Bell miner
The bell miner known as the bellbird, is a colonial honeyeater endemic to southeastern Australia. The common name refers to their bell-like call. "Miner" is an old alternative spelling of the word "myna" and is shared with other members of the genus Manorina. The birds feed exclusively on the dome-like coverings, referred to as "bell lerps", of certain psyllid bugs that feed on eucalyptus sap from the leaves; the psyllids make these bell-lerps from their own honeydew secretions in order to protect themselves from predators and the environment. Bell miners live in complex social groups. Within each group there are subgroups consisting of several breeding pairs, but including a number of birds who are not breeding; the nonbreeders help in providing food for the young in all the nests in the subgroup though they are not closely related to them. The birds defend their colony area communally aggressively, excluding most other passerine species, they do this in order to protect their territory from other insect-eating birds that would eat the bell lerps on which they feed.
Whenever the local forests die back due to increased lerp psyllid infestations, bell miners undergo a population boom. The bell miner belongs to the family of honeyeaters and Australian chats, part of the super family Meliphagoidea that comprises the Australian warblers and thornbills. Bell miners share the genus Manorina with three other endemic Australian miners: the noisy miner, the yellow-throated miner, the endangered black-eared miner; the three other miners were classified in the genus Myzantha, still sometimes listed as a subgenus for those species. The closest related genus to Manorina has been genetically found to be the New Guinea and New Britain Melidectes honeyeaters; the bell miner's tinkling bell-like call was noted by early European explorers and the name bellbird was considered established 30 years when David Collins mentioned "the melancholy cry of the bellbird." In 1802 John Latham named the bird Turdus melanophrys meaning "black-browed, large nostrilled bird" with the suggested common name Black-Browed Thrush.
While Latham's scientific name became accepted, John Gould continued to use Australian Bellbird as the name for the species in 1848. The common name of bellbird may lead to some confusion with the Australian inland endemic crested bellbird, of the family Oreoicidae; the two species exhibit different calls, do not overlap in range. Bell miners are the smallest of their genus and differ from the other three predominantly grey miner species in having olive-green plumage, darker on the wings and yellower on the belly, they are a medium bodied honeyeater smaller and stockier than a Lewin's honeyeater, weighing in between 25-35g. Bell miners are 17.5–20 cm in length with a 22–30 cm wingspan. They have the characteristic yellow miner bill, downturned; the legs are bright orange, the bare patch behind the eye is red-orange. The crown and lores are black. A dark streak runs from the corner of the bill downward giving a slight frowning appearance. Eyes are mouth is yellow. Both sexes look alike though the males tend to be larger.
It is possible to determine the sex of the birds by analyzing wing length, tail length, culmen depth or by observing calls that are unique to females, but there is no easy way to reliably determine the sex in the field without careful observation of behavior and calls. Juveniles are more brown overall less bright in color. Young birds do not have the bare skin patch behind the eye; the patch develops as pale grey and transforms to pale yellow and darkens to pale orange before taking on the adult bright red-orange color as the bird matures. Nestlings develop light brown down about two days post hatch; the birds are heard more than they are seen as bell miners tend to forage high in the canopy, their olive green plumage blends into the surrounding leaves. However, they keep up their "ping" contact call. In the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne bell miners come low enough to be seen and photographed regularly. Bell miners are distributed from around Gympie in Queensland south along the coastal plain and ranges to Victoria around Melbourne.
They prefer the margins of wet or dry sclerophyll forest and thick woodlands with a stream or other permanent water source nearby. This limits their range to higher rainfall areas near the coast bordering, but not inside rain forest. Compared to the related noisy miner, bell miners prefer a denser habitat with a thick understory, but sparse midstory and canopy. In an undisturbed setting bell miners choose habitat with an understory of shrubs, ferns and rainforest vines, they have been observed to expand their range in disturbed habitats that have a thick undergrowth of the invasive weed lantana. Bell miner population densities have been measured at 14-38 birds per hectare, they are particular about their preferred habitat and reasonably small disturbances to undergrowth such as fire or lantana removal can cause a colony to move to a new territory. The complex social organization of bell miners was observed as early as the 1960s in New South Wales and has been studied by several research groups in Victoria.
