If you thought taxi drivers blocking Flinders & Swanston street was bad, imagine 250 trams parked on all of the major city routes along with public buses and picketers blocking all tram transportation. That’s what happened on January 2, 1990 and continued on for a month.

The year was 1989, the Cain government was suffering a severe overspending problem and was desperately seeking to cut money from anywhere it could. In August of that year, they revealed plans to convert to a scratch ticketing system on buses, trains and trams which would see 500 tram conductor jobs cut. Trams would be converted into a “driver only” mode and ticketing would be done via a ticketing system and security camera. Tickets were also able to be bought at convenience stores. Basically, the system that we have now.

As you would expect, conductors were not happy and with the support of the union staged various stop workages, refusals to collect fares, running trams without government’s approval, taking over of depots and finally the the straw that broke the camel’s back, parking 250 trams throughout the city. At this point, the government decided to cut off the power to the trams. Workers staged a 24-hour a day picket, setting up makeshift kitchens in tram depots. After a month of this madness, the government conceded on February 2 and although they moved forward to implement “driver only” trams, the conductors all kept their jobs.

Conductors were in the job until around 1998, when all trams were fitted with automatic ticketing machines.

“The reduction in numbers and eventual elimination of conductors saw a rise in assaults, robberies, graffiti and vandalism on trams staffed only by drivers. One hundred roving conductors were employed on Victorian trams in 2000 in an effort to combat these problems. In 1989, the Cain government believed that replacing conductors with scratch tickets would save $24 million annually. With automated ticket machines installed on trams, operators estimate that $50 million is lost each year through fare evasion.”

And where are we now? We are one year behind schedule on the new Myki system which won’t be fully implemented until 2010 and out of pocket $500 million dollars. Those those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.

Links:

Wikipedia: Myki

History Cooperative: The end of the line: an examination of the 1990 Victorian
tram dispute

Thanks to the avid cyclist Strider

Picture by James Popple

Oh boy Melbourne really likes fucking with the Western suburbs. Have you guys not noticed how bad news from the supposedly richer and more Anglo (read: less immigrants) Eastern suburb is always lame one liners like ‘Missing Dog Found’ or ‘Fire In Camberwell Put Out No One Is Seriously Injured’ but news from the Western suburbs always come out bad.

‘Woman Found Murdered And Dumped In Footscray’

‘Gang Fight In Sunshine Believed To Be Racially Motivated’

And I remember reading this in the papers once, it went something along the lines of:

‘I was sitting in Sunshine train station, where the bus depot is, and I saw gangs of Vietnamese and Africans sitting in groups. Sunshine and the Western Suburb is a dangerous place to live. The difference races do not integrate and they clash often.’ - some bloody politician

It infuriates me when I see how biased the media is towards the Western Suburbs. I’ve been living here for over half a year now, and although I cannot say that it’s the safest area, the old rhetoric such as ‘OMG you live in Sunshine? You’re gona be fucking murdered.’ is so old.

The Western suburbs, particularly Footscray and Sunshine, have definitely cleaned up and if anything, young couples are looking towards these areas for their first homes.

But I digress.

Now would anyone believe me if I told you there’s a conspiracy by Connex to screw Western Suburbians as well?

Well, two things.

How else does one explain why at peak hour in Melbourne Central platform 3, there are 2 EMPTY trains leaving for Cragieburn within 5 minutes of each other while the PACKED LIKE SARDINES train leaving for the Sydenham line leaves every 20 minutes.

Also, why are there less Zone 1 stations in the Sydenham and Werribee lines compared to every other lines? People living in the North, East and Southern suburbs have Zone 1 stations extending as far as Huntingdale or Reservoir, while the Westies have to cough up Zone 2 fares. This isn’t so apparent along the Werribee line, as the first Zone 2 station - Aircraft - is considerably far away from the Melbourne City Loop. But along the Sydenham line, how is Ginnifer a Zone 2 stop? It’s only 9 stops out of the City Loop!

Here’s a link to the Connex train network and tell me I’m wrong!

Still own a car? The planet says, ‘boo,’ but drive-in cinemas say, ‘yay!’ And who do you care about more, really?

Drive-ins Downunder has listings for all of Victoria’s (and Australia’s) drive-ins, but of special note are the three that are still operating in our area today. Coburg, Dandenong, and Dromana all feature old-style, open-air viewing.

The listing for the Coburg Triple Drive-In, Australia’s largest, are here, though it appears you might have to refresh that each week. And the movies they’re showing are a bit… well, I’m not sure how much they’re charging - since I can’t seem to book it online - but any amount for Rambo is too much. Better luck next week…

If you’re too into saving the planet to attend a session, reading up on the history of these yesteryear hangouts is still pretty fun.

No word on whether the owners are still on the lookout for you heavy petting types in the backseat. (Good luck, though!)

h/t to Effigy2000 and his MeFi writeup.

There’s nothing better than a cold VB on a hot day especially on some of these 42° days we have been having. The creative guys at Foster’s produced the video below in conjunction with 90 members of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Each instrument is made from VB bottles, with a variation in liquid to alter the sound.
Video: VB Stubby Symphony Orchestra

Video: Behind the Scenes

Foster’s has a few beer brands under its company including VB, Carlton, Cascade, and of course Foster’s Lager. Foster’s and the associated brand names are always associated as being Australian. In actual fact, Foster’s was started by American brothers William and Ralph Foster. In 1886, they set off from New York to eventually build a brewery in Collingwood. They sucessfully sold their beer to pubs all across Melbourne by giving them free ice with every order. A year later, the brothers sold the brewery and the rest is a history of amalgamations and mergers.

