Abbotsford Convent gets a wrap in The Australian; goes on tv; gets a history book

It’s true what The Oz says, it was a stroke of genius to get Kenny to open the newly renovated toilet block at the Abbotsford Convent. The handy summary of things Abbotsford Convent is here, really worth a read. I learnt with interest that the pictured massive oak tree was planted in 1857 and is known as the Separation Tree. It is as old as the state of Victoria, being planted to celebrate the secession from New South Wales. That makes it just shy of 150 years old. (The Age’s version is here, the Herald Sun’s here).
Meanwhile, an article from The Age highlights a new show, Tripping Over, which was filmed in part at the Convent.

And a book has been published on the history of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti. Authored by Catherine Kovesi, historian, author and senior lecturer at Melbourne University (pictured), its title is Pitch Your Tents on Distant Shores. Friends of the Abbotsford Convent can get a pre-publication special (save $15) for $55 (plus $10 postage unless you pick it up from the Convent): call Kate on 9419 5773 like today or tomorrow. The offer has already officially expired.
And here’s The Age’s review of the Convent version of Lentil as Anything.

And now Gertrude St is glossy fashion mag gush geyser

The Age’s oddly named (Melbourne) Magazine got all gooey about Gertrude St on Friday, with a big glossy article by Stephanie Wood about ‘the hottest strip in Melbourne’. I ride Gertrude twice a day, favour takeaway from Tandoori Times, and am a general enthusiast. Things are moving fast down there, too fast for my liking. My barber man at Dr Follicles was a bit sniffy on Saturday that his place was not new and hip enough to get featured (he told me that Alia’s been renovated and changed hands, and again commended Little Rebel Bar to me). Radio Bar looks most promising — intelligence please.
Continue reading “And now Gertrude St is glossy fashion mag gush geyser”

Racing Victoria’s John Wren exhibition

The Good Ol’ Age has alerted me to the fact that from 7 September 2006, the Victorian Racing Museum in Federation Square is holding an exhibition about John Wren, pictured, at one time Australia’s richest man. Born in Collingwood in 1871, he died in Fitzroy in 1953 aged 82, having lived across the river in Kew, in what is now Xavier’s junior school, Burke Hall (then Studley House), a man who would have been an avid reader of Abbotsford Blog (but not its reviews of pubs and bars, for he was a teetotaller) had he only lived to see the day. He had toured the virtuosic violinist Fritz Kreisler, set up an opera company, owned The Criterion restaurant opposite St Paul’s, built a racecourse in Richmond, supposedly given two million pounds to charity over 5 years, bet his life savings on a legendary Melbourne Cup winner, Carbine, owned the 1904 Caulfied Cup winner, Murmur, built a public pool on the Yarra at Abbotsford, preferred the Collingwood Football Club to the Melbourne Club, and promoted boxing and cycling. What else he did besides is a matter of some controversy, though he did get right up the nose of my relative, Bill Judkins (one of Keith Dunstan’s favourite wowsers). The Judster was a Methodist lay preacher who, according to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, saw “Wren, drink, gambling and Catholicism all combined into one terrible evil.” Short, bandy and sharp-featured, the Wrenster and the Judster were apparently frequently mistaken for one another to their mutual embarrassment. Continue reading “Racing Victoria’s John Wren exhibition”