Melbourne General Cemetery

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Over 18 years I’ve driven past Melbourne General Cemetery many times but until this month I’d never visited it. Finally I have. Melbourne was first settled by Europeans in 1835 and they established their first cemetery in 1837, where the Queen Victoria Market now is. The goldrush-fuelled growth of the city led to this cemetery being closed to new grave site sales in 1853, though the last burial only took place in 1922. About 100,000 people were buried there; 10,000 were exhumed during later construction work leaving around 90,000 left buried below today’s car park.

To meet the need for burial space, land for a 106-acre new cemetery – to be known as the Melbourne General Cemetery – was purchased in Carlton, just north of the city centre. It was the first Victorian cemetery to be designed as a large public park. The first burials took place in 1853 and more than 300,000 people would be buried before it was closed for new burials in 1904 when Fawkner and Springvale cemeteries were established.. It reopened in 1927 and expanded in 1933.
The lodge was rebuilt in 1934-5 using materials salvaged from the original 1850s building. The last family to live here moved out in 1997. It’s now used as a workspace and office

Here, in alphabetical order, are some notable graves. I didn’t have time to explore the whole cemetery.

Sir Redmond Barry (1813-80): Born in Ireland, admitted to the Irish Bar in 1838, then Lincoln’s Inn, arrived in Melbourne 1839. In 1851, when the Port Phillip District was separated from New South Wales to become the colony of Victoria, Barry was appointed its first solicitor-general, a position which he held briefly, before he was elevated to the new bench of the Supreme Court of Victoria in January 1852.
Barry was the founder of the University of Melbourne, of which he was first chancellor (1853), a position he held till his death. With Governor La Trobe he was behind the formation of the Melbourne Public Library (now the State Library of Victoria), its associated Art Gallery and the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

William John Turner Clarke (1805-74): Born Somerset, England. Ill health forced moves to Tasmania then Victoria. He introduced the Leicester breed of sheep into Australia. The gold rush further increased his prosperity and meat sales boomed. The money received from his wool clips was lent at high interest to Australian import houses. In time he acquired the reputation of being the richest man in Australia – his estate totalled £2,500,000, as well as 215,000 acres (87,008 ha) of freehold land. He was a member of the Victorian Legislative Council from the inauguration of responsible government in 1856 until 1870.

James Galloway (1828-60): Born Springfield, Fife, Scotland, came to Melbourne 1854. He joined the Operative Masons’ Association, an early trade union. On 21 April 1856, they led a march from their construction site at the University of Melbourne to Parliament House, demanding the introduction of an eight-hour working day, for the same wages as the existing ten-hour day. Subsequently Galloway became ill and destitute, dying in Collingwood, Victoria in 1860, aged just 32.

Sir Samuel Gillott (1838-1913): Born Sheffield, England. Eminent lawyer, member of the Legislative Assembly 1899-1906, Lord Mayor of Melbourne 1896-1899, Lord Mayor of Melbourne 1896-1899. His legal practice made him very rich. His political career ended when journalist John Norton published an attack on Gillott entitled ‘Lechery and lucre’ accusing him of lending money to Caroline Pohl, or ‘Madam Brussels’, Melbourne’s leading madam, and detailing financial dealings between them dating back to 1877. To escape the scandal he went back to England for a year. His end came on another visit to England in 1913 at when he fell down a flight of stairs at night. His body was returned to Australia for burial in the Melbourne cemetery.

Sir Joseph Hood (1846-1922): Born in Melbourne. He was called to the Bar in 1868, then was appointed an acting judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria in 1890. He was the first barrister born and educated in Melbourne to reach the bench. He was knighted in 1920 then resigned in 1921 on the ground of ill health, having been on leave for twelve months. He died at his home in East St Kilda in January 1922 and was buried in Melbourne general cemetery.

Sir Charles Hotham (1806-55): Born in Suffolk, England. He joined the British Navy in 1818, serving in Africa and South America. In 1853 he was appointed as Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria, succeeding Charles La Trobe. After a troubled time – the Eureka Stockade, December 1854, took place under his governorship and public opinion held him to be the man most responsible for the massacre – he submitted his resignation on 17 December 1855. Sadly he caught a chill while opening the Melbourne gasworks and died on the 31st. The monument, 18 metres tall, erected in 1858. The monument was designed and built by architect George Gilbert Scott and sculptor John Birnie Phillip in England, then shipped from England to Australia in pieces and erected by Melbourne architects Knight and Kerr. In 1996, due to structural issues In 1996, the monument was partially dismantled and temporarily removed from the site. It’s since been restored and re-erected.

Walter Lindrum (1898-1960): The most visited grave in the cemetery and one of the most interesting. It is in the shape of a billiard table, complete with cue, balls, pockets, and coins along the side. Lindrum was no ordinary billiards player: he was the best in the world from 1933 to 1950, when he retired undefeated. He died while on holiday in Queensland. His body was returned to Melbourne, and he was given a state funeral attended by 1,500 people.

Sir John O’Shanassy (1818-83): Born in Ireland, came to Australia 1839. Initially he settled in Westernport, moving to Melbourne where he opened a small drapery shop in Collins Street on 26 May 1845. Later he transferred to Elizabeth Street; for about ten years he was a successful draper, largely through his wife’s shrewd business sense and perseverance. In 1851 he was elected to the newly-established Victorian Legislative Council, moving to the Legislative Assembly in 1856. He served two short periods (1857 and 1858-9) as Victoria’s second premier. He retired from Parliament in February 1883, and died soon after.

Prime Ministers Memorial Garden
The Prime Ministers Memorial Garden is the resting place of four prime ministers. Because Harold Holt’s body was never recovered after disappearing at sea, the garden features a cenotaph in his honour reading “He loved the sea“.

