Melbourne Bearbrass Probus is an active, engaging, member-driven group who come together to undertake a wide variety of enriching and enjoyable social activities and outings, which enhance their experiences and interests, whilst enjoying the fellowship of an expanding, diverse, network of friends.
Spring has finally arrived, and our Bearbrass calendar continues to be very busy.
Recently, nineteen members enjoyed a wonderful trip to Warrnambool for a few nights. Some members had a relaxing trip via V Line train, while others chose to make their own way via car. Many walks were undertaken and despite the blustery conditions, were a very popular way to enjoy the scenery. Members chose their own activities, such as the Maritime Museum and day trips to Port Fairy and Tower Hill, while we all came together for evening meals.
Other activities recently enjoyed by members include Annie, the musical, a visit to the Geelong Gallery to see all the Archibald Prize paintings and Morning Melodies at Hamer Hall. We have a jam packed schedule organised for the remainder of the year and into 2026.
At the September general meeting five new members were inducted, who all have a variety of different backgrounds. We welcome them to the club hope they enjoy the fun and fellowship.
Our guest speaker was one of our own, Terry, who features on the website for Live Up. Terry is a great advocate for remaining busy and engaged in many activities as we age. Our second speaker, John Bradshaw, from Live Up, espoused all the benefits of social connection as a pillar of health in aging. Bearbrass Probus club is certainly providing many social connections.
If you are looking for some more social connections and would like to join Bearbrass Probus, please reach out to our membership officer Bill on 0409 436 177 or fill out a no obligation application form via the website.
As always, we appreciate the financial support of the City of Melbourne.
Tuesday's talk: “The life of a press photographer!”
Drop everything, folks, to hear our terrific speaker at Bearbrass’s monthly meeting next Tuesday Nov 11.
Bill started as an Age cadet photographer in 1969. After learning the mechanics in the newspaper’s darkroom, he spent the next 40 years as a ‘snapper’ for newspapers in Melbourne, Sydney, London and Canberra.
Bill and his cameras have covered everything from breaking hard news, crime, terrible bushfires and despairing droughts, to sport, politics, the arts and human-interest tales. He has made a specialty of mood shots of Melbourne’s ever-changing Docklands, ever since it was just mud and junk.
Bill has won many awards including the coveted Australian Press Photographer of The Year. The National Portrait Gallery in Canberra displays nine of Bill’s portraits.
After retiring from News Corp, Bill lives in Warrandyte with wife Claire and their border collie, Freddy. He still swims in the Yarra River on most days, even the chilliest.
As a lifetime journo myself, let me tell you that this talk – illustrated by his best work - will be a treat, don’t miss it for quids! – Tony T.
When Frederick Sargood built a 15-room mansion on 26 acres in the former bushland north of Brighton which became the outskirts of Elsternwick, and named it Rippon Lea after his mother, Emma Rippon, it is unlikely that he could have envisioned his family home becoming one of the most famous Victorian-era properties in Australia.
Bearbrass members listened in wonder as we toured the now-33 room mansion with its original self-sustaining underground watering system, its purpose-dredged lake and waterfall, indoor toilets and evidence of its original electrical system.
As guides Sara and Helen led us through the spectacular bedrooms, Hollywood-influenced dining room, gardens and swimming baths, we learned of Sargood’s gold-rush inspired soft goods business success, the property’s sale and extension by Benjamin Nathan (founder of Maples Furniture stores – “… right near your door”), its subsequent purchase by a business consortium under Tommy Bent (politician after whom Bentleigh is named) and its final transfer to the National Trust.
Most National Trust properties are historically interesting but Rippon Lea, under a wonderful blue-sky day, was a real surprise; the guides were as proud as they were interested in sharing their knowledge and the rich tapestry woven from business success through the Victorian era of Melbourne’s growth was an absolute delight for all to share.
As the clock struck six on a blustery evening in an elite South Melbourne apartment block, the foyer slowly filled with a motley mix of aged men and women. From white sports coats (but no carnations) and a mix of stylish upmarket women’s dress, the group grew slowly towards its expected mid-twenty until the final male and his American guest arrived.
The group shifted excitedly to the building’s board room for capapes, sparkling wine and catch-up conversation until it was muted by the moment of choosing table groups for evening meal. Guess-who’s-coming-to-dinner began with a selection of couples per room and then the remaining singles were allocated to repeated rounds of applause. The 40 per cent of males, almost inevitably accompanying the female partners, joined the shift towards the lifts, leaving their unwashed glasses in the sink to be attended to later.
