ACWW Conference in Melbourne

We arrived in Melbourne, Australia to attend the 90th anniversary of the Associated Country Women of the World Triennial Conference. 

There are 549 people attending the conference from groups similar to the IAHCE and CWA of WA. I will be reunited with a few of my hosts from Western Australia!

ACWW informs the United Nations on women's issues around the world

These are the countries that participate in ACWW.

We went on the city tour. The architecture here is amazing, no matter what era it was made.

The tower on this building was built for the fire fighters. No building was allowed to be bigger. This was so that the fire fighters could go up into the tower to see if anything was on fire.

This is Captain Cook's cottage.

St. Patrick's Cathedral.

I think this was the Lutheran Church, made out of the local granite called blue stone.

City scene.

This is typical of the early houses in Melbourne. The English tried to make the same kind of houses a they had in English...with attics and cellars. They soon found out that attics and cellars don't work very well in this climate. There is a really good Amazon Prime show called "Building Australia" that I recommend to learn more about early architecture. If you notice the "lace" ironwork, it is very common on old houses here. It was put in the ships as ballast (thus, balustrades); the ships were then loaded with gold for the trip back. These early houses had a veranda to catch whatever breeze wafted by.

This is the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne. It was built in the 1800s to show the latest new inventions, such as a push lawnmower. It has narrow doors, so it limits modern use.

A view of Melbourne from the Yarra River.

Foot bridge over the Yarra River.