St Kilda Dreaming

On Saturday the AFL Grand Final was held before 100,014 people crammed into the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

(Corvey, Brighton Road St Kilda, fell into disrepair and then demolished)

For only the third time in more than a 100 years the game was drawn at 67 points all.

(captains of Collingwood and St Kilda looking stunned at the end of the game)

I don't really follow football, and I can tell you that is pretty unusual in Melbourne. But I always watch the Grand Final and it was an amazing, heart stopping 1970s style game on Saturday.   I actually 'barrack' (I use that word very loosely) for Richmond but St Kilda comes a close second. For no reason other than I love the suburb and spent many happy years living there.

Do you know what happens in AFL when a game is drawn?  Unlike 99.9% of the other ball games played on this planet, there is no extra time.  No no.  They replay the game next week.   Although for future finals, they may need to rethink this.

So here,  for  my second most favourite team, are some St Kilda iconic buildings.   All demolished now.   Do you think we have learned not to demolish beautiful buildings?  I am not so sure.   St Kilda was a wealthy suburb in the 1800s and full of Italianate and Victorian mansions.   Many were saved simply by virtue of being converted into apartments.   Others were demolished in the 1960s to make way for brick flats or glass towers. 

(Iloura in St Kilda Road demolished in 1964)

(Armadale in St Kilda Road, demolished in the 1970s)

(Summerland House, located near the corner of Fitzroy Street and Acland Street, St Kilda)

I read an interesting story on the origins of the name of the suburb.  The buyer of the land on which Summerland House was located was a Lieutenant James Ross Lawrence.  He was captain of the schooner Lady of St Kilda. Captain Lawrence named Acland Street after Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, the ship’s owner.

Acland’s ship was in turn named after a Lady Grange. In 1734, it is said that she was imprisoned by her husband for seventeen years on the St Kilda group of islands, the westernmost point of the British Isles, and way beyond the Scottish Outer Hebrides. Only on his death could she be released. Her crime was in remonstrating with him about his schemes to restore the position of Bonnie Prince Charlie. There are seven islands in the group, but Hirta is the largest. It has not been continuously inhabited since 1930. Lady Grange was probably left on Hirta.

I will remember that next time I remonstrate with my husband about his schemes. 

(Images:  (1) Not sure sorry (2) The Age (3) (4) The Collector (5) St Kilda Historical Society

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A nautical Sunday

On Sunday I made a little cushion cover for my son.

I hear you saying, enough already with the cushion covers. The truth is I can't control it.  I haven't actually bought a cushion for about 10 years because (a) I rarely like the ones I see in shops and (b) the ones I did like were $150 plus. 

But now, I control the fabric, the cost, the timing and the cushion cover itself.  And so all that pent up cushion buying is exploding out of me in no uncertain terms.

Zips now hold no fear for me.  The zipper footer has been conquered. I can do zips on the edge and zips under a flap. I can do long zips and short zips. Ugly zips and pretty zips.  

I can do plain cushions and flowery cushions. 

And home made cushions are such great value.  Although it has been pointed out to me that if I costed my cushion making activities by reference to my hourly charge out rate as a lawyer, then my cushions would be far from good value.   They might in fact actually cost upwards of $600 per cushion including materials and labour.   Like me, you should choose to ignore that uncomfortable fact as it takes a little bit of the fun out of the exercise. 

On Sunday I thought - what about a collage cushion?  This would enable me to use up all those old jeans and overalls and tops which little P keeps growing out of rather than giving them all to the Salvos. 


So here is a boat cushion.

The base cover is navy cotton, the boat hull is from a pair of Gant jeans, the left side sail is from a pair of Boden overalls, the mast is some brown linen I found, the flag is a Gap T Shirt and the right hand side (or should that be aft?) is from a linen bag I had lying around.

I cut out a paper template first, and then used that as a base for the pieces.  I found it helped immeasurably to iron the pieces with the hem folded in first  so that the edges would not play up during sewing.  

And then, feeling a metaphorical salty breeze in my hair, I had a lovely lunch for a friend's birthday here:

This is the kiosk at the end of St Kilda Pier, which was originally built between 1900 and 1914 and then completely destroyed by an arsonist in 2004.  It was then rebuilt to the original 1904 plans.    I don't usually like new things built to look old but this resurrection is respectful and appropriate and I can't think of anything better to go here. 

The kiosk was run by a series of long term tenants, including a Mr Francis Parer, who lived in the kiosk for 30 years until 1930 and served 'fish and fruit luncheons without any intoxicating liquors of any sort'  and the Kerbys (Colin Kerby retired in 1987 having worked in the kiosk since 1934 from a young age). 

It was one of those perfect, windless 25 degree days in Melbourne.  Little cotton clouds appeared then moved on south.   The beach was crowded but not overly so.  Rollerbladers, grungy locals, plump tourists and fishermen mingled on the pier.    Little children splashed in the shallows and sunbakers (yes they still exist) slathered on sunscreen and settled down for an afternoon's tanning.   

This is the view facing south-east from the pier on Sunday.   

(Image of Kiosk and history from skhs.org.au)

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