Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, the second most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Its name refers to an urban agglomeration of 9,992.5 km2, comprising a metropolitan area with 31 municipalities, is the common name for its city centre. The city occupies much of the coastline of Port Phillip bay and spreads into the hinterlands towards the Dandenong and Macedon ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley, it has a population of 4.9 million, its inhabitants are referred to as "Melburnians". The city was founded on 30 August 1835, in the then-British colony of New South Wales, by free settlers from the colony of Van Diemen’s Land, it was incorporated as a Crown settlement in 1837 and named in honour of the British Prime Minister, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne. In 1851, four years after Queen Victoria declared it a city, Melbourne became the capital of the new colony of Victoria. In the wake of the 1850s Victorian gold rush, the city entered a lengthy boom period that, by the late 1880s, had transformed it into one of the world's largest and wealthiest metropolises.
After the federation of Australia in 1901, it served as interim seat of government of the new nation until Canberra became the permanent capital in 1927. Today, it is a leading financial centre in the Asia-Pacific region and ranks 15th in the Global Financial Centres Index; the city is home to many of the best-known cultural institutions in the nation, such as the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the National Gallery of Victoria and the World Heritage-listed Royal Exhibition Building. It is the birthplace of Australian impressionism, Australian rules football, the Australian film and television industries and Australian contemporary dance. More it has been recognised as a UNESCO City of Literature and a global centre for street art, live music and theatre, it is the host city of annual international events such as the Australian Grand Prix, the Australian Open and the Melbourne Cup, has hosted the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Due to it rating in entertainment and sport, as well as education, health care and development, the EIU ranks it the second most liveable city in the world.
The main airport serving the city is Melbourne Airport, the second busiest in Australia, Australia's busiest seaport the Port of Melbourne. Its main metropolitan rail terminus is Flinders Street station and its main regional rail and road coach terminus is Southern Cross station, it has the most extensive freeway network in Australia and the largest urban tram network in the world. Indigenous Australians have lived in the Melbourne area for an estimated 31,000 to 40,000 years; when European settlers arrived in the 19th-century, under 2,000 hunter-gatherers from three regional tribes—the Wurundjeri and Wathaurong—inhabited the area. It was an important meeting place for the clans of the Kulin nation alliance and a vital source of food and water; the first British settlement in Victoria part of the penal colony of New South Wales, was established by Colonel David Collins in October 1803, at Sullivan Bay, near present-day Sorrento. The following year, due to a perceived lack of resources, these settlers relocated to Van Diemen's Land and founded the city of Hobart.
It would be 30 years. In May and June 1835, John Batman, a leading member of the Port Phillip Association in Van Diemen's Land, explored the Melbourne area, claimed to have negotiated a purchase of 600,000 acres with eight Wurundjeri elders. Batman selected a site on the northern bank of the Yarra River, declaring that "this will be the place for a village" before returning to Van Diemen's Land. In August 1835, another group of Vandemonian settlers arrived in the area and established a settlement at the site of the current Melbourne Immigration Museum. Batman and his group arrived the following month and the two groups agreed to share the settlement known by the native name of Dootigala. Batman's Treaty with the Aborigines was annulled by Richard Bourke, the Governor of New South Wales, with compensation paid to members of the association. In 1836, Bourke declared the city the administrative capital of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales, commissioned the first plan for its urban layout, the Hoddle Grid, in 1837.
Known as Batmania, the settlement was named Melbourne in 1837 after the British Prime Minister, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, whose seat was Melbourne Hall in the market town of Melbourne, Derbyshire. That year, the settlement's general post office opened with that name. Between 1836 and 1842, Victorian Aboriginal groups were dispossessed of their land by European settlers. By January 1844, there were said to be 675 Aborigines resident in squalid camps in Melbourne; the British Colonial Office appointed five Aboriginal Protectors for the Aborigines of Victoria, in 1839, however their work was nullified by a land policy that favoured squatters who took possession of Aboriginal lands. By 1845, fewer than 240 wealthy Europeans held all the pastoral licences issued in Victoria and became a powerful political and economic force in Victoria for generations to come. Letters patent of Queen Victoria, issued on 25 June 1847, declared Melbourne a city. On 1 July 1851, the Port Phillip District separated from New South Wales to become the Colony of Victoria, with Melbourne as its capital.
