Pygmy Blue Whale
Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda

The Blue Whale is the largest living creature on the planet. It is found in all the world's oceans. The Antarctic Blue Whale grows up to 30 metres in length and can weigh more than 160 tonnes.

The skeleton displayed was prepared from an 18.7-metre male Blue Whale, beached near Lorne, Victoria, on 5 May 1992. This specimen has been assigned to the subspecies known as the Pygmy Blue Whale, which is a smaller form. It is by far the largest animal displayed at the museum.

Note: opening hours/days of each venue varies. If you wish to view inside a venue ensure you contact the venue to discover when it is open to the public.
The link takes the viewer to a third-party website providing information about heritage in the region.

The BCNA is a not-for-profit community association in Port Melbourne. It is the successor organisation of the Swallow Street and Bain Street Residents’ Association formed in February 1987.  It was formed out of fear that the Victorian Government would acquire their homes as part of an urban renewal project.  

Purpose:
BCNA’s purpose is shown in its Rules of Association.  It is to “… provide a forum for all residents of Beacon Cove and abutting neighbourhoods to discuss key local issues and thence to take appropriate action to preserve and enhance the quality of life for residents and visitors to the area…”.

How we operate:
BCNA representatives meet key people and organisations to find solutions to local issues. They include Members of Parliament, State Government departments, the City of Port Phillip, Victoria Police, developers, the Environment Protection Authority, and Ports Victoria.  

Current issues:
Some of the recent issues BCNA has been involved in are:
•    Hoon driving and excessive vehicle noise around Station Pier and Beacon Cove.
•    advocating for air quality monitoring near Station Pier.
•    advocating for the redevelopment of the Waterfront Place precinct.
•    the enforcement of planning controls.
•    protecting the foreshore from overshadowing from developments.
•    An upgrade of the Princes Street stormwater drain.
•    Port planning.

Communicating to members:
The committee reports on progress with current issues by short news items on the organisation’s Blog website at www.beaconcove.org.au.  Members can receive these news items by subscribing to an email news service. In addition, a hard copy newsletter, The Beacon, is prepared twice a year and delivered to about 2800 mailboxes in the area.  

Encouraging a sense of community:
In addition to the email news service, BCNA organises social events. Often these are dinners at local restaurants. The events are popular and attract around 60 plus attendees.  They are a good way for newcomers to meet neighbours and to hear about local news.    

Membership:
Membership is open to individuals. You do not need to live in the area. An application form is shown on the website at www.beaconcove.org.au.  Current membership stands at 461.  

Further information about BCNA can be found on the website www.beaconcove.org.au 

Or contact:
The President at president@beaconcove.org.au
The Secretary at secretary@beaconcove.org.au 

Pygmy Blue Whale
Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda

The Blue Whale is the largest living creature on the planet. It is found in all the world's oceans. The Antarctic Blue Whale grows up to 30 metres in length and can weigh more than 160 tonnes.

The skeleton displayed was prepared from an 18.7-metre male Blue Whale, beached near Lorne, Victoria, on 5 May 1992. This specimen has been assigned to the subspecies known as the Pygmy Blue Whale, which is a smaller form. It is by far the largest animal displayed at the museum.

Note: opening hours/days of each venue varies. If you wish to view inside a venue ensure you contact the venue to discover when it is open to the public.
The link takes the viewer to a third-party website providing information about heritage in the region.

"Our History: After a 10-year search, we selected this very special terroir of our Hard Hill Road Vineyard site to call home and craft our Chockstone and Hard Hill Road labels. With its own special microclimate, the Hard Hill Road Vineyard’s cool ripening conditions and naturally low-yielding vines produce wines with layers of intense flavours and a velvety structure. Like many of the best wines in this historic region, our wines are approachable in their youth and possess the potential to age gracefully.

We purchased our property in 2005 while we were still living in America, and planted out first blocks of Shiraz, Riesling and Durif in 2006. The first vintage of ATR wines was 2007, and we made just 200 dozen from a neighbour’s vines. We spent the next 10 years improving our vineyards, planting more vines and new varieties (including Durif, Nebbiolo and Tannat), and in 2016 the time was right to pack up the family and make the big move down under full time."
https://www.atrwines.com.au/Our-Place

Note: opening hours/days of each venue varies. If you wish to view inside a venue ensure you contact the venue to discover when it is open to the public.
The link takes the viewer to a third-party website providing information about heritage in the region.