The cemetery trust finances have been boosted in recent years by the building of the Melbourne Mausoleum (1997-98), Gatehouse Mausoleum (2004), St Mary of the Cross Mausoleum (2011-12) and Saint Michael the Archangel Mausoleum (2018). Mausoleum crypts are particularly popular with the Italian community, as can be seen from the names on those that are occupied. They are some of the most expensive real estate in Melbourne: a double crypt can cost $100,000 or more.

Herodotus, Father of History (2)

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The gold digging “ants” [3/98-105]

Herodotus’s account of the gold digging ants is one of his best known stories. It was treated with some disbelief for several thousand years but then newly discovered evidence suggested it might be true. Herodotus writes:

“As for the gold dust that I mentioned being brought to the king, that derives from the huge quantity of gold that the Indians procure. Here is how they come by it:

There are other Indians who live in the northernmost point of India, where the constellation of the Bear shines on the border between the city of Caspatyrus and the land of Pactyice. Their way of life is very like that of the Bactrians. They’re the most warlike of the Indian tribes and it is they who make expeditions to fetch the gold, out into the sands, where it is impossible actually to live.

The sands of this same desert breed ants which are midway between dogs and foxes in size. (There are some that were actually trapped there and brought to the court of the Persian king).
These ants, which in appearance are much like the ants found in Greece, also make their nests underground just as the ants in Greece do, by digging up sand – though in their case the excavated sand is flecked with gold.

It is this same sand that the Indians are after when they go prospecting in the desert. Each one of them harnesses together three camels, two males and one female: the males do the actual pulling, like trace horses and are positioned either side of the female which is placed in the middle by the Indians. Great care is taken to ensure that the harnessed mare is one that is only just given birth and has been torn away from her young. The reason for this is that Indian camels are not a whit slower than horses, and far more capable of carrying loads beside.

As for the appearance of a camel, that needs no description from me, since the Greeks are already familiar with it. What I will mention, however, are some details with which Greeks are not familiar. The camel has two thighs and two knees in each of its hind legs [this is not true] snd its genitals protrude behind its hind legs, orientated towards its tail.

Thus the Indians – with their camels harnessed and themselves equipped in the matter I described – ride out in search of the gold; and because the ants disappear underground whenever the weather gets too scorching, the prospectors deliberately time their sally to ensure that their actual seizure of the gold coincides with the most blistering spell of heat …

Once the Indians, complete with sacks, have arrived at their destination, they fill up their sacks with the sand, and then go careering off home as fast as they possibly can. The reason for this, as reported by the Persians, is that the ants pick up on their scent, and give them chase. Now there is nothing in the world quite as fast as these ants, to the degree that none of the Indians were they to fail in getting a head start while the ants were massing, would make it back to safety.

The male camels, because they’re not as fleet-footed as female ones, start to lag and [may even] end up being cut loose, one after the other; the females, however, with memories of their abandoned young fresh in their mind do not slacken. And that, so the Persians say, is how the Indians obtain the greater part of their gold. The rest, a much smaller amount, comes from the country’s mines. …”

Expeditions made by Michel Peissel, a French ethnologist, in the 1960s suggest that the creatures described by Herodotus were in fact Himalayan Marmots, a type of burrowing squirrel, thick bodied and with a bushy fur.

Gold-diggers on the plateau CGTN

Herodotus Part 1

Goodbye Nevil Shute

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My book cull continues. During the last few weeks I’ve speed-read all my Nevil Shute novels, my favoured inflight entertainment before plane seatback screens became the norm, and soon they’ll be off to the op-shop.

Nevil Shute Norway (1899-1960) was an English (later Australian) author and aeronautical engineer. He published his novels as Nevil Shute, fearing that using his full name would adversely affect his engineering career.

In 1919, after serving in WW1, he went up to Oxford, Balliol College, where he gained a third class degree in engineering. He began his engineering career with the newly-formed de Havilland company, moving on to Vickers Ltd in 1924 as principal assistant (“Chief Calculator”) to Barnes Wallis on the R100 airship programme. Under the Imperial Airship programme the R100 and government-run R101 airships were built in competition to each other. “It was generally agreed in 1924 that the aeroplane would never be a very suitable vehicle for carrying passengers across the oceans, and that airships would operate all the long-distance routes of the future”. Thus the government interest,

After the R101 crashed over northern France in October 1930 with all lives lost, the programme was put on hold whilst the fate of the R100 was decided. In December 1931, she was broken up and sold for scrap. With A.H.Tiltman, a noted aeroplane designer, Shute established Airspeed Limited to build aeroplanes in York, England. WW2 saw him join the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, where he served until 1944.

Shute’s first published novel, Marazan, was published in 1926. His novels draw extensively on his rich experience of aero engineering, sailing, model engineering, naval service and travel.
Feeling “oppressed by British taxation“, In 1950 Shute, with his wife and two daughters, moved to Australia building a home on farmland at Langwarrin, south-east of Melbourne. During the next ten years leading up to his death he became one of the world’s best-selling novelists. Read about his Langwarrin home here.

The books

Of his twenty-four published novels I’ve now got twelve which have I’ve re-read in recent weeks. For a full list check out the Nevil Shute Norway foundation website. Here are a few of note:

Ruined City (1938) This was my first introduction to Shute, in a university economics class 50 years ago, used as an introduction to the multiplier effect. A shipyard in northern England fails and takes the rest of the town with it. Then the reverse happens.

What Happened to the Corbetts (April 1939) is a fictional depiction of the effect of aerial bombing on the British city of Southampton. It wouldn’t be long before this would no longer be fiction.

No Highway (1948) The hero of the story, Theodore Honey, is a middle-aged widower who works at RAE Farnborough on metal fatigue in aircraft structures . The story presages the Comet airliner crashes of the early 1950s. Made into a film, No Highway in the Sky (1951) starring James Stewart.

