CERES Winter Solstic 2026

We had good memories of the Winter Solstice at Ceres in 2024 so we went again.  This year it was done differently with a family friend Friday night and an adult only celebration the next night.  We went on Saturday which was different from last time, with a craft market and a gorgeous festive space in an old train carriage, as well as the usual food trucks and music.  It was a rainy night but so enjoyable to spend the wet dark night at CERES where, as the website said "a time to reflect, reconnect, and celebrate the light’s return."

with a small craft market with lots of great products.  I really loved how they decorated an old train with a Christmas tree and candles and reflective words.  

Combined the lights in the darkness, the pagan celebrations 

dark - different from last time - kids and adults

This year we will be holding not one, but two solstice celebrations – a family-friendly Friday night and an adult-only celebration. Both will culminate in 

website

kids celebrations and fun but adults more reflection and reconnection  

When we arrived about 5.30, it was still light and the rain was holding off.  We were greeted with the stals in the Mystic Marketpace.  I enjoy arriving at a party early to get my bearings before it gets too lively.  That was how this felt.  (The tickets to the event were booked out well in advance.)

Soon the darkness fell upon us to provide a canvas for the warm glow of welcoming lights.  We love visiting this beautiful green community environmental space that is a green oasis in the midst of our city.  It was lovely to see it lit up on the longest night of the year.

The market stalls were mostly crafts; lots of candles and crystals with the occasional honey and fudge.  One of my favourite stalls was the Beaded Petal Co where beads had been painstakingly threaded onto wires and bent into exquisite flowers.  You can see a close up of the flowers in the below photo collage.
 

We moved on into the indoor market with more interesting products on offer.  One of my favourite stalls had the sea anemone and air plant jelly fish.  I loved the dark wicca illustrations and jewelley and there were many candles and crystals to add to the gentle lighting.  It was still fairly quiet when we first looked but really busy later.  

The winter solstice is the perfect time for mulled wine and I am quite partial to a snifter.  I bought some in the CERES Merri Cafe & Bar near the car park but it was also on offer further towards the creek among the food trucks.  I was pleased I remembered to take a keep cup even though I could not find my glass keep cup.  It was just the warming drink I needed for the wintery evening.

We didn't go to the uv face painting station but instead walked down the hill to the music and food trucks space under rows of ligths.  I was delighted with some native Australian animal lights.  Above is a pink koala.

Behind this fun possum light you can see the "stage"for the bands.  The live music added to the mellow mood.  Unfortunately it was not great weather to stand around watching the bands.

We wanted to chec out the food trucks before there were any queues.  Sylvia had decided she would make a beeline for Wokking Amazing which you can see behind the kangaroo light above.  The brightly painted and brightly lit truck beckons in the darkness.

I was keen to try the Samosa Chaat a the Purple rabbit food truck.  It was an Indian inspired meal of -smashed samosa in a chickpea curry served with mint tamarind chutne, cashew yoghurt and a crispy potato topping.  

We stopped at the CERES Kitchen stall which was serving cakes and hot drinks.  Sylvia was impressed that the Chai latte was vegan.  (I was surprised that despite many being made with soy milk, not all of them are because there can be honey added on milk in the chair mix.)  She enjoyed her warming drink.

Once we had our meals and drinks, it was cold and drizzling with so we headed to the sheltered half of the building with the band on the other side.  In the foreground of the picture is a little wombat light.

The sheltered space had floral arrangements where mulled wine and other alcoholic drinks were being sold at a bar.  There were only a handful of tables which were already occupied.  We asked to share a table with two free chairs and were welcomed by a couple of friendly women.  As we ate and chatted, the space filled up and got noisy with all the socialising as well as the live music behind the bar.

Sylvia had bought a Peking duck pancake and a nuggets and chips munch box from Wokking Amazing and was very pleased with her choices.  I had some of the chips but was not so keen on nuggets or mock duck.  My samosa chaat was very satisfying and I was glad it was not too spicy for me. 

CERES has an old Red Rattler train carriage and it was very welcome with the wet cold night.  It is two spaces with tarot readings in one half and a reflective festive space in the other half. 

