City of Melbourne
The City of Melbourne is a local government area in Victoria, located in the central city area of Melbourne. In 2016 the city has an area of 36 square kilometres and had a population of 135,959; the city's motto is "Vires acquirit eundo" which means "She gathers strength as she goes." The current Lord Mayor is Sally Capp, elected in a by-election following the resignation of Robert Doyle on 4 February 2018. The Melbourne City Council holds office in Melbourne Town Hall. Melbourne was founded in 1835, during the reign of King William IV, with the arrival of the schooner Enterprize near the present site of the Queen's Wharf, as a legal, speculative settlement that broke away from New South Wales. Unlike other Australian capital cities, Melbourne did not originate under official auspices, instead forming through the foresight of settlers from Tasmania. Having been a province of New South Wales from its establishment in 1835, affairs of the settlement had been administered by the Parliament of New South Wales.
With the growth of the settlement there had been an increasing demand by the inhabitants for greater autonomy over their own affairs. On 12 August 1842, Melbourne was incorporated as a "town" by Act 6 Victoria No. 7 of the Governor and Legislative Council of New South Wales. The town of Melbourne was raised to the status of a city by Letters Patent of Queen Victoria dated 25 June 1847, five years after its incorporation as a town; the Letters Patent constituted the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne and declared Melbourne a cathedral city. A motion was tabled at a meeting of the Town Council to alter the style and title of Melbourne from a town to a city, a draft Bill was approved and transmitted to the Government for introduction to the Legislature. On 3 August 1849, Act 13 Victoria No. 14 was assented to as "An Act to effect a change in the Style and Title of the Corporation of Melbourne rendered necessary by the erection of the Town of Melbourne to a City". The city's initial boundaries, as set down in Act 8 Victoria No. 12 extended from Point Ormond in Elwood up Barkly Street and Punt Road to the Yarra River, along the river to Merri Creek at Abbotsford west along Brunswick Road to Moonee Ponds Creek south past Flemington Bridge to Princes Pier in Port Melbourne.
The Act imposed on the Mayor a duty to set up "permanent and conspicuous boundary marks of iron, stone or other durable material" along or near the line of the Town’s boundaries—this was undertaken by Mayor James Frederick Palmer and Town Clerk John Charles King on 4 February 1846. During the 1850s, Collingwood and Richmond seceded from Melbourne, as did South Melbourne, whilst other parts became parts of the neighbouring districts of St Kilda and Port Melbourne, the border between Brunswick and Melbourne moved south one block to Park Street. On 18 December 1902, King Edward VII conferred the title "Lord Mayor" on the mayor of the City of Melbourne. On 30 October 1905, Melbourne absorbed two neighbouring council areas. Now included in the City was the Borough of Flemington and Kensington, formed in 1882 when it broke away from the City of Essendon; the second, the Town of North Melbourne known as Hotham, had been established on 30 September 1859 and been granted town status on 18 December 1874.
Both town halls are still in use today as public buildings—the former in Kensington near the present-day Newmarket railway station. The Melbourne and Geelong Corporations Act 1938 allowed for three councillors for each of the eleven wards, with a general election held on 24 August 1939. Following a recommendation by the Local Government Advisory Board in 1978, an Order in Council reduced this to eight wards. In December 1980, the Hamer Government dismissed the council, appointed three Commissioners to determine how the boundaries could best be altered to produce more effective local government, with special regard to Melbourne's central business district and its importance to the state, as well as to advise changes needed to the constitution, structure and administration. However, in 1982, with the election of a new Labor government under John Cain, the Act establishing the commission was repealed, the Melbourne Corporation Act 1982 established six wards, for which an election was held on 4 December 1982.
