Get your FREE 24-page color Melbourne Day Program from Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne Visitor Centre at Federation Square and selected city outlets from August 10. Or download one here (PDF 1.9MB).
- 10am, August 30: Official Flag Raising Ceremony and Family Morning Tea
at Enterprize Park - join Lord Mayor Robert Doyle and Melbourne Day chairman Campbell Walker at the biggest flag-raising event of the year. A special message direct from the Mayor of Launceston will arrive aboard the Spirit of Tasmania acknowledging Launceston's link with Melbourne's history. Free public festivities include live entertainment, morning tea and a rifle volley plus cannon fire by the Historial Re-enactment Society. Come and meet the
2009 Melburnian of the Year. MC is Rob Gell.
Where: Cnr William Street and Flinders Street (near Melbourne Aquarium on the Yarra River's north bank).
- Melbourne Day debate, Thursday, 27 August - Should Melbourne Banish All The Lawyers? Melbourne Business Network's (inc. West End Business Association) annual luncheon has long been established as the must-attend cornerstone of Melbourne Day celebrations. This year's debate, moderated by Peter Moon from Logie-Smith Lanyon Lawyers, pits the Nays:
Bryan Dawe, political satirist performs as "Sir Murray Rivers, QC";
Tom Elliott, MM&E Capital Ltd and 3AW;
Tania De Jong, AM, soprano Pot Pourri, Music Theatre Aust and Creativity Aust, LL.B (Hons);
versus the Yeas:
Rachel Doyle, Victorian Bar;
Simon Wilson, QC;
Dr Sally Cockburn, "Dr Feelgood", 3AW.
Venue: Regent Plaza Ballroom, 191 Collins Street, Melbourne.
For more information or to book online visit melbournebusinessnetwork.org.au
- 7pm, August 29: Melbourne Awards ceremony gala dinner at Melbourne Town Hall – to recognise outstanding people and organisations that make significant but often unsung contributions to community. The awards are announced at a spectacular black-tie dinner. Entries to the 2009 Melbourne Awards have closed. More details, melbourne.vic.gov.au/melbourneawards
- The changing face of Victoria - FREE exhibition
at the State Library of Victoria. Details, state library website
- Melbourne Football Club Competition - win a family pass.
The club is celebrating Melbourne Day doing what it does best – playing footy at the MCG! Come and support Melbourne’s namesake team versus St Kilda FC. The club is giving away 50 family passes (two adults and two children) to the match. Passes include free admission to the National Sports Museum. To enter, simply answer: what is your favourite place in Melbourne and why? Entries can be a letter, poem, or picture. Best entries will be published online at www.melbournefc.com.au. Send entries, including your name, date of birth, school name and phone number to competition@melbournefc.com.au or post to Melbourne FC, PO Box 254, East Melbourne 8002. Entries close 5pm, 19 August. Winners will be notified by phone or email by 21 August. Terms & conditions are on the community page at www.melbournefc.com.au
When: Sunday, 30 August, 2.10pm
Where: MCG - Brunton Avenue, East Melbourne
- Ian Potter Centre, NGV Australia Voluntary Guided Tours: Melbourne Focus - FREE at Federation Square.
More info, National Gallery of Victoria website
- FREE entry Enterprize, Melbourne's tall ship -
Enterprize will be open to the public at Waterfront City, Docklands. Take advantage of a free tour and learn what life was like aboard this famous schooner. Tours available: 9am to 5pm Waterfront City, Docklands.
- Things to see and do - many organisations and city attractions are getting behind the celebrations and offering Melbourne Day family specials.
A full list is available at thatsmelbourne.com.au.
Highlights from previous years:
Former Lord Mayor
John So, right, at Enterprize Park in 2008. Free public festivities in 2009 include live entertainment, morning tea and a rifle volley by the Historial Re-enactment Society.
Enterprize Park is at the corner of William and Flinders streets (near Melbourne Aquarium on the Yarra River's north bank). It marks the location where the first settlers landed in 1835.