In the Wet (1953) Under a Labour government the position of the Queen in Britain has become untenable. She decides that she will divide her time between Australia and Canada, with Britain becoming just another Commonwealth country under a Governor General. The two dominions each offer an aircraft for the Queen’s Flight. One of the most notable things in this book is the concept of multiple vote elections. Under this system each elector gets one vote as of right, then an additional vote for attaining each of the following:

College-level education including a commission in the armed forces
Earning one’s living in a foreign country for at least two years
Raising two children to at least fourteen years without getting divorced
Being an official in a Christian church
Having a large income
Then there’s the possibility of one additional vote, awarded on merit by the monarch. At the end of this story hero David Anderson is so recognised for his courage.

Shute’s belief was that a voting system like this would raise the quality of elected officials. Given those we currently have in Australia, UK and USA, this wouldn’t be difficult!

Slide Rule: The Autobiography of an Engineer (1954) This part autobiography covers Shute ‘s childhood, his education, his work on the R 100 airship project and the his time with Airspeed. It focuses primarily on the competition between the Royal Aircraft Establishment’s R101 and Vickers, where Shute worked on the R-100.

On the Beach (1957), Shute’s best-known novel, made into a film starring Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner is a chilling read. It’s set in Melbourne, one of the few places where life survives after a nuclear in the northern hemisphere.

Trustee from the Toolroom (1960, published posthumously) is (at the time of writing) ranked as Shute’s best book by Nevil Shute Norway Foundation members. The protagonist, Keith Stewart, designs miniature models and is a regular contributor to Miniature Mechanic.

if you’re looking for something to read, I’m sure that you can find a Nevil Shute book to suit you. My own top picks would be Trustee from the Toolroom, The Far Country, No Highway or Round the Bend.

Alowyn Gardens Day Trip

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Recently I went on a day trip to Alowyn Gardens, a display garden and plant nursery about an hour’s drive NE of Melbourne. The trip was organised for supporters of the Epworth Medical Foundation, which supports Melbourne’s non-profit Epworth hospitals. Previously I’d driven past the entrance to the gardens many times but never had time to investigate. Now was my chance.

The current owners, Prue and John Van de Linde, purchased the site, then a rundown horse stud, in 1997. Their original plan was to turn it into a tree nursery and display garden but a lack of water and the poor soil put paid to this. Instead, over the next twenty years today’s display garden, nursery and cafe took shape.

The design takes account off the harsh climatic conditions in the Yarra Valley. Most runoff rainwater is collected via an elaborate system of underground pipes. This water is drained into the wetlands and dam for use back on the gardens. To cope with high temperatures and dry summers the garden has been designed with shade in mind by including avenues of trees, the wisteria arbour and birch and casuarina forests. Using mulch and plants helps shade the roots of plants and trees, also helping fungi and bacteria and earthworms. All organic waste is composted and added back to the soil to improve conditions.

In short, the overall aim was to design a garden with lots of shade for visitors and lots of plants that enjoy protection from the hot northerly winds in the summer. It is now actually possible to walk around the whole of the garden predominantly in the shade.

We had near perfect weather for our visit and after spending time exploring, we gathered at the café for an excellent lunch, then back to Melbourne. Many thanks to EMF for organizing this trip.

Of special note

Why Alowyn?
Alowyn Gardens is named after a combination of the owners’ names, Aloysius (John) and Olwen (Prue). In 2008 they were named as ABC’s Gardening Australia’s ‘Gardener of the Year‘ winners.

The Parterre Garden
A parterre is a formal garden construction on a level surface consisting of planting beds, edged in stone or tightly clipped hedging and gravel paths arranged to form a pleasing, usually symmetrical pattern. Parterres need not have any flowers at all. The parterre was developed in France by Claude Mollet, the founder of a dynasty of nurserymen-designers that lasted deep into the 18th century.

The Miners Hut
This hut was built in 2001 with recycled materials, except for the outside weatherboards. These use radial sawn Victorian plantation grown hardwood. The Miners Hut is an example of a simple types of structure that used to be in this area around the turn of the century. The Hut is used to house some early tools and implements used in the 1900s that have been collected over the years.

Alowyn Gardens web site

The Sydney Bus Museum

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Sydney, Sunday February 15th: off my cruise ship at 0800, flight back to Melbourne not until 1900. After finding some breakfast (no time for this on the ship) I joined 9.30 Choral Matins at St James’ Church, Sydney’s oldest surviving church, consecrated 1824.

Buses in World War 2 camouflage

With several hours to kill, I checked out some possible places to visit and was thrilled to find the Sydney Bus Museum, open on the first and third Sunday of each month with Feb 15 being a third Sunday! A free shuttle bus service using vintage buses from the museum collection runs between the Sydney Town Hall and the museum so no problem getting there.

The bus museum was established in 1986, its collection initially being housed in the former 1912 Tempe bus depot, before being moved to its present location, the 1914 Leichardt tram shed, in 2010. After much work by museum volunteers the new venue was opened to the public in 2016.

Here’s a selection of the exhibits. There’s lots more to see, both vehicular and otherwise.

1924 Ruggles

Ruggles bus, 1924

This 22-seater bus combines a 1924 US-built Ruggles chassis with a timber framed and panelled body by Syd Wood of Bankstown. It was delivered to Riley Brothers of Ettalong Beach on the NSW Central Coast in 1925 who used it for district services for 21 years. Following its withdrawal from service in 1946, it was used as a mobile food shop. Later discovered derelict in Newcastle, it was acquired for preservation, subsequently undergoing a complete rebuild to delivered condition in 1978.

1935 Albion

1935 Albion Venturer

1187 is the oldest double-decker bus in the museum collection. Its Albion Venturer chassis was imported from UK in 1935. The body, steel sheeting on a timber frame, seats 30 passengers on the upper deck and 26 on the lower. This style would carry over to the standard steel-framed body design produced in large quantities for Sydney and Newcastle in the late 1940s.

This bus was withdrawn in 1948 then being used as a mobile racecourse totalisator, a shed and then a kid’s cubbyhouse. In 1983 it was bought for preservation and underwent a full body restoration in 1988. It is finished in its original Department of Road Transport and Tramways (DRTT) red and cream livery

1938 Dennis Lancet

Dennis Lancet, 1938

During the 1930s, the DRTT designed a standard single-deck bus body which was suitable for fitting to the various makes of British chassis. These new buses supported the double-deck fleet by working on routes with lighter patronage or low-clearance bridges, also replacing an assortment of older non-standard single-deck buses acquired over the years.