The discovery of gold in Victoria in mid-1851 sparked a
Cigar box
A cigar box is a box container for cigar packaging. Traditionally cigar boxes have been made of cardboard or paper. Spanish cedar has been described as the "best" kind of wood for cigar boxes because of its beautiful grain, fine texture, pleasant odor and ability to keep out bugs. Eucalyptus and yellow poplar have been popular substitutes that were sometimes stained and scented to resemble it. Other typical woods for cigar boxes include mahogany and white oak. There are several types of cigar boxes, differing both in purpose; the following are common boxes: Cabinet selection, slid-lid or hinged lid storing 25 or 50 cigars 8-9-8, round-sided box with three layers, counting 8, 9 and 8 cigars respectively. Flat top or 13-topper, two layers with 12 on bottom and 13 on top Boxes of box-pressed cigars, stored two layers with same number of cigars. Cigar boxes and bands are considered a subject of art, with businesses specializing in them and books printed on their design and significance; as a result, cigar boxes and their corresponding labels can be considered collectible items.
There is a growing movement of guitars and ukuleles being made from cigar boxes and other materials not used for musical instruments. The Canadian Museum of Civilization - Cigar Containers that Store Our Past 1883-1935 Mojo Hand Guitars - Custom Made Cigar Box Guitars
9 by 5 Impression Exhibition
The 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition was an art exhibition in Melbourne, Australia. The exhibition was opened on 17 August 1889 in Buxton's Rooms on Swanston Street and featured 183 works; the exhibition was named for the dimensions of most of the paintings— 9 by 5 inches, the size of a cigar box lid upon which many of the works were painted— and the Impressionist inspiration for the works. The exhibition created much lively commentary at the time and is now seen as a "celebrated event in Australian art history". 9 by 5s continue to appear on the market. In 2012, to mark the 123rd anniversary of the exhibition, arts benefactor Max Carter donated four 9 by 5s to the Art Gallery of South Australia, the largest group of 9 by 5s given to an Australian public institution. Exhibition catalogue, designed by Charles Conder 9 by 5 exhibition at the Heidelberg Artists Society
Art Gallery of New South Wales
The Art Gallery of New South Wales, located in The Domain in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, is the most important public gallery in Sydney and one of the largest in Australia. The Gallery's first public exhibition opened in 1874. Admission is free to the general exhibition space, which displays Australian art and Asian art. A dedicated Asian Gallery was opened in 2003. On 24 April 1871, a public meeting was convened in Sydney to establish an Academy of Art'for the purpose of promoting the fine arts through lectures, art classes and regular exhibitions.' From 1872 until 1879 the Academy's main activity was the organisation of annual art exhibitions. The first exhibition of colonial art, under the auspices of the Academy, was held at the Chamber of Commerce, Sydney Exchange in 1874. In 1875 Apsley Falls by Conrad Martens, commissioned by the trustees and purchased for £50 out of the first government grant of £500, became the first work on paper by an Australian artist to be acquired by the Gallery.
The Gallery's collection was first housed at Clark's Assembly Hall in Elizabeth Street where it was open to the public on Friday and Saturday afternoons. The collection was relocated in 1879 to a wooden annexe to the Garden Palace built for the Sydney International Exhibition in the Domain and was opened as "The Art Gallery of New South Wales". In 1882, the first Director, Eliezer Montefiore and his fellow trustees opened the art gallery on Sunday afternoons from 2 pm to 5 pm. Montefiore believed:... the public should be afforded every facility to avail themselves of the educational and civilising influence engendered by an exhibition of works of art, moreover, at the public expense. The destruction of the Garden Palace by fire in 1882 placed pressure on the government to provide a permanent home for the national collection. In 1883 private architect John Horbury Hunt was engaged by the trustees to submit designs; the same year there was a change of name to "The National Art Gallery of New South Wales".
