History and Heritage

Our itinerary listed Melbourne (Geelong), but we did not take the 2 hour bus trip to Melbourne.  We have been there twice before.  Geelong is pronounced: g (as in the letter g)-i (as in it) long with the emphasis on long.  At least that is as close as I can get.

We are in the heart of sheep country, so the first place we went was the wool museum.  It is amazing how the shearer drags the sheep out onto the shearing floor, maneuvers the sheep around to get the best angles to cut and the sheep just sits there however it is positioned with no struggle and not a sound.



The rest of the museum tour showed the process of sorting, baling, cleaning, combing, making thread (yarn) and weaving the yarn into a finished product, both on a simple hand loom and on a machine loom that combined several hundred spools of yarn into a rug with an intricate pattern, all done by pressing a switch.

The local bluestone was widely used.

Our tour of the town showed us the variety of building materials and types. Old homes lined several blocks, while some older buildings were surrounded by newer buildings up to 5 stories.  There has been a height limit in effect for many years, but now tall office buildings and apartment houses are rising on the edges of town.

Many of the old churches have been
 "repurposed".

This combination of brick with sandstone decoration
 was another popular building material.

The City of Geelong Municipal Chambers
was built in 1917 in a classical style.

We ended our tour by going to goal (jail for you Yankees.)  The jail was built by convicts from England who were housed on hulks, ships no longer seaworthy, which sat in the harbor.  It was built in the English style in the shape of a three story cross using the local stone.  There was no running water, not even when the jail was finally closed in 1991.  Entering convicts were given jail clothes and a pail when they entered.  The pail got daily use as a toilet.  One of the only times convicts were allowed out of their cells was to empty the bucket daily and wash it out. Do I have to explain what they had to empty out of the bucket?  Some of the convicts tried to tunnel out by putting the dirt into the slop bucket and carrying it out that way.  All of them were caught before they succeeded.
Cells were small, about 6 feet by 8 feet with a narrow window at ceiling level (9 feet) and designed for a single inmate.  The prison was designed for 150 prisoners, but sometimes held up to 300.  Conditions were cold and damp and punishments were harsh including confinement to an underground cell with no bed and no light for days on end.  There was an insane asylum next door and many prisoners ended up there.  Hangings were held in the central area with everyone watching.  You could be sent to prison for seemingly petty crimes like stealing a loaf of bread.

Since it was taken out of use as a prison, the Rotary Club has restored some areas and conducts tours.  Our guide has been giving tours for over 25 years.  Sadly, the city sold the prison to a developer.  The building is listed as a historic sight, so the exterior cannot be changed, but the interior can be gutted and developed as the new owner sees fit.  I met 2 local ladies who had never taken a tour so I encouraged them to go while it was still possible.  A large part of the city's history will soon be lost forever, all in the name of progress.






Present punishment may not be as harsh as in the old days, but the officials let you know what will happen if you step out of line.

In the afternoon I wandered around the downtown on my own, seeing the ultra-modern Library, the grand old buildings and the mural in the city office building.  I even went into the Westfield Mall to see what a Target store looked like in Australia.  It could have been anywhere in the US except with different brands.

The Library

One of the unique attractions of Geelong is the series of statues around town.  They are made of old wharf pilings painted to commemorate the lives of people over the years.  If you find a rabbit somewhere on the statue, it means that the era represented was after the time when someone brought rabbits to Australia for sport hunting.  Now rabbits are an enormous problem, destroying crops and grazing land.

Notice the rabbit.