Bell miners live in large colonies of 8-200+ birds which consist of coteries
Box Hill, Victoria
Box Hill is a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, 14 kilometres east of Melbourne's Central Business District. In the local government area of the City of Whitehorse. At the 2016 Census, Box Hill had a population of 11,395. Once a large independent city, Box Hill was absorbed into Melbourne as part of the eastward expansion of the metropolis in the late 1950s; as a result, it once had its own large historic Central Business District, its own municipality in the former City of Box Hill and its own suburbs. Box Hill is notable for its significant population of people of Asian birth or descent Chinese. A large number of Asian restaurants and retailers in its shopping district contribute to the visibility of this aspect of the suburb's demographics. Box Hill is a major transport hub for Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, with a substantial train station, the route 109 tram, numerous bus routes serving the suburb. Box Hill was first settled by the squatter Arundel Wrighte of Van Diemen's Land, who in 1838 took up a pastoral lease on the land he had explored in the Bushy Creek area.
The first permanent settlers, Thomas Toogood and his wife Edith, purchased 5,000 acres in 1841 and Wrighte built a house on his property, "Marionvale", in 1844. The Pioneers' Memorial, which can be found in front of the town hall, is made from a chimney stone, taken from Wrighte's original house, it was not until after 1850, that Crown lands were subdivided and sold. Traffic along a main road running through the district encouraged the building of a hotel at Box Hill in 1853, its owner named it the White Horse hotel and the name was bestowed on the road. Box Hill Post Office opened on 1 February 1861; the postmaster proposed the name, derived from Box Hill, England, near his birthplace. In 1871, Box Hill township's population was 154 and the district relied on orchards and mixed farming; the extension of the railway line from Camberwell to Lilydale in 1882 included a station at Box Hill, but there were stations at Canterbury and Surrey Hills, to the west. They attracted subdivisions and development ahead of Box Hill.
Growth came, with a school opening in Box Hill in 1887 and the town became the seat of the Nunawading Shire Council, which met at the Box Hill Courthouse. In the mid-1880s, Box Hill became a favoured area for landscape artists who wanted to paint the Australian bush en plein air; these artists, among them Arthur Streeton, Tom Roberts and Frederick McCubbin, established the Box Hill artists' camp, formed what would become known as the Heidelberg School, the first distinctively Australian movement in Western art. Unlike suburbs closer to Melbourne, Box Hill lacked the web of tramlines, which promoted residential development beyond the reach of the railway line. In 1916-17, tramlines reached the western edge of what in a short time would be the Box Hill Municipality, at Burwood, Mont Albert, Wattle Park; the years after the World War I saw Box Hill's turn for residential growth. A girls' technical school was built in 1924 and a boys' high school in 1930. During the World War II a boys' technical school was opened.
The new Town Hall on Whitehorse Road opened in April 1935. One of the arguments for its construction was that "the boon it would prove to the local brickworks, which had just resumed production after a period of suspension"; the Box Hill Presbyterian Church building was the West Melbourne Presbyterian Church built 1867 on the corner of Lonsdale and William Streets. After the end of the Second World War, Box Hill was suburbanised, but Box Hill South and Box Hill North remained comparatively undeveloped. Post war housing expansion included a Housing Commission estate in Box Hill South. A district hospital opened in 1956; the shopping area enjoyed growth and prosperity which by the end of the 1950s was putting a strain on it. The development of Myer Eastland and Doncaster Shoppingtown in the late 1960s took trade away, the shopping centre regained custom by undergrounding the railway line and station and building Box Hill Central on land, which included the old market. In 1954, the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works designated Box Hill as one of five district centres for metropolitan Melbourne.