Christmas decorations can sometimes seem like the commercial part of a religious event.  The festive space in the train with a Christmas tree, candles and greenery felt more authentic.  It makes so much more sense to have them in winter than in our usual summer Christmas.  It seemed more in sync with nature and the focus was on reflecting on the cycles of nature and the candles being symbolic of calling the sun.

I really loved this space but it was busy.  We had a short queue outside to get in and were directed to move in a line along the displays rather than being able to really stop and reflect in the way I would have liked.  Having said this, I found it a calm and hopeful space.

Along the way were contemplative readings among the candles and fairy light that were keeping the dark at bay.  People were quiet as they slowly moved through the carriage and there was a sense that the space was as sacred as any church.

At the end of the journey was a place where we were invited to write down our obstacles in life to be burnt to ashes and our intentions that we wished to bring to the light which would be planted to create fertile soil and new life.

It was odd to step outside back into the world.  More people were queuing to get in and there was another queue nearby for the tarot card readings.  

We stood by one of the fire pits to warm up in the drizzling rain.  A small woman at our side talked to us about how she was about to have her first performance as a fire dancer and of her respect for the flames.  I really wanted to stay to see the fire sculpture that was promised as a spectacular finale but it was rainy and the ground was pitted with puddles.  Instead we headed home feeling the calm and glow of the solstice.

CERES Winter Solstice
Corner Roberts & Stewart Streets
Brunswick East, VIC 3057
5pm - 10pm, Saturday 20 June 2026
https://ceres.org.au/winter-solstice/

To see links to most posts on CERES, go to my CERES Winter Solistice 2024 post. 

"Home": installation by Rone at Chadstone Shopping Centre

Last week we went to see a house in a shopping centre.  Weird, eh?  I usually would not go across the city to Chadstone Shopping Centre but for one of Rone's charming nostalgic installations, I would cross the country.  He is a master of creating spaces that make the familiar feel beautiful and emotionally charged.  Rone is so skilled at making shabby chic from nothing, to create decay and timeworn at its most perfect.  In reality, this moment does not last but in his artwork it seems eternal and enduring.

We arrive just before our booking and join the group of others who have booked for 2pm.  The staff give us the rules : only go one way through the house to avoid bottlenecks, no touching the installations because everything - even the dust and cobwebs - have been meticulously created.  Then we enter as a group into a charming Australian home of yesteryear.

In the hall is an old seat that incorporates a table where you can sit while you chat on your landline phone.  It is from the time when phones were anchored to a cord.  I notice the wooden dado that comes halfway up the sides of the walls.  A dado and an archway make the hallway special.

Let me stop here to tell you that this was a difficult exhibition to photograph.  The rooms are small and seven or eight people in a bedroom that is built for two people feels crowded.  The lights are in constant but gentle transition between dim and even dimmer.  The eyes adjust.  The camera struggles.  It is like shooting at a moving target .  As soon as the light is finally right, the view is blocked out by a fellow visitor walking into the shot!

However the dim rosy lights and the gentle haunting music add to the air of nostalgia for a lost time.  I had the sensation of the owners having lived in the house for a long time and just left.  This is like a viewing of a deceased estate sale.  Although the shopping mall lights are always bright, in this house it is always evening with darkness having descended on the back yard. 

The first room is the bedroom dominated by the double bed.  This is the room of a couple who are honest salt-of-the-earth workers with not much money to spare.

The age of the house is not clear.  On a calendar in the kitchen the year is 1992.  If that were so, this couple might have moved as newly weds and lived there a long happy but simple life.  The fireplaces are a sign that it is an older 20th Century house.  Perhaps 1920s or 1930s.

In the corner of the bedroom is a an old wooden desk with a desktop that can be folded up to save space.  Inside are lots of drawers for letter, accounts and stationery.  Someone behind me has family with a desk like this with a hidden compartment.

The one item that really stood out in the bedroom was the tub of Ponds cream with a thick layer of dust on top.  Did the woman stop using it?  Is it a sign that she no longer felt young and pretty.  My mum used to have ponds cream.  I remember it was used to remove make up.

Also in the above photo collage are a pile of old books in the bedroom, vinyl records in the loungeroom, kitsch cobwebbed cat figurines on the mantelpiece, an old candelabra and tools neatly hung in the back shed.
   

