Friday, September 30, 2011

Class Excursion

At the end of this term, our class had a sfew class excursions. One of the excursion was walking down North Terrace to see all the statues of famous people. We started our tour at the corner of King William Street and walked up to the Adelaide University.

Thank God the weather was very good and that put everybody in a good mood, as these pictures show. 



Our teacher was our tour guide. She explained about every building and every statue that we saw. The first stop was at Parliament House. This grand building is built of grey marble and is located at the corner of King William Street and North Terrace.


Across from Parliament House, we saw the first statue. It is the South African War Memorial, also known as Boer War Memorial. This is a memorial to the soldiers who fell during the Boer War between 1899 and1902. Standing in front of Adelaide's Government House, it is considered one of the city’s most important statues.




The next statue was of Dame Roma Mitchell, the first female Supreme Court Judge of the Commonwealth. In 1991, she also became the first woman appointed as the Governor of South Australia. 




Still in front of Government House is Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. The Venus statue which is made from marble was the first statue in the Adelaide of city.   


A few meters from Venus, there is a section named Prince Henry Garden, where we found some portrait busts. 




Lord Florey, who was jointly awarded the Nobel prize in 1945 for his great contribution to the development of penicillin as a systemic antibacterial agent.
Sir Mellis Napier, a Lieutenant-Governor of South Australia from 1942-1973. The portrait erected in 1970 is a tribute to his great public service.
Sir Mark Oliphant, one of Australia's great scientists, a man with a brilliant mind. Yet many remember him for participating in something he would prefer to forget, the creation of the atom bomb.




Mary Lee, a secretary and leader of Woman's Suffrage League of South Australia.  She was very interested in education and further education for girls, she fought for better conditions for women and women's right to vote and stand for Parliament. 




The next one was of Matthew Flinders, navigator, hydrographer and scientist. Flinders was to first man to circumnavigate Australia and who suggested the name of Australia. He proved that Australia was not a series of islands, but one island. His charts were so accurate, that they were used for many years after his death.


The National War Memorial is a monument for commemorating those who served in the First World War. On bronzes line the walls of an inner shrine were listed the names of all South Australians who died during the Great War. Memorial services are held at the site throughout the year, with major services on both Anzac Day (25 April) and Remembrance Day (11 November). In front of the monument we took our class picture.



Unveiled on 15 July 1920, the King Edward VII Memorial is positioned on the north side of North Terrace, in front of the Institute Building and State Library of South Australia owned by the Adelaide City Council. He was the King of United Kingdom and the Commonwealth from 1901 to 1910. 


In front of the State Library, stands the statue of Robert Burns, a national poet of Scotland. The marble statue was presented by Caledonian Society in 1894. 2011 marks the 252nd anniversary of the Robeth Burn's birth.


In front of the University of Adelaide there are the monuments of Sir Walter Watson Hughes, one of the founders of the University and it's first donor and Sir Samuel James Way, an outstanding citizen who proved was a great judge and gave outstanding service to South Australia during almost 40 years as Chief Justice. He became a Lieutenant-Governor of South Australia in January 1891.



Last but not least was the statue of Sir Douglas Mawson, Australia's most famous Antarctic explorer. His story reveals a man who gave his energy and almost his life to exploring and studying the coldest place on earth.

From here went back to Tafe-Rundle Mall. On the way back we  looked for a cafĂ© to sit and had a cup of coffee. Everybody was happy and had a wonderful day out. 


Sunday, September 18, 2011

Cultural journey at Moon Lantern Festival 2011


Elder Park was alive again with the sights, sounds and tastes of Asia. A host of multi cultural Asian performers were on the centre stage, various food stalls sold a range of speciality dishes from their country of origin and thousands of people gathered together to celebrate The Moon Lantern Festival.


The performances on the big stage started at 3.30pm. Various performers from Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, India, China and some other Asian countries took turns at amazing the audience. There was also a special performance from the Shangdong Performing Art Troupe. Shangdong Province in China is the home of Confucius and has been Adelaide's sister city for 25 years.



This year, we enjoyed the festival with my father in law and my classmate, Vinh and her husband. We visited each tent taking in all the cultural demonstrations and checked out all the food stalls before we decided what we would have for dinner. So many choices always makes it hard to choose.




Even though the weather was not very pleasant, a lot of people still came to enjoy the atmosphere. I felt so sorry for those who had to wear their costumes without wearing a jacket.



As the sun set, school children, their parents, teachers and community groups paraded with traditional
and contemporary hand‐made lanterns that lit up Elder Park celebrating the beauty of the full moon.




The festival closed with fireworks display.


This year we were honoured with a gift of Moon cakes from our friends at the Dang Pharmacy...thanks Mia!