The new design had front and rear entrances, seated 34 passengers, and positioned the driver in a separate cabin aside the engine in the same manner as the double-deckers. Known as ‘half-cabs’, 78 vehicles were delivered between 1935 and 1939 on AEC, Leyland, Albion and Dennis chassis.

Of the six Dennis Lancet half-cabs built, the last four constructed in 1938 had steel framed bodies and were delivered in DRTT’s new single-decker green and cream livery, After just nine years 1492 was withdrawn from Government service in 1947, then saw service with private operators until 1958. In 1978 the body and chassis, devoid of the engine, were saved for preservation by a group of Museum members.

1940 AEC Regent I / 1947 AEC Regent III

AEC Regent I and Regent III

The AEC Regent chassis was well established in the UK when the NSW government ordered 161 in three batches. Regent I 1688 was bodied by Waddingtons and could carry 74 passengers, 61 seated and 13 standing. It entered service in 1940 and was withdrawn in 1960. It was then used on BHP steelworks services in Newcastle until finally retired in 1978. It was acquired for preservation in 1988, restored to original condition and painted in the pre-war DRTT red and cream livery.

Soon after the end of World War II, 845 double deck bus chassis were ordered by the Department of Government Transport from manufacturers in the United Kingdom, A.E.C., Leyland and Albion. AEC supplied 359 Regent III chassis. While the first batch of buses were Leyland OPD1’s, an AEC Regent III chassis was bodied in advance of the rest of the type by Commonwealth Engineering Co of Granville, Sydney. This bus had a revolutionary new pre-selector gearbox. The driver moved the gear lever to the anticipated next gear position, then when ready, pressed a foot pedal to engage the chosen gear.

Regent III 1792, in service from 1947, was the prototype of a large number of this type of bus introduced between 1947 and 1952; 359 postwar AEC Regent III’s entered service. This one was withdrawn from service in 1973 and was then used as a school bus until 1983, then restored and placed in the museum.

The Regent III chassis found its greatest success as the backbone of London’s RT buses, thousands of which were built. The Sydney museum collection includes London RT and Routemaster buses restored to as-new condition.

1948 Leyland OPD2

Leyland OPD2, 1948

6057 is a steel-bodied bus on a 1948 Leyland OPD2 chassis. The bus was built for Dion’s, a private bus company still in existence. It is similar to Sydney’s double deckers but was never a government bus.

121 double deckers were built for private bus companies between 1947 and 1950 and 6057 is the only known survivor. 6057 was built for the Wollongong to Austinmer service and ran until retired in 1964. It was then parked in a shed until acquired for preservation in 1982.This bus was acquired by the museum in 2024,

1949 White Semi-trailer

White semi-trailer, 1949

This vehicle is one of 123 semi-trailer type buses built and operated in Australia between 1939 and 1984. Most were constructed as specialised or one-off units.

The prime mover body was built around 1949 for a bookmaker from the Riverina area of NSW. The cab was assembled on a White Scout Car chassis extended to accommodate four seats, a toilet and a wardrobe area. The vehicle was to be used as a private caravan.

When the outfit was discovered derelict at Murrurundi, NSW in 1980 by a museum member, only the prime mover was salvageable. He then located a semi trailer bus body equipped with 53 seats and coupled it to the prime mover in 1984. The semi-trailer bus body is of timber frame construction and was built by Parramatta Bus Co, Northmead, NSW in 1947.

The complete semi-trailer unit was used on the firm’s services from Parramatta to ‘The Hills’ district until 1952. and sold to George Clements, proprietor of Nambucca Heads Bus Service in 1954. Over the years it changed hands several times until withdrawn in 1977, by when it was0 the last semi-trailer bus in service in NSW.

1954 AEC Regal IV

AERC Regal IV, 1954

3197 is an example of a second series underfloor bus, purchased by the Department of Government Transport (DGT) to finalise the tramway replacement program, and to enable the last pre-WW2 buses to be withdrawn.

The body, built by Clyde Engineering, was completed in August 1959. This bus spent most of its PT career at Randwick Depot before being sold to Fellowe’s Bus Service in 1978. They used it until 1983 before selling it for preservation. The bus was cosmetically restored to its as-delivered condition. Subsequent mechanical works completed over the next few years restored this bus to operational service in 2025.

1957 Bedford OB

Bedford OB, 1957

Bedford OB 200: Although badged as a Bedford, this bus is a mixture of parts from many different manufacturers. The chassis is constructed from pre-war truck components, mainly General Motors in origin. The front axle is from a pre-war REO, whilst the rear axle assembly and transmission are mid-war Ford parts. The engine is a Perkins P6 diesel.

The body is metal sheeting on a timber frame, built by Syd Wood of Bankstown. The only Bedford parts on this exhibit are the engine cowling and front guards.

This bus went into service in 1957 and was not retired until 1976, by which time it was one of the last ‘normal control’ (bonneted) buses in NSW. It was purchased for preservation in 1986, and fully restored over a three year period.

1973 Leyland Atlantean

Leyland Atlantean, 1973

Atlantean 1224: This is the last of 224 Leyland Atlantean double deckers which entered service between 1970 and 1973. The chassis was built in England by British Leyland, and all were bodied locally by Pressed Metal Corporation of Revesby. 1224 was the last bus completed, and entered service at Pagewood Depot in March, 1973.

The Atlanteans were the centre of a bitter dispute between the PTC and the Unions regarding one-man operation and the removal of conductors. This, coupled with severe reliability problems meant that they were not the most successful buses in service, and had relatively short service lives.
1224 was withdrawn after only six years of service in June 1979. After a period of storage, it was sold to Rover Motors of Cessnock who used it on school services. In February 1993 the bus was purchased by two museum members for preservation
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1970s Denning Landseer

Denning Landseer, 1970

State Rail introduced Denning coaches in the mid 1970s to replace early diesel powered rail motors servicing NSW regional rail routes.