This is the lounge room with a saggy old lounge suit.  The winged armchairs have antimacassars over the back of them, that protected the chairs from the bryl cream combed into the hair.  On the floor is a pile of World War magazines that a chap might have enjoyed reading in the evenings.  There are too many to fit into the small magazine holder and there is no coffee table, just an ottoman where the newspaper has been placed.  The wooden gramophone and its speakers are huge in today's terms when we have this function inside a phone that will fit into our hand.  In front of the fire is an embroidered screen.

To the other side of the mantelpiece is a glass cabinet where good china and figurines can be displayed.  This is a place for wedding gifts and holiday souvenirs.

The phone on the wall in the kitchen is so evocative for my generation that remember the curly cord and the rotary dial on the phone.  It sits by the bench where the woman could easily reach it to gossip while she was working in the kitchen.  The letter holders and canisters were a familiar sight in kitchens of my youth.  I even spy the familiar blue, white and red stripes at the edge of an airmail envelope.  Did they have family overseas?  Were they were migrants?

The kitchen was difficult to photograph because other people compelled to walk in among the cupboards to look at the familiar items.  I wanted to take photos because I dream of having green cupboards and a green oven.  The bench opposite the kitchen reminds me of how both my childhood home and our current home had a bench separating the kitchen from the living and dining, a bench that had glass windows on the cupboards overhead so crockery could be displayed.  (Our windowed cupboards and bench have been moved against the wall now.)

In the corner of the kitchen is a dusty collection of kitchen paraphernalia: a teapot, a toast rack, a transistor radio, a glass mug and a jug.  My eye is drawn to the folded newspaper where someone is mid crossword and the headline reads "Norths may shift camp to Coburg".  The story relates to plans to move the home ground of North Melbourne's Aussie rules football club to Coburg in 1965.

This was my last photo I took in the house.  As I went into the gift shop at the end I saw in the postcards that I had missed the iconic Rone female face on the kitchen wall.  I went back to see it with my own eyes.  No regrets that I ignored the instructions that we were not to backtrack. On the other side of the wall is the lounge room with the piano.

This is another view of the dining room with the lace tablecloth on the table and a dresser filled with glasses and crockery.  On top of the dresser is the good silver including the candelabra.

I was fascinated by the back yard for a number of reasons.  This was the most spacious part of the exhibition and it evoked a past where back yards were much bigger.  There was before the time when everyone renovated their home to build a large backroom with French windows looking out to the new wooden deck and left very little room for the garden. (I checked and the garden is not real.  The tree trunk felt like foam. (Ssh don't tell!)

Speaking to a friend about the exhibition, she loved the garden with the mix of healthy plants and some struggling plants.  She was also excited that the bottles in the crates were the same brand she had.  They were not Noddys which is the brand of lemonade that we used to buy and leave out empty bottles to be collected.  I felt nostalgic for the old round metal garbage bins.  They weren't practical - it was always a drama if one of these bin was knocked over and the lid fell off and all the contents were strewn about the garden.  But in our age of multiple plastic wheelie bins for recycling, these small bins seem so simple.

This sort of yard with lots of grass and a tree in the middle of it, is the sort of yard I grew up with.  There was always grass to mow and the wheelbarrow out for gardening at the side.  On the left of the above photo you can see the light of the little back shed where the man of the house would be fixing and creating while listening to his team's footy match on his trannie.  Beside the shed is a little lemon tree.  No self respecting garden would have been without one.

The brick path through the back garden was charming with its slight unevenness to show that it was put down by the owners, just like my dad made brick paths in our backyard.  There was always room for the rotary Hills Hoist clothes line that was utilitarian unless you were a small child who dared to swing on it.  (And who didn't?)  By the clothes line is the washing basket on the trolley so it could be wheeled from the laundry.

Actually there was no laundry in sight, nor a bathroom.  They would be small in a humble home like this.  Rone must have had to make hard decisions when considering groups of people and flow through in the tour, as well as what he could fit into this small space in Chadstone.  It was a reminder us that it was not as real as it felt.