What I love about Melbourne. Children's Letter Writing Exhibition at ArtPlay, 2008
Children were invited to participate in a Letter Writing Exhibition on Melbourne Day. Participants attended a workshop at ArtPlay to learn the ancient art of letter writing and write a letter to Melbourne's founding fathers.
At the completion of the workshop the letters featured in a public exhibition at ArtPlay as part of the Melbourne Day celebrations.
2008 Melbourne Day debate, "Melbourne's owes it all to the Greeks"
Melbourne Business Network's (inc. West End Business Association) 2008 debate, moderated by Peter Moon from Logie-Smith Lanyon Lawyers, pitted AFL CEO Andrew Demitriou, Channel Ten newsreaders George Donikian and Helen Kapalos
against 774 radio host, TV judge and musician Red Symons; Tim Campbell actor, singer, Channel 9 game host; and Sally "Dr Feelgood" Cockburn, GP, 3AW personality and 6th generation Melbourne resident.
Grave stories of the Queen Victoria Market at the Royal Historical Society of Victoria
Dr Celestina Sagazio explored the history of Melbourne's fascinating, colourful and unique Queen Victoria Market. Formed in 1909, the RHSV is committed to collecting, researching and sharing an understanding of the history of Victoria. Housing the most extensive single information resource on the history of Melbourne and Victoria, collections are open Monday to Friday, 10am – 4pm. The RHSV is a community organisation that relies on membership subscriptions. Join today and help promote and preserve the history of Victoria. www.historyvictoria.org.au
Melbourne Awards ceremony gala dinner, Melbourne Town Hall
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The Melbourne Awards
recognise outstanding people and organisations that make organisations that make significant, (but often unsung) contributions to our community. The awards were presented at a spectacular black tie gala dinner at the Melbourne Town Hall on 30 August.
Things to do and see
Many organisations and city attractions get behind the celebrations and offer Melbourne Day specials.
Here are some from 2008:
Enterprize, Melbourne's Tall Ship
Federation Square Guided Tours
AFL World
The Amazing Human Body Exhibition
Melbourne Golden Mile Guided Walk
City Museum at Old Treasury
Winter Discovery Walk – Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne
Queen Victoria Market Foodies Tour
Champions - Australia Racing Museum and Hall of Fame
Melbourne Zoo
Cooks’ Cottage
Galactic Circus
M9 Laser Skirmish
Kingpin Bowling Lounge
Melbourne Aquarium
Melbourne 360 - Melbourne Observation Deck at Rialto
Eureka Skydeck 88
That Melbourne's West is best debate, 2007.
Foundation of Melbourne lecture presented by the Royal Historical Society of Victoria in 2005. Historian Samuel Furphy explored the memoirs of one of the earliest and most prominent chroniclers of Melbourne – Edward M. Curr (1820–1889).
That Melbourne was better then... The 2005 debate starred "Golden Oldies" Philip Brady (Night Line Radio 3AW), Peter Smith OAM (Channel 9 and doyen of the entertainment industry) and John-Michael Howson (doyen of the entertainment industry)
versus "Melbourne's Future" Alyce Platt (TV entertainer/singer), Annabell Priftis (rising singing star) and Alan Wu (Chair Australian Youth Affairs Coalition and youth media expert).
Welcoming the newest Melburnians born at Royal Women's Hospital
Parents of babies born at the Royal Women's on Melbourne Day 2005 were presented with flowers, champagne and a certificate. Melbourne councillor Fiona Snedden made a personal visit to the parents of the first child born on this significant day.
Official flag-raising ceremony and morning tea
Lord Mayor John So raised the Melbourne Flag at Enterprize Park.
Enterprize Open Day
As part of Melbourne Day celebrations, the replica schooner Enterprize that transported the first settlers to Melbourne was opened to the public.