The link takes the viewer to a third-party website providing information about this region including activities and events in the region.

The Avenue of Honour (1917 - 1919) and Arch of Victory (1920) were erected as memorials to the people of the Ballarat and the surrounding district who enlisted in World War I. The Avenue of Honour consists of 3,771 trees planted at regular intervals of approximately 12 metres along 22km of the Ballarat-Burrumbeet Road. The Arch of Victory marks the beginning of the Avenue of Honour at its eastern end. The Avenue of Honour, with the Arch of Victory, was officially opened by the Prince of Wales on 3rd June 1920.

The planting of the Avenue commenced in June 1917 on the suggestion of Mrs W. D. Thompson, a director of clothing firm E. Lucas & Co, Ballarat, that an avenue of trees be planted in honour of the men and women of the district who had enlisted for service. The planting of one tree for each enlisted person began in June 1917 with funds of £2,000 raised by the 500 women employed in the factory, known as the 'Lucas girls'.The planting, carried out in eight phases over the next two years until its completion in June 1919. The planting, done by staff of the Lucas factory with the support of local farmers included 23 species of trees, mostly exotic deciduous species planted in single lines along either side of the road at regular spacings of 10 - 12 metres.Each species was usually planted in blocks of about 25 trees on either side of the road. The trees were numbered and allocated to individuals as close as possible to their order of enlistment, beginning at the Ballarat end. Plaques were originally attached to each timber tree guards giving the individual's name, the unit in which he or she enlisted and their number in the avenue. In 1934 these were replaced by permanent bronze plaques at the base of each tree, of which more than 80% are still in place.

Following cessation of hostilities in 1919 and completion of the avenue plantings, the 'Lucas Girls' led by Mrs W. D. Thompson began planning and fund raising of £2600 for a commemorative arch to provide an entrance to the Avenue of Honour. The Arch of Victory, designed by H.H. Smith, Head of the Art School at the School of Mines Ballarat, was a grand cement rendered masonry structure of a single central arch flanked by wide piers 20metres in width, spanning the roadway, and 18metres high. The arch, erected in 1920, is crowned by the 'Rising Sun' symbol of the Australian Commonwealth Military Forces beneath which the words Avenue of Honour and Victory are written prominently across the arch. In addition to the initial costs, for the Avenue of Honour and the Arch of Victory, a further £400 was donated by the public to a Maintenance Fund, with a returned soldier employed to attend to the trees.

During the First World War, the Avenue of Honour played a commemorative role and provided a stimulus for more people to enlist. Unlike other forms of memorials, avenues of honour and in particular the Ballarat Avenue required a high level of community participation in their creation which took place over a substantial period of time. Subsequently the Arch of Victory and Avenue of Honour became emblems of civic commitment to the war effort.

There have been a number of changes to the Avenue of Honour.Several of the original 23 species did not flourish and were replaced with species of Elms and Poplars which are the dominant genera of trees in the Avenue. In 1997, the Avenue consisted of 3,332 trees of forty different species and cultivars. Approximately half were found to be of fair to poor health and a management strategy developed, including the replanting of some trees.

In 1936 a memorial Cairn and Cross of Remembrance were erected at the Learmonth end of the Avenue where a tribute tree was also planted in 1959 in memory of Mrs W. D. Thompson. In 1938 a Memorial Rotunda was constructed 180m west of the Arch of Victory originally containing a 'Book of Remembrance' with the name of every person for whom a tree was planted, information now contained in a Roll of Honour on engr

Possibly constructed in 1875, this Lydiard Street frontage was purchased as an investment by trustees of the Juvenile Industrial Exhibition after a profitable exhibition was held in 1878. By 1885 this two storey building in Lydiard Street, Ballarat was let to the Commercial Club with the first floor used for their club rooms and the ground floor occupied by shops, in a similar manner to the adjacent Old Colonists Association of Ballarat building.

A number of social mens clubs were formed in Ballarat in the later nineteenth century, the most exclusive being the Ballarat Club which drew members from the Western District and from such areas as law, banking and the public service. The Commercial Club appears to have been formed in the 1870s to serve as a social venue for merchants, manufacturers and other businessmen.

In 1924 this building became tea rooms operated by the Misses Brazenor, becoming known as the Alexandria Tea Rooms in 1936. This use continued at least into the 1970s and later became known as Alexandria Receptions in the 1980s and 1990s.

Designed in a Renaissance Revival style, this two storey building has a two storey verandah which appears to have been constructed at a later date.