Three years an additional ward was added. In 1993, the City of Melbourne Act specified changes to the boundaries which saw Melbourne gain Southbank and the Victorian Arts Centre on 18 November 1993, the city was resubdivided into four wards – Flagstaff, University and Domain; the wards were abolished in 2001, with the council having an elected Lord Mayor with a Deputy Lord Mayor and seven other councillors. In 2012, the number of Councillors was increased to nine, in addition to the Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor. In 2005, the council announced the construction of a new 6-star environmental office building, Council House 2, in Little Collins Street. On 2 July 2007, the City of Melbourne doubled in size when the suburb of Docklands was added to its jurisdiction, having been transferred from the administration of the State Government. In July 2009, Lord Mayor Robert Doyle unveiled a new corporate identity for the City of Melbourne, costing $239,558. Carlton Carlton North Docklands East Melbourne Flemington Kensington Melbourne North Melbourne Port Melbourne Parkville Southbank South Wharf South Yarra West Melbourn
Junction Oval
Junction Oval is a historic sports ground in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, Australia. Its location near the St Kilda Junction gave rise to its name, it is located five kilometres from the centre of Melbourne and is in the southernmost part of the large Albert Park sporting precinct. Between 2015 and 2018, the oval underwent a $40 million redevelopment designed to make it the administrative headquarters of Cricket Victoria. Junction Oval was established on its present site in 1856; the first grandstand at the ground was purchased from the old Elsternwick racecourse and erected in 1892 at the southern end of the ground. A new grandstand was built in 1925-6 at a cost of £7000, designed by the architect E J Clark and built by H H Eilenberg, it was called the G P Newman Stand but has been renamed the Kevin Murray Stand after one of the Fitzroy Football Club's most famous footballers. A second brick stand designed by E J Clark to complement the Murray Stand was built by H H Eilenberg in 1933-4 at a cost of £7500.
It was named the Don Blackie-Bert Ironmonger Stand in honour of the St Kilda Cricket Club and Test cricketers. It still functions as a public pavilion. A new £6000 manual scoreboard and kiosk at the northern end of the ground was built in 1956-7, the cricket club's centenary year; the current capacity of the ground is 7,000. The scoreboard is a landmark of the St Kilda Junction area. There are two main heritage grandstands, the Blackie-Ironmonger stand built by the St Kilda Cricket Club, the Kevin Murray grandstand; the remainder of the ground is terraced asphalt, with grass embankments at the rear. Older structures were demolished during a rationalisation of the ground, after they were declared a fire hazard by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade in 1988, it is a picturesque venue, with a top-quality turf playing area and a modern backdrop of tall buildings and parkland. Cricket great Shane Warne has had a long association with the St Kilda Cricket Ground, not only making his first class debut at the ground for Victoria in 1991, but playing there on numerous occasions between 1989 and 2006 for his club side, St Kilda.
Due to these connections, the club began discussions in 2010 to rename the ground the Shane Warne Oval. Though such a change never occurred, Warne has spoken on behalf of the campaign to preserve the ground's suitability as a venue for first-class cricket. In December 2014, the Victorian Government announced it would contribute $25 million to the redevelopment of the venue, to allow it to become the administrative and training headquarters of Cricket Victoria. By the end of 2015, Cricket Victoria and Cricket Australia, in combination with the Melbourne Cricket Club, contributed the extra $15 million necessary to allow the redevelopment to proceed; the redevelopment of the venue incorporated several new features: A boutique-sized alternate first-class venue with a capacity of up to 7000. The upgraded venue was unveiled ahead of the Sheffield Shield match between Victoria and New South Wales on 3 March 2018. Junction Oval was founded in tandem with the St Kilda Cricket Club, who have called the ground home since its opening in 1856.
The club plays in the Victorian Premier Cricket competition and has a rich history of success at the venue. Prior to the redevelopment in 2015–18, the venue had hosted 28 first-class cricket matches, including 25 Sheffield Shield games; the lack of upgrades to the oval meant that by 2005 the venue failed to meet first-class standards, though in retaining its charm it was compared to the Basin Reserve in Wellington. The need for a first-class standard cricket ground in Victoria, in addition to the 100,000 seat capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground, became apparent as the state team was forced to host Sheffield Shield finals in interstate locations; the redevelopment of the ground in the mid-2010’s allowed Victoria and other teams to host matches at an appropriately-sized venue, relieving pressure on the MCG and enabling the oval to become capable of hosting Women's Big Bash League matches and other cricket competitions where necessary. As well as being the administrative headquarters of Cricket Victoria, the venue is referred to as the CitiPower Centre.
