The Funky Site

Constructed between 1841 and 1864 from bluestone, this prison was in use until 1923. The three levels are now a museum, with it's most famous exhibit being the bushranger Ned Kelly's armour (one of four suits still in existence) along with the actual scaffold at the site of his hanging. Death masks are an interesting inclusion to the museum - these are models of the dead men's heads which were studied using the now discredited art of phrenology. The idea at the time was that some crimes were genetic and by studying the size and shape of criminals heads and brains, scientists would be able to identify potential criminals among the population.

Ned Kelly and members of his family lived in north east Victoria, and it was there that some of the Kelly Gang's most daring robberies took place, including bank robbies at Euroa and Jerilderie. The village of Glenrowan was the scene for the famous shootout in 1880 where Kelly was finally captured before being brought to Melbourne Gaol. In Glenrowan there is now an eighteen foot statue of Kelly complete with armour, and an animated computerised theatre which tells the story of his revolt.

See the National Trust website for opening hours and more information.

The Polly Woodside Maritime Museum is a quick stroll across from the Melbourne Exhibition Hall, just west of the Southbank complex on the banks of the Yarra river. The museum name derives from the iron hulled barque which stands as the centrepiece of the museum, which in turn was named after Polly Woodside, the wife of the original owner William Woodside.

The museum consists of a group of historically listed cargo sheds which hold a collection of displays ranging from relic photographs to maps and model ships. The dock which houses the Polly Woodside is the only wooden walled dry dock still in existence anywhere in the world.

Polly Woodside, the 'Tall Ship' which stands outside was built in Belfast in 1885 and described at the time as 'the prettiest barque ever built in Belfast'. For the first nineteen years of her life she sailed between the UK and South America, rounding Cape Horn sixteen times with a cargo of either coal or nitrate.Sold in 1904 to New Zealand and renamed Rona, she spent the next twenty years trading around NZ, Australia and the west coast of America before becoming a coal hulk in 1923. She reached Melbourne in 1925 and has remained there ever since, with restoration work starting in 1972 and continuing to this day.

See the National Trust website for opening hours and more information.

The Botanical Gardens were established in 1846, and cover some 32 acres. Created in the English landscaping tradition of the eighteenth century, the rolling lawns, wooded coppices and formal flower gardens are a delight to locals and visitors alike. The gardens provide a popular place for families to picnic, feed ducks, swans or sparrows while some people run on a fitness track around the outside. The gardens are between the Yarra River and the busy St Kilda Rd in Melbourne, Victoria.

During the summer films are shown in the gardens as part of the Moonlight Cinema.

The Shrine of Remembrance was built between July 1928 and November 1934 in remembrance of those 114,000 men and women of Victoria who served and those who died in the Great War of 1914-1918. 89,100 of them served overseas and 19,000 did not return. The Shrine consists of the inner sanctuary, a roof top section and a crypt. The inner sanctuary contains the Rock of Remembrance, on which a beam of sunlight shines (via a hole in the roof) at 11:11am on Remembrance Day (11th November). There is a simulation of this unique feature every half hour along with a brief guide to the features of the Shrine. The Perpetual Flame burns outside near the Cenotaph.

You can find more information at the excellent Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance website,or at the official Australian War Memorial website.

Famous for the soap opera filmed on location here, Pin Oak Court is better known to millions of viewers in the UK as Ramsay Street. In reality it's a small cul-de-sac in the suburb of Vermont, Melbourne. The other sets including Lassiters and Erinsborough High are located on a closed set at studio B of the Global Television Complex in Nunawading - another suburb in Melbourne.