2006

Commonwealth Games clean-up #1

The banners all around Melbourne say “Melbourne Welcomes You”. However if you are homeless you’ll have to find somewhere else to sleep. Council pledged in the lead up to the games that homeless people would be moved out of Melbourne for the occasion.

In 1956 when the Queen opened the Olympic Games she did a tour of regional Victoria. In Shepparton, there was a large Aboriginal community living under the bridge so the local council erected a hessian barrier to make this problem invisible. Maybe they could do this in the City of Melbourne.

The original Heidelberg Mall

The Bell St Mall was established in 1956 to co-incide with the Melbourne Olympics. It was for the athletes who were staying in the nearby Olympic Village. After the event the Village was handed over to the Housing Commission to provide low rent housing for disadvantaged families.