The Gallery was incorporated by The Library and Art Gallery Act 1899. In 1895, the new Colonial Architect, Walter Liberty Vernon, was given the assignment to design the new permanent gallery and two picture galleries were opened in 1897 and a further two in 1899. A watercolour gallery was added in 1901 and in 1902 the Grand Oval Lobby was completed. Over 300,000 people came to the Gallery during March and April 1906 to see Holman Hunt’s painting The Light of the World. In 1921, the inaugural Archibald Prize was awarded to W. B. McInnes for his portrait of architect Desbrowe Annear; the equestrian statues The offerings of peace and The offerings of war by Gilbert Bayes were installed in front of the main facade in 1926. James Stuart MacDonald was appointed director and secretary in 1929. In 1936 the inaugural Sulman Prize was awarded to Henry Hanke for La Gitana. John William Ashton was appointed director and secretary in 1937; the first woman to win the Archibald Prize was Nora Heysen in 1938 with her portrait Mme Elink Schuurman, the wife of the Consul General for the Netherlands.
The same year electric light was temporarily installed at the Gallery to remain open at night for the first time. In 1943 William Dobell won the Archibald Prize for Joshua Smith. Hal Missingham was appointed director and secretary in 1945. In 1958 the Art Gallery of New South Wales Act was amended and the Gallery’s name reverted to "The Art Gallery of New South Wales". In 1969 construction began on the Captain Cook wing to celebrate the bicentenary of Cook's landing in Botany Bay; the new wing opened in May 1972, following the retirement of Missingham and the appointment of Peter Phillip Laverty as director in 1971. The first of the modern blockbusters to be held at the Gallery was Modern masters: Monet to Matisse in 1975, it attracted 180,000 people over 29 days. The 1976 the Biennale of Sydney was held at the Gallery for the first time; the Sydney Opera House had been the location for the inaugural Biennale in 1973. 1977 saw an exhibition "A selection of recent archaeological finds of the People's Republic of China."
Edmund Capon was appointed director in 1978 and in 1980 The Art Gallery of New South Wales Act established the "Art Gallery of New South Wales Trust". It reduced the number of trustees to nine and stipulated that "at least two" members "shall be knowledgeable and experienced in the visual arts". With the support of Premier Neville Wran a major extension of the Gallery became a Bicennential project. Opened just in time in December 1988, the extensions doubled the floor space of the Gallery. In 1993 Kevin Connor won the inaugural Dobell Prize for Drawing for city. In 1994, the Yiribana Gallery, dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, was opened. 2000-2009In 2003 an Art After Hours program was initiated with the Gallery opening hours extended every Wednesday. The inaugural Australian Photographic Portrait Prize was won by Greg Weight; the Art Gallery Society of New South Wales celebrated its 50th anniversary in the same year and the Rudy Komon Gallery exhibition space was opened, followed by the new Asian gallery.
A 2004 exhibition of Man Ray’s work set an attendance record for photography exhibitions, with over 52,000 visitors. The same year a legal challenge was mounted against the award of the Archibald Prize to Craig Ruddy for his David Gulpilil, two worlds; the Nelson Meers Foundation Nolan Room was opened in 2004, with a display of five major Sidney Nolan paintings gifted to the Gallery by the Foundation over the past five years.myVirtualGallery was launched on the Gallery's website in 2005 and the former boardroom was reopened for display of
Dorchester, Dorset
Dorchester is the county town of Dorset, England. It is situated between Bridport on the A35 trunk route. A historic market town, Dorchester is on the banks of the River Frome to the south of the Dorset Downs and north of the South Dorset Ridgeway that separates the area from Weymouth, 7 miles to the south; the area around the town was first settled in prehistoric times. The Romans established a garrison there after defeating the Durotriges tribe, calling the settlement that grew up nearby Durnovaria. After the departure of the Romans, the town diminished in significance, but during the medieval period became an important commercial and political centre, it was the site of the "Bloody Assizes" presided over by Judge Jeffreys after the Monmouth Rebellion, the trial of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. In the 2011 census, the population of Dorchester was 19,060, with further people coming from surrounding areas to work in the town which has six industrial estates; the Brewery Square redevelopment project is taking place in phases, with other development projects planned.
