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Vaṇakkam, สวัสดี S̄wạs̄dī, Merhaba, Здравствуйте Zdravstvuyte,xin chào , Dia dhuit , добры дзень
dobry dzień, નમસ્તે Namastē नमस्ते to everyone around the world enjoying your #Wednesdaywalks.
Today I take you for a short walk for a longtime around Docklands in Melbourne and if it weren't for 
So docklands eh. Yes I have been here before, but not shared any of these photos with you in a Wednesday walk, just the #Architecture+design community here a week ago @chocolatescorpi/different-daring-deceptive-impressive-and-inspiring-docklands
And a few in the #Blackandwhite community here @chociscorpipro/a-monochrome-marvel-on-a-monochrome-day-this-is-my-entry-for-the-monomad-challenge
and the #photofeed community here @chociscorpipro/showing-off-just-one-small-part-of-a-vibrant-and-dynamic-skyline because within a 2 hour or so walk, I took 196 photos on my iphone and haven't even shared half of them here yet, so these photos that you will see in all of these posts in all of these communities may be the same place, but there is a huge variety of photo subjects and compositions that I captured, so be prepared for a #Wednesdaywalk adventure through a Docklands that you haven't seen yet!
I started of here as that's where I parked the car cause that's where the supermarket is and I needed to go shopping after the walk. Notice the bit where I say parked the car....
And first came across WHITECAPS By Ari Purhonen (2012)
The open sky, wind and the ebb and flow of the tides are elements in Docklands that connect us to the vastness of nature.
Nesting on the timber piles that once supported the old wharves, the mesmerising artwork shimmers like a shoal of fish gently moving with the winds and tides of the harbour. https://www.melbourneplaygrounds.com.au/docklands-public-art-walk-central-melbourne
Then I walked around to the front of the Marvel Stadium and pointed the camera away from it to capture this little snack shop (closed) and eating area
Then I kept going around to the left and as I did, I saw one of Melbourne iconic old rattlers (trams). These trams travel the city circle which are specially designated for tourists as they are free to travel on and you can get on and off anywhere and listen to the recorded information about each area and piece of history while you rattle along.
As you can see, it's absolutely chokkablok full of tourists at the moment so much so that the one person on the tram can't even fit their head in there...
And then this tram below is old, though not quite as old or rattly as the rattlers and is the one of the local commuter trams.
So I may have walked- well more like zigzagged. Stop shoot, start, speed, zig, stop, shoot, start, speed and zagged my way up and down and round and round this place, but you don't have to.
Here's the sign so you know where you are...
I came across the manicured bush infront of one of the many closed resaurants and cafe there and thought that it looked cool, so took a photo of it
But I think it wayyyyy more awesome like this!
And then I came across these works of art by sculptor, Adrian Mauriks...Sculptor Adrian Mauriks has described this work as 'a series of forms arousing to the mind, appealing to memory, reminding you of natural things - clouds, a tree, a forest - questioning and gesturing, and at the same time promoting sustainability in all things.' The work has a quiet presence, suggesting gentleness and an opposing view of the chaotic world outside. https://www.melbourneplaygrounds.com.au/docklands-public-art-walk-central-melbourne
On the NewQuay Promenade in Docklands there thirteen of these curvy white biomorophic fibreglass resin sculptures.
It is all very surreal, like alien lifeforms growing in the Docklands. Silence, 2001–02 by Melbourne based sculptor, Adrian Mauriks, who described it as “a series of forms arousing to the mind”.
Silence is spread out across an area of 18.5 metres by 12.5 metres outside Arkley Tower.
The white painted surface of the biomorphic blobs are coated an accumulation of black scuff marks from the shoes of people, mostly children, who climb on them.
https://melbourneartcritic.wordpress.com/2017/05/20/three-public-sculptures-in-the-docklands/
And then found a little oasis of true beauty- FLOWERS
Artists name is Mother Earth and she describes them as Natural, happy, enlivening, revitalising, vibrant, dynamic, low maintenance, soft, calming, pretty, easy to get along with, quiet, clean and best of all CREATIVELY COLOURFUL TO brighten up the Dull Gray days
MOTHER EARTH also recommends planting and nurturing her gifts of flowers everywhere, for they are here to have effects on multiple perspectives of not only the quality of the earth, but also will create a positive and enduring impact on the quality of life On the earth for all beings, especially the bees, all other insects which are of vital importance to the balance of her delicate ecosystems aswell as the physical and mental health of the human beings.
So, Before Docklands was full of the high-rises, banks, businesses and shops that we see today, Docklands was once a swamp.
This swamp was not the smelly, sludge you may envision. It was filled with fish, crabs and lush vegetation. Behind the swamp, kangaroos and emus ran free. It was a place of paradise for the Wurundjeri people who lived on the land.