The vehicle is an Australian-made Denning. They were common throughout Australia from the 1970-1990s in particular. Denning Landseer build no DL1247, was new to the NSW Government and originally assigned to the NSW Police. It travelled across the state as transport for officers, carrying the Police Band to various performances and carrying juries on court cases. In 2007, the vehicle was sold to Comealong Tours in Bass Hill and later passed to Bankstown Coaches. It was retired in 2016 and sold to a motorcycle enthusiast group in Dandenong, Victoria before being acquired by the Sydney Bus Museum through generous member donations.

In 2023, the Museum was the successful recipient government grant which allowed for the restoration into State Rail livery. It remains in preserved as the Museum’s only coach representative of long-distance travel. It is capable of re-entering service once minor mechanical works are attended to.

1999 Scania L94IB – something more recent

Scania L94IB, 1999

John J Hill started operating bus services in the 1930s. 7649 was the last bus delivered to them in 1999 before the company was sold to John King’s Premier Motor Service in 2001. The Scania L94IB was a totally new chassis, featuring an updated 9-litre engine. This bus was finished in this complicated but striking livery. It was retired from service in 2024 and restored to new condition by Premier Transport Group before being donated to the Sydney Bus Museum.

The Anthem of the Seas

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Since beginning my cruising career in 2016 I’ve only sailed with premium (not luxury) lines – Cunard (7), Princess (6) and Celebrity (1). Holland America is on my to-do list but they’ve yet to schedule a cruise that I can do.

Deciding to step outside my comfort zone, I booked a nine-night January cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas, from Sydney out to the mid-Pacific and back. Anthem is a large resort-style ship with attractions you won’t find on the lines above – see the pictures.

For comparison here are some stats of the ships I’ve sailed on (tonnage, length (m), passengers (double occupancy)):

Queen Elizabeth (2010): 90,900GT, 294, 2101

Grand Princess (1998): 108,806GT, 290, 2600

Queen Mary 2 (2004): 151,400GT, 345, 2705

Anthem of the Seas (2015): 168,666GT, 347, 4180

and for reference, the largest passenger ship currently sailing:

Icon of the Seas (2024): 248,663GT, 365, 5610

Sadly for medical reasons I had to cancel this cruise but was able to substitute a mid-Feb two-night round-trip cruise, also from Sydney. I knew I’d not have much time to enjoy the ship but here was my chance to sample it. My allotted boarding time was 3.00p.m. Boarding was quick and efficient and I was excited to be on board.

Most of deck 3 and decks 6 to 13 are given over to staterooms. Public areas (shops, eating entertainment) are on decks 3-6 and 14-16 – see the deck plans here. To keep costs down, I booked an inside stateroom (8711). I was pleasantly surprised by its size (of course it helps when there’s just one of you in a cabin meant for two … except when it comes to paying the bill). The most interesting feature was the virtual balcony: a high-definition floor-to-ceiling screen providing a real-time, high-definition view of the outside, making the room feel larger.

Given the size of the ship it wasn’t hard to spend several hours exploring. The ship’s Royal Esplanade is a two-deck-high central hub on decks 4 and 5, serving as the ship’s prime indoor shopping, dining, and entertainment district.

Notable were the top deck attractions for the fun-loving and family crowd the ship is aimed at. The North Star observation capsule takes guests high above the ship for 360-degree views of the ocean, ship and (when in port) some of the world’s most incredible shores from over 100 metres above sea level. The Flowrider surf simulator was affording the adventurous a lot of pleasure, the lawyer-inspired disclaimer not deterring them:

Riding on the Flowrider® is an extreme sport and high-risk recreational activity. Sheet wave surfing on the Flowrider may result in physical or mental injury, including but not limited to serious injury to the head, neck, back, hips, arms and legs, as well as the possibility of illness, disease, paralysis or death.

So nothing much to worry about!

/I didn’t take in much of the entertainment. The theatre stage show was ‘Wicked’ with a run time of two hours (most cruise shows are 45-60 minutes, two performances) so being rather tired I gave it a miss. Piano/vocalist Zoe Jackson in the Schooner Bar did a great job of entertaining patrons, myself included.

Food: For each of my two mornings I had breakfast in the Windjammer buffet, much like any cruise ship buffet. As elsewhere on the ship to my surprise it wasn’t hard to find somewhere to sit. Saturday lunch was a burger from Johnny Rockets on Deck 14. Each night I took dinner in one of the main dining rooms. The wait staff seemed unsure of what to do with solo travellers like me but after 5-10 minutes did find me some congenial tablemates. The food was excellent. The Saturday menu was supposedly French-inspired but included native dishes such as Steak and Guiness Pie and Lamb Curry!

On Saturday I went to bed early, knowing we had to be off the ship by 8.00a.m. I slept well, was up early for breakfast, then off the ship in time, ready to spend a day in Sydney before flying home. More of this to come.

Childhood memories: the Meccano Magazine

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For a number of years in the 1960s one of my main childhood interests was Meccano, starting with me being given a number 5 set for my (?) seventh birthday. For anyone who doesn’t know, Meccano was a construction kit with models being built up from perforated metal strips, plates, rods, wheels, gears etc. As well as boxed sets, Meccano dealers sold all the parts separately (several hundred IIRC), some costing just pence.

Over the next few years I added ever more parts including the seriously well-built No.1 clockwork and E15R electric motors and lots of gears. Jumble sales were another good place to buy additional parts. What happened to all my Meccano? I don’t know. I suspect that once I became a teenager I lost interest in it and my mother quietly found a new home for it.

As a true enthusiast I looked forward to each month’s Meccano Magazine and as soon as the publication date came round I’d be at our local newsagent asking whether my copy had arrived. More often than not, I’d have to wait another day or two!