The town has a land-based college, Kingston Maurward College, the Thomas Hardye Upper School, three middle schools and thirteen first schools. The Dorset County Hospital offers an accident and emergency service, the town is served by two railway stations. Through vehicular traffic is routed round the town by means of a bypass; the town has a football club and a rugby union club, several museums and the biannual Dorchester Festival. It is twinned with three towns in Europe; as well as having many listed buildings, a number of notable people have been associated with the town. It was for many years the home and inspiration of the author Thomas Hardy, whose novel The Mayor of Casterbridge uses a fictionalised version of Dorchester as its setting. Dorchester's roots stem back to prehistoric times; the earliest settlements were about 2 miles southwest of the modern town centre in the vicinity of Maiden Castle, a large Iron Age hill fort, one of the most powerful settlements in pre-Roman Britain. Different tribes lived there from 4000 BC.
The Durotriges were to have been there when the Romans arrived in Britain in 43 AD. The Romans defeated the local tribes by 70 AD and established a garrison that became the town the Romans named Durnovaria, a Brythonic name incorporating durn, "fist", loosely interpreted as'place with fist-sized pebbles', it appears to have taken part of its name from the local Durotriges tribe. Durnovaria was recorded in the 4th-century Antonine Itinerary and became a market centre for the surrounding countryside, an important road junction and staging post, subsequently one of the twin capitals of the Celtic Durotriges tribe; the remains of the Roman walls that surrounded the town can still be seen. The majority have been replaced by pathways that form a square inside modern Dorchester known as'The Walks'. A small segment of the original wall remains near the Top'o Town roundabout. Other Roman remains include part of the town walls and the foundations of a town house near the county hall. Modern building works within the walls have unearthed.
Other Roman finds include silver and copper coins known as Dorn pennies, a gold ring, a bronze figure of the Roman god Mercury and large areas of tessellated pavement. The County Museum contains many Roman artefacts; the Romans built an aqueduct to supply the town with water. It was rediscovered in 1900 as the remains of a channel cut into the chalk and contouring round the hills; the source is believed to be the River Frome at Notton, about 12 miles upstream from Dorchester. Near the town centre is Maumbury Rings, an ancient British henge earthwork converted by the Romans for use as an amphitheatre, to the north west is Poundbury Hill, another pre-Roman fortification. Little evidence exists to suggest continued occupation after the withdrawal of the Roman administration from Britain; the name Durnovaria survived into Old Welsh as Durngueir, recorded by Asser in the 9th century. The area remained in British hands until the mid-7th century and there was continuity of use of the Roman cemetery at nearby Poundbury.
Dorchester has been suggested as the centre of a sub-kingdom of Dumnonia or other regional power base. One of the first raids of the Viking era may have taken place near Dorchester around 790. According to a chronicler, the King's reeve assembled a few men and sped to meet them thinking that they were merchants from another country; when he arrived at their location, he admonished them and instructed that they should be brought to the royal town. The Vikings slaughtered him and his men. By 864, the area around Durnovaria was dominated by the Saxons who referred to themselves as Dorsaetas,'People of the Dor' – Durnovaria; the original local name would have been Dorn-gweir giving the Old English Dornwary. The town became known as Dornwaraceaster or Dornwaracester, combining the original name Dor/Dorn from the Latin and Celtic languages with cester, an Old English word for a Roman station; this name evolved over time to Dorchester. At the time of the Norman conquest, Dorchester was not a place of great significance.
