What's Happening in MY Carlton The Melbourne Museum, Carlton Residents Association and Fitzroy Residents Association have joined forces to obtain government funding to restore the viewing area at the base of the Royal Exhibition Building dome to its former glory including a passenger elevator. The Royal Exhibition Building and surrounding Carlton Gardens was inscribed on the World Heritage List on 1 July 2004, and included in the National Heritage List on 20 July 2004. VIEW TO A THRILL The observation deck around the Royal Exhibition Building's dome could be about to get a restoration to its 1880s glory. "My dream is that one day we could get enough money together to recreate that experience and use it to talk about the building's heritage significance and the place of Australia's first parliament," Museum Victoria chief executive Patrick Greene says. "I think people would be attracted to the idea of going up for the 19th-century Marvellous Melbourne experience." The master plan is yet to receive funding but has already won the backing of resident groups. Melbourne Times Weekly March 30 2011 > Click here for more

What's Happening in MY Carlton
by Michael Green, Freelance Journalist

Autumn Leaf Catching Contest
In a good autumn, my thoughts become overgrown with a happy kind of wistfulness. And this year, the season has been very good: brisk mornings are thawing into sunny afternoons, before a cheek-slapping dusk.

In Melbourne during autumn, there’s no better place to be than Carlton. In the parks and on the streets, leaves are turning, falling and swirling. As I walk to the shops or to meet friends, I’ve been trying to catch those leaves. My tally so far is seven. My neighbour Tanya is on twelve. We’ve started the inaugural Autumn Leaf Catching Contest – and you’re welcome to join in.

Two years ago I signed onto a free website called The Sharehood (www.thesharehood.org). In my block – north of the Carlton Gardens, between Rathdowne and Nicholson Streets – over 60 households have signed up, listing things they would like to borrow from their neighbours and things they could lend to them. The website also has a local online notice-board, where people can post events, ideas or questions.

Through the Sharehood, I’ve met most of the people on my street and many in surrounding streets. We’ve held barbeques, picnics and summer movies in the park, and swapped things and skills, such as vacuums and ladders, or gardening and computer expertise.

I posted the Autumn Leaf Catching Contest on my Sharehood notice-board, but I’d hasten to add that even if you don’t have any luck catching leaves, it’s a good idea to gather a stock of them in large bags. They’re the perfect, carbon-rich tune-up to make your compost pile or worm farm sing. Collect them on a dry day and they’ll keep for months.

In my garden, the past weeks have been preparation time for the coming winter. I removed the straggling summer veggies from the containers in my courtyard, and planted new seeds and seedlings. I’ve stayed home a few weekends recently, toiling in the veggie patches, baking bread or bottling fruit.

So now I can rest for a while. If you see me sitting on my porch, reading a book or roasting chestnuts – or maybe looking up into the branches, clutching for a falling leaf and laughing – please say hello.

And keep your eyes out for falling leaves. In Carlton, there’s plenty for everyone.

Well, that is What's Happening in My Carlton at the moment.

Michael Green is a freelance journalist who writes about environmental and community issues. He’s lived in Carlton since 2006. You can find more of his writing, including details of the very official Autumn Leaf Catching Contest, at www.michaelbgreen.com.au. The Sharehood was started two years ago by a bright spark in Northcote and the website now has nearly 1500 members. If you sign on, you can see the hundred nearest neighbours who are also members, and the things they’d like to borrow and lend, as well as a notice-board for people who live within five minutes walk of your house. For more information, see www.thesharehood.org.