Melbourne Formation

Dights Falls is a rapid and weir on the Yarra River in Melbourne, Victoria, just downstream of the junction with the Merri Creek. At this point the river narrows and is constricted between 800,000-year-old volcanic, basaltic lava flow and a much older steep, silurian, sedimentary spur. The north side also contains abundant graptolite fossils in sedimentary sandstone.

Abbotsford (Woiwurrung: Carran-carramulk) is an inner-city suburb of Melbourne, Australia, 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District. Its local government area is the City of Yarra. At the 2016 census, Abbotsford had a population of 8,184. Abbotsford is bounded by Collingwood, Richmond and Clifton Hill and separated from Kew by the meandering Yarra River. Formerly part of the City of Collingwood, it is now part of the City of Yarra. Victoria Street forms the southern boundary to Abbotsford (with Richmond); Hoddle Street forms the western boundary (with Collingwood); the Eastern Freeway forms the northern boundary (with Clifton Hill) while the Yarra forms the eastern boundary with Kew, in Boroondara. Some well known Abbotsford landmarks include the Skipping Girl Sign, Dights Falls, the former Collingwood Town Hall, Victoria Park Football Stadium and Abbotsford Convent. Abbotsford is designated one of the 82 Major Activity centres listed in the Metropolitan Strategy Melbourne 2030. Abbotsford takes its name from the estate of John Orr, which in turn is named after a ford in Scotland's Tweed River, used by the abbot of Melrose Abbey. Since World War II the area has become quite ethnically diverse.

Victoria Park is a sports venue in Abbotsford, a suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The stadium is oval shaped and was built to host Australian rules football and cricket matches. In the past Victoria Park featured a cycling track, tennis courts and a baseball club that once played curtain raisers to football matches.Victoria Park is historically notable as a former Australian Football League (known as the Victorian Football League until 1989) venue between 1892 and 1999 and headquarters of the Collingwood Football Club for 107 years until 2004. It was also a temporary home ground for the Fitzroy Football Club for the 1985 and 1986 seasons. The ground is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register and is of state heritage significance.At its peak, from 1959 to the late 1980s, Victoria Park was the third largest of the suburban VFL stadiums after the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Princes Park. However, in the 1990s the AFL's ground consolidation policy forced clubs away from their traditional home grounds and Collingwood played their last AFL game there in 1999. Collingwood continued to use Victoria Park as a training and administration base up until 2005. The club has since returned to the venue to play AFL Women's, VFL Women's and Victorian Football League home matches.

Johnston Street Bridge is a concrete road bridge crossing the Yarra River between the Melbourne suburbs of Abbotsford and Kew. The current bridge was constructed in 1954-6 by the Victorian Country Roads Board (CRB) using a design employing cast-in-place reinforced-concrete curved Tgirders and an integral flat slab deck. The bridge was designed by Bruce A. Watson of the Country Roads Board. Watson went on to become later to become the CRB Chief Bridge Engineer.The early 1837 survey for the Melbourne township established a preferred route to the east of the Yarra River along Johnston Street, which was confirmed in La Trobe's 1841 plan of proposed roads to outlying districts. This became one of the earliest road construction projects, with gangs of unemployed immigrants undertaking roadworks in 1842. Johnston Street was named a Melbourne City Councilor in 1851 and a toll gate was installed soon after. The river could be forded nearby at Dight's Falls, but advocates for a bridge over the Yarra in 1855 debated over a preferred crossing at this site or near the end of Clarke Street or near the current Collins Footbridge. Another privately owned "Penny Bridge" was provided nearby at the end of Church Street in 1857.The bridge is also known as the Studley Park Road bridge, with the first bridge having been built as a laminated timber arch with timber lattice truss spandrels in 1858 and was replaced with riveted wrought iron girders in 1876.A section of the original riveted wrought iron lattice handrail survives as a fence across the surviving eastern bluestone abutment. The 1876 structure was built by W. A. Shand, father-in-law of prominent ironworker and engineer, Mephan Ferguson. The wrought iron spans were about 18 metres on the same alignment, adapting the original abutments. This was one of the first local bridges to employ cylindrical iron columns, which were filled with concrete to provide slender piers to reduce any impediment floodwaters. It is located on State Route 34. The Abbotsford end of the bridge was the terminus of the Collingwood cable tramway line, with a car shed located nearby. The car shed has now been demolished. The line closed in 1939, and nowadays bus routes 200 and 207 use the bridge.

The Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) is a classical music performance training facility. ANAM is a national organisation with students from across Australia and New Zealand. Since 2020 located at the Abbotsford Convent in Abbotsford, Melbourne, it is a member of the Australian Roundtable for Arts Training Excellence. Current artistic director Paavali Jumppanen was appointed in 2021. Former artistic director Nick Deutsch was appointed in 2016 and past artistic directors include composer Brett Dean and clarinettist Paul Dean.Established in 1994, ANAM's Professional Performance Program is for students wishing to study their instrument in the following categories: strings, woodwind, brass, percussion, and keyboard instruments. From 2012, ANAM offered a master's degree delivered in collaboration with Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, along with fellowship and short course opportunities.

The Abbotsford Convent is located in Abbotsford, Victoria, an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Australia. The Convent is in a bend of the Yarra River west of Yarra Bend Park, with the Collingwood Children's Farm to its north and east, the river and parklands to its south and housing to its west. During the 19th and part of the 20th century, the 6.8 hectare site was occupied by one of the largest convents in Victoria. For more than 100 years, the Abbotsford Convent provided shelter, food, education and work for tens of thousands of women and children who experienced poverty, neglect and social disadvantage. Recognised as a place of outstanding historic value to Australia and the Commonwealth, because of the site's strong capacity to demonstrate the course and pattern of welfare provision in Australia, the convent was added to the National Heritage List on 31 August 2017.Today the site and its buildings are used as an arts, educational and cultural hub, the grounds, historic buildings and gardens are occupied by and host artisans; community and cultural events and cultural institutions, a community classical music radio station (3MBS), a Steiner School (Sophia Mundi), live music performances, a gallery, theater, markets, bakery, bar, cafe and a pay-as-you-feel restaurant. There are 11 buildings on the site; the Convent, Convent Annexe, St Euphrasia, Providence, Rosina, St Mary's, Mercator, Magdalen Laundries, Sacred Heart, Industrial School and St Anne's.

Victoria Park railway station is located on the Mernda and Hurstbridge lines in Victoria, Australia. It serves the north-eastern Melbourne suburb of Abbotsford, and it opened on 8 May 1888 as Collingwood. It was renamed Victoria Park on 1 May 1909.Between 1888 and 1901, the station was the terminus of the Collingwood to Heidelberg railway line. Until a direct connection with the Melbourne CBD was opened in 1901, between Princes Bridge and Collingwood, the only connection to the city centre was via the indirect Inner Circle line. On 21 March 1959, the station platforms were damaged by a fire that occurred at a nearby timber yard.A former goods yard is located next to Platform 1, whilst a stabling siding, capable of holding two stabled trains, is located at the Down (northern) end of the station. The present station buildings were constructed in 1981, with the original wooden pylons that supported the former buildings removed soon after.The station is adjacent to Victoria Park, the former home of the Collingwood Football Club between 1892 and 1999. Large numbers of people used Victoria Park station to travel to and from AFL matches played at the stadium.