“Then the Europeans arrived and decided to muck it up. They started to arrive in about 1835 and they arrived at where the Docklands area is and into where Queen St is because the Yarra was a freshwater river,” Dr Buckrich said.
“Of course every city needs water. That was the main reason why Melbourne was settled.”
At the time the Europeans were bringing in livestock. Most of the sheep were brought in from Tasmania due to the lack of space. Soon Melbourne became quite busy but the Yarra River could not accommodate the expansion.
The river was shallow and narrow. Bigger ships had to anchor at Port Phillip Bay and the goods were transferred onto small lighter boats. It was a cumbersome process.
Sometimes the ships would anchor at Williamstown and the cattle would have to swim in.
“Then gold was discovered in the 1850s so suddenly there were thousands of ships arriving in Melbourne. And quite often they were abandoned. The sailors would also abandon the ships,” Dr Buckrich said.
“Finally in the 1870s to 1880s they decided they had to establish a proper deep water port for Melbourne. That was when they started to build what is now called Docklands, but was the Port of Melbourne in effect.”
After the Industrial Revolution the port continued to be developed. Soon Melbourne was the busiest port in Australia.
The next major advancement in technology occurred in the 1960s, with the introduction of container ships.
“Once the container ships happened, that Port of Melbourne area was no longer deep enough … the whole way of shipping changed,” Dr Buckrich said.
“Through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, what is now Docklands was used less and less as a port and these container ports were built further downstream.”
https://www.docklandsnews.com.au/the-history-of-docklands_12004/
And then on NewQuay Promenade I accidentally interrupted a very obviously important Meeting 1 by artist SHUGANG, Wang
In front of the Melbourne City Marina This sculpture of eight men crouching in a meeting circle is located at the western end of NewQuay Promenade on the Dockland’s waterfront.
The bronze crouching figures have been cast from one mould, which was made from a life-size model. All the sculptures are painted red, a colour that the artist sees as a multicultural colour, making it ideal for representing Melbourne’s diverse community.
According to the artist, '... the colour red has multiple cultural meanings in China, historically representing happiness but during the Cultural Revolution it symbolized terror
Today red is the colour of the faded lettering praising Mao on the ceilings of the factories, coats of the Buddhist monks and the colour of wedding decorations'.
In Chinese culture, the number eight is significant and is believed to bring good luck.
Each of the eight figures is 92 centimetres tall and weighs 100 kilograms.
(and I couldn't help myself by showing them an alternate reality where they are gray and the sky is red...🤣..)
Wang Shugang is a leading Beijing artist and this artwork was acquired by MAB Corporation to be a feature at NewQuay.
'Meeting 1' was officially launched by the Right Honourable Robert Doyle, Lord Mayor of Melbourne, and MAB Corporation on 18 April 2013. https://citycollection.melbourne.vic.gov.au/meeting-1/
And then I let them focus on their meeting after taking a few snaps first ofcourse...
And say this gorgeous artwork on this pylon (?) and infact, that all had some form of printed designs on them, but I only shot this one sorry...
And as the sky started to turn dark blue and the now dead Melbourne Star pink (well maybe I did that to light up the night again..🤣.),
I received a phone call from my best friend Lisa who lives in true paradise up on the very most northernmost tip of Australia at a tiny Tiny TINY place called Portland Roads on the Cape York Peninsula https://www.portlandroads.com.au/ and so put her on video and took her for a tour back around to my starting point as she has only ever been to Melbourne once before years ago to visit me and so has never seen Docklands. Oh well, now she has...sort of....🤣
And then we kept chatting as I went to the car-
except there was no car there in spot no.13.😱.😱.😱.
Hmmm, interesting....🤔, so I walked up and down the street back and forth thinking shit 😱 shit 😱 shit 😱, it must have been stolen or towed away or something and it's not my car, so my mate will freak (well actually no he wouldn't freak too much but I would...😡..) and as I was starting to freak myself out, I realised that we had chatted all the way across to the wrong street. 🙄
So after I did an extra- what felt like 10k steps just looking for the car, I still had to go to the supermarket and get in there before the lockdown witching hour of 8.30pm for closing to be home by 9pm...
Anyway, so that was my Wednesday walk, full of wonder, artwork, flowers, statues, boats, buildings, intense meetings, history, sunsets, lights, nights and a lost car...
So how was YOUR #Wednesdaywalk I wonder? As entertaining as mine I hope...
Thank you so much for reading my post , I really hope that you enjoyed it and look forward to your comments and thoughts.
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And unless otherwise stated- ALL photographs, all media, material and writings, are all my originals taken by me sometime in the past few decades or so somewhere in my travels and as such, ofcourse they are subject to all international IP and copyright laws and I may have already used them for my own commercial purposes here https://www.redbubble.com/people/CHOCOLATESCORPI/shop And here https://fineartamerica.com/art/chocolatescorpi, So please ask first if you want to use any of them as we wouldn't want you getting into trouble. Thank you 😊
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