The plan has succeeded in Box Hill. In addition to the shopping centre, the Box Hill TAFE and several office buildings have strengthened its centrality in the region. Apart from commercial functions there are large reserves, with ovals in three directions, about a kilometre from Box Hill Central. Box Hill South lies between Burwood East, about two kilometres square, its proximity to trams was better than Box Hill North's and its residential growth was pre and early post war. The Box Hill Golf Club is nearby and a linear park continues along Gardiners Creek. There are church educational institutions. In 1971, a sister city relationship was forged with Chiba Prefecture, Japan. "Box Hill" is the name of a department store in Matsudo. Box Hill City was amalgamated with Nunawading City on 15 December 1994, to form Whitehorse City, renewing the boundaries that began with the Nunawading Parish and subsequent Shire. Box Hill has a shopping precinct; these range from the shops along Station Street and Whitehorse Road, to the suburb's two shopping centres.
Centro Box Hill Box Hill Central is integrated with a bus interchange and the Box Hill
Dandenong Creek Trail
The Dandenong Creek Trail is a shared use path for cyclists and pedestrians, which follows Dandenong Creek through the outer eastern and south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. The path starts in Kilsyth South at the end of Chandlers Lane, 600m off Liverpool Road but can be accessed at Colchester Road by a path that runs from The Basin that runs beside Mountain Highway and Colchester Road. About 3.6 km further on and after Bayswater Rd and on the west side of Bayswater Oval the trail crosses a footbridge. Travellers coming from the opposite direction, should ensure they cross the footbridge, rather than following the white guidelines on the pavement. Following the guidelines leads to the old steam engine at Jim Abernethy Memorial Drv. Continuing west on a tunnel goes under the Belgrave railway line. 70m before the underpass, there is a footbridge to the right. This is the start of the Tarralla Creek Trail. Just before the underpass on the left is a turnoff to the upper section of the Belgrave Rail Trail.
On the far side of the tunnel and 900m on, is a footbridge on the right. This is the turnoff to the lower section of the Belgrave Rail Trail. Another 650 is a turnoff to the left, it leads to Waldheim Rd and joins the Stud Rd path. This 1.5 km stretch is a major intersection for trails and is unsigned - see confusing intersections. The trail continues on under EastLink and starts to head south, it goes through an underpass at Boronia Rd. The trail through Koomba Park has been upgraded to concrete as this section will be shared with the EastLink Trail; this upgrade has now made the turnoff to the Dandenong Creek Trail at the south end of the park difficult to identify. After the picnic pavilion, before reaching Mountain Highway, turn right off the concrete onto a gravel path. Just before Burwood Highway the trail passes along some boardwalks. Cross over Burwood Highway to the largest hardware store in the Southern Hemisphere just on the right, with the local tip just behind. Just past the tip, two trails lead off to the left.
They arrive at a lookout tower with a somewhat limited view. Cyclists can use its ramps to ride to the top. At High Street Rd the path continues through to Napier Park Reserve, it appears to come to a dead end with the Glenvale Tennis courts directly ahead at Shepherd Rd. Turn left down Shepherd Rd to its far end where the trail resumes. Turning right and heading up Shepherd Rd to the west, leads to Glen Waverley station using some quiet back streets that are signed, via a 2.6 km long council designated bicycle route. The Dandenong Creek Trail soon arrives at an intersection with numerous signs and a map in a display cabinet shielded from the weather. Straight ahead is the west end of the Blind Creek Trail. To the left is a dead end trail to Nortons Park. Turn right and continue past the map cabinet on the left. Open fields on the left, trees on the right and 1.6 km the trail crosses a footbridge at the most northern end of the Jells Park wildlife lake. There is a small tee intersection at this point.
Turn left and head south, passing along the west side of the lake. Travellers coming from the opposite direction, need to make sure they turn right at the tee intersection, not left and cross the footbridge. At the southern end of the lake, the Scotchmans Creek Trail peels off to the right. Onwards and cross under Ferntree Gully Rd - watch out for water on the path here. From here the Ferny Creek Trail can be reached by travelling along 3.6 km of road: east along Ferntree Gully Rd and south along Stud Rd. Both these roads have heavy traffic. 1.3 km on at Mulgrave reserve, just north of Wellingtom Rd, it is possible to get confused at the carpark at the north end of the reserve. Heading south, do a sharp left turn. Travellers coming from the opposite direction, should do a sharp right turn into the bushes. In either case just stick to the NE corner of the carpark. Under the Wellington Rd underpass, under EastLink past the dead end of Police Rd; the trail narrows between the creek and some houses and 600m from Police Rd opens out onto Tirhatuan Park.