The magazine, first published in 1916, was originally aimed at Meccano builders and featured articles on Meccano construction and new Meccano developments but over time it became a general hobby magazine aimed at boys of all ages with high quality articles on all sorts of contemporary science and technology, e.g. ‘Highlights in the aluminium story’, ‘Harnessing the Sun to melt metals’ and ‘A [ship] pilot’s life on the Tyne’.

A typical magazine of the time had about sixty pages, roughly split one quarter ads, one quarter Meccano and Hornby related articles and one half other editorial. So very much not just a Hornby puff piece. The ads provide a real insight into what might interest a 1963 boy. Here’s some of them:

The latest Hornby-Dublo models and Dinky Toys
Bayko building outfits
Adana printing presses and Mamod steam engines
Lott’s Chemistry sets
Webley air rifles
Meccano Club and Model Railway Society news
23 different vendors offering postage stamp approvals
Merchant Navy training for boys aged 13¾ to 16½ at HMS Conway, Menai Straits and 16-18 year-olds at the Reardon Smith Nautical College, Cardiff
Army apprenticeships for boys 14½-16½

Key contributors at the time included ‘Tommy Dodd’, a pseudonym for Les Norman, who wrote on model railways and John W. R. Taylor, an authority on aviation. The factual articles were solid and informative.

Meanwhile at the factory ….

In 1995 Hornby advertising executive. John Gahan, an advertising executive, recalled: “When I joined Meccano the Advertising Department employed about 30 people, and at its post-war peak the factory had a workforce of about 3,000. Around 500 were employed in the train room, where final assembly and packing took place of both trains and Dinky Toys. Post-war the main business appeared to be Dinky Toys, with 40,000 a day being produced.” According to National Museums Liverpool, in 1963 there were 2,000 employees at the factory – of which 80% were female -and another 3-400 on staff.

A decline in profits led to a takeover by Lines Brothers in 1964 and the Airfix Group in the 1970s. With huge competition in the toy market, Meccano/Hornby was taken over by Airfix Industries in 1971, leading to the closure of the Binns Road factory in Liverpool in November 1979 after sixty-six years. Meccano survives – see Wikipedia for the full story

How Meccano changed the world Liverpool Museum

Herodotus, Father of History (1)

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Herodotus

Herodotus, The Histories, Tom Holland

“Herodotus of Halicarnassus here displays his inquiry, so that human achievements may not become forgotten in time, and great and momentous deeds – some displayed by Greeks, some by barbarians – may not be without their glory; and especially to show why two people fought with each other.”

So begins Herodotus’s great work, his ‘Histories’. He was born c. 485 BC, travelled extensively during his life researching his ‘Histories’, and died c. 430BC. Of his life, not much is known.

To get you interested (hopefully), here are two of his tales, starting with my favourite:

1: The headless burglar [2/121]

[King] Rhampsinitus possessed a vast fortune in silver, so great that no subsequent king came anywhere near it – let alone surpassed it. In order to keep the treasures safe he proposed to have a stone building put up, with one of its walls forming part of the outer walls of his palace. The Builder he employed had designs upon the treasure and ingeniously contrived to construct the wall in such a way that one of the stone blocks of which it was composed could easily be removed by a couple of men – or even by one. When the new Treasury was ready the King’s money was stored away in it. After the lapse of some years, the builder, then on his death-bed, called his two sons and told them how clever he had been, saying that he had planned the device of the moveable stone entirely for their benefit. so they might live in affluence. […]. So the father died and his sons lost no time in setting to work. They came by night to the palace, found the stone in the Treasury wall, took it out easily enough and got away with a good haul of silver.

The King on his next visit to the Treasury was surprised to see that some of the vessels in which the money was stored were no longer full, but as the seals were unbroken and all the locks were in perfect order, he was at a loss to find the culprit.

When the same thing happened again and that each time he visited the chamber the level of the money in the jars had still further fallen (for the thieves persisted in their depredations), he ordered traps to be made and set. The thieves came as usual; one of them made his way into the chamber but as soon as he approached the money-jar he was after, the trap got him. Realizing his plight, he at once called his brother to tell him what had happened and begged him to come in as quickly as he could and cut off his head, lest the recognition of his dead body should involve both of them in ruin. The brother, seeing the sense of this request, acted upon it without delay, then having ﬁtted the stone back in its place, went home taking the severed head with him. Next morning the king visited his treasury and what was his astonishment when he saw in the trap the headless body of the thief, and no sign of damage to the building or apparent means of entrance or exit!

If you want to know what happened next, you’ll need to read the book!

2: The world’s first consumer test? [1/47]

King Croesus wants to know which of the oracles are to be trusted and which are charlatans. He decides to test them.

The Lydians whom Croesus sent to make the test were given the following orders: on the 100th day, reckoning from the day on which I left saw this. They were to consult the oracles and inquire what Croesus, son of Alyattestis and king of Lydia, was doing at that moment. The answer of each Oracle was to be taken down in writing and brought back to Sardis. No one has recorded the answer of any of the oracles except that of Delphi; Here, however, immediately the Lydians entered the shrine for their consultation, the priestess gave them in hexameter verse the following reply.

I know the grains of sand on the beach and measure the sea;~
I understand the speech of the dumb and hear the voiceless.
The smell has come to my senses of a hard-shelled tortoise.
Boiling and bubbling with lamb’s flesh in a bronze pot.
The cauldron underneath is of bronze, and of bronze the lid.

The Lydians took down the priestesses answer and returned with it to Sardis.
When the other messengers came back with answers they had received, Croesus opened all the rolls and read what they contained. None had the least effect upon him, except the one which contained the answer from Delphi. But no sooner had this one been read to him than he accepted it with profound reverence, declaring that the Oracle at Delphi was the only genuine one in the world, because it had succeeded in finding out what he had been doing. And indeed it had. For after sending off messages Croesus had thought of something that no one would be likely to guess, and with his own hands, keeping carefully to the prearranged date, had cut up a tortoise and lamb and boiled them together, the bronze cauldron with a bronze lid.

