Today and tomorrow are transit days. The ultimate destination was Canberra, but from Torquay in one day was more than I like. So Bairnsdale a city in eastern Victoria, seemed like a good place to spend the night. Apart from which, it has been a long time since visiting the area.
The journey from Torquay was not especially interesting - pick up the freeway near Torquay, bypass Geelong, over the Westgate Bridge, under Melbourne in a tunnel and stay on the freeway headed east.
Bairnsdale is 280km east of Melbourne, with a population of 11,820 (2011 census). The city is a major regional centre of eastern Victoria (along with Traralgon and Sale), the commercial centre for the East Gippsland region and the seat of local government for the Shire of East Gippsland. It was proclaimed a shire on 16 July 1868 and city on 14 July 1990.
After checking in at the motel and settling in, it was time for a walk to explore the city.
The main street of Bairnsdale is also the Princes Highway, the coastal road from Melbourne via East Gippsland and New South Wales south coast leading to Sydney. It is nice to see that the planners of this city had the foresight to create a wide and pleasant main street.
But the planning included side streets, of which this is one of many.
The Bairnsdale Primary School, established in 1864, according to the sign out front. This building has been classified by the National Trust.
The East Gippsland Shire Council lives in this modern looking building on the Princes Highway. It has a sign on the front Business Centre, which gives some indication of one of their primary purposes.
I can just imagine a band concert being held here on Sunday afternoon during the late 1800s and early 1900s.
St. Mary's Catholic Church is a highly visible point in Bairnsdale. It is described as a free treatment of Romanesque style, built of brick with a slate roof. The foundation stone was laid in 1913 by Bishop Phelan of Sale. More on this tomorrow, including the amazing inside.
Across the main street, this church had been adapted for commercial use, but it obviously failed and is up for sale (again).
In the median strip, across the corner from the Catholic Church is the former water tower. It was built in 1926-27, but decommissioned in the late 1980s. Being 30m high, it now serves as an icon of the Bairnsdale skyline.
The Twelve Apostles
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