Prior to redevelopment, Victoria utilised the oval during the 2005–06 season when the Melbourne Cricket Ground was being prepared for the 2006 Commonwealth Games. In the early 1990s it was used because of the construction of the Great Southern Stand at the MCG, it played host to the 2008/09 Sheffield Shield final, won by the Bushrangers, due to the unavailability of the MCG, because of the Bushfire relief concert. As a result of the redevelopment, the Victorian state team plays many home games in the domestic One-Day Cup and Sheffield Shield competitions at the oval. Success at the redeveloped ground came for the Victorians, who won their sixth One-Day Cup and 32nd Sheffield Shield at the Junction Oval during th
Optus
Singtel Optus Pty Limited d/b/a Optus is the second largest telecommunications company in Australia. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singtel since 2001; the company trades under the Optus brand, while maintaining several wholly owned subsidiary brands, such as Virgin Mobile Australia in the mobile telephony market, Uecomm in the network services market and Alphawest in the ICT services sector. To provide services, Optus owns and operates its own network infrastructure, uses the wholesale services of the National Broadband Network and Telstra, it provides services both directly to end users and acts as a wholesaler to other service providers such as Exetel and Amaysim. Through its Optus'Yes' brand, it provides broadband, wireless internet services. Other wholesale services include 4G Mobile; the company was known as Aussat Pty Limited prior to privatisation, when it became Optus Communications Pty Limited. It was renamed to Cable & Wireless Optus Pty Limited before changing again to its present name.
Although there are rumours within the company that "Optus" is Latin for choose, choice or alike, no Latin dictionary seems to have the word listed. The name seems to be a combination of the English words "opt" and "us". Key Optus products and services include: Fixed Telephony Residential and Commercial POTS for local and long distance telephony Commercial VoIP and VoDSL Intelligent Network applications, such as free call, 1300 and Interactive voice response services Mobile Telephony GSM/GPRS utilising 900 MHz/1800 MHz covering 98.5% of the population 3G/HSPA provided by 2100 MHz for large regional centres and metropolitan and 900 MHz for regional as well as metropolitan coverage. The dual frequencies covers 98.5% of the population 4G/LTE provided by 700 / 1800 / 2100 / 2300 / 2600 MHz Covering 95.9% of the Australian population. Satellite Telephony covering all of Australia. Internet Access NBN Residential Dial-Up Internet in all states Residential Broadband Internet in all states. Satellite Internet Commercial and Wholesale internet access Secure Gateway services for Federal Government departments Cable Television Optus Television service provided in Sydney, Melbourne & Brisbane, including Foxtel Digital Leased Lines Data TransmissionRetail services are sold to customers via phone, internet or through retail outlets franchise chains such as Optus World, Network Communications, Strathfield and Allphones.
A number of notable wholly owned subsidiaries operate as part of the Singtel Optus group. These are: Information Technology & Network Services Alphawest Uecomm Mobile Telephony SIMplus Virgin Mobile AustraliaUntil 20 January 2013, Optus sold mobile services under the brand name Boost Mobile. Optus has a 50% stake in the now defunct OPEL Networks. Other wholly owned subsidiaries of note no longer have a significant active role as individual entities; these are as follows: Reef Networks was formed in 1999 to provide an optical fibre link between Brisbane and Cairns in Queensland. Optus gained exclusive access to this link in 2001, ahead of acquiring the organisation in 2005. XYZed was established by Optus in 2000 to provide wholesale business-grade DSL services under an individual brand, but today provides a collection of products only as part of the Optus Wholesale & Satellite division. XYZed established a network of DSLAMs inside Telstra telephone exchanges, utilising Unconditioned Local Loop services to reach end users.
