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I needed a multi for my calendar today so it was onto the tram and back out to Coburg yet again. It just seems to have the caches I need at the moment. Coburg has a rich history as a textile hub starting with the former Lincoln Textile Mills, once the largest employer in the area. By 1946, Coburg was a bustling industrial hub with over 14 knitting and hosiery mills. The big mills have long closed but the Lincoln Mills chimney still stands. 🏭

Melbourne is renowned its coffee culture and for being sports crazy and there is no bigger sport in town than Australian Rules Football. You visited Arden Street Oval in inner city North Melbourne today. It was once the home ground of the North Melbourne Kangaroos but it just can’t provide the seating capacity needed these days although the team still use it for AFL Women’s games and as a training ground. 🦘

It was a day in “Tigerland” for you today. Richmond is home to the Richmond Football Club (The Tigers), one of the biggest clubs in Australian rules football. It’s an inner city suburb of Melbourne with lots of shopping streets. The area has a hill that overlooks the Yarra River which reminded British settlers of Richmond (now, but not then) in London.

According to British author and toponymist Barclay Simpson, Richmond is the most common place name in the world with over 90 places with the name Richmond. The first Richmond is found in Yorkshire, England. In 1071, a French Count named Alain Le Roux built a castle on a big hill overlooking the fast flowing Swale River. The word Richmond derives from the French words riche and monte, or “strong hill.” 🐯

Back to Coburg but to a very different part. You had a pre-CITO event inside Pentridge Prison, once a major Australian maximum-security facility operating from 1851 to 1997. Known for housing notorious criminals like Ned Kelly and Chopper Read, it is now a mixed-use area with cafes, a cinema, and accommodation. It’s amazing to walk amongst its thick bluestone walls and ponder what used to go on within them. 👮

I’ve nearly finished my multi calendar so had to make an emergency rush to this cache in Coburg prior to my father-in-law’s 80th birthday party. Known for its large Lebanese, Greek and Italian populations, Coburg is famously culturally diverse, with its diversity being at the forefront of Coburg's portion of Sydney road, well known across greater Melbourne for its immense variety of storefronts, ranging from the suburb's specialty; kebab shops, trendy cafés, Greek and Italian style patisseries, to grocery stores and delis of many different cultures. 🥙