The Volunteer Rifle Band Bollards - Geelong Waterfront Esplanade

            These five brightly painted bollards in the Steampacket Gardens near Geelong's famous Victorian carousel represent a Victorian and Edwardian Geelong staple:  the Volunteer Rifle Band.  The band are playing “The Geelong Polka”, and if you look closely you will see that they are even holding real pre-loved instruments that have found a new lease of life as part of this tableaux of bollards.  The band are dressed in their smartest red and black uniforms and wear white topees.  This group represents players in Geelong’s first band concerts which were held in the Geelong Botanic Gardens in 1861.

Artist Jan Mitchell was commissioned by the City of Greater Geelong in 1995 to transform reclaimed timber pier pylons into works of art.  What was created became far more iconic than the commissioners hoped for, and they are the most photographed attraction in the Geelong district.  

There are more than one hundred of these huge painted icons guiding visitors along the foreshore walking and cycling track from Rippleside Park, through the Waterfront Esplanade of Geelong, along Eastern Beach to Limeburners Point and finally to the Geelong Botanic Gardens.  They represent a fascinating and fun chronicle of the city's past, focusing on some of the unique characters who played a part.

I spent a delightful, if rainy, Saturday with the Famous Flickr Five+ Group along the Geelong Waterfront where we walked from central Geelong Esplanade to the Art Deco Eastern Beach.

Geelong is a city southwest of Melbourne, Australia. Lining its bay, The Waterfront Esplanade has a Nineteenth Century American carousel, a curved art deco boardwalk and sea bath at Eastern Beach, and scattered along the waterfront are more than one hundred bollards painted as colourful sculptures chronicling city history by artist Jan Mitchell. The Geelong Botanic Gardens lie at the eastern end of the bay. The central National Wool Museum hosts changing exhibitions, concerts and entertainments.

Taken in: Australia / Victoria / Geelong (show map)

Taken on: November 2, 2019

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Sets appears in: • Geelong the Victorian Wool City • The Bright Bollards of Geelong

Groups appears in: • Australian Images • Melbourne and Beyond more » • Statues • Sculptures, statues and ....Gnomes... • Sculptures, Statues, and Public Art • Statues and Sculptures. • Statues Memorials & Monuments • Trove: Australia in Pictures • History is All Around Us • Victoria, Australia • Sculpture - Escultura • victoria australia • Buildings and Sculptures • PIM - Photographers in Melbourne • Statues & Monuments • statue portraits • My Australia • Australia-down-under • Escultura Urbana Figurativa • The Best of Australia and New Zealand • Bellarine Peninsula Gallery • Garden Statues and Ornaments • ! F l i c k r | S t y l e ! • School of Digital Photography • I captured something awesome on this planet ! • ABCTV Weather • Objects & Art • Group for all users of FLICKR - No 30/60 Groups Limit • Famous Flickr Five+ • FLICKR INTERNATIONAL - No 30/60 Groups Limit • Photo-Phactory • Flickr Australia Unlimited (No 30/60 restriction) « less

Camera: Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS, f/4.9, 1/320 sec, 18.6mm, ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS
Aperture:	f/4.9
Exposure Time:	0.003 sec (1/320)
Focal Length:	18.6mm
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Auto, Did not fire
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
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