March 2010
Open Day - Parliament House
This year Open Day will be held on Sunday 21 March. The doors will open to the public at 11 am and close at 4.00 pm.
The Parliament House Open Day provides a unique opportunity for all to see inside our historic building and to find out what goes on in the corridors of power. Admission is free and a self-guided map is available.
Stands - Parliamentary departments will have various displays around the building along with the Victorian Electoral Commission and the Public Records Office Victoria.
Entertainment
Front of the Building - 10.45 am to 11.45 am. A Jazz Band will perform under the Colonnade at the front of the building.
Parliamentary Gardens - Visitors can also stroll through the parliamentary gardens. Light refreshments will be available. From 12 noon to 4.00 pm. Musical entertainment will be provided in the Parliamentary Gardens.
Every Action Taken, Every Community, Every Day
Entries are now open for the 2010 Keep Australia Beautiful Victoria Awards. The awards recognise and celebrate everyday actions taken by all Victorians to protect and enhance their environment.
There are three award programs: Sustainable Cities, Clean Beaches and Tidy Towns - Sustainable Communities. The programs reward activities such as reducing waste, preserving heritage, saving energy, conserving water and lots more.
The Awards, now in their 28th year, give Victorians the opportunity to recognise and celebrate efforts to improve, maintain and sustain their local environments. Local tourism is another benefit, with finalists generally receiving strong coverage during the program.
Local government, community groups, schools and Individuals are all encouraged to enter.
Entries for Sustainable Cities and Clean Beaches close on 19 March, and entries for Tidy Towns - Sustainable Communities close on 9 April. Entry is free for all Keep Australia Beautiful Victoria member councils.
To find out more about the awards, or to enter, visit www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/enterkabvawards or contact Joanna Meyer on (03) 8626 8750.
The Wheeler Centre
Melbourne's newest talking-point is open to the public. The Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas is a new kind of cultural institution dedicated to the discussion and practice of writing and ideas through a year-round programme of talks and lectures, readings and debates. The Centre is a Victorian Government initiative and the centrepiece of Melbourne's designation as a UNESCO City of Literature.
Throughout March, the Wheeler Centre will be Reading the City, shining a light on the many ways we understand and talk about Melbourne. We will be hearing from visual artists, architects, policy makers and designers, novelists and historians. The Centre will also host internationally renowned climatologist Dr James Hanson for the first Melbourne Intelligence2debate on nuclear power at the Melbourne Town Hall on 4 March. For information on the entire inaugural programme visit wheelercentre.com
The Centre is also a home for writers and key literary organisations, including the Melbourne Writers' Festival, Victorian Writers' Centre, Express Media, Emerging Writers' Festival, Australian Poetry Centre, Small Press Underground Networking Community (SPUNC), the Melbourne branch of PEN International.
Image: Courtesy of P. Richards.
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Running amok from 24th March to 18th April is this city's most-loved celebration of tomfoolery, The Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Leading the charge for another year of funny fun are the elite of local and international comedians offering stand-up, theatre, music, film and even the visual arts.
Last year's audience numbers nudged the half-million mark cementing the Festival's reputation as part of the world's 'Big Three' comedy festivals, and making it one of the most-attended events on the Melbourne calendar - our biggest Festival yet.
Comedy's finest are flying in from all corners of the globe, and they promise to stage shows that will get the whole city laughing, no matter what age, gender, ethnicity or persuasion. From red-eye late night gigs to jokes for the juniors, the Comedy Festival is a demographic-free zone - absolutely everyone is invited to converge on the CBD grid where the vibe is high and the guffaws even louder.
data.vic.gov.au and the App My State competition
The Economic Development and Infrastructure Committee's Inquiry into Improving Access to Victorian Public Sector Information and Data responded to increasing interest by the private and public sectors in how information and data held by government and other public sector organisations can best be used for public good.
In responding to the Committee's Inquiry into Improving Access to Victorian Public Sector Information and Data, the Victorian Government largely supports the release of public sector data and information for access and re-use and has launched a new website www.data.vic.gov.au and the App My State competition.
The competition launched on 26 February 2010, is a competition to build mobile and web applications that will benefit Victorians. Victoria's IT innovators are invited to take part in an online competition to create new applications.
The www.data.vic.gov.au site is aimed at helping developers and others find and use public sector information and data. Built as the online point of access for government-held public data, it helps users locate the data they need, share ideas about what to do with it, and show others the great visualisations and applications that have been made.
Curtain and blind cords
Making your curtain and blind cords safe is easy and could save your child's life.
Order a free safety kit online or call Consumer Affairs Victoria on 1300 55 81 81.
New Publications
General Publications
Beat the Bushfire Enemy with Knowledge
by O'Bryan, Denis @ $22.95
Know Your River - Yarra River
Produced by Melbourne Water @ $1.95
Know Your River - Maribyrnong River
Produced by Melbourne Water @ $1.95
Know Your River - Werribee River
Produced by Melbourne Water @ $1.95
Know Your Creek - Dandenong Creek
Produced by Melbourne Water @ $1.95
Railways of the Yarra Valley
by Anchen, Nick @ $29.95
Local Histories
Castlemaine - From Camp to City
by Hocking, Geoff @ $29.95
Sledge to Studebaker - The Story of the Gorge Road, Glen Forbes
by Harper, Jan @ $20.00
Mapping Products
Tasmanian Towns - Street Atlas
produced by TASMAP @ $32.95
Melbourne Great Ocean Road - Traveller's Guide and Souvenir
by Leed, Neil @ $5.95
Adventurer Maps - The Ghost Town Series
published by Paoletti's Maps and Vidoes @ $49.95
Western Port Fishing Map 6 (Revised 2010)
published by the Australian Fishing Network @ $7.95
Government Reports
A Guide to Property Values - 2008 Edition
by the Office of Landata @ $30.00
The Effectiveness of Student Wellbeing Programs and Services
by the Victorian Auditor-General @ $20.00
Index to Subject Matter of Victorian Legislation 2010
by Office of the Chief Parliamentary Council @ $52.50
New Legislation
New Acts
| A1.10 | Consumer Affairs Legislation Amendment Act 2010 | $12.20 |
| A2.10 | Legislation Reform (Repeals No. 5) Act 2010 | $3.80 |
New Statutory Rules
Reprinted Acts
No reprinted Acts published this month.
Reprinted Statutory Rules
No reprinted Statutory Rules published this month.
Visit the Victorian Legislation and Parliamentary Documents website for a list of all Victorian acts and statutory rules.
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Index to Subject Matter of Victorian Legislation 2010
The Index to Subject Matter of Victorian Legislation indexes all unrepealed principal public Acts and unrevoked principal Statutory Rules of Victoria as at 1 January 2010.
Campfire safety
It's still summer with the announcement recently that Victoria has experienced its hottest consistent summer.
That doesn't mean we have to go without our fun - Check out the great advice on campfire safety.
It's Moomba time in Melbourne. Recognised as Australia's largest free community festival. Visit www.thatsmelbourne.com.au
Castlemaine
Castlemaine began as the centre of the Mount Alexander gold fields in 1850. It was briefly larger than Melbourne, as that city's population moved to Castlemaine to seek it's fortune. It was the richest alluvial gold field in world history and that title has not yet been surpassed. At it's height one convoy alone, shipped 3 tons of gold to Melbourne. It was where the "little fellows" became rich, with nearly all the gold being found within 4m of the surface. Thus small groups of men could band together and work a stake together in the hope of winning the lottery. Although Bendigo and Ballarat gold fields both eventually yielded more gold, theirs was mostly reef gold and required great capital investment and thus were for the "big fellows".
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