As part of one of my first task for the new academic year I have found myself exploring some of the historical buildings of the RMIT city campus, this being for the “Ghosts and Space” course that I have chosen to undertake. In the first week of semester I have been exploring areas of the campus I didn’t even realise existed and it has been exciting to explore these new places and discover a bit about the history of not only RMIT but also Melbourne in general.
For this particular post I have decided to focus specifically on building 20 of the RMIT city campus. This building was once the Former Magistrates Court, this being something I was not aware of before last week. I had always known that from the outside the building appeared to be old and historic but I had never considered the beauty, age and stories that existed within the walls.
Walking through the building for the first time I experienced many different first impression. Initially I think that I was just amazed that a place of such age and significance had survived and existed right under my nose for the two years I had already spent at the university. Although it was obvious that many adaptations had been made to the building both for the practicality of its new uses and also to maintain structural safety, there was the same detail within things such as the windows, archways and doors that I imagine would have been present in the original structure. The further I walked into the heart of the building it seemed the more historic detail remained. I became intrigued not only in the architectural beauty but also in imagining the sorts of people who would have existed in this space throughout the many years it had survived. When I first saw the old courtrooms I found myself experiencing some form of internal conflict between what I was seeing now and how the area was continuing to exist today, alongside all the stories of conflict and triumph that must have been once experienced in these rooms years beforehand.
The first time I stepped into the courtrooms it was with my classmates and during this visit engravings that had been made in some of the woodwork had be pointed out. This was wood that had obviously been there for many years, however, the mystery of when the engravings had been made was left somewhat up to the imagination. Maybe they had been made back in a time when it was an active courtroom, or maybe it had been more recently when the space was filled for a presentation organised by the university. It was questions such as these that I kept continuing to ask myself while exploring the different areas of the building.
Initially I felt comfortable exploring this new space as I was with a group and I was receiving a relatively strict navigation throughout the rooms and corridors. On the occasions that I returned alone, however, I did experience some feelings of unease. I feel that this was caused through a combination of the fact that it was an area that ordinarily I shouldn’t have been wondering around in and also because this building was unlike any of the others I usually spent my time in whilst on campus. The area was relatively empty whenever I visited and I think this also contributed to a feeling of slight discomfort as the vacancy really provided the opportunity to imagine how differently the area would have been used over the years. Although this could be considered the most fascinating aspect of the space I also found that at times it could almost seem overwhelming as my presence at that moment in the history of the building was so insignificant comparatively.
Below I have included images that I have taken when exploring building 20 at various times throughout the past week.
Whilst the above images show the buildings interior in present day, below are some additional images borrowed from the State Library of Victoria showing the exterior of the building in the early 1900s.
Another document I found particularly interesting through my research explains a bit about the refurbishment of the building. This can be viewed here.
Today after months of speculation it was finally announced that amongst many other serious consequences, the Essendon Football Club would be forced to give up their place in this year’s AFL finals series as a result of their so-called “drug scandal”. It is clear that this whole saga has been an incredibly touchy topic and through its course it has tarnished the reputations of many significant figures, not to mention that of the game of AFL football itself. With today marking a somewhat conclusion to what has been a painful issue, I feel it is important that attention is turned not only towards the Bombers, but towards the issue of drugs in sport in general.
As a child I viewed sport as something fun to take part in and as something exciting to watch. I loved being active and I aspired towards being like the professional athletes I saw in the media. I feel, as I have gotten older however, that the sporting spirit that I fell in love with has been replaced with a fiery competition based more around money than performance. Today athletes aren’t just competing for a title; they are competing for a living, for sponsorships, for their club’s futures. With so much more consciously at stake and with technology every day providing new ways to gain a slight edge, in any form, the issue of doping becomes especially relevant.
Doping in sport is by no means a new issue, but it is evident that in the past few years alone we have seen so many of our heroes destroyed as a result. In the midst of the Essendon drama and in the lead up to the IAAF world athletics championships we saw several of the world’s fastest men found guilty drug use, and it was not so long ago that we saw Lance Armstrong torn apart. It is becoming an all to similar story, and the picture being painted as a result is that of the path of success being concurrent with the use of illegal performance enhancing methods. No athlete can be trusted, and successful athletes are now permanently targeted with speculation over whether they are legitimate.
With each new encounter, like that of the Essendon Football Club, the face of sport continues to change, this change not being for the best. The wrong example is being set and above all the health of athletes everywhere is being tampered with. Ultimately, instead of the key to a level playing field being a doping free environment the opposite is becoming true and it is scary to think what this might mean for the darkening future of sport.
