Happy Australia Day

January 26 - Australia Day - and I tried to make the most of it.

My day started with an official flag raising ceremony at the Old Town Hall, followed by a parade. The Old Town Hall is a magnificent building and there will be more photos and information about it in another post - this post will be only to celebrate Australia Day.

Not a breeze to be had, but I promise you there are flags at the top

Temperatures were already well into the high twenty degree range even at 10:30 in the morning, so I know standing there for the full ceremony was a tough thing to do for many of the men and women in uniform.

At the end they turned and marched away, leading the parade.

Navy

Army

Air Force

After the parade I walked over to a beautiful parkland area, known as King's Domain.

Here I managed to catch a flyover demonstration by the Roulettes.  The Roulettes are the Royal Australian Air Forces's formation aerobatic display team and they provide about 150 flying displays a year.

Part of the celebrations today was a display of veteran, vintage and classic vehicles.

Also there was a company showing off various Australian animals and reptiles.  Thankfully most, but not all, of the snakes were in tanks (especially since they're all highly poisonous) - and these two little creatures also took my fancy.

 A red-bellied black snake

A python

 A barking owl

A 14 week old kookaburra

After that I was off to Government House Victoria which was having an Open House today to celebrate Australia Day.  Government House here in Melbourne is the office and official residence of the Governor of Victoria and it was the official residence of the Governor-General of Australia from 1901 to 1930.  It is the largest Government House in the former British Empire.  Construction of the building began in 1871 and was completed in 1876 and has been in use continually since then.

 Dinner anyone?  The dining room table here can seat up to 54

 A scale model of Government House Victoria made out of ... lego

 "Super Impressive" - an ex race and police force horse

 Hopetoun Stables at Government House Victoria

After my tour in and around Government House Victoria I went over to the Shrine of Remembrance which was also having a special Australia Day ceremony, including the flag lowering to end my day.
The Shrine of Remembrance was built as a memorial to the men and women of Victoria who served in World War 1 and is now a memorial to all Australians who have served in war.  It is a site of annual observances of ANZAC Day (25 April) and Remembrance Day (11 November) and is one of the largest war memorials in Australia.