Collingwood Children's Farm is a not-for-profit, inner city working farm situated on the Yarra River in the Melbourne suburb of Abbotsford, Australia. It is located within Wurundjeri/Woiwurrung country. It is adjacent to, and considered part of the larger Abbotsford Convent complex. The Abbotsford Heritage Precinct Farmlands (APHF) supporting the Collingwood Children's Farm are unique in being the oldest continually farmed land in the state of Victoria. European farming commenced in early 1836, with formal land sales occurring in 1838. Farming on the APHF has continued uninterrupted from its agricultural use by Wurundjeri/Woiwurrung to grow crops such as Murnong (Microseris lanceolata). It is also the oldest Children's Farm in Australia, established in 1979. The farm holds a monthly Farmers' market, on the second Saturday of each month. To celebrate the Winter Solstice and as a fundraiser, the farm also holds an annual bonfire event.The farm has a range of animals from peacocks to goats, sheep, horses, ducks, pigs, chickens and guinea pigs. Nearly all of the animals at the farm are classified as rare breeds. The farm began in 1979, when a community committee leased a small plot of Crown land next to the Yarra River, used by the farm and Community Gardeners. Funding has come from various sources over the years and now entrance fees and donations make up the bulk of the farm's income. The farm relies on community effort with staff, volunteers and a Young Farmers' Program working to maintain the farm. The Yarra River Trail passes through the farm.

Sophia Mundi Steiner School is a school located in Abbotsford, Victoria, Australia, that follows Rudolf Steiner's educational philosophy. Schools which follow Rudolf Steiner's theories are known as Steiner schools, or Waldorf schools. Sophia Mundi was founded in 1985 by a group of parents. Classes Prep to Year 12 are based in the St. Mary's building of the Abbotsford Convent complex. A Playgroup is also offered on site.

Collingwood railway station is located on the Mernda and Hurstbridge lines in Victoria, Australia. It serves the north-eastern Melbourne suburb of Abbotsford, and it opened on 21 October 1901 as Collingwood Town Hall. It was renamed Collingwood on 1 May 1909.The station buildings and platforms were rebuilt in 1986/1987, and were in use by 7 September 1987.Whilst it is named after Collingwood (and the adjacent Collingwood Town Hall), the station is actually located in the neighbouring suburb of Abbotsford.

The Austral Picture Theatre was a theatre and cinema built in Collingwood, Victoria, Australia. It opened in 1921 as a theatre and later became a roller skate rink. It is currently used as a carpet store, with plans to partially demolish the building to make way for apartments.

Collingwood Town Hall is a civic building located on Hoddle Street in Abbotsford, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. The hall was built between 1885 and 1887 to the competition-winning design of local architect George R. Johnson in the Second Empire style, rich in detail with domed mansard roofs and a soaring clock tower. It is widely considered one of the finest town halls in Australia, and, along with the Sydney Town Hall and South Melbourne Town Hall, one of the best example of the Second Empire style in Australia. The Collingwood Town Hall building incorporated many functions in the one project, with a grand hall, a supper room, municipal offices and council chamber, post office, police station and court house, and a mechanics' institute (comprising separate ladies' and gentlemen's library rooms). The opening was held on the 29 March 1887. The clocks in the tower were installed later and were the subject of some debate in September 1887. They are reputed to have been the clocks once at the Melbourne General Post Office which was extended in 1888, but they were in fact ordered from Gaunt & Co, clockmakers, and were to be similar to the clocks at the GPO. Finally ordered in April 1888, and reportedly was on display at the 1888 Melbourne Centennial Exhibition, and the clock bell was cast by Mears and Stainbank at the Whitechapel Foundry, London, in 1890.It is considered an important example of the work of George R Johnson, possibly the most prolific designer of town halls in late 19th century Victoria (he designed or redesigned at least 6), as well as numerous theatres in Melbourne and other Australian cities. In 1938 the lobby and hall was significantly remodelled at the time in an Art Deco style, designed by AC Leith & Associates.The library space, upstairs on the north side, that was to be a mechanic's institute, became by the 1890s the Collingwood Municipal Library, open to the public until 10pm. In 1950 it moved downstairs to the former supper room, and then in 1978 into a former church across Stanton Street on the south side of the Town Hall. All the former rooms became office space.After the amalgamation of the City of Collingwood with the Cities of Fitzroy and Richmond in 1994 to form the City of Yarra, the Town Hall now functions as secondary offices and service centre for the Collingwood area for the City of Yarra. The Collingwood Police Station still operates from the rear on Eddy Court. The hall itself is used for special functions and as an exhibition space. In 2014 the hall was extensively renovated, and brought up to modern standards.