Optus can trace its beginnings back to the formation of the Government-owned AUSSAT Pty Limited in 1981. In 1982, Aussat selected the Hughes 376 for their initial satellites, with the first, AUSSAT A1, launched in August 1985. AUSSAT satellites were used for both military and civilian satellite communications, delivering television services to remote outback communities. With Aussat operating at a loss and with moves to deregulate telecommunications in Australia, the government decided to sell Aussat, coupled with a telecommunications licence; the licence was sold to Optus Communications — a consortium including: logistics firm Mayne Nickless. The new telecommunications company was designed to provide competition to government owned telecommunications company Telecom Australia, now known as. Optus gained the second general carrier licence in January 1991. After privatisation, AUSSAT became Optus and its first offering to the general public was to offer long distance calls at cheaper rates than that of its competitor Telstra.
The long distance calling rates on offer were available by consumers dialing 1 before the area code and phone number. Following this, a ballot process was conducted by regulator AUSTEL, with customers choosing their default long distance carrier. Customers who made no choice or refused to respond to the mailout campaign automatically remained as a Telstra long distance customer. Customers who remained with Telstra could dial the override code of 1456 before the area code and phone number to manually select Optus as the carrier for that single call. Since 1 July 1998, consumers have the choice of preselecting their preferred long distance carrier or dialling the override code before dialling a telephone number; the group began by building an interstate fibre optic cable and a series of exchanges between Optus' interstate network and Telstra's local network. It laid fibre optics into major office buildings and industrial areas, a
1992 Great Britain Lions tour of Australasia
The 1992 Great Britain Lions tour of Australasia was a tour by the Great Britain national rugby league team, nicknamed the'Lions', of Papua New Guinea and New Zealand which took place between May and July 1992. The tour was the last of such length undertaken by the Great Britain team, included a test match against Papua New Guinea, a three-test series against Australia for The Ashes, a two-test series against New Zealand for the Baskerville Shield, all interspersed with matches against local club and representative teams. Taking place following the conclusion of England's 1991–92 Rugby Football League season and during Australia's 1992 Winfield Cup premiership season, the tour led to friction between the Great Britain team's management and the Australian Rugby League over match scheduling and promotion. For the first time a Lions tour was shown live on television in the United Kingdom through Sky Sports; the commentators for the tour were Eddie Hemmings and former Lions World Cup hooker Mike Stephenson who had a greater insight into the Australian game having spent most of the 1970s and 1980s, playing and commentating in the Sydney premiership.
The Lions finished the tour with thirteen wins and four losses and a profit of ₤244,645. For the Lions, three of their losses came in the Test matches, two against Australia and one against New Zealand with the other loss coming against Sydney club side Parramatta. Leeds halfback Bobbie Goulding and Widnes' Welsh dual-international Jonathan Davies were selected but did not tour due to suspension and injury respectively. Aston, Sampson, McNamara and Harrison were called up during the tour to replace injured players. Hull F. C. winger Paul Eastwood was the leading point scorer on tour with 58 from 23 goals. Wigan winger Martin Offiah, who before the tour was the undisputed "fastest player in rugby league", was the leading try scorer with 7; the coach was former Great Britain international Mal Reilly, marking his fourth Lions tour after appearing as a player on the successful 1970 tour and coaching the 1988 and 1990 touring teams. The assistant coach was Widnes coach and the Rugby Football League's Director of Coaching Phil Larder.
The team manager was Wigan President Maurice Lindsay. Ellery Hanley was the tour captain, but due to injury only played in one game on tour. Garry Schofield was subsequently named the Test captain while Featherstone Rovers halfback Deryck Fox was the team captain when either Hanley or Schofield weren't playing; the first country the touring Lions visited was Papua New Guinea. This match saw; the Lions next traveled to Australia to contest The Ashes series. The Ashes series attracted 103,419 fans across the three tests, including the first Ashes test played in Melbourne; this was the largest Ashes attendance in Australia since 133,791 had attended the 1974 Ashes series and eclipsed the 66,792 of 1979, the 75,480 of 1984 and the 67,554 who attended the 1988 series. The three Ashes series tests took place at the following venues. For the first time an Ashes test was played outside of the traditional rugby league states of New South Wales and Queensland. In what can only be described as bad scheduling, the Lions faced the Canberra Raiders on a Saturday night with the Raiders due to play a club game against Parramatta the next afternoon.