There was an old car parked at the end of the driveway.  This is the sort of driveway that my parents have down one side of their house with the two strips of concrete for the wheels and grass all around.  My parents don't use it much but a driveway is great for washing a car.  We walked down the driveway toward the front gate.  Just before we left the installation, we were lured into look at the brightly lit gift shop.

Then we were out the gate and back into the bright lights of the shopping centre.  When I first heard about the house in the shopping centre I imagined it to be freestanding.  It was not, as you can see in the above photo.  It sits between a mega make up and skin care store and an outdoor clothing and adventure store.  Above it the sign for the lego store is light up with a neon sign.

Chadstone is shocking after such an immersive experience in an era when stuff was simple and made to last.  The shabby aged house sits meekly in the busy shopping centre where every store is bright and bold and fun and begging for attention and money.  Rone's Home exhibition is a charming oasis, a rest from the modern assault on the senses, a reminder that we don't need much.  The irony of it being in a a loud sleek shrine to commerce is not lost on either Chadstone nor Rone.  It is part of the appeal that draws people in for a moment of quiet beauty before they go shopping!

HOME – An Exhibition by Rone
Light to Night Festival
Chadstone Shopping Centre
1341 Dandenong Road, Chadstone, Melbourne
11 June to 12 July 2026
Chadstone exhibition webpage
https://rone.art/

More Rone artwork can be seen on Green Gourmet Giraffe at:

Time by Rone, Art installations 

Street Art in Melbourne: Collingwood 

Street Art in Melbourne: Fitzroy 

Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries Tour, Gin Palace and historic Melbourne buildings

 

A few weeks back, I had the pleasure of joining a friend to take the Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries Tour in Melbourne.  It was a joy to walk through the south east of the city centre and hear about the filming of Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher mystery novels and gain an insight into the buildings involved.  Over three hours our tour leader, Kathy, shared wonderful stories about Melbourne's social and architectural history, especially as it related to the buildings we saw on our walk.

It is not my intention to share the stories here.  Those are Kathy's stories to tell on the tour and I did not take notes.  I am sharing my photos I took on the tour, an overview of the tour and my impressions of the places.  I have visited quite a few of the buildings on the tour at other times.  At the end of this post, I have listed links to where I have written more about my experiences with these buildings.

Our first stop was Cafe Excello (99 Spring Street) for light afternoon tea of lemon slice, brownie (or chai tea cake for the vegan) and hot drinks.  It was not a notably historic or memorable cafe but it was where Kathy gave us an introduction: housekeeping, an introduction to Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (as the tv series is called) and the history of Melbourne.  I am quite familiar with both the tv show and history but learnt a more from Kathy.

I first heard about the Phryne Fisher books about 30 years ago when hearing the author Kerry Greenwood give a talk about her books to a history group.  Since then I have read quite a few of the books and seen the tv series.  I have always had respect for the historic research that is the foundation for the story about the dashing and wealthy Miss Fisher who solves murder mysteries in 1920's Melbourne with the support of her maid Dot and a couple of loveable working class communists called Cec and Bert, and the reluctant help of Detective Inspector Jack Robinson.  It is great fun but also insightful with social commentary about the time.

The Windsor Hotel Ballroom

The history of Melbourne in the roaring 1920s is an exuberant city of post war optimism with a dark underbelly (including the First Nations people displaced to make this city).  The magnificently ornate buildings were erected over the decades following the 1850's gold rush that converted John Batman's colonial village into a wealthy Victorian city.  It is a familiar story to me as a Melbourne history enthusiast but Kathy's stories had many details I did not know.

Kathy was a fantastic story teller with lots of colouful details and a keen eye for connections as she told the story of Melbourne.  For example she told a story about the decision about the city's wide streets being made to allow vehicles to turn easily, and that this in turn had made space for the creation of a tram system that exists to this day.  Often during the tour she would allude to one place having an association with another, but she would pause and promise to tell more about at another stop.

The Windsor Hotel reception and entrance

The first place we stopped was to have a quick peek into was the Windosr Hotel, one the grand 19th Century hotel.  I am very fond of this place, having stayed at the hotel when seeing a musical a few years back and had their famous high tea on a couple of occasions.  I enjoyed one amazing high tea in the gorgeous ballroom (pictured).  The above photo of the entrance reminds me of checking in to stay there.