Yesterday the Girls School that I coach hurdles at had their major competition for the year. All of the girls performed exceptionally and after several months of hard work received a deserving 2nd place overall out of 24 schools! Extensive preparation from students, staff and coaches had well and truly paid off and the school had achieved their best performance in the history of the meet.
Below is a picture I thought I’d share of one of my athletes leading through the early stages of her 90m hurdles race.
In light of the upcoming 50th Anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech I have thrown together an image which poses the question of whether Luther King’s dream has been fulfilled. In the 50 years since the speech equality in America has come a long way, especially in the likes of Obama serving his second term as President, but what do you think?
Last night I was watching the latest instalment in one of the few Australian dramas that I have become attached to over the past few years. After starting to watch part way through the first season I found myself purchasing the DVD box set on its release so that I could view the first half of the season that I had missed as well as the second half that I had already seen. I did this all within the space of two days. It is safe to say that from this moment I became one of those devoted and almost bordering obsessive fans. Today I have all three seasons on DVD, I like their Facebook page, I follow them (and most of the characters) on Twitter, I have their app installed on my phone, I have downloaded the music featured in various episodes and being a Melbourne based show I have even gone as far as seek out and visit the locations in which they film. When the show isn’t running on TV am counting down the days until it returns and when the show is running I am counting the days, hours, minutes and seconds between the airings of each episode!
With all this in mind, last night I feel that everything might have changed. This show, which is known for its incorporation of everyday family dilemmas with relatable humour, has now introduced its first main character death. Yes, I understand that actors/actresses come and go and that sometimes there is no other way to write a character of a script. But the dark emotion which surround the episodes following the death of a loved character are sometimes the ones where I find myself no longer attached to a series. I know that the next time I sit down to watch this show it will not be with the excitement that it will bring a good laugh. Instead it will be with the dread that I must spend 50 minutes watching the characters that I have come to know so well experiencing pain and heartache, and with the knowledge that the vibe of the series will never quite be the same.
*Below is a link to an article highlighting some of the reasons behind the decision; I guess giving it a read may have helped me to become a little more accepting!
This week I have been feeling slightly creative and as a result I thought I’d allocate some spare time to experiment with the technique of “sequence photography”. This particular type of photography is when on a stationary camera, a high shutter speed is used continuously to capture each aspect of an action. Each individual photo is later photoshopped so that each stage the subject completed appears on the same one background.
I became eager to experiment with this technique after seeing images of this style uploaded onto Facebook of one of my friends completing long jump. I wanted myself to learn how to produce an image similar and using instructions from the following site, http://jpgmag.com/stories/14474/, I set out to take some pictures where my sister does gymnastics, feeling the skills performed in that particular environment would look most effective in this form. Below is my favourite result.
This week I attended a free 45-minute psychology seminar designed to provide athletes with information on performance anxiety. In theory the idea was great, to provide athletes, parents and coaches with easy access to this kind of useful information. In reality, however, the session was confusing and repetitive and will not be the reason that I will remember this particular night for years to come.
After the session had concluded, with a group of friends who had also been in attendance, we headed down Claredon Street to grab some dinner. Although the name of the restaurant I can’t recall and the food that I ate was nothing particularly special, I will make an effort to return to this little Italian place in the future. The reason behind this being that in this particular spot, on a Monday night, there was a special Collingwood fan evening taking place, one featuring Dane Swan!
Now, I am not even a Collingwood supporter but I cannot say the same for a few of my friends, so naturally the night quickly took a turn towards ‘do whatever possible to get a photo with Dane Swan!’ At first this was through the sneaky selfies with small, blurred and unrecognisable figure of a man in a cap present in the background. As we finished our meals, however, one of my friends built up the courage to ask a waitress if she could inquire over the chances of us getting a quick snap with him on our way out. She replied, “I’m sure that would be okay” at which instantly our excitement escalated. This was short lived though, as she promptly returned to explain, “I’m sorry, it’s not okay. People have payed $75 to be here tonight so we can’t allow it.” Heads hung, we headed defeated out the door and took off down the street thinking of what could have been. We had only managed a few meters though when we heard the call of “Girls! Girls!” ushering us back inside.
The store manager had mistaken us as regulars and as we re-entered the building he promised us that he would see what he could arrange for his loyal customers. 45 minutes later, we emerged from the restaurant victorious! He had not just managed any photo for us, he had organised a professional photo, printed in A4 size and signed by Dane Swan himself for absolutely not cost, other than our patients. There is absolutely no doubt that we now all feel obliged to return back to this spot again!
Unfortunately we only received one copy of the photo, but here is a ‘photo of the photo’ taken on my phone.