There are a few paths through the park but it is easier to just follow the creek and skirt the park on its east side. Onwards past: Stud Rd, Brady Rd, Monash Freeway, Heatherton Rd, east end of David St, Kidds Rd and McCrae St - all straightforward. At McCrae St, south of the Thomas P. Carroll Reserve, a shortish on road section leads to the Hallam Bypass Trail. Another 1.1 km at Lonsdale St, a short diversion leads to Dandenong Station. The creek develops from a creek to more of a canal; the path further on is straightforward except for the chance of confusion, where a footbridge crosses Eumemmerring Creek, just after crossing EastLink for the third time. Just loop over the bridge but maintain the original south westerly direction. Downstream from Eumemmerring creek, the stream becomes the Patterson River; the creek widens with the Eastern Treatment Plant to the south. The trail travels along an artificial embankment as it passes to the south of National Water Sports Centre near Patterson Lakes.
650m from the mouth of the Patterson River, the trail meets the Bayside Trail at Launching Way. Dandenong Creek, Koomba Park, Jells Park, Dandenong Valley Wetlands, Port Phillip Bay, frequent sporting and recreational grounds; the Dandenong Creek Trail connects to numerous other paths: To the Tarralla Creek Trail, Belgrave Rail Trail and Blind Creek Trail in the north. Centrally to the Scotchmans Creek
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is an American restaurant chain and international franchise, founded in 1958 by Dan and Frank Carney. The company is known for its Italian-American cuisine menu, including pizza and pasta, as well as side dishes and desserts. Pizza Hut has 18,431 restaurants worldwide as of December 31, 2018, making it the world's largest pizza chain in terms of locations, it is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. one of the world's largest restaurant companies. Pizza Hut was founded in June 1958 by two Wichita State University students, brothers Dan and Frank Carney, as a single location in Wichita, Kansas. Six months they opened a second outlet and within a year they had six Pizza Hut restaurants; the brothers began franchising in 1959. The iconic Pizza Hut building style was designed in 1963 by Chicago architect George Lindstrom. PepsiCo acquired Pizza Hut in November 1977. Before closing in 2015, the oldest continuously operating Pizza Hut was in Manhattan, Kansas, in a shopping and tavern district known as Aggieville near Kansas State University.
The first Pizza Hut restaurant east of the Mississippi River opened in Athens, Ohio, in 1966 by Lawrence Berberick and Gary Meyers. Pizza Hut's international presence includes Canada and Mexico in North America, Bangladesh, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Norway, Germany, Turkey, South Africa, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Tanzania and Nicaragua, its Asian presence includes Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Hong Kong, South Korea and Macau. Pizza Hut was one of the first American franchises to open in Iraq; the company announced a rebrand that began on November 19, 2014, in an effort to increase sales, which dropped in the previous two years. The menu was expanded to introduce various items such as 11 new specialty pizzas. Work uniforms for employees were refreshed. In 2017, Pizza Hut was listed by UK-based company Richtopia at number 24 in the list of 200 Most Influential Brands in the World. Pizza Hut is split into several different restaurant formats: the original family-style dine-in locations,.
Some full-sized Pizza Hut locations have a lunch buffet, with "all-you-can-eat" pizza, salad and bread sticks, a pasta bar. Pizza Hut has other business concepts independent of the store type. An upscale concept was unveiled in 2004, called Pizza Hut Italian Bistro. At 50 U. S. locations, the Bistro is similar to a traditional Pizza Hut, except the menu features new, Italian-themed dishes such as penne pasta, chicken pomodoro, toasted sandwiches. Instead of black and red, Bistro locations feature a burgundy and tan motif. Pizza Hut Bistros still serve sides. In some cases, Pizza Hut has replaced a "Red Roof" location with the new concept. "Pizza Hut Express" and "The Hut" locations are fast food restaurants. They offer a limited menu with many products not seen at a traditional Pizza Hut; these stores are paired in a colocation with WingStreet, in USA and Canada, or other sibling brands such as KFC or Taco Bell, found on college campuses, food courts, theme parks, bowling alleys, within stores such as Target.