[Croesus was king of Lydia 625-585BC]

“Stay to dinner?”. “Thanks, I’ll pass!”

Translations in paperback (there are others too)

Herodotus, The Histories, Aubrey de Selincourt

Herodotus, ‘The Histories’, translation by Aubrey de Selincourt; ISBN: 978-0140449082 Google AI: “A strong, traditional choice, especially the revised version with better notes”.

Herodotus, ‘The Histories’, translation by Tom Holland; ISBN 978-0140455397 “Highly praised for capturing Herodotus’s fun, conversational, and ‘pub-man’ style, making ancient history feel immediate and exciting for modern readers”; TLS: “Unquestionably the best English translation of Herodotus to have appeared in the past half-century, and there have been quite a few … I am in awe of Tom Holland’s achievement.”

Others: Reddit discussion

Yarra River cruise 2025

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Melbourne grew up on the banks of the Yarra river at the point where the upstream fresh water met the saltwater from the bay, explorer John Batman having declared “This will be the place for a village“. The saltwater section took a long curved route which was only passable by the smallest ships. This led to the first railway line in Victoria being built, connecting the port at Williamstown with Melbourne. The first trains ran in 1857.

After the 1850s Gold Rush, with a fast-growing population and ships getting larger, it was obvious to all that something must be done to facilitate maritime traffic. As often now, good intentions didn’t translate into early action. Finally in 1877 the Melbourne Harbor [sic] Trust was formed. One of its first actions was to appoint Sir John Coode, the leading harbour engineer of his day, to advise them. He came up with a twofold plan: widening and straightening the river between city and bay, then constructing docks to the immediate west of the city centre and next to the railway.

Work on the Coode Canal, as it was named, began in 1880. It opened in 1886 followed by Victoria dock in 1892. Until the 1970s Victoria Dock, since renamed as Victoria Harbour, served as Melbourne’s principal port but is now just home to a number of ferries and lots of privately-owned leisure boats as well as being the centre of Melbourne’s Docklands suburb.

The Lady Cutler was built in 1968 as the first of seven similar double-ended Sydney ferries. After 22 years in service she was withdrawn and sold to private interests, changing hands several times, before being sold to Jeff Gordon and Ann-Maree O’Brien in 2007. They provided the funds to complete the restoration and on 8th December 2007 she was recommissioned by Lady Joan Cutler, wife of Sir Roden Cutler (Governor of New South Wales 1966-1981) as the Melbourne Showboat. Now between cruises she’s berthed below my balcony.

The cruise

Our allotted boarding time was noon. We boarded at the Victoria Harbour ferry terminal, then sailed out headed down the Coode Canal. On the north bank we passed under the Bolte Bridge, Appleton Dock, opened 1956, which handles general cargo, then Swanson Dock named for Victor Swanson, chairman of the Melbourne Harbor Trust commissioners from 1960 until his untimely death in 1972 aged 61. One of his first initiatives was to undertake a tour of worldwide port facilities. He returned to Melbourne convinced that the future lay in containerisation and this would need a purpose designed facility. The first container berth for overseas trade was opened in 1969 and the fourth began handling ships in 1972.

As we continued down river we passed the Maribyrnong river branching off to the right before passing under the imposing West Gate Bridge, construction began 1968. completed . In October 1970 one of the under-construction spans collapsed: 35 workers were killed. The bridge finally opened in 1978. The 58m clearance under the bridge lets most container ships access Swanson Dock.

With the huge Williamstown marina in view we turned round and started to retrace our course back to Victoria Harbour. On the starboard side we passed the Webb Dock which since 1959 has handled containers, general cargo and motor vehicles. Car carriers are IMO the ugliest of ships. Nearly all cars in Australia are imported, most through Webb Dock. Between Webb Dock and the ferry terminal there’s not too much of interest on the south bank, aka Fishermen’s Bend. In the past this area was home to s lot manufacturing including Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (who had their own airstrip), and Holden and Rootes car assembly plants. All these and many others have since closed but Boeing still occupy a considerable facility. Back at the ferry terminal we all agreed that it had been a good trip. Thanks go to the Lady Cutler’s hospitality staff for looking after us so well.

My motoring life

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This post lists the cars I’ve owned over the last fifty-four years. Sadly, I don’t have pictures of most of them. On turning seventeen I got my provisional licence and signed up with the instructor who had taught my mother to drive. In May 1971, at my second attempt, I passed the test and getting a car became my all-consuming ambition. I was working for the AA between school and university and reckoned I could save £100 for the car + £50 for insurance. My father didn’t drive, couldn’t see why I needed a car and so was not willing to help me, a pity really as an extra £100-£200 would have made a huge difference to what I could buy.

Now for the cars

1. 1962 Mini

After endless scanning of ads in the local paper and Exchange and Mart and numerous wasted visits to view rust boxes I settled on a nine-year old Mini that showed its age. I should have waited until I’d saved a bit more but the impatience of youth knew no bounds. The car may have cost £100 but during the two years I owned it I spent around £400 on replacing parts, most expensively the engine and gearbox, but also was a sucker for accessories that would allegedly make the car go better, faster or be safer. Most Saturdays were spent fixing something, whether necessary or not. Its fate was sealed when a massive Scania truck ploughed into it when stopped at traffic lights.
Engine: 848cc, 34 BHP, Overall length 3.0m

2. 1970 Mini van

The cars that followed were much better, largely because by then I had more money at my disposal: the Mini was replaced by 1970 Mini van bought from my upstairs neighbour. It had the optional 998cc engine. I fitted, necessitating the payment of Purchase Tax. This vehicle served me well for several years.
Engine: 998cc, 38 BHP, Overall length 3.3m

3. DAF 66 Estate

In 1976 I got promoted to District Building Control Officer, one benefit of this being that I now qualified for a low-interest car loan, repaid by deductions from my salary. DAFs of this era were famous for their own ‘rubber band’ automatic transmission, since reinvented as CVT transmission used in millions of cars across the world. It made for a very good car when driving from site to site. Helpfully, the nearest main dealer to me, Woodlawn Motors was easy to get to.
Engine: 1289cc, 57 BHP, Overall length 3.8m

4. 1979 Chrysler Sunbeam 1.3 – my first new car

I can’t remember why I decided to change cars, but the Chrysler Sunbeam caught my attention. I was particularly attracted by the frameless rear window.After a while I decided that I needed something with larger luggage capacity. Going over the jaded paintwork with T-Cut left patches of primer. The solution was what is known as a ‘blow over’. The trade-in dealer was not impressed!