This saw Raiders coach Tim Sheens not playing the likes of Australian test players Mal Meninga, Bradley Clyde, Steve Walters and Laurie Daley, as well as David Furner, Phil Blake, Darren Fritz, Brett Hetherington and Paul Osborne. It saw Canberra go into the match with 7 players on the bench, though Sheens would only use the regulation 4. Andy Gregory served notice of his form by leading the Lions to a 20-6 half time lead, though he aggravated a groin injury when he put in a grubber kick for one of Andy Platt's two tries late in the first half and with the first test less than a week away did not return for the second half. With the first test only three days after the game, Steelers coach Graham Murray was without the services of goal kicking Australian test winger Rod Wishart; the Steelers, in their first and only game against an international touring side pulled off an upset until a late Kevin Ellis field goal sealed a tense 11–10 win for the tourists. The 1992 Ashes series was the final Ashes series to date played in Australia and attracted 103,459 spectators over the three tests.
This compared favourably to the 75,480 aggregate of the 1984 Ashes series in Australia and the 67,554 aggregate of the 1988 series in Australia. A large number of English fans followed their team on the tour, but with Great Britain's wins in the final test of 1988 and the first test of the 1990 series, public interest had risen with Australia, although still winning, proving less dominant than during the 1980s. After 4 of the previous 5 Ashes series had been controlled by French referees, which had brought numerous complaints from both sides regarding their incompetency, the Rugby League International Federation, ARL and RFL agreed to the use of New Zealand referee Dennis Hale for all three tests. With Ellery Hanley out injured, Mal Reilly appointed five-eighth Garry Schofield as British captain for the first test; the Australian's stuck with most of those who had won the 1991 Trans-Tasman Test series against New Zealand, with only winger Michael Hancock in for an injured Willie Carne, prop Glenn Lazarus and second ro
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is a state in south-eastern Australia. Victoria is Australia's smallest mainland state and its second-most populous state overall, thus making it the most densely populated state overall. Most of its population lives concentrated in the area surrounding Port Phillip Bay, which includes the metropolitan area of its state capital and largest city, Australia's second-largest city. Victoria is bordered by Bass Strait and Tasmania to the south,New South Wales to the north, the Tasman Sea to the east, South Australia to the west; the area, now known as Victoria is the home of many Aboriginal people groups, including the Boon wurrung, the Bratauolung, the Djadjawurrung, the Gunai/Kurnai, the Gunditjmara, the Taungurong, the Wathaurong, the Wurundjeri, the Yorta Yorta. There were more than 30 Aboriginal languages spoken in the area prior to the European settlement of Australia; the Kulin nation is an alliance of five Aboriginal nations which makes up much of the central part of the state. With Great Britain having claimed the half of the Australian continent, east of the 135th meridian east in 1788, Victoria formed part of the wider colony of New South Wales.
The first European settlement in the area occurred in 1803 at Sullivan Bay, much of what is now Victoria was included in 1836 in the Port Phillip District, an administrative division of New South Wales. Named in honour of Queen Victoria, who signed the division's separation from New South Wales, the colony was established in 1851 and achieved self government in 1855; the Victorian gold rush in the 1850s and 1860s increased both the population and wealth of the colony, by the time of the Federation of Australia in 1901, Melbourne had become the largest city and leading financial centre in Australasia. Melbourne served as federal capital of Australia until the construction of Canberra in 1927, with the Federal Parliament meeting in Melbourne's Parliament House and all principal offices of the federal government being based in Melbourne. Politically, Victoria has 37 seats in the Australian House of Representatives and 12 seats in the Australian Senate. At state level, the Parliament of Victoria consists of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council.
