Melbourne, AU V (9/11/2025)

Thursday, September 11, 2025 (continued)

We exited the State Library of Victoria on Russell Street,
and walked north to the Old Melbourne Gaol (pronounced
like jail) (1852-1854, based on design by Joshua Jebb) 

Since 2020, when we thought we would be traveling in Scotland, we have been members of the National Trust of Scotland. Through our membership, we received free admission to this Natioanl Trust of Australia site.

A model of Old Melbourne Gaol, with the brown-roofed
buildings supposedly part of the museum (1972) while
the rest of the buildings being incorporated into
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology/RMIT

The wing on the left of the model was a
three-story cell block (KSS)

Cell with balls and chain (KSS)

There was a barred door as well as
a solid metal door

Death masks of prisoners who were executed

Instruments of punishment

A mannequin shows the size of the cells

Ned Kelly dolls; Ned Kelly, the infamous
bushranger, was incarcerated
in Old Melbourne Gaol, and was
executed here by hanging

Euphorbia characias/Chartreuse Euphorbia (KSS)

The three-story cell block

View of the Chapel (1860) through the
Old Melbourne Gaol entrance

We walked back to La Trobe Street and caught the
historic #35 tram/Circle City tram, passing the
Royal Exhibition Building (1879-1880, by Joseph Reed),
which held the first Commonwealth Parliament of Australia
in 1901 and the first to fly the Australian flag

We picked up lunch at Chayorey, an Indian restaurant
near our hotel

Inside the Chatorey restaurant

In the afternoon we used our transport passes to take a tram beyond the fare-free zone. My left hip was acting up: whenever I tried to stand from sitting, I could not take weight on my left leg due to excruciating pain. But after a minute of moving my left hip around, I could again take weight and walk.

We wanted to disembark at the Shrine of Remembrance/Kilda Street, but I took too long and Kent did not think to stand in the doorway to delay the tram from continuing. We got off at the next stop, and many passengers assured me it was a lovely walk to the Shrine from this stop.

Cobbers (2008, by Peter Corlett) honours
those who fought and fell in the 1916 Battle
of Fromelles, being the first action seen by
the Australians on the Western Front; cobber
is slang for a close friend or mate (KSS)

Shrine of Remembrance (1927-1934,
by Phillip Hudson and James Wardrop in
Classical style) commemorates the men and
 women of Victoria who served in WWI (KSS)

Shrine of Remembrance west side is inscribed: “Let all
men know this is holy ground. This Shrine established in
the hearts of men as on the solid earth commemorates a
people’s fortitude and sacrifice. Ye therefore that come
after give remembrance”; the corner statues (1934, by Paul
Raphael Montford) represent Patriotism and Sacrifice (KSS)

A view towards the city of Melbourne from the Shrine (KSS)

A memorial wall containing 4,000 medals, with each
representing 100 Victorians plus six who have died
serving Australia in war and peacekeeping

"Lest we forget" wall (2003) in the entrance courtyard
is perhaps apropos to today being September 11th

The Sanctuary Frieze (1932, by
Lyndon Dadswell) has twelve panels
depicting tasks performed by service
men and women in World War I; we also see
 the Ray of Light that is calculated to have
a beam of sunlight illuminate the word
"love" on the Stone of Remembrance
at 11:00 on November 11

Due to Daylight Savings Time, the sun no longer hits the stone as originally intended.

Shrine Sanctuary with the Stone of Remembrance (KSS)

The marble Stone of Remembrance is
inscribed "Greater Love Hath No Man"
from John 15:13 in the Bible

World War II Cenotaph (1954, with a
sculpture by George Allen showing six men
in uniforms of the three Australian services,
Navy, Army and Airforce, carrying the dead
body of a comrade draped with an Australian
flag); there is also an Eternal Flame
that was lit by Queen Elizabeth II in 1954

We had a long downhill walk to the tram stop, and
took two trams to the Southern Cross Railway Station,
where we had to jump through hoops to get a refund on
the unused portion of our transport passes

Raising the Rattler Pole - The Last of the
 Connies (2013, by David Bell) is a replica
W-class tram, which was known for its "shake, 
rattle, and roll" to be nicknamed "rattlers"
and the conductors were called "connies"

Dinner was picked up at a 7-Eleven,
including the Krispy Kreme Harry Potter
Collection with Slytherin (Original
Glazed® doughnut, crowned with
chocolate and green buttercreme flavored
swirls), Ravenclaw (Original Glazed®
doughnut, dipped in a blueberry flavored
icing), Gryffindor (unglazed shell doughnut
filled with cookie butter flavored Kreme™,
dipped in red icing and sprinkled with
Biscoff® cookie crumble), and Hufflepuff
(unglazed shell doughnut, filled with a brown
butter toffee flavored custard, dipped in golden
yellow icing and adorned with a black chocolate
drizzle, plus a crunchy cookie topping)

Next: Hobart I.