Engine: 1295cc, 59 BHP, Overall length 3.8m

5. 1981 Austin Maxi 1750L

About this time British Leyland were selling off stocks of the just-discontinued Austin Maxi. A new one could be mine for £4,100 and soon was. To my boss’s chagrin, mine, unlike his, was a good reliable vehicle. Apart from the load-carrying capacity, the other attractions were the 1748cc engine which brought in a higher work mileage allowance, and its overall length of 4.04m, which meant just it fitted in the off-street parking space at my home. It stayed on the DVLA register until 2000, a life of 19 years.

Engine: 1748cc, 72 BHP, Overall length 4.1m

6.1985 Austin Maestro HLE

Maestro cutaway (from brochure)

Lot of people rate the Maestro as British Leyland’s worst car. I beg to differ: I like the big doors, generous glass area and wheel-at-each-corner styling. A local dealer had this one on the forecourt and with the benefit of finance (which I later regretted) it was mine. It was an HLE model (premium trim, economy tune) and was a beautifully relaxing car to drive.

AROnline Maestro development story.Engine: 1275cc, 64 BHP, Overall length 4.05m

7. 1990 Skoda Favorit

8. 1995 Skoda Felicia

In the early-1990s my business was failing and I was deep in debt. Then the tide turned. With more than a little difficulty I cleared the car loan on the Maestro and sold it, giving me a temporary cash buffer. My DAF dealer (above) now sold Skodas and I was able to buy a Favorit 136L on HP with a very low deposit, the remaining cash tiding me over – this was the time of the velvet revolution in Czechoslovakia so perhaps Skoda were desperate to move metal. When I collected it, I looked at the dashboard and remarked to the dealer, “it’s got a rev counter; this model doesn’t”. In reply he said “it’s so chaotic in the factory that they’re fitting whatever they can find: count yourself lucky”.

Following Volkswagen’s takeover of Skoda, The Felicia was a reskinned Favorit with other VW engineering improvements – for example mine retained the Skoda 1289cc engine, but with fuel injection rather than a carburettor.

Engines: 1289cc, 63/68 BHP, Overall length 3.85m

9. 1998 Suzuki Wagon

Suzuki Wagon series 1 (from brochure)

As someone who places a premium on functionality, the Suzuki Wagon looked just the vehicle for me. Others were less keen. Jeremy Clarkson (IIRC) said of it “the only person who would buy one of these is an escapee from a lunatic asylum”. And I was hoping to keep my secret safe! Uniquely both Wagons were built in Hungary.

10. 2001 Suzuki Wagon

Suzuki Wagon series 2 (from brochure)

The second incarnation of the Wagon was an aesthetically less challenging restyle. Mine is still on the DVLA register, MOT expiring January 2006. Apart from my DAF it was my first automatic.

Engines: 996/1298cc, 64/75 BHP, Overall length 3.4/3.5m

11. 2003 Honda Jazz

12. 2006 Honda Jazz

My second Honda Jazz

When the Honda Jazz appeared I knew it was the car for me, mainly because of its ‘magic seat’ which when folded gave a massive luggage capacity. I bought one and wasn’t disappointed.

Three years on I got a mailout from Chiswick Honda saying that they were short of cars like mine and would be able to offer me a very good trade-in price against a new Jazz. My first instinct was to ignore it, but on checking their website this looked to be true. At Chiswick Honda I tabled a printout of an ad showing what they could sell mine for, and my cheque book (remember them?) and said that if they could agree to £4,000 cost-to-change we had a deal. They did, we did.
Engines: 1339cc, 82 BHP, Overall length 3.3m

Why these cars?

When I moved into my own home in 1981 the 4m max parking space (ex front garden) was a key factor in choosing a car.

Whilst working as a council employee (1974-1984), maximising the difference between the mileage money one could claim and running costs was a key factor: thus a Maxi 1750 could be a better option than something smaller.

Once I became self-employed in the UK (1984-2008) it made most sense to run my cars as company cars and change them every three years or so. Choosing cars like my two Suzuki Wagons and two Honda Jazzes kept the perk tax to a minimum. IIRC the tax due was originally based on engine size, then on CO2 emissions. The Jazz was particularly good in this respect.

The ones I didn’t buy

You’ll have noted the absence of exotica, fast cars and prestige cars. No Fords or Vauxhalls either.

For my first car, I was mainly looking at Minis. I would have done better with an Austin A40 or Morris 1000, but the techno-snob in me didn’t want a car with 1950s technology. I also looked at several Wolseley Hornets and Riley Elfs (Minis with a boot) but the ones in my price range were really ready for the breakers.

Later I was attracted by the idea of a Saab 96 or Nissan Prairie but both were too long for my parking space. With hindsight I wish I’d bought a Triumph 1300 at some point.

And in Australia …

Here in Australia I’ve owned a Prius C, Nissan X-Trail and Toyota RAV4 hybrid.

In my teenage days most of my contemporaries and me impatiently waited for our seventeenth birthdays, the point at which we could apply for provisional driving licences and start the journey that would end with passing the driving test. This is now less the case: In UK a government report stated that driving licensing among young people peaked in 1992/4, with 48% of 17-20 year-olds holding a driving licence. By 2014 only 29% of 17-20 year olds held a licence.