January 26th was Australia day, a bit like Independance Day in the US. Her in Melbourne we have a public holiday and celebrate with our family and/or friends. I heard on the radio that Government house in Melbourne was going to be open to the public along with a 21 gun salute at the Shrine of Rememberence and a flyover and aironautics display by the Roullettes (http://www.airforce.gov.au/roulettes/team.aspx).
Sam and I were at home and Graham had gone to work so we went to have a look at Government house and spend the day together.
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| Waiting in line with hundreds of others! |
For those of you who are not familiar with Melbourne, this Government house is where the Governer of the state of Victoria lives, he is Queen Elizabeth's representative in our state. For now Australia is part of the commonwealth and each state has their own Governor, Premier and houses of parliament.
So off we went to have a look at this beautiful old historic building which was built in 1876, (old by Victorian standards!) and also the gardens.
It was a beautiful sunny day and there were thousands of people out and about, Government house is built on a Hill near St Kilda road and is across the road from the shrine of Rememberence and right next door to the Botanical Gardens, so as you can imagine they have a beautiful view of the city and the gardens.
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| This is the handpainted ceiling in the ballroom |
Back in the 1960's the Governor of Melbourne then started a tradition that has been continued on since, that each governor must plant a tree in the gardens before their term has finished. So every governor leaves a legacy to the environment.
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| The Ballroom (not taken by me) |
Here are some photos of the day, sadly I forgot my camera !!!! So these pics were taken with Sams phone, so I apologise for the fuzziness of them!
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| The Dining room all set for the Australia Day celebrations |
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| One of the beautiful fireplaces in the drawing room |
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| Every stately home needs a conservatory with a statue in it |
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| Anyone for dinner, this table seats 55! |
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| The Queens chair! |
To be frank I am not a royalist but this is part of our history and for now, we are part of the Commonwealth, so I thought it was worth a look. My son observed that you could feed a small country with the cutlery on the table alone, and of course he is correct. Kids dont miss much!
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