The Windsor was one of the first places we looked at where the building history included plans to demolish it followed by being miraculously saved.  We had a fascinating discussion about Whelan the Wrecker who knocked down so many of the grand Victorian buildings of Melbourne.  

Kathy recommended watching a documentary about this called The Lost City of Melbourne.  If you are interested in seeing lots of rare footage about Melbourne's history with commentary about the changes in Melbourne that resulted in many extravagant buildings being lost as well as the stories of many who were saved, it well worth a watch.  (It is currently streaming on SBS On Demand in Australia).

Parliament House

The area at the top of the city has a wealth of heritage buildings including Parliament House, Tasma Terrace and Treasury building, all of which I have been lucky to visit previously (see links at the end of the post).  We stood outside Parliament House with the glow of the sun reflected on the autumn leaves.  Kathy told us stories about filming the Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries at these buildings and used her ipad to showed clips of scenes from the tv series.  We saw a few more film clips during the tour.

The tour is an official tour of the show.  Kathy has spent a lot of time with the producers and others involved in making the tv series.  She told us stories about how they closed off streets to film, how the editors skillfully stitched together scenes from different locations and how Phryne's stunning 1920 wardrobe was created.  The insider stories of scenes I remembered were definitely a highlight of the tour.

Treasury Building

One scene we discussed was the Treasury Building masquerading as the University of Melbourne.  Both Parliament House and the Treasury Building have grand flights of steps that make for a popular location for wedding photos.  Above you can see a wedding party on the steps of Treasury.  While we stood talking about the building, it was fun spotting all the brides in big white dresses.

Entrance to the Melbourne Club

Another fun part of the stories were the private clubs of Melbourne  The best known is The Melbourne Club for gentlemen, which has a grand but discreet entrance.  There is just one tiny sign well up the other end of the building from the front door.  Of course, Phyrne belonged to one of the private ladies' clubs.

St Michael's Uniting Church

Not all stories were directly related to Phryne Fisher.  Some were about the general history of Melbourne that helped understand the 1920s Melbourne where her story was set.  We stopped at the corner of Russel and Exhibitions Streets so Kathy could talked to us about the buildings on the four corners.  

Scots Church Melbourne

On two of the corners are the St Michael's Church and Scots' Church.  It is fascinating to see the different architecture of the two churches.  I also liked the story of Nellie Melba's association with the Scots' Church.

The top photo is of the facade of the Neo-Gothic Assembly Hall building of Scots' Church where you can see the "Old and Rare Books" sign of Kay Craddock's Antiquarian Booksellers.  I love all the random amazing buildings in Melbourne that I pass regularly.  The tour was a great chance to stop and think about them in more detail. 

Collins Street Baptist Church

We stopped to admire the Collins Street Baptist Church.  A church built in the style of a classical Greek temple is a rare sight in the city of Melbourne.

Melbourne Place

Melbourne had a grid of wide streets with generous blocks that allow plenty of space for laneways.  I had rewatched the first episode of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries to reacquaint myself with the series.  Melbourne Place is one of the narrow laneways where Phryne encountered some of the nefarious characters of 1920s Melbourne.  

As we stood waiting for Kathy to start telling us about how the filming of the tv show in the laneway ended with the evacuation of a nearby hotel, a huge truck began to back in with noising beeps to warn us it was reversing.  I was impressed at the way Kathy took it in her stride, moving aside and waiting for the truck to stop before repositioning us so she could resume her story.

Mayfair Building

If you want to really appreciate the architecture of Melbourne, you must look up beyond the modern shops and offices to see the impressive facades.  We heard stories of many of these such as the facade of the eight story Edwardian Mayfair Building that is all that remains of this old concert hall and cinema which is now modern offices occupied by BHP.

The Regent Theatre

Another common theme was theatres and cinemas.  Of the many remaining in Melbourne's city, the Regent Theatre is one of the ones that makes me the most sentimental.  It was to be demolished as part of the City Square development but a union ban (thank you Norm Gallagher) and a community campaign saved it.  This story makes me appreciate how small the city square is.

