Welcome to wonderful Melbourne, a city enriched with a vibrant cultural population built from many thousands of years of immigration and migration.
You are standing on the 3rd constructed bridge over the Yarra River on this site that was built in 1888 'The Sandridge Bridge'.
Here you will find the story of the ten periods of migration to Australia as defined by historian Dr James Jupp AM.
The periods are represented by the Ten traveller figures created by artist Nadim Karam manufactured from more than 3.7km of stainless steel made up of 4,455 pieces. The average weight being 2,307kg and the heaviest is 7,701kg.
The ten Travellers and there description are as below.
1. Gayip - 'a guide to things that have always been there'.
Representing the Aboriginal Period it is estimated that Aboriginal's settled in Australia 50,000 to 70,000 years ago. Though many say they have always existed in the country.
2. First settler - 'he came ashore with a flag and shovel'.
The Convict Period of 1788 - 1868. Convict transportation was redirected to Australia as a result of the American War of Independence that cocluded in 1781.
3. Melbourne Beauty - 'a rare beauty that the mention of her name was enough to cause a stampede'.
The Gold Rushes Period of 1850 - 1890. Gold was discover in New South Wales in 1850 and in Victoria in the following years. The population went from 77,000 to 538,000 in just on 10 years.
4. Walker and his tucker bag - 'he scoured the city and country in search of work'.
Assisted migration period of 1830 - 1930. To replace convicts, British and colonial governments assisted the migration of British subjects by paying or subsidising their fares. This scheme was aimed at correcting an imbalance of the sexes caused by the convict system
5. Shelter - 'dreams and memories that arrived on boat from different far away places'.
Displaced persons from 1947 - 1953. Australia adopted a policy of populate or perish. It was the largest number of non British immigrants to arrive in a short period, 171,000 in 6 years.
6. Urban Wheel - 'the ability to move both horizontally and vertically'.
European migration period 1947- 1983. Australia begins to arrange assisted passages for other Europeans under agreements with their local Governments.
7. Running Couple - 'they now run together chasing the wind and the sun'.
Refugees period 1956 - 2005. Australia signed the United Nations Convention on Refugees in 1954, obliging it to give asylum without persecution. Over a 10 year period from 1981 the number of Vietnamese migrants grew from 41,000 to 122,000.
8. Butterfly girl - 'She collect butterflies but never keeps them longer than a day'.
Asian and middle east migration period 1975 - 2005. It was the end of the White Australia Policy and the character of immigration began to change with a decline of British and Europeans. There was a rise in Muslim immigration from Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt and Indonesia.
9. Technoman - 'He inhabites cities, speaks all progran languages and travels thru data streams'.
Students and professionals period 1975 - 2005. Historically immigration had been driven on manual and industrial worker skills. With an ever changing economy focus shfted to more emphasis on skills and education.
10. Walking Sun - 'a festive wheel of prosperity, bringing different and stories and elements as it turns'.
Society in Australia changed with the addition of Europeans and Asians, it was soon realised the new comers would change to Australian's overnight. It is now wodely accepted that Australia is a multicultural society and will continue to be so.
______________________________________
The pedestrian path over the bridge has a series of 128 glass screens.
These screens run the length of the bridge and record the details of Indigenous and immigrants history of Victoria.
The screens were concevied and underwritten by Melbourne businessman Les Erdi.
Each panel represents a community of more than 1,000 people.
Communities less in size are mentioned in summary panels.
An example is below for Croatia.
Now to log a find on this cache!
Your task is answer the questions shown below that can be found from the panels on the bridge and a small information board column at the north end or city side of the bridge.
1. In what year did the Sandridge Bridge close to rail traffic?
2. What is the Country directly under Luxembourg on the 'Rest Of The World' glass panel?
3. How many languages did the people of Ukraine bring to Australia?
4. As of 2001 how many Italians in Victoria were born in Italy?
5. How many indigineous language groups exist in Victoria?
6. Finally I do love photo's so take a shot of you/your GPS or something with your caching name at the front of the glass panel that represents your heritage. (This is for your found it log)
________________________________________________
As per geocaching guide lines you must visit this location in person and answer the questions to claim a find.
You can log your efforts straight away but please submit your answers to verify your find.
All answers can be sent thru the Message Center or emailed thru my profile to me whatever you feel comfortable with.
Thanks again I hope you enjoyed the visit.
Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.
Reference information from www.melbourne.vic.gov.au pdf document fact sheet.
