HUNDRED YEARS' OLD

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 491, 27 March 1933, Page 7

HUNDRED YEARS' OLD

i j MELBOURNE'S CENTENARY i CELEBRATION NEXT YEAR. Melbuorne, Monday. Towards the end of 1834 a wholing i station was founded at Portland, on ' the south-west coast. The rest of i Yictoria was a wilderness — a gumj tree forest, interspersed with rolling • downs, traversed by aborigines. Early i in 1835 Melbourne was reaced by 'an i expedition from Tasmania, while the J liinterland was explored by istock | owners, travelling from Sydney in ! search of rich pastures for their cattle. On October 18 of next year, 1934, the Victorian people will begin the celebration of their State's hundredth birthday, and will continue the festivities for some weeks. They believe that they have something to show visitors from other partss of the world that will he of fascinating interest and educative value. Within ia hundred years Yictoria has become a State traversed throughout its 87,000 square miles with railways 'and served by electric power in i every town and village. It is a manu- j facturing centre, and, with Sydney has probably the finet art collections in the Southern Hemisphere. Its people are proud of their industry and cultural attainments; they are sport-lov-ing, an dvisitors from other parts of the world have: given them a reputa.tion for great cheeriness and cheerful hospitality. These are the ordinary claims of propoganda, but it has to be admitted that they have a good hasis i nsnlirl farvfc.

October and November in Victoria, when the main events of th'e celebration will be held, are months in which the Victorian climate nears its perfection. September, October and November is the Austnalian spring-time, ] when a temeperate sun shines from cloudless blue skies; when the public and private gardens are aglow with blooms and field and forest present panoramas of green and gold, the gold being represented by the native wattleblossom. Safe,smooth bitumen, roads traverse the State and lead the motorists to scenic grandeur land heauty. Not the least of the events of the conetenary celebration will he the formal opening of the Shrine, erected by the people of Victoria, on an eminence near St. Kilda Road, Melbourne, to honour the soldiers who fell in the Great Wiar. The cost of this monument,- which towers over the lafidscape in gleaming white, will approach £300,000, received mainly from voluntary ■subscriptions.