Tour Geelong in Geelong, Victoria | Cruise agency

Tour Geelong

Locality: Geelong, Victoria

Phone: +61 3 5278 3768

Address: Bayview Parade 3215 Geelong, VIC, Australia

Website: http://entertainmentgeelong.com

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25.01.2022 Believe it or not, we’re coming toward the end for our daily bollard destination for isolation exercise walkers. This nondescript group of blokes is situated on the beach close to where the big wheel magically appears each spring. It’s another one of artist Jan’s contractual obligation groups, five wooden figures representing the town baths swimming club, but also showing the evolution - read reduction - of men’s swimwear during the 20th Century. If you’ve enjoyed these daily posts, would you be interested in joining a (budget priced 90-minute) guided Geelong waterfront walk explaining not just the bollards, but all the artworks and historic places on the route(s), once covid restrictions are eased? Please message Colin Mockett if yes, and we’ll start a 10-person waiting list.

22.01.2022 Three days in a row of beautiful autumn weather. Perfect for our isolation exercise walkers and their bollard destination. Today’s group is the five lifesavers close to the Eastern Beach enclosure’s western boardwalk entrance. They include Bill Coyte, he’s the lead lifesaver closest to the young boy. Bill is credited with teaching more Geelong children to swim than anyone else. He would hold lessons close to that spot - in the seawater enclosure shallows - every Saturday morning, weather permitting for some 25 years in the mid-20th Century.

22.01.2022 There were 104 painted characters on Jan Mitchell’s original Geelong Bay Walk Bollards project. Over the course of its six-year creation, that number turned out to be 110, spread 4.5km between Limeburner’s Point and Rippleside Park. But then following Jan’s death in 2008, it was decided to create one final bollard, of Jan herself. This was to be made of fibreglass and painted by her long-term collaborator, signwriter/artist John Starr. She was originally intended to be placed... on the opposite side of the road to her former studio, which is now part of Deakin University’s Sally Walker building. However, since the Jan bollard was completed, there appears to have been a CoGG change of mind and Jan’s plastic image has become a long-term fixture in the ground-floor display area of the National Wool Museum. This is the final daily post for lockdown exercise walkers. you’ve enjoyed them, and want more, you could join guided Geelong walk explaining not just bollards, but all the artworks and historic places on the waterfront. This will, of course, be after the covid restrictions are lifted, and include a booklet so that you can host your own tours to family visitors. Please message Colin Mockett to go on the waiting list. See more

19.01.2022 Another enigma is behind today’s civid-lockdown exercise walk bollard target. She’s the well-dressed lady holding a sailing trophy close to the steps outside the Royal Geelong Yacht Club. The cup she's holding was won by 'The Paddy’ in Geelong’s first sailing regatta, 1858. But... Behind her on the wall is a plaque noting that the Geelong Yacht Club was formed in 1859. So, in Geelong, we had sailboat and yacht races even before we began our yacht club. The races were usually held in the stretch of water between Yarra St pier and Eastern beach. That’s the reason for her position, because the Geelong Yacht Club's original premises were situated at Western Beach.

18.01.2022 These three rowers beside their boatshed below Western Beach Road are today’s daily bollard destination for isolation exercise walkers. They’re members of the C...orio Bay Rowing Club which first met in June 1873, held its first regatta on the bay in October of that year, then raised enough money to build that boatshed. The club would row regularly on the bay and occasionally, during poor weather, they trained on the Barwon River. During the 1930s they built a boatshed on the river to save the effort and expense of hauling their boats the length of Moorabool Street. They adding more sheds during mid 20th Century and moved their clubrooms to those sheds beside the Moorabool St bridge permanently in 1965. Today, it’s accepted that our rowers are river-based and it’s rare to see anyone rowing on the bay. If you’ve enjoyed these daily posts, you could join guided Geelong walk explaining not just bollards, but all the artworks and historic places on the waterfront. This will, of course, be after the covid restrictions are lifted. Please message Colin Mockett to go on the waiting list. See more

17.01.2022 Just for a change, today’s bollard targets for locked down isolation exercise walkers is a challenge. It’s to find the spaces vacated by two prominent bollards. The first is Morrie Jacobs, ex-Mayor, prominent department-store owner, businessman and now resident in the Carousel building. He’s popularly known as ‘the bird man bollard’ because artist Jan Mitchell chose to highlight that his garden contained a large aviary populated with colourful exotic birds that he would open ...free of charge to children on Sunday afternoons. His bollard was one of the first to suffer termite damage hence his shortened form being moved inside. But prior to that, his was the last bollard on the trail before its termination at Rippleside Park, close to his former home. The second missing bollard is the Scottish piper, who commemorates that, in its early wool-growing and dealing days, Geelong’s population and its government was heavily peopled by Scotsmen, with the Commun na Feinne Society its public face and one of the chief drivers of progress - and entertainment - during the early days of white settlement. His former position is still visible close to the seawall below The Esplanade. See more

17.01.2022 That's very nice. I've been posting the historical explanations behind a bollard a day as a destination for exercise walkers since the covid lockdown was announced. Today the page has chalked up 100 likes. Thank you. Please keep walking - and maintain the distance.