The changing face of Victoria exhibition
The changing face of Victoria brings together historical artefacts, photographs, drawings, maps, letters and diaries to tell the stories of the people, places and events that have shaped life in Victoria over the past 200 years. The first section of the gallery focuses on the early years of European settlement, daily life in rural Victoria, and the events and mythology surrounding that most famous Victorian, Ned Kelly. Items on regular display include key artefacts such as the Batman Deeds, the last notes of Burke and Wills and, on permanent display, Kelly's armour. The exhibition is featured in the Dome Gallery and is open from 10am – 5pm. For more information, visit The changing face of Victoria webpage.
Melbourne Awards Ceremony black-tie dinner
The Melbourne Awards recognise outstanding people and organisations that make significant but often unsung contributions to the quality of our community.
Distinctly Melbourne at radii restaurant and bar
As a special 170th anniversary treat, the Melbourne Day Committee and Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2005 joined forces with radii restaurant and bar to present 'Distinctly Melbourne' at radii. Renowned chef Anthony Musarra developed a menu that celebrated the seasonal ingredients native to Melbourne for centuries, along with those immediately grown and farmed by the early European settlers. www.radiirestaurant.com.au
Quality Hotel Batman's Hill on Collins (by invitation).
River Room, Crown casino. Organised by the West End Business Association.
Organised by the Celebrating Melbourne Awards Secretariat.
Schooner Enterprize Open Day at New Quay, Docklands (pictures)
Official flag-raising ceremony at Enterprize Park (pictures)
Attended by Lord Mayor John So, the captain of the Spirit of Tasmania (delivering a message from Launceston's Mayor), dignitaries and others. Cr So raised the flag of Melbourne to a rifle volley. The official party proceeded to the City Square in a convoy of FJ Holdens.
City Square Melbourne Day celebrations (pictures)
The square was a sea of balloons, other decorations and people from noon to 2pm, with free gifts, live entertainment, prizes and a huge birthday cake. Melburnians born on August 30 and descendants of our city's first settlers attended.
Melbourne Day 2003 pictures
Official flag-raising ceremony at Enterprize Park
Proceedings began early morning with a congratulatory letter from City of Launceston Mayor Janie Dickenson delivered to Lord Mayor John So via the Spirit of Tasmania II. Spirit of Tasmania II captain Ian Loveland handed the letter to Sue Stanley, four-time world aerobics champion, at Station Pier. Sue ran carrying the letter from Station Pier
through the city streets to Enterprize Park where the City of Melbourne flag was raised. A permanent home for the Foundation Day plaque was unveiled at
the base of the flagpole.
Official Melbourne Day ambassadors
Members of the Royal Melbourne District Nursing Association were anointed 2003 ambassadors, following MFB fire fighters as inaugural ambassadors the year before.
3AW radio
3AW ran announcements calling on those born on the day to contact the
committee and to be part of the celebrations.
Official City Square cake-cutting ceremony
The event was attended by:
· Lord Mayor John So and other City of Melbourne dignitaries
· Members of the Port Phillip Pioneers
· Nurses from the Royal Melbourne District Nursing Association (who checked Cr So's pulse to confirm that the Lord Mayor and the city continue to be strong and healthy on Melbourne's 168th birthday).
· Melburnians born on the same day, including celebrity hairdresser Edward Beale, celebrating his 60th.
· City workers, passers-by and others who joined in the celebrations and helped sing "happy birthday".
Melbourne Day Debate luncheon at Crown casino's River Room
The debate at the sell-out event, run by the West End Precinct Association, was between the media (Jon Faine from 774 ABC Radio Melbourne; Andrew Bolt, Herald Sun and Lawrence Money, The Sunday Age) and politicians (Robert Doyle, Leader of the Liberal Party and State Opposition; Andrea Coote, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party and Opposition in the Legislative Council; and Andrew McIntosh, Shadow Attorney General).
The topic was: That Melbourne's media is out of date.
Celebrating Melbourne Awards gala dinner
The sell-out inaugural black-tie event at Melbourne Town Hall was organised by the Eureka Project for the City of Melbourne.
