SATURDAY BREAKFAST #19: HAWTHORN ROAD, CAULFIELD

Visited 25 February, 2012

The area around the corner of Hawthorn Road and Glen Eira Road Caulfield is notable for the town hall of the City of Glen Eira rather than for the few shops along Hawthorn Road. 

The town hall began its life, in 1884, as the Caulfield Shire Hall; and in 1931 – by then the Caulfield City Hall - it was remodelled to incorporate the Classical Revival main hall and foyer, and a new portico in the neo-Grecian style including 10 Corinthian columns.  This sounds a bit like the camel that resulted from the horse designed by a committee, but not so.  The building is splendid (to me at least) in every respect.  The tower, with its four clock-faces, is tall and elegant; the later additions on the rear (Arts Complex 1988, extension to the Municipal Offices 1991, and Library 1993) are sympathetic; and the gleaming white exterior is so right.  The external decorative motifs in a copper/gold paint are few in number but they perfectly break the starkness of the white finish.  They incorporate Greek urns and fruit, but have an art deco feel to them – substitute Egyptian symbols for the Greek and you have it.  The sense of art deco is echoed in the decoration of the main hall – not surprising, given that the art deco style was flourishing in Melbourne in 1931.  Sadly, the main hall was bastardized in 1988 when the Arts Complex was developed:  it was split in two by the insertion of a mezzanine, with the ground floor becoming an art gallery, and the upper space continuing as the community hall.  I remember, some years ago, delivering a paper to the International Tree Crops Institute, and the hall set up as an auditorium was most impressive.  Today it has a constricted air; but at least the recessed lead-light ceiling is intact.

Along part of the Glen Eira Road frontage of the City Hall site is a Japanese Garden;  not a large installation, but one with rocks and running water, a pool,  Japanese shrubbery, and a sculptured wrought-iron garden seat for rest and contemplation.  This Garden dates from 2001, and was established to recognize the twinning of the City of Glen Eira with Ogaki City in Japan.  There are two plaques, and the underlying nature of the twinning arrangement can be gauged from the engraved words:  “Sister City Agreement”, “Friendly Cities Exchange Memorial”, and “The Bond of Friendship”.  The Garden was dedicated by the Ogaki mayor, Mr. Ogawa, who on the occasion presented the stone lantern which sits beside the pond. 

The post-World War 2 sister cities movement is a phenomenon without – so far as I can discern – any point other than to demonstrate international friendship.  That being so, the willingness of Australian cities to link with cities in Japan is somewhat surprising, certainly with the earliest links.  The movement in Australia is fronted by an organization known as Sister Cities Australia Inc. and - would you believe? - there is an annual conference and a National Award each year.  Who funds these people?  Anyway, digging into their website I am informed that their objective is “to provide an umbrella of support and to promote affiliations”……..and “to provide a forum for cultural, economic and educational interchange between communities and to encourage friendship, co-operation and understanding to improve peaceful co-existence worldwide”.  All very worthwhile, just like apple pie, but is there a way to measure their success other than in terms of marriages brokered?  There are some 500 sister city affiliations around Australia, and in Victoria there are 16 links with Japanese cities.  Incidentally, Ogaki has a population of around 160000, while Glen Eira’s is a little short of 140000.

We breakfasted at Einsteins, at number 251 Hawthorn Road, and it was good.  Situated in one of three new shop premises, Einsteins seems to be having no trouble coping with the upper floor being still under construction.  The range of nearby shops and businesses is quirky.  The shops run north from the Glen Eira Road corner, and the furthest point is bookended by the Genesis health studio.  Nothing unusual there.  And nothing unusual about the several accountants and lawyers (a matter of opinion, I hear you say); and the Oppe (with an “e”) Shop of the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia is quite normal – but, not surprisingly, it’s closed on Saturdays.  Of more interest is Stage 2 Lights, who attend to all your theatrical lighting needs; and a shop that supplies wigs hairpieces and toupees.  And, possibly in direct competition, there is The Caulfield Milliners.  Finally, there are two art studios, one of which, Gallery 261, also specializes in murals and Trompe-l’oeil.  And good luck to them too…..even in a city the size of Melbourne, the market for optical illusionary ceilings and murals must be small indeed.

Gary Andrews