A priory was founded, in 1364, though this has since disappeared. In the medieval period the town prospered. In the time of Edward III, the town was governed by bailiffs and burgesses, with the number of
En plein air
En plein air is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with academic rules that might create a predetermined look. Artists have long painted outdoors, but in the mid-19th century, working in natural light became important to the Barbizon school, Hudson River School, Impressionists. In 1830, the Barbizon School in France, inspired by John Constable, enabled artists like Charles-François Daubigny and Théodore Rousseau to more depict the appearance of outdoor settings in various light and weather conditions. In the late 1800s, the en plein air approach was incorporated with the impressionists’ style, artists such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Frédéric Bazille, Edgar Degas began creating their work outdoors. From France, the movement expanded to America, starting in California moving to other American locales notable for their natural light qualities, including the Hudson River Valley in New York; the Macchiaioli were a group of Italian painters active in Tuscany in the second half of the nineteenth century, breaking with the antiquated conventions taught by the Italian academies of art, did much of their painting outdoors in order to capture natural light and colour.
This practice relates the Macchiaioli to the French Impressionists who came to prominence a few years although the Macchiaioli pursued somewhat different purposes. Their movement began in Florence in the late 1850s; the Newlyn School in England is considered another major proponent of the technique in the latter 19th century. The popularity of painting en plein air increased in the 1840s with the introduction of paints in tubes. Painters made their own paints by grinding and mixing dry pigment powders with linseed oil; the act of outdoor painting from observation has been continually popular well into the 21st century. It was during the mid-19th century that the'box easel' known as the'French box easel' or'field easel', was invented, it is uncertain who developed it, but these portable easels with telescopic legs and built-in paint box and palette made it easier to go into the forest and up the hillsides. Still made today, they remain a popular choice since they fold up to the size of a brief case and thus are easy to store.
The Pochade Box is a compact box that allows the artist to keep all their supplies and palette within the box and have the work on the inside of the lid. Some designs allow for a larger canvas. There are designs which can hold a few wet painting canvases or panels within the lid; these boxes have a rising popularity as while they are used for plein air painting, can be used in the studio, home, or classroom. Since pochade boxes are used for painting on location, the canvas or work surface may be small not more than 20 inches. Challenges include the type of paint used to paint outdoors, bugs and environmental conditions such as weather. Acrylic paint may harden and dry in warm, sunny weather and it cannot be reused. On the opposite side of the spectrum is the challenge of painting in moist or damp conditions with precipitation; the advent of plein air painting predated the invention of acrylics. The traditional and well-established method of painting en plein air incorporates the use of oil paint.
French impressionist painters such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir advocated plein air painting, much of their work was done outdoors in the diffuse light of a large white umbrella. Claude Monet was an avid en plein air artist who deduced that to seize the closeness and likeness of an outside setting at a specific moment one had to be outside to do so rather than just paint an outside setting in their studio. In the second half of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century in Russia, painters such as Vasily Polenov, Isaac Levitan, Valentin Serov, Konstantin Korovin and I. E. Grabar were known for painting en plein air, but enthusiasts of plein air painting were not limited to the Old World. American impressionists too, such as those of the Old Lyme school, were avid painters en plein air. American impressionist painters noted for this style during this era included Guy Rose, Robert William Wood, Mary DeNeale Morgan, John Gamble, Arthur Hill Gilbert. In Canada, the Group of Seven and Tom Thomson are examples of en plein air advocates.
Art colonies Heidelberg School Urban Sketchers Media related to Painting en plein air at Wikimedia Commons
Longford, Tasmania
Longford is a town in the northern midlands of Tasmania, Australia. It lies 145 m above sea level at the convergence of the Macquarie River and the South Esk River, 21 km south of Launceston and a 15-minute drive from the airport, it is just south of the Illawarra Road, a road connecting the Midland Highways. It is part of the Northern Midlands Council area; the region is predominantly agricultural, noted for dairy produce and stock breeding. The Longford region was the traditional land of The Panninher clan of the North Midlands Nation; this clan was known as the Penny Royal Creek Tribe by colonials, named after the old European name for the Liffey River. The Panninher occupied land from Drys Bluff to the Tamar and south to the Conara region; the Norfolk Plains region was the site of hunting and the boundary of the aboriginal road from the Liffey River valley to the Lake River Valley and thence to the Central Highlands. In 1806 the first Europeans, Jacob Mountgarrett and Ensign Hugh Piper, passed through the area, in the following year Lieutenant Thomas Laycock camped near the current site of the town during his overland journey from Launceston to Hobart.
