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Government House, Melbourne

1876 establishments in AustraliaBallrooms in AustraliaBritish colonial architecture in AustraliaGovernment Houses of AustraliaGovernment buildings completed in 1876
Government buildings in MelbourneGovernors' mansionsHeritage-listed buildings in MelbourneHouses completed in 1876Houses in MelbourneItalianate architecture in MelbourneLandmarks in MelbourneNeoclassical architecture in AustraliaOfficial residences in AustraliaUse Australian English from March 2015Victoria State GovernmentVictorian architecture in Victoria (Australia)William Wardell buildings
GovernmentHouseMelbourne1 gobeirne
GovernmentHouseMelbourne1 gobeirne

Government House is the official residence of the governor of Victoria, currently Linda Dessau. It is located in Kings Domain, Melbourne, next to the Royal Botanic Gardens. Government House was opened in 1876, on land that had originally been set aside in 1841. Previous governors' residences included La Trobe's Cottage (1839–1854), Toorak House (1854–1874), and Bishopscourt (1874–1876). It was designed by William Wardell in the Italianate style, and modelled to some extent on Queen Victoria's Osborne House residence, to which it bears a strong resemblance. Between 1901 and 1930, Government House was used as the official residence of the Governor-General of Australia. This occurred during the period when Canberra was still under construction and Melbourne was designated as the temporary seat of government. Despite Parliament House opening in 1927, the Governor-General did not permanently move to Yarralumla for another three years, at which point Government House was given back to the Victorian government.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Government House, Melbourne (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Government House, Melbourne
Government House Drive, Melbourne Melbourne

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N -37.827939 ° E 144.976939 °
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Government House

Government House Drive
3004 Melbourne, Melbourne
Victoria, Australia
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National Herbarium of Victoria
National Herbarium of Victoria

The National Herbarium of Victoria (Index Herbariorum code: MEL) is one of Australia's earliest herbaria and the oldest scientific institution in Victoria. Its 1.5 million specimens of preserved plants, fungi and algae—collectively known as the State Botanical Collection of Victoria—comprise the largest herbarium collection in Australia and Oceania.The collection includes scientifically and historically significant collections gathered by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander during the voyage of HMS Endeavour in 1770, as well as 2,000 specimens collected by Robert Brown during Flinders' circumnavigation of Australia (1801–1805), and three collections made by Darwin during the Voyage of the Beagle to South America, Australia, and the Pacific. The herbarium was established in 1853 by Ferdinand von Mueller, the Government Botanist for Victoria, and is situated within the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. The present building was constructed in 1934 through a donation from philanthropist Sir Macpherson Robertson. It, along with a 1989 extension, houses the entire collection of 1.5 million plant and fungal specimens. The Herbarium's botanic library is an important source for the history of Australian botany, and has contributed some 124 volumes (of the 1212 volumes contributed by Australia Institutions) to the online digital Biodiversity Heritage Library. The herbarium is also a partner in the Australasian Virtual Herbarium project, thereby making all of its collection data available to anyone to use. The herbarium also publishes an online key together with descriptions of plants found in Victoria via VicFlora.

Australian Turkish Friendship Memorial
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Shrine of Remembrance
Shrine of Remembrance

The Shrine of Remembrance (commonly referred to as The Shrine) is a war memorial in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, located in Kings Domain on St Kilda Road. It was built to honour the men and women of Victoria who served in World War I, but now functions as a memorial to all Australians who have served in any war. It is a site of annual observances for Anzac Day (25 April) and Remembrance Day (11 November), and is one of the largest war memorials in Australia. Designed by architects Phillip Hudson and James Wardrop, both World War I veterans, the Shrine is in classical style, based on the Tomb of Mausolus at Halicarnassus and the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. The crowning element at the top of the ziggurat roof references the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates. Built from Tynong granite, the Shrine originally consisted only of the central sanctuary surrounded by the ambulatory. The sanctuary contains the marble Stone of Remembrance, upon which is engraved the words "Greater love hath no man" (John 15:13); once per year, on 11 November at 11 a.m. (Remembrance Day), a ray of sunlight shines through an aperture in the roof to light up the word "Love" in the inscription. Beneath the sanctuary lies the crypt, which contains a bronze statue of a soldier father and son, and panels listing every unit of the Australian Imperial Force. The Shrine went through a prolonged process of development, which began in 1918 with an initial proposal to build a Victorian memorial. Two committees were formed, the second of which ran a competition for the memorial's design. The winner was announced in 1922. However, opposition to the proposal, led by Keith Murdoch and the Herald Sun, forced the governments of the day to rethink the design. A number of alternatives were proposed, the most significant of which was the Anzac Square and cenotaph proposal of 1926. In response, General Sir John Monash used the 1927 Anzac Day march to garner support for the Shrine, and finally won the support of the Victorian government later that year. The foundation stone was laid on 11 November 1927, and the Shrine was officially dedicated on 11 November 1934.