The look of Christmas 2006
Wasps, angels and inflatable Christmas trees!
Christmas is fast approaching and once again Melbourne is dressed-up for the occasion. I always enjoy this time of year because I feel so uplifted by all the festivities.
One of Melbourne’s oldest yuletide traditions is the annual Christmas display in the front windows of Myer. This year’s display is based on the children’s book Wombat Divine, by Mem Fox (ISBN: 1862913021). It is the story of a wombat that desperately wants to be in the bush nativity play, despite there being no suitable role for him to play! As usual, Myer have created an amazing display which beautifully tells the story in a way that children and adults will enjoy.
The 2006 Myer windows are as popular as ever
The Melbourne City Council has made a considerably greater effort to decorate the aesthetically-challenged Bourke Street Mall this year. Whilst the slightly peculiar rows of suspended stars are back, they appear less communist-inspired than before. This is because they are not bright yellow but instead a range of sparkly holographic colours that glisten in the sun. That said, the weirdness has not completely left the mall – the ‘angels’ depicted on the flags (and the rest of the city’s Christmas livery for that matter) remind me of giant wasp-like insects for some reason.
Christmas livery on the John Mockridge Fountain Wall.
Regardless of the daytime display, it is at night when the Bourke Street Mall looks its best. In the evening, the millions of suspended stars are illuminated with fairy lights to create a starry carpet that extends the entire length of the mall. The effect is quite spectacular and well worth taking a look at. Also impressive are the Christmas lights in Hardware Lane. Whilst they’re the same as previous years, they add a magical touch to that part of the city.
Bourke Street Mall is illuminated at night by millions of stars.
The official Christmas Tree has been moved this year from Federation Square to the old City Square site. The tree still looks fantastic, even if its previous site gave it a greater prominence. The City of Melbourne has also planted ‘real’ Christmas trees into the Bourke Street Mall, complete with fairy lights that look quite magical, especially within the context of the starry carpet of stars. That said, I personally think that the best Christmas trees are in the nearby Royal Arcade.Regular News Desk readers will recall last year I reported on the woefully pathetic star-on-a-stick “Christmas decorations” (note the use of inverted commas) in Lygon Street, Carlton. I am pleased to reveal that the star-on-a-stick decorations have been retired. However, the replacement is only marginally better.
Left: The official Christmas Tree illuminated at night in the old City Square.
Right: A Lygon Street Christmas pole.
As can be seen above, the decoration consists of a cylinder of plastic, with the official wasp/angel depicted on the side, all of which is illuminated at night. I don’t wish to sound negative, but if this is the best that Council can come up with for decorations, they really need to hire a new consultant! Even the ubiquitous fairy lights would look better than these.That said, the prize for “Most Bizarrre Chrismas Decorative Scheme” is not won by Melbourne City Council, but rather Melbourne’s GPO. The festive display at the former post office consists of grey inflatable “Christmas Trees” wrapped in ‘Fragile’ tape and suspended at quantity from the ceiling!
The Christmas Display at Melbourne’s GPO.
Of course the original purpose of Christmas has not been forgotten, and Council have installed a nativity panel behind the John Mockridge Fountain Wall in the City Square. It is very simple – passages from the Bible are cut out of sheet metal and adhered to the back of the John Mockridge Fountain Wall in such a manner as to make them almost unnoticeable. I cannot fathom why the Christmas message is hidden like this, but at least it is still present for the highly discerning Melburnian. I always enjoyed a traditional (and more obvious) nativity scene myself.
Part of the nativity wall on the back of the John Mockridge Fountain.
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