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You don"t have to be a socialist or have sympathy for the wider ideological platform of the Socialist Party to consider voting for Steve Jolly (Langridge Ward) and his colleagues Denise Dudley (Melba Ward) and Anthony Main (Nicholls Ward) in the elections for the City of Yarra council. The have a broad platform of pragmatic policies specifically focused on Yarra issues.

The Socialist Party candidates have been by far the most transparent and honest candidates during the election campaign. Fitzroy residents know exactly what they stand for and what they plan to do if elected. They also have no agenda to personally benefit from the policies they propose. I honestly cannot say this of most other candidates....Read Full Article»

The somewhat shabby but mostly enjoyable Smith St is changing rapidly. Earlier this year the sign in the image below was erected to demarcate the block south of Gertrude St as a fashion and art precinct. More recently, many premises on the block north of Gertrude St have closed, changed tenants or undergone significant alterations.

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The fabulous second hand shop Lost and Found is moving from its original position on Smith St further south to new premises on the block between Gertrude St and Victoria Parade on the corner of Mason St. I haven"t been in to see the new shop yet but I am looking forward to doing so!

It"s frustrating working in social media and social networking in Australia, which is so far behind the latest  developments in the US. This is partially due to population; Australian cities are simply not big enough to enable a minority of social media early adopters to form the critical mass required to support thriving online communities.

One of the most interesting social news sites in the US is Outside.In, which aggregates old media (newspaper articles) and new media (blog posts) into a stream of location specific hyperlocal content. Blog aggregator PlaceBlogger has a focus on location, and Metblogs has a geographical structure although it is yet to do anything meaningfully hyperlocal....Read Full Article»

Victorian teams have been in a drought in terms of Grand Final winners. The last time a Victorian team made it to the Grand Final was in 2003 (Collingwood) and the last time a team won the cup was in 2000 (Essendon). This year we have three Victorian teams in the finals and at least one in the Grand Final....Read Full Article»

It"s true. New airconditiong"s going to cost $1 million, repairs over the next 10 years to cost $12 million. Looking for a tenant, or a buyer. My other post about the Town Hall is here. I think we should reclaim the slums around abouts, and give it and the park we would build to Princess Mary of Denmark; lure her back to Australia.

Collingwood, an industrial and residential suburb, is 3 km. north-east of Melbourne. Its western boundary is Smith Street, Fitzroy, and its southern boundary is Victoria Parade.On its east are Clifton Hill and Abbotsford, both included in the former Collingwood municipality. It was named after Admiral Lord Collingwood, who fought at Trafalgar.

Along with Fitzroy, Collingwood was subdivided in 1838 into allotments each of about 12 ha. At that time both districts were generally known as Collingwood, although the Fitzroy part was differentiated by being known as upper Collingwood or Collingwood west.
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According to the Collingwood History Trail notes prepared by the Collingwood Historical Society in 1976 for the Centenary Celebrations of the City of Collingwood,  the church was demolished in 1968 because of lack of finance to repair the deteriorated building, despite a strong request for its preservation by the Natinoal Trust. The Society goes on:

North Melbourne Football Club was born in 1869, 32 years before federation making it older than the Commonwealth of Australia itself. Formed soon after the formation of the first set of rules for Australian football it can be said to be one of the oldest football clubs in Australia and indeed one of the oldest football clubs, of any code in the world....Read Full Article»