The Labor Party led Daniel Andrews as premier has governed Victoria since 2014. The personal representative of the Queen of Australia in the state is the Governor of Victoria Linda Dessau. Victoria is divided into 79 municipal districts, including 33 cities, although a number of unincorporated areas still exist, which the state administers directly; the economy of Victoria is diversified, with service sectors including financial and property services, education, retail and manufacturing constitute the majority of employment. Victoria's total gross state product ranks second in Australia, although Victoria ranks fourth in terms of GSP per capita because of its limited mining activity. Culturally, Melbourne hosts a number of museums, art galleries, theatres, is described as the world's sporting capital; the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the largest stadium in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere, hosted the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games. The ground is considered the "spiritual home" of Australian cricket and Australian rules football, hosts the grand final of the Australian Football League each year, drawing crowds of 100,000.
Nearby Melbourne Park has hosted the Australian Open, one of tennis' four Grand Slam events, annually since 1988. Victoria has eight public universities, with the oldest, the University of Melbourne, dating from 1853. Victoria, like Queensland, was named after Queen Victoria, on the British throne for 14 years when the colony was established in 1851. After the founding of the colony of New South Wales in 1788, Australia was divided into an eastern half named New South Wales and a western half named New Holland, under the administration of the colonial government in Sydney; the first British settlement in the area known as Victoria was established in October 1803 under Lieutenant-Governor David Collins at Sullivan Bay on Port Phillip. It consisted of 402 people, they had been sent from England in HMS Calcutta under the command of Captain Daniel Woodriff, principally out of fear that the French, exploring the area, might establish their own settlement and thereby challenge British rights to the continent.
In 1826, Colonel Stewart, Captain Samuel Wright, Lieutenant Burchell were sent in HMS Fly and the brigs Dragon and Amity, took a number of convicts and a small force composed of detachments of the 3rd and 93rd regiments. The expedition landed at Settlement Point, on the eastern side of Western Port Bay, the headquarters until the abandonment of Western Port at the insistence of Governor Darling about 12 months afterwards. Victoria's next settlement was on the south west coast of what is now Victoria. Edward Henty settled Portland Bay in 1834. Melbourne was founded in 1835 by John Batman, who set up a base in Indented Head, John Pascoe Fawkner. From settlement, the region around Melbourne was known as the Port Phillip District, a separately administered part of New South Wales. Shortly after, the site now known as Geelong was surveyed by Assistant Surveyor W. H. Smythe, three weeks after Melbourne, and in 1838, Geelong was declared a town, despite earlier European settlements dating back to 1826
Australian rules football
Australian rules football known as Australian football, or called Aussie rules, football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of eighteen players on an oval-shaped field a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by kicking the oval-shaped ball between behind posts. During general play, players may position themselves anywhere on the field and use any part of their bodies to move the ball; the primary methods are kicking and running with the ball. There are rules on how the ball can be handled: for example, players running with the ball must intermittently bounce or touch it on the ground. Throwing the ball is not allowed and players must not get caught holding the ball. A distinctive feature of the game is the mark, where players anywhere on the field who catch the ball from a kick are awarded possession. Possession of the ball is in dispute at all times except when mark is paid. Players can use their whole body to obstruct opponents. Dangerous physical contact, interference when marking and deliberately slowing the play are discouraged with free kicks, distance penalties or suspension for a certain number of matches, depending on the seriousness of the infringement.
The game features frequent physical contests, spectacular marking, fast movement of both players and the ball and high scoring. The sport's origins can be traced to football matches played in Melbourne, Victoria in 1858, inspired by English public school football games. Seeking to develop a game more suited to adults and Australian conditions, the Melbourne Football Club published the first laws of Australian football in May 1859, making it the oldest of the world's major football codes. Australian football has the highest spectator attendance and television viewership of all sports in Australia, while the Australian Football League, the sport's only professional competition, is the nation's wealthiest sporting body; the AFL Grand Final, held annually at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, is the highest attended club championship event in the world. The sport is played at amateur level in many countries and in several variations, its rules are governed by the AFL Commission with the advice of the AFL's Laws of the Game Committee.