From room to room the meals and wines were enthusiastically imbibed as conversations added sparkle to the evening. From the advantages of late entry into real-estate business to the thrill of writing famous films or the challenge of penning publishable poetry, discussion raged through dinner and into the evening.
Thanks to Sandy M, Susan B and Pam G (pictured) for being magnificent hostesses and making their wonderful apartments available for the evening.
The mahjong group now meets at The Wharf Hotel fortnightly and, happily, we are growing in numbers.
Welcome to the group Jules Tand Rose M.
We are in our second year of playing now and more experienced members are now feeling pretty comfortable with complicated hands such as Five Odd Honours, Windy Chows and Wriggly Snake, all the time having a good catch up and connecting with friends.
We welcome beginners into the group so please contact Sue H if you are interested in joining.
Six art lovers gathered around the long table at the newly opened, revamped, Ian Potter Museum Café for lunch. Following lunch members were met by an Art gallery member who guided us over the three levels to view selected works. During our tour our guide explained the importance of these selected works.
Words by Emily Riches describes the exhibition “… …in consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and custodians of art traditions-the exhibition explores the Indigenous art and its rise to prominence globally. It celebrates the brilliance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art while confronting the Australia’s colonial history”
Following our 40 minute tour we were left to view the exhibition of more than 450 works, rare pieces, some owned by the University of Melbourne others by public and private lenders.
Time was too short and the exhibition was too vast to take in all the paintings and other forms of work. We need to return a few times!
This month’s walk was along the Inner Circle Rail Trail and Edinburgh Gardens to Princes Park
The walk took 2 hours to do 6 km by the time we looked at all the interesting places along the way including:
- The historic Fitzroy FC grandstand
- North Fitzroy railway station
- Rathdowne cable tram sheds
- North Carlton Station
- Princes Park (home of Carlton FC)
- Melb General Cemetery stopping at the Prime Ministers' Memorial Garden
We also looked inside Newman College created by Walter Burley Griffin and ended with a well earned coffee at the Residence at Potter Museum of art in Melbourne University.
The October general meeting was extremely well attended, no doubt to hear our popular member Susan B spill the beans on her working life in film and television! But more further down….
The President welcomed three new members to their first meeting, Liz W, Solange Ri and Rose M. She also advised us of the birth of her12th grandchild, baby Pat. Other good new shared was that Good luck to Spike S is venturing to Canberra to play Pickle Ball in the 20th Australian Masters Games. Good luck Spike.
We then got to the business part of the meeting where motions for a new club Constitution and Standing Resolutions were spiritedly debated!
After a well earned tea break it was over to the main attraction.
Susan B described how she has a death on her conscience. Not a real death, but some 20 years ago she was TV Creative Producer on the series McLeod’s Daughters. She had to kill Claire, born and raised amid sheep and wheat on Drover’s Run.
Susan told the meeting about it, dressed in homage to the late Diane Keaton with hat, scarf and overcoat: “I love working with the costumers. You dress a character a certain way, it tells half the back-story.”
She shifted into TV and film work after a 20 year nursing career, becoming consultant to get the medical scenes correct. She rose to creative-producing through her love of telling stories – “They’re the basis of human civilisation.”
[For an extended report of her wonderful talk, click Read More].
As always, after closing the meeting we all headed off to TAP831 for lunch.
“The Power of Geography” by Tim Marshall was the first non-fiction title for our recent Book Club meeting and it did not disappoint. We were all so involved in the discussion that we lost track of time and had to carry the discussion over to lunch nearby. With books, there is always more to say!
Several members met and dined at the Wharf hotel before gathering for an afternoon of creativity and craft.
Member Spike brought along a shirt, keen to learn the art of sewing on a button. With Sue’s patient and thorough guidance, Spike soon mastered the technique and left brimming with new knowledge.
Meanwhile, several members brought out their knitting needles—no doubt inspired by the chilly weather. A large bundle of cosy winter woollies is well underway that will be packed up to send to the Cottage by the Sea in October.
Member Spike brought along a shirt, keen to learn the art of sewing on a button. With Sue’s patient and thorough guidance, Spike soon mastered the technique and left brimming with new knowledge.
Meanwhile, several members brought out their knitting needles—no doubt inspired by the chilly weather. A large bundle