Adam G

The large open green space beside the Promenade and Boardwalk between the Sea Baths and Catani Arch, is a popular picnic, play and relaxation area in the St Kilda Foreshore precinct. In the warmer months it's a favourite base for St Kilda Beach swimmers using with outdoor showers available along the Boardwalk. South Beach Reserve is also a key venue for the annual St Kilda Festival.

Burke and Wills, the leader and second in command of the ill-fated expedition to cross the Australian continent, died on their return journey at Cooper's Creek in June 1861. Their bodies were exhumed and returned to Melbourne on 29 December 1862 and interned here on 21 January 1863 (Australia's first state funeral). Subsequently, in May 1866 the monument commemorating the explorers was erected over the grave site. This monument, a large Harcourt granite block, is twelve feet high by six feet square at the base and tapers to 5 feet square at the top. The block itself weighs nearly 30 tons and was the largest block ever quarried in Victoria and it was one of the most difficult undertakings ever effected in the colonies to get it from the quarry to the cemetery. The inscriptions on the four faces on the base were added in March 1873. This grave is one of the most visited in the cemetery.

While now prominently located in the forecourt at the main entrance to Southern Cross Station, this Clock is the last existing relic from the original Flinders Street Station, which predates the current station there. Built in 1882, it was Melbourne's first landmark clock and is thus significantly important to Melbourne's early history. I believe it was called the Water Tower Clock simply because it was close to a water tower near the original station. The name certainly stuck as in 1910 the clock was moved with its then name to Spencer Street Station, today called Southern Cross Station, and I love the way this heritage piece has been beautifully restored and in February 2014 wound its way back into the new state-of-the-art Southern Cross Station.

Instead of a Maori warrior in a fighting pose and wearing a grass skirt, what greets visitors arriving by ship to Auckland, the City of Sails, is this larger-than-life bronze statue of a Maori Chieftain wrapped in a full-length Kaitaka cloak, the prestigious cloak of a chief. In his right hand the chief holds a mere, a traditional club made of wood, bone or greenstone.

This impressive pavilion incorporates a new 1000 seat grandstand as well as corporate lounges and VIP rooms. On a hot Fijian day it's a great spot from where to sit and watch a local game of rugby, soccer or hockey, or the occasional cricket match.