Settlers started to arrive in 1807. Governor Macquarie granted land rights to the settlers, who called the area Norfolk Plains; the town called Latour, grew up around the hotel, built in 1827 by Newman Williatt. In 1833 the town was renamed Longford at the suggestion of the land commissioner Roderic O'Connor. Settlers used free convict labour to build some fine estates. Prominent among the early settlers, the Archer family built a number of grand houses and estates in the area. Thomas Archer emigrated from England to Australia in 1811, retired from government service in 1821 to develop his 2,000-acre estate. By 1825 he held 6,000 acres in the area and his success persuaded first his brother Joseph his brothers Willam and Edward and their father, to join him. Together they farmed and developed the land, built a number of homesteads which are among the finest in northern Tasmania: Woolmers Estate, Brickendon Estate, Northbury, Cheshunt, Woodside and Saundridge. Six generations of Archers have lived in Woolmers, from 1817 to 1994.
Norfolk Plains Post Office opened on 1 June 1832 and was renamed Longford in 1856. Adjacent to a 21st-century recreation ground is the remains of a dam; this dam, known as the Longford Mill Dam, was built in the 1840s by John Badcock to power a flour Mill at nearby Newry. Longford district has many buildings included on the Tasmanian Heritage Register. Many significant historic buildings were constructed between 1830 and 1850, including: Christ Church, with square tower, lancet windows and buttresses, in the Old Colonial Gothick Picturesque style; the church clock and bell were both gifts from King George IV. The cemetery includes many prominent local families including the Archer and Reiby families; the land on which it stands is named Illawarra because of Lucy Margaretta Davey, the daughter of Lt Governor Mad Tom Davey. See https://www.academia.edu/35351087/_ILLAWARRA_TASMANIA_THE_MYSTERY_OF_HOW_IT_GOT_ITS_NAME_December_2017 Queen's Arms Hotel, a double-storey brick and stuccoed building in the Old Colonial Georgian style Blenheim Hotel, a two-storey Georgian brick and stuccoed building and a major townscape element in Longford Tattersalls Hotel, a two-storey red brick corner building with neo-classic moulded surrounds to doorways The Racecourse Hotel, a two-storey brick Georgian coaching inn built to become the railway station for Longford.
It is now a B&B. Longford has a Service Tasmania shop, supermarkets, a bakery, a butcher's shop, two banks, a Post Office, antique shops, cafés, take-aways and service stations. A kindergarten and large primary school provide education for younger children; the town has a bowls club. Two local bus companies provide transport to Launceston. Longford public library is part of the State Library of Tasmania's statewide public library network and is open every weekday. Healthcare is provided by local dentists. Toosey Memorial Hospital provided private healthcare from the 1920s and became a public hospital in 1950. However, in 1990 it became a residential care centre for elderly people, the nearest hospital is now in Launceston. In the 2006 census, the most common industries of employment for Longford residents were: 7.2% – Sheep, Beef Cattle and Grain Farming 4.5% – School Education 3.5% – Meat and Meat Product Manufacturing 2.9% – Residential Care Services 2.5% – Road Freight Transport Swift Australia Pty Limited runs Longford abattoir, is one of the state's largest regional employers.
The plant processes 450 beef and 1500 smallstock per day and employs 460. Tasmania is the only Australian state that has banned the use of Hormonal Growth Promotants in cattle, so the plant guarantees its products are free of HGP. Selborne Biological Services runs a biotechnology manufacturing facility in Longford, producing bovine serum and other blood products such as polyclonal antisera and protein fractions, destined for the biotech, pharmaceutical and diagnost
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