General June wanderings

 At some point looking at birdy Facebook stuff I got the impression that Bayside Council and its contractors had completed its wrecking of Yalukit Willam Nature Reserve and it was notw open again.  As I really liked the Reserve before it became an earthmovers playground/cash cow I tookmy self off there for a look round.  On arrival I found that the Northern end of the Reserve was now also subject to destruction.

There is a lot of PR bushwa about a Gateway Building and such like, but no indication of how to get into what, if anything, was left of the Reserve.  So I set off down Glen Huntly Rd to find out.  As I got to the South end of the Park it was apparent that the appalling works were in fact still in progress.  This is a snap through the chain link fence of the impersonation of the Somme in 1917 represented by what used to be a good birding area.

This sign suggests works - at the Southern end - will be finished by April.  Obviously a FAIL but on thinking more closely about it there is not actually a closing date on this sign (nor of course any dates etc about when the new disaster at the Northern end will be completed).  I conclude this will only happen when Bayside Council runs out of money to channel to its earthmoving contractors.  This mob make the Big Build look like a well run, community-oriented operation. 

On the morning of the 15th Frances had noticed, from her bedroom window, some balloons in the distance (possibly over Cremorne).  We were very surprised to find them incoming as we neared Toorak Rd on our walk 

While watching them descend we chatted to a dog walker who commented that she had, in the recent past, seen this one take out a light pole while landing.

Through some trees dimly

The green and white one continued right across the Park, landing just in front of our building.  Note also the folk on the ground pushing the Marathon balloon around.  I have no idea why they were doing that, as it seemed well away from the path and the Shaw jobbie.

There are more folk on the ground near the red and yellow balloon pulling the Shaw canopy to the ground,  The pilot of Shaw provided a fair bit of oral guidance as to how, when and where they should pull the rope.

After breakfast we headed to the Mediterranean Supermarket in Brunswick.  To put some variety in the outing we stayed on the 19 tram for a few stops past that and walked back down Sydney Rd.  Here is the route we followed from getting off the tram at Reynard St (because that gave a 2km walk which was as far as we wanted to go).  The first third of the walk (to Moreland St, marked by a green arrow) is in Coburg with the remainder in Brunswick

I have split the images into 2 sets covering "general sights" and street art.  The first image is of the Coburg RSL.  The sign is unfortunately almost illegible (on site and certainly in the image) but it says that the sub-branch is the oldest operating in Melbourne, commencing  in 1918.  The History tab in their website doesn't cover the "oldest" element.

As we walked along there were many shops selling all sorts of goods targetting cultures other than those of Anglo Saxon background.  Here are a couple of samples.

That led to do a little exploring of data about the cultural composition of Brunswick and Coburg.

This is the Woodlands Hotel, boasting it is the oldest hotel in Coburg. A craft beer site comments that "The site in Coburg has been one pub or another since 1851 and although it’s worn many guises over the years – including hosting its own racing track at the rear at one stage – more recently it’s turned its focus to craft beer. "

I thought this an unusual mix of activities for a site, and have enquired if such industrial integration is common in Melbourne or a speciality of the Inner North,

A thoughful arrangement outside a florist in Brunswick.  I don't think that is Alan Measles on the saddle.

Although as noted above the area has a large non-Anglo presence the only obvious religious edifice I noted was this Baptist Church opposite our destination supermarket.  (There are some more churches further down Sydney Rd in Brunswick, and I did note a sign on a doorway mentioning a mosque, but that seemed like a small operation - knock twice and ask for Abdul, rather than the huge place at Sunshine.)

Moving on to street art.  This one appears to have been struck by poor light.

The text three are of a garden alongside the Coburg Dental Practice and a sign notes that they were set up to celebrate the centenary of the practice in 2022.  The prectice has very quickly responded to a query and advised that the artist was Alex Sugar who seems to be a major artist (but doesn't list this one on his site).

When expanded the reflection in the eye of the Glider is particularly clever.

This is by Indigo O'Rourke, from the ACT now working in Melbourne.

Google Lens has, with an ounce of fiddling and a pound of patience, told me that the following is by Tom Civil.  The site which revealed that also includes a bunch of other interesting Sydney Rd Art, although as it comes from 2018 I am unsure how much will still be around.  (Directions on how to find the works are at the end of the page.)

I was able to spot the signature of the artist on the bottom right corner of the work.  Minna Leunig.

She turns out to be a daughter of the great cartoonist Michael Leunig, and is written up in this article in "Demure" magazine.  It includes this image of her working on the work in question.