A shocking train crash

It was a long time ago when I posted about the local Sunshine train crash back in 1908. I was reminded of it when I recently came across this memorial plaque at Sunshine Station.

You can read about the detail on Wikipedia, and here is a snip. 

The Sunshine rail disaster occurred on 20 April 1908 at the junction at Sunshine railway station (in Sunshine, Victoria, Australia) when a Melbourne-bound train from Bendigo collided with the rear of a train from Ballarat. 44 people were killed and over 400 injured, almost all of them from the Ballarat train, as the Bendigo train was cushioned by its two locomotives.^[2]

It is the second worst train disaster in Australia after the much later 1977 Granville train crash with 83 killed. Nowadays, train crashes are so rare here, and deaths even rarer. 

I worked on this for a long time, simply to find the audio, upload it and somehow place it here. Hence no post yesterday. I think it will work but truly, you are better to go to the website and just click play, and the lyrics are there too. 

The new St Kilda Pier

The iconic St Kilda Pier was closed for a couple of years as a new pier was built. To walk on St Kilda Pier is a must do for all tourists who visit Melbourne. 

I was waiting for a good weather day to take a slow stroll out along the new pier, and looking forward to coffee and cake and the pier kiosk. It was more a cafe the last time I visited. My memories of the pier amused me, because the afternoon I last walked the pier, so too did Ray with his workmate and disability clients. Neither of use knew what the other was doing.

Then with our friend, the former Friend in Japan, we walked the pier and saw penguins among the rocks, and for the first time, a bloke standing on a surfboard and paddling around.  

Enough

Here are some photos from my visit. I left the tram at The Esplanade, formerly known as the Upper Esplanade and walked towards the footbridge over Jacka Boulevard, formerly known as the Lower Esplanade.

I am approaching the footbridge. 

Looking back at the Esplanade Hotel, The Espy.

And down to Jacka Boulevard. 

Covid could be blamed, but I think this kiosk closed down before Covid.

I captured a moment with Jacka Boulevard being empty of cars. What are those blotches on the wall? 

There was some finishing up work happening here.

Boat masts feature.

The pier begins in timber.

These two photos look luscious to me. Embiggen them.

The pier is now half concrete and half timber.

An outlying jetty, maybe for fishing or just checking your phone. 

A brand new pier and there is already obvious corrosion.

The St Kilda Pier Kiosk.

I peered inside and it was totally empty of anything. The pier was busy enough but it was a perfect winter's day. While in summer months the kiosk could make a killing, it is not enough to cover the winter losses. 

A nice outdoor seating area. There is also seating on the rooftop. 

The pier now goes on much further.

Oh, a swimmer, when the water is very cold and there will be much shrinkage. 

Those blotches I mentioned earlier are long time closed vaults. They are so close to the road now, they would be dangerous. But isn't the artwork just wonderful. I'm glad I made the effort to visit the new pier. 

Monday Mural

As usual, I am joining with Sami and others for Monday Mural. 

Blank walls bring murals, and so here are some walls that are not blank, because they have murals, of no great merit, like this post. 

While brown is not a colour I generally like, I quite like this mural. 

Sunday Extra

Australians are protesting: 

More than 100,000 pro-Palestine protesters marched on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Local protest organisers estimate 25,000 people gathered in Melbourne, marching through the CBD before their demonstration concluded at the King Street Bridge, which was blocked by a heavy police presence.

While I do think Palestinians should have their own country, Hamas and its supporters are no friend to people like me. They were no friend of innocent people in Israel. Hamas took hostages and actively or by neglect, killed many. But the disgraceful and horrible actions of Hamas has paled into insignificance, compared to the response of Israel. 

Yep, if the media shows starving and dying children, you have lost the public opinion war. 

I am not pro Palestine or pro Israel. I just don't want to see people starving to death, or dying because of a lack of medical treatment. I don't want to see doctors, nurses and patients bombed and killed. 

I really don't think Israel can take a high moral stance as the situation presents itself 

Two Sundays ago I was sipping coffee in Swanston Street, Melbourne. It was the usual Sunday pro Palestine march passing by, that disrupts our trams. I hate it. The disruptions make visiting the city difficult. 

But what I did notice among the procession of protesters was quite a number of older grey haired white women. When they start marching, and the Doctors Wives start saying things about starving children to their husbands, Houston and Jerusalem, you have a problem.

Sunday Selections

Along with River and others, here are my Sunday Selections. 

There was a exhibition at RMIT about Melbourne photo booths, one in particular and its long term  owner. There were hundreds of photos of him testing his cameras. It was interesting to see him age. It is not interesting to see myself age, well not in the mirror at least. Also interesting is that there is often a queue to used the photo booth along side Flinders Street Station. 

There were many many photos of other people in various poses, and three people had identified themselves to staff as there being photos of their younger selves on display. Yes, I asked that question. I wonder who these two guys are?

Kosov says he is very antisocial, and there is nothing he likes better than being home with Phyllis, and me to a lesser extent. He has a calico bag to prove it. 

The shelving unit is bolted to the wall at the top and I wasn't home when the carpet was laid, and so I couldn't direct where extension leads went behind the shelves. Some of the shelf is too close to the wall to get an electric plug behind it, and I really missed my illuminated tortoise. The wiry Kosov managed to weave an extension cord behind aside from a a few centimetres exposed. I was so pleased. 

At a hospital people had stuck up dog photos. 

And these chairs weren't going anywhere. It is not about theft, but about them being moved to other areas. 

We three were sitting at a South Melbourne cafe and I looked up. Is it the hand of fate? 

Promoting something. 

It was Open House weekend and I visited the ABC Southbank studios. I spotted some celebrities, Costa Georgiadis host of Gardening Australia.

The set of Hard Quiz.

National tv weather presenter and gay icon, Nate Byrne.

Local Melbourne newsreader Iskhandar Razak.

Also seen, local weather presenter, the very focused and striding Dr Adam Morgan, and AFL football commentator Mick Malthouse.

Illoura

From the book A City Lost and Found: Whelan the Wrecker, one of the workers was quoted, and I paraphrase, 'The only building I really felt sad about destroying was Illoura'. Many of us are sad decades after the deed was done, 1964 being the year of demolition. 

The original Illoura. How could they!

A year or so after demolition, this abomination appeared. I took this photo mid twenty noughties. 

At some point it received a repaint, this being half way through the job. It certainly looked better in my opinion. And the new building Lucient beside it, replacing a three storey flat block, of no great merit. 

A few years ago there was a failed redevelopment plan. The painting as above became faded and dull. A few weeks ago mini diggers appeared on the roof and some works were happening. This week hoardings went up around the building. She is coming down. After a check, this is an artist's impression of what will replace the present Illoura Plaza. There wasn't a mention of a name for the new building. Exciting? Not at all. Boring as batshit.