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The Waiters Restaurant

1947 establishments in AustraliaBuildings and structures in Melbourne City CentreItalian restaurants in AustraliaMelbourne stubsRestaurant stubs
Restaurants established in 1947Restaurants in Melbourne
Melbourne The Waiters Restaurant 2017
Melbourne The Waiters Restaurant 2017

The Waiter's Restaurant is an Italian restaurant in Melbourne, Australia, described as a "Melbourne institution". Founded in 1947 as the Italian Waiter's Club, it was initially a place for waiters (mainly of Italian and Spanish heritage) to have a meal, a drink and play cards after their work - in breach of the very strict liquor licensing laws in place at the time. As such it became popular with other late night workers such as reporters and policemen.The restaurant is located up a "steep flight of stairs [leading to] a plain white door" suggesting "a no-frills massage parlour rather than a no-frills Italian food joint".In 1978, the restaurant was the venue of a siege when Amos Atkinson, armed with two shotguns, held 30 people hostage and demanded the release of Melbourne underworld figure Mark "Chopper" Read, his criminal associate. After shots were fired the siege was lifted when Atkinson's mother, in her dressing gown, arrived at the restaurant to act as go-between. Atkinson's mother hit him over the head with her handbag and told him to stop being so stupid. Atkinson then surrendered.

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The Waiters Restaurant
Meyers Place, Melbourne Melbourne

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Latitude Longitude
N -37.81207 ° E 144.97235 °
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Meyers Place

Meyers Place
3000 Melbourne, Melbourne
Victoria, Australia
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Melbourne The Waiters Restaurant 2017
Melbourne The Waiters Restaurant 2017
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Pellegrini's Espresso Bar
Pellegrini's Espresso Bar

Pellegrini's Espresso Bar is a café on Bourke Street in Melbourne, Australia, described as "one of Melbourne's most iconic destinations, in a city that prides itself on coffee and fine food". The café was established in 1954 by Leo and Vildo Pellegrini - brothers and migrants from Italy. The brothers had worked at Florentino's, a popular Italian restaurant on Bourke Street before establishing their own coffee bar nearby. The bar is claimed to be the first in Melbourne to use an espresso machine, although many cafés in the Italian-Australian neighbourhood of Lygon Street in Carlton acquired machines at around the same time.The café, originally tiny, expanded in 1958 and the heritage-listed neon sign at one stage pointed to a rear area on Crossley Street that is now closed. The café was originally patronised primarily by the Italian migrant community but soon became a popular spot for "theatre people, intellectuals and, eventually, tourists".Pellegrini's was sold to Nino Pangrazio and Sisto Malaspina in 1974, also Italian migrants. The new owners worked with the Pellegrini brothers for three months in the transition, to ensure that quality would be maintained. Pangrazio and Malaspina claim that little has changed in that time with the decor, the menu and the cooking style remaining the same. People said it would never be the same without the Pellegrini family running the place, but we had the same mindset as them. We just continued the way they had been. In 2014, Pellegrini's was inducted into the Good Café Guide Hall of Fame. The café is listed by the National Trust of Australia.Co-owner of the café, Sisto Malaspina, was murdered during the 2018 Melbourne stabbing attack, which prompted a significant outpouring of grief, with mourners leaving flowers and signing a tribute book to Malaspina. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, who described Sisto Malaspina as a "Victorian icon", announced that Malaspina's family had accepted his offer of a state funeral. The City of Melbourne also confirmed it was considering suggestions to rename Crossley Street, which corners Pellegrini's in honour of Malaspina, telling The Age that "In the coming weeks, the City of Melbourne will consider a range of measures to recognise the life of Sisto Malaspina." A memorial table was installed on Bourke Street, outside the café, in his honour in 2020. It features the words "Sisto of Pelligrini's" and his portrait, alongside a plaque that reads, in part, ""The outpouring of grief that followed Sisto Malaspina's death during a terror-related incident in Bourke Street would have surprised Sisto more than anyone else. Yet the response made sense: Sisto loved Melbourne - and Melbourne loved him back." In 2020, during the Covid pandemic, Sisto's son, David, and wife, Vicki, bought out Nino Pangrazio. David currently manages the café.

Parliament of Victoria
Parliament of Victoria

The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria that follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system. It consists of the Queen, represented by the Governor of Victoria, the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. It has a fused executive drawn from members of both chambers. The parliament meets at Parliament House in the state capital Melbourne. The current Parliament was elected on 24 November 2018, sworn in on 19 December 2018 and is the 59th parliament in Victoria.The two Houses of Parliament have 128 members in total, 88 in the Legislative Assembly (lower house) and 40 in the Legislative Council (upper house). Victoria has compulsory voting and uses instant-runoff voting in single-member seats for the Legislative Assembly, and single transferable vote in multi-member seats for the proportionally represented Legislative Council. The council is described as a house of review. Majorities in the Legislative Council are rare, so the government of the day must negotiate with other parties to pass much of its legislative agenda. All members serve four-year terms. The parliament's functions and processes have evolved over time, undergoing significant changes as Victoria changed from an independent colony to a state within the federated Australia.The Parliament may make laws for any matter within Victoria, subject to the Victorian Constitution. Its power is further limited by the ability for the federal government to override it in some circumstances, subject to the Australian Constitution. Similarly, the Supreme Court of Victoria provides judicial oversight of Parliament and is vested with equal power. The parliament is also vested with other powers, such as the means to investigate matters, conduct research and summon witnesses.Government is formed by the party or parties who command confidence and supply within the Assembly. The leader of the governing party or parties is the Premier, the most senior elected member of Victoria's executive government. Victorians do not directly elect the Premier, and the leader of the majority party is appointed Premier by the Governor. Daniel Andrews has been the Premier since the Labor Party victory in the 2014 election.