17.01.2022 On this glorious autumn day we’re staying with the newly-reopened Eastern Beach for our featured bollard destination for isolation exercise walkers. This group is situated on the slope above the attraction’s children’s playground. It was a nursery slope for younger children sliding on cardboard ‘toboggans’ - made from splayed cardboard boxes - during the years that spanned WWII. Older, more experienced downhill sliders would use the steeper slopes further west. These bolla...rds came from the time when artist Jan Mitchell was in dispute with the Waterfront authorities and chose to create generic groups rather than her original concept of well-researched historical local characters. Jan’s reasoning at that time being, ‘I’m contracted to make this number of colourful bollards so that’s what they’ll get’. The slope group depicts the changes of swimming costumes over time. They show, from left to right, an 1880s female in full neck-to-ankle costume complete with bonnet; a 1920s male in dashing swimming attire; a 1940s woman in her daring two-piece costume; a 1950s woman in white one-piece with matching bathing cap, and a 1930s lifesaver in full uniform. See more

14.01.2022 Today, with the reopening of Eastern Beach to walkers, our bollard target for locked down isolation exercisers is the two wooden figures who greet visitors to the attraction. They are, on the left, Geelong’s long-time town council engineer Ian McDonald, who oversaw the works during the early decades of the 20th Century. Eastern Beach was reclaimed from the sea with most of the work carried out by returned diggers from the Great War. You’ll recognise Ian by his McDonald tartan... tie and that he has the plans to Eastern Beach tucked under his arm. He kept a proprietorial interest in the place - originally called ‘The People’s Playground’ - to the extent that he oversaw the organisation of annual ‘Miss Geelong’ contests there. The Mayor who accompanies him never could have done so in life. He’s Robert de Bruce Johnstone, after whom Johnstone Park is named. He was known as Geelong’s ‘Parks & Gardens Mayor’ because he was determined to see that the wealth Geelong was making from the gold-rushes would not be squandered. He wanted to leave a lasting legacy of green spaces for future generations and reserved the spaces for Eastern Park, the Botanic Gardens, his park and many more. He died in 1881, well before the Eastern Beach project was built. See more

13.01.2022 This is the final group of daily bollard destination for isolation exercise walkers. There’s just one single last character to come tomorrow. If you’ve been reading these posts regularly, you’ll recognise that this is another group that was produced by artist Jan Mitchell while she was in dispute with the waterfront authority. She supplied the number of colourful bollards to meet her contractual obligations. This group of four on the west side of Cunningham Pier are members o...f the Victorian Bathing Establishment dating back to 1870. Jan chose to depict them as lifesavers. If you’ve enjoyed these daily posts, you could join a guided Geelong walk explaining not just bollards, but all the artworks and historic places on the Geelong waterfront. This will, of course, be after covid restrictions are lifted. They would include an inclusive booklet so that you could host your own tours for family visitors. To go on to the waiting list, please message Colin Mockett . See more

06.01.2022 Another beautiful autumn day for our featured bollard feature aimed at isolation exercise walkers. Today’s bollard destination is the group of four swimsuit-clad blokes situated between the east of Eastern Beach enclosure and the mineral springs. They represent members of the Eastern Beach Open Sea Bathers Club who would take a daily dip regardless of weather. The group’s bluestone surrounds point to this being the former site of the Eastern Parkside Baths - a square enclosed stretch of sea built in the 1930s and used for competitive swimming races as well as the club's daily dippers. Curiously, artist Jan Mitchell chose to depict her sea bathers as another group of lifesavers. You'll recognise now that they were created at a time of financial dispute between Jan and the Waterfront authority.

05.01.2022 The bollard target for COVID-19 locked down exercise walkers today is a bit of a puzzle. The young angler close to fishing pier below Western Beach Road is actually missing his father. There’s the base where his dad stood, but he’s gone into the shop for repair. The duo were meant to portray that their pier was a traditional place for fathers to take their sons and teach them the patient art of fishing. I’m sure that when repaired - probably from an attack of the termites - ...dad will return to his position. I’ve included a picture of the pair in their original state to give a clearer depiction of the scene. Incidentally, there’s a bit of a problem in this section of the waterfront, with both the Scottish bagpiper and Morrie Jacobs taken in for fixing. Morrie currently stands in the Carousel building while the Scotsman is presumed to be in isolation. See more