Vintage "Red Roof" locations, designed by architect Richard D. Burke, can be found in the United States and Canada. In his book Orange Roofs, Golden Arches, Phillip Langdon wrote that the Pizza Hut "Red Roof" architecture "is something of a strange object – considered outside the realm of significant architecture, yet swiftly reflecting shifts in popular taste and unquestionably making an impact on daily life; these buildings show up in architectural journals, yet they have become some of the most numerous and conspicuous in the United States today."Curbed.com reports, "Despite Pizza Hut's decision to discontinue the form when they made the shift toward delivery, there were still 6,304 traditional units standing as of 2004, each with the shingled roofs and trapezoidal windows signifying equal parts suburban comfort and strip-mall anomie." This building style was common in early 1970s. The name "Red Roof" is somewhat anachronistic now. Dozens of "Red Roofs" have been relocated or rebuilt. Many "Red Roof" branches have beer if not a full bar, music from a jukebox, sometimes an arcade.
In the mid-1980s, the company moved into other successful formats, including delivery or carryout and the fast food "Express" model. In China, Pizza Hut used an altered business model, offering a fine-dining atmosphere with knives and forks and using an expanded menu catering to Chinese tastes. By 2008, Pizza Hut operated restaurants and delivery locations; that year, the company introduced "Pizza Hut Express", opening locations in Shanghai and Hangzhou. The 160 restaurants were in 40 Chinese cities in 2005; as of 2015, Pizza Hut had 1,903 restaurants in China. Savio S. Chan and Michael Zakkour, authors of China's Super Consumers: What 1 Billion Customers Want and How to Sell it to Them, stated middle-class Chinese perceive Pizza Hut as "akin to fine dining", though Pizza Hut was "China's largest and most successful foreign casual-dining chain". In North America, Pizza Hut has notably sold: Pan baked in pan with a crispy edge.
Coles Supermarkets
Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd, trading as Coles, is an Australian supermarket and consumer services chain, headquartered in Melbourne as part of the Coles Group. Founded in 1914 in Collingwood, Melbourne by George Coles, Coles operates 807 supermarkets throughout Australia, including several now re-branded BI-LO Supermarkets. Coles has over 100,000 employees and, together with rival Woolworths, accounts for more than 80 per cent of the Australian market. Coles Online is the company's online shopping service. Between 1986 and 2006, Coles Supermarkets was a brand of Coles Myer Limited Coles Group Limited, prior to Wesfarmers purchasing Coles Group in 2007, it became a subsidiary of Coles Group again after Wesfamers spun-off the business in November 2018. George James Coles learned the retail trade working for his father's'Coles Store' business from 1910 to 1913. Coles itself was founded when G. J. Coles opened the'Coles Variety Store' on 9 April 1914 on Smith Street in the Melbourne, Victoria suburb of Collingwood.
Further expansion occurred and Coles' interest in food retailing was spurred in 1958 when it acquired 54 John Connell Dickins grocery stores. It acquired the Beilby's chain in South Australia in 1959 and 265 Matthews Thompson grocery stores in New South Wales in 1960. In 1960, the first supermarket was opened in the Melbourne suburb Balwyn North, at the corner of Burke and Doncaster Roads where a modernised version continues to operate. By 1973, Coles had established stores in all Australian capital cities. From 1962, its supermarkets were branded Coles New World with accompanying rocket imagery. In 1991, the stores were rebranded Coles Supermarkets and from 1998 as Coles. In 2004, the liquor division office, was moved from Chullora in Sydney to the company head office in Hawthorn East, Melbourne. With Coles Myer CEO John Fletcher citing the move for better efficiency between the food and liquor departments, it resulted in Craig Watkins retiring from the company. From mid 2006, many BI-LO supermarkets were badged as Coles Supermarkets.