VB Stubby Symphony Orchestra
The Age: History as told through liquid amber
The Daily Telegraph: Beer ads go web only
GABR: Foster Brewing Co Ltd

Technorati Tags: Melbourne, Fosters, Australia, Collingwood, VB

Harold Holt was an interesting figure in the Australian political landscape. His accomplishments include the planning and preparation of the decimal currency, breaking down the White Australia Policy, and including indigenous Australians (Aboriginals) in the census. Despite that, he is world famous for his sudden death less then two years into being Prime Minister.

On the morning of December 17, 1967, he went for a swim at Cheviot Beach near Portsea. Despite advice from friends who were with him that day, he went out into the water known for strong currents and dangerous rip tides and never came back. His body was never found which has caused many conspiracy theories to develop in the 40 years since his disappearance.

One such theory is that he spent his lifetime as a spy for the Chinese. ASIO found out about this and was going to make an arrest in a few days. So on the day of his disappearance, he swam out and a Chinese submarine collected him. Sounds likely.

In a TV special premiering Tuesday and hosted by Ray Martin, the mystery around Holt’s disappearance will be further examined. This time the theory of his death is suicide. Unlikely? Yes, but more plausible then a Chinese submarine taking him away.

Who Killed Harold Holt?
9:35PM, CH 9

The Bulletin:Sex, Lies, and Suicide

Wikipedia: Harold Holt

Harold Holt Murder
(Good for a laugh. “Holt was murdered, because he was opposed to American bases such as Pine Gap being built on Australian soil”)

Picture is of the Harold Holt Swim Centre in Glen Iris. Oh, the irony. Taken by fotodudenz.

Technorati Tags: Melbourne, Australia, Harold Holt

Chinatown is mostly known for its good and bad Asian restaurants but did you know that Melbourne’s Chinatown is the longest continuously running Chinatown outside of Asia? The Chinese, like many other nationalities were lured over to Victoria (and Australia) with the promise of finding gold during the 1850’s gold rush. Shops and boarding houses were set up around 1854 to service the ambitious Chinese immigrants. After the gold rush fizzled, the area around Little Bourke Street transformed from boarding houses into various stores, importers, furniture makers, and of course restaurants. For much of the Chinese community, it has evolved into a place where friends and family get together to celebrate various occasions.

Some interesting facts:

• The oldest Chinatown in Australia.
• The oldest continuous Chinese settlement in Australia.
• Contains the world’s longest Chinese dragon (over 100 metres). Located in Bendigo.
• Lord Mayor John So used to run The Dragon Boat restaurant and now partially owns many restaurants in Chinatown.

Chinese Museum: Chinatown

Wikipedia: John So

Wikipedia: Chinatown, Melbourne

Picture via theurbannexus

Technorati Tags: Melbourne, Australia, Chinatown

Recently I read this interesting book called Melbourne: Then and Now. The book has pictures of various points of interests around the city. Each point of interest has one picture from the early 1900s and one taken now. I would highly recommend taking a look at it.

Inspired by the book, here are some comparison shots of Flinders St. Station.
(more…)

Re: Neil’s post the other day, I thought I’d link to a really cool project over at State Library. They’re digitising the old MMBW records, and you can now view the map covering the period 1890 to 1950.

There are three layers of map, so you have to kind of know where you’re clicking (if you’re looking for your house), but it’s also fun for a casual browse. At the Street Detail level of the map you can even see where the outhouses, kitchens, etc were.

The system isn’t completely intuitive, so play around with it for a while. You have to click the “select” button and then click the map to go down to the next level.

In 1897, my house was the Dove Hotel. Pretty cool.

Project Info [State Library]
MMBW Digitised Records [State Library]

As we today celebrate our 172nd birthday, we can look around at some of Melbourne’s history, from the Enterprize to Federation Square. Instead of looking up at the Eureka Tower or the Rialto, look down to your feet as a telling bit of history lies there in the road covers.

G & FC
Gas & Fuel Corporation
Formerly called the Metropolitan Gas Company, the company was formed in 1850 for the purpose of supplying gas to illuminate buildings in Melbourne.

In July 1997 the Gas and Fuel Corporation was disaggregated into three divisions: gas distributor and retail companies, a gas transmission company and an independent Market Operator, VENCorp. The distribution, retail and transmission companies were subsequently privatised by the Kennett Government. link

MMBW
Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works
Melbourne’s piped water supply commenced operation in 1857, with the completion of Yan Yean Reservoir, adjacent to the Plenty River. In 1891, the newly-formed Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works became responsible for Melbourne’s water supply system. In 1991, the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works was merged with a number of smaller urban water authorities to form Melbourne Water. link

AW
Amalgamated Wireless
In 1913 an amalgamation took place between Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph Co. Ltd and the Australian Wireless Company. This merger formed Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Ltd. The new company operated until 1988, when it became AWA Limited. link

See more of these on Flickr from Woowoowoo (or just look down next time you walk outside).

Technorati Tags: Melbourne, Australia, Road covers

On this day in 1835, Melbourne was almost known as Batmania, after one of its founders, John Batman. Unfortunately, this was shot down just like Guelphia. Today, there are a few tributes to John Batman such as Batman Avenue and a statue on Collins Street.

Other proposed names for Melbourne:

Bearbrass (There is a good bar in Southbank with this name.)
Bareport
Bareheep
Barehurp
Bareberp

“Where are you from?”
“I’m batman.”

Wikipedia: John Batman

Onlymelbourne: Trivia

[via 9AM with david & kim]

Picture via Batman vs. Superman

Technorati Tags: Melbourne, Batmania, Australia, John Batman