Avoid the Trap door spiders if you can!

Did tram inspectors evolve from these fellas? Or are you so religious, you think god created them?

So, I walked part of the way this morning, it's much too risky passing Swanston St in the mornings, especially with ticket inspectors are waiting like, well like things that wait then grab yea! Call them trap door spiders, indeed, and a walk is good for you, fresh air and a bit of Carbon monoxide, you cant beat it, not that it smells like Napalm in the morning, but you get the idea, welcome to the BIG city!!

So, I’m waiting to cross the street, Swanston St and Collins in fact, and there was a big statue, it's always kinda been there, it's so big, no one notices it, I though I’d have a look and low and behold, it was the statue I was thinking about the other day of Burke and Wills, some of the unluckiest guys in history that led an expedition to explore the interior of Australia.

Burke and Wills, so big, you could miss it and people pass it every day


Let me explain about the statue, back when they introduced the first trams in Melbourne, they were the type that had a steel cable pulling the tram up the hill, now, to pull the tram up Collins St, they needed to install the cables under ground, like the cable cars in San Francisco, which are the only moving heritage listed items in the US. People pay a lot to go on them; I did, in Melbourne they got rid of them.

But anyways, the original location of the Burke and Wills statue was on the intersection of Collins and Russell, in the line of the underground cables (at the time), so they moved it, to the intersection of Collins and Swanston St, I was reading about it last week, I made a mental note to find where the statue was and there it was this morning, right next to me.

You cant miss this guy!!

Now, on my way back from Shopping/lunch I stopped and read some historical plaques, one of many that are dotted all over the city. Swanston, now that's not a normal every day name, one of the guys that came over with John Batman from Tasmania was a fella called Captain Charles Swanston.

In 1835 when John Batman sought support for his proposal to colonize Port Phillip, a syndicate called the Port Phillip Association was formed with Swanston and Joseph Gellibrand as leading members. Swanston's role was to obtain the necessary finance and to act in effect as its commercial manager. He included Mercer in the association.

In 1835 Batman's expedition landed at Port Phillip and bought some 600,000 acres (242,814 ha), including the future sites of Melbourne and Geelong. Recognition of the title to this land was refused by the government in Sydney and London despite strenuous efforts of the Port Phillip Association to press their claims. Settlement of Port Phillip was finally carried out under the regulations in force in New South Wales, most of the rural land being put up for auction in Sydney

I also read, John Batman was the only Australian born citizen to found an Australian city, and for a while Melbourne was known as 'Batmania'

Interesting eh, when you know a little bit about the place you live?