Australian rules football is known by several nicknames, including Aussie rules and footy. In some regions, it is marketed as AFL after the Australian Football League. There is evidence of football being played sporadically in the Australian colonies in the first half of the 19th century. Compared to cricket and horse racing, football was viewed as a minor "amusement" at the time, while little is known about these early one-off games, it is clear they share no causal link with Australian football. In 1858, in a move that would help to shape Australian football in its formative years, "public" schools in Melbourne, Victoria began organising football games inspired by precedents at English public schools; the earliest such match, held in St Kilda on 15 June, was between Melbourne Grammar and St Kilda Grammar. On 10 July 1858, the Melbourne-based Bell's Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle published a letter by Tom Wills, captain of the Victoria cricket team, calling for the formation of a "foot-ball club" with a "code of laws" to keep cricketers fit during winter.
Born in Australia, Wills played a nascent form of rugby football whilst a pupil at Rugby School in England, returned to his homeland a star athlete and cricketer. His letter is regarded by many historians as giving impetus for the development of a new code of football today known as Australian football. Two weeks Wills' friend, cricketer Jerry Bryant, posted an advertisement for a scratch match at the Richmond Paddock adjoining the Melbourne Cricket Ground; this was the first of several "kickabouts" held that year involving members of the Melbourne Cricket Club, including Wills, Bryant, W. J. Hammersley and J. B. Thompson. Trees were used as goalposts and play lasted an entire afternoon. Without an agreed upon code of laws, some players were guided by rules they had learned in the British Isles, "others by no rules at all". Another significant milestone in 1858 was a match played under experimental rules between Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College, held at the Richmond Paddock; this 40-a-side contest, umpired by Wills and Scotch College teacher John Macadam, began on 7 August and continued over two subsequent Saturdays, ending in a draw with each side kicking one goal.
It is commemorated with a statue outside the MCG, the two schools have competed annually since in the Cordner-Eggleston Cup, the world's oldest continuous football competition. Since the early 20th century, it has been suggested that Australian football was derived from the Irish sport of Gaelic football, not codified until 1885. There is no archival evidence in favour of a Gaelic influence, the style of play shared between the two modern codes was evident in Australia long before the Irish game evolved in a similar direction. Another theory, first proposed in 1983, posits that Wills, having grown up amongst Aborigines in Victoria, may have seen or played the Aboriginal game of Marn Grook, incorporated some of its features into early Australian football; the evidence for this is only circumstantial, according to biographer Greg de Moore's research, Wills was "almost influenced by his experience at Rugby School". A loosely organised Melbourne side, captained by Wills, played against other football enthusiasts in the winter and spring of 1858.
The following year, on 14 May, the Melbourne Football Club came into being, making it one of the
Princes Park, Carlton
Princes Park is a 38.6 hectare park in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Carlton North, Victoria. It is located directly north of the University of Melbourne and bounded on its eastern and western sides by Melbourne General Cemetery and Royal Parade respectively. Although the park consists of a number of Australian rules football ovals, the bowling green of the Princes Park Carlton Bowls Club Bowls, a small stretch of parkland, it is best known as the location of Ikon Park, the old Princes Park Football Ground, the home of the Carlton Football Club; the park contains a children’s playground. The park's establishment was proclaimed on 9 June 1873 under The Land Act 1869 by the Minister for Lands and Agriculture, J. J. Casey, its size was expressed at 97 acres, it was established at the same time as other iconic parks. The Capital City Trail passes through the northern section of the park, following the path of the now-closed Inner Circle railway line. In January 2006 and 2007 Big Day Out was held at Princes Park on the ovals at the park's southern end.
The event's traditional venue, the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds was unavailable due to redevelopment. It is 3.2 kilometres. Satellite photo of Princes Park Princes Park master plan
