Upoffmebum

By Upoffmebum

Sun peeking through

Nice view from the apartment in Carlton, including the cupola on top of what turns out to be the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton Gardens.
Classic Melbourne autumn day: grey, cool and cloudy, with the odd shower and an 18C maximum. But late in the afternoon, the sun finally manages to peek out from under the dark clouds and shine directly on to the cupola, revealing that its very tip is painted in a shiny, almost sparkling gold. Quite a contrast against that sky.
Built as the centrepiece for the 1880-1881 Melbourne International Exhibition, it then hosted the Centennial International Exhibition in 1888, and the formal opening of the first national Parliament of Australia in 1901.
So it's somewhat steeped in British Imperial history, but these are quite recent events in the context of Aboriginal history in this land - which at 60,000+ years old marks the longest continuous living culture on the planet.
Not sure what the local Aborigines were doing at the time the  Royal Exhibition Building was being constructed, but there's a fair chance they had no idea what purpose the building would serve, or that the whitefellas were in the process of making a significant landmark in their cultural history.

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