In the early 1990s I visited the neglected building before it was restored to its former grandeur.  I remember seeing a huge chandelier prostrate on the floor and all the shabby but ornate decorations.  A few years later I was there again after it was its first musical performance after restoration: Sunset Boulevard starring Hugh Jackman and Debra Byrne.  I was amazed at the lavish interior with a sweeping staircase and golden statues everywhere I looked.  I haven't returned since but maybe one day!

I was also fascinated by the history of the Athenaeum Theatre opposite.  It is a theatre where I have seen many shows including Wogs out of Work, Barry Humphries as Sandy Stone and the comedian Daniel Kitson.
 

Parrot outside Melbourne Town Hall

We walked past the Melbourne Town Hall.  This is a building that dominates Swanston Street and has a central role in the city's history.  I have seen the Choir of Hard Knocks in the Auditorium and comedy festival shows including Dave O'Neil and Rod Quantock.  Our tour was on the last day of the Rising Festival and the buzz of the crowds was a sight to behold.  The photo of the colourful parrot on someone's shoulder as people came out of the Town Hall encapsulates the colour and crowds.

Gin Palace lounge

A highlight of the tour was that it ended with cocktails at the Gin Palace.  This is an icon of the Melbourne laneway bars scene.  It is the re-imagining of the Gin Palace in the 1880s Marvellous Melbourne of luxury and debauchery.  As we descended into the dimly lit basement, it felt like stepping into history.  The decor is opulent extravagance that calls to mind elegant dress and witty banter.  Yet it welcomes everyone with the chandelier, fancy couches with plump embroidered upholstery and large floral arrangements.

Gin Palace lounge, framed pictures and chandelier

We sit in this corner with Kathy and order a cocktail that is included in the cost of the tour.  I am very happy to find mocktails on the drinks menu.  (It was not clear when I checked the website.)  I order the Ambrosia: "Sweet, bubbly fruit cup with apple pie spice: raspberry & clove shrub, apple pie tea, cinnamon, and pear soda ($12)."  The warm spices in my drink are lovely on a winter's day.

Kathy is very generous in talking about how she came to do these tours and is happy to answer our questions.  During the tour she talks so much and dug so many facts and stories from her mind that ishe seems very content to also sit and listen to us talk about our lives.  We are all very happy to sink back into the chairs, sip a cold drink and chat after all that walking.  We have fun trying to identify the faces in the framed pictures around us.  I am particularly amused at the riff on the Claude Monet painting, Woman with a Parasol, only this one had Darth Vader replacing the woman!
 

Gin Palace mocktails menu

After Kathy left, I stayed with Jo and her friend for another drink.  I love that the mocktails menu has an option for adding gin to each mocktail to make them more inclusive.  This meant that when I chose to have the Booch Please mocktail (kombucha and tonic: $13), Jo chose to have it as well but with the optional gin ($23).  K had a strawberry mocktail.  You can see them in the photo below.  I was surprised that's Jo's Gin Booch Please was much larger than my mocktail version.  No wonder the price difference was so huge.  The Booch Please was a revelation.  Who knew the kombucha could be so good in a mocktail! It was my first drink with tonic I have really enjoyed.  It was a refreshing combination of tart, bitter and sweet.

Gin Palace cocktails

I am really glad I decided to fork out $149 (gulp) and did this tour.  While pricey, there was so much information, entertainment and fun in the three hours, so much I learnt, the afternoon tea to start and the mocktail at the end.  If you are interested in Melbourne's architectural and social history and/or insider stories about Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, I highly recommend this tour.

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries Tour
Run by MELtours (Melbourne Walking Tours)
Melbourne CBD
1.30pm Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays
Cost $149
www.meltours.com.au/tours/missfishermurdermysteriestour

Gin Palace
10 Russell Pl, Melbourne CBD
Open 7 days, 4pm to 3am 
www.ginpalace.com.au

More posts on Green Gourmet Giraffe about visiting historic buildings in south east of Melbourne CBD that were featured in the tour:

• Hotel Windsor - high tea
• Hotel Windsor - accommodation and breakfast 
• Open House Melbourne 2012 including Tasma Terrace  
• Open House 2014 including Old Treasury Building 
• Tea Rooms 1892, Block Arcade
• Victorian Parliament House: photos of a tour