Newmart supermarkets, under which BI-LO traded in Western Australia, were badged as Coles Supermarkets in 2002–2003. Newmart stores co-located with Coles in the same area or shopping centre were sold to Foodland and re branded as the now-defunct Action Supermarkets chain; the conversion program was put on hold at Easter 2007. On 2 July 2007, Western Australian based company Wesfarmers agreed to purchase Coles Group Limited for A$22 billion; the purchase was completed in early 2008. In August 2007, as Wesfarmers foreshadowed its plans for the restructuring of Coles Group following its anticipated takeover, it stated that one of three planned divisions would comprise supermarkets and convenience stores. In February 2008, Wesfarmers appointed UK retailer Ian McLeod as managing director of Coles Supermarkets plus liquor and convenience businesses. McLeod's headed UK car parts and cycle retailer Halfords and gained supermarket experience with Asda and Wal-Mart. In February 2011, Coles acquired National Australia Bank's 50 per cent interest in Australia's largest loyalty program flybuys, giving it 100% ownership.
In September 2011, Coles commenced stocking private-label clothing in their stores with several stores receiving refits to accommodate the range. In 2014, John Durkan was appointed the new managing director. In 2018 Wesfarmers announced its intention to demerge the Coles business, seeking to retain only a 20% interest going forward. In 2018, Steven Cain was appointed as CEO of the Coles Supermarket brand as part of the demerger of Coles from Wesfarmers. Coles' original slogan was "nothing over 2/6", when it was operating variety stores; the slogan "You'll find the best value is at Coles New World" was used in the 1980s. The red/orange orb was used from 1991 to 2005, although store signs continued to use the orb up until the early 2010s. "Serving you better" was used as a slogan from 1998 to 2003, replaced by "save everyday", endorsed by actress Lisa McCune. A circled tick was used as a logo device from 2003 to 2007, replacing the orb as a primary device in 2005. "Save everyday" was changed to the grammatically-correct "save every day".
In 2007, the slogan and circle tick were discontinued with the Coles name used in preparation for a new red ball logo to match proposed Coles Group livery, shelved in the year as the business was sold. A number of tag lines were employed in the next few years: "Something better every day", "Proudly Australian since 1914", "Cutting the cost of your shopping", "Quality food costs less at Coles" and "It all counts", its current slogan is "Good things are happening at Coles". In the 1960s, Coles sponsored a general knowledge quiz show, Coles £3000 Question which aired on Channel 7. In 2010, Coles launched a new sub-slogan, "Down Down, Prices Are Down", featuring a large red cartoon hand pointing downwards to symbolise the chain's low price policy; the slogan incorporates the tune of "Down Down", a 1975 hit by British rockers Status Quo. In 2011, the campaign was revised to the fit the tune of Petula Clark's 1964 hit "Downtown", but reverted to "Down Down" in the year. In 2012, it used Status Quo, which recorded the song in 1975, singing and speaking in the newest ad in the series.
In February 2016, Coles updated the "Down Down" campaign again, to the tune of That's Amore. In May 2017 the "Dow
Division of Deakin
The Division of Deakin is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. It is named for three times Prime Minister of Australia; the division was created in 1937 as a rural seat, but since 1949 it has been located in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, today taking in Blackburn, Forest Hill, Nunawading, Vermont South and Ringwood. Deakin has been held by the Liberal Party, though it became marginal from the 1980s onward. Prior to the 2013 federal election it was the second most marginal Labor Party seat in Australia. At the 2013 federal election, Michael Sukkar reclaimed the seat for the Liberal Party and was elected with 53.2% of the two-party-preferred vote. Division of Deakin - Australian Electoral Commission
Neighbours
Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera. It was first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985, it was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk and solve their problems together. Seven decided to commission the show following the success of Watson's shorter-lived soap Sons and Daughters, which aired on the network. Although successful in Melbourne, Neighbours underperformed in the Sydney market and struggled for months before Seven cancelled it; the show was bought by rival network Ten. After taking over production of the show, the new network had to build replica sets because Seven destroyed the originals to prevent its rival from obtaining them. Ten began screening Neighbours on 20 January 1986, beginning where the previous series left off and commencing with episode 171. Neighbours has since become the longest running drama series in Australian television and in 2005, it was inducted collectively into the Logie Hall of Fame.
The show's storylines concern the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in Erinsborough, a fictional suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. The series centres on the residents of Ramsay Street, a short cul-de-sac, its neighbouring area, the Lassiters complex, which includes a bar, cafe, police station, lawyers' office and park. Neighbours began with three families created by Watson -- the Robinsons and the Clarkes. Watson said; the Robinsons and the Ramsays were involved in an ongoing rivalry. Pin Oak Court, in Vermont South, is the real cul-de-sac that has doubled for Ramsay Street since 1985. All of the houses featured are real and the residents allow the production to shoot external scenes in their yards; the interior scenes are filmed at the Global Television studios in Forest Hill. Through its entire run in Australia, Neighbours has been screened as a twenty-two-minute episode each week night in an early-evening slot. Neighbours moved to Ten's digital channel, Eleven on 11 January 2011, it is broadcast each weeknight at 6:30 pm.
The show is produced by FremantleMedia Australia and has been sold to over sixty countries around the world, making it one of Australia's most successful media exports. Neighbours was first screened in the United Kingdom in October 1986 on BBC1 where it achieved huge popularity among British audiences in the late 1980s and 1990s. In 2008, it moved to the UK's Channel 5. From 2018, the show became the first Australian drama to air all year round after securing a new deal with Channel 5. Neighbours was created in the early-to-mid-1980s by Australian TV executive Reg Watson. Watson decided to create a soap opera after working on Crossroads and seeing how successful it and Coronation Street were in Britain, he had created such successful Australian made soap operas as The Young Doctors and Sons and Daughters. Watson proposed the idea of making a show that would focus on more realistic stories and portray teens and adults who talk to each other and solve their problems together. Watson, who worked for the Grundy production company, decided to make his show appeal to both Australia and Britain.
In 2005, Darren Devlyn and Caroline Frost from the Herald Sun reported that Watson took his idea to the Nine Network in 1982, but it was rejected. Former Network Nine chief executive Ian Johnson commented that it was one of the "biggest missed opportunities" in his twenty-four years at the network, he added "I remember it being discussed, but I'm not sure what went against it. It may have had something to do with the fact we'd picked up Sale of the Century with Tony Barber in 1980 and it was doing huge business, so we didn't have a pressing need for a five-night-a-week show." Watson took his idea to the Seven Network, who commissioned the show, following the success of his other Seven Network soap opera and Daughters. Several titles for the show were discussed, including People Like Us, One Way Street, No Through Road and Living Together until the network programmers voted on Neighbours; the first episode was broadcast on 18 March 1985 and reviews for the show were favourable. However, the Melbourne-produced programme underperformed in the Sydney market and after a meeting of the general managers, Seven decided to drop the show in October 1985.
Seven's Melbourne programme boss, Gary Fenton said Sydney chief Ted Thomas told the other general managers that Seven could not afford three dramas and argued that the Sydney-based A Country Practice and Sons and Daughters be retained. Neighbours was bought by Seven's rival Network Ten; the new network had to build replica sets when it took over production after Seven destroyed the original sets to prevent the rival network obtaining them. Ten began screening the series with episode 171 on 20 January 1986. In 1986, the series was bought by the BBC as part of their new daytime schedule in the United Kingdom. Neighbours made its debut on BBC1 on 27 October 1986 starting with the pilot episode, it soon gained a loyal audience and the show became popular with younger viewers, before long was watched by up to 16 million viewers - more than the entire population of Australia at the time. In 1988 Neighbours became the only television show to have its entire cast flown over to the UK to make an appearance at the Royal Variety Performance in front of the Queen.
Neighbours has since become the longest running drama series in Australian television and the seventh longest running serial drama still on the air in the world. In 2005, Neighbours celebrated its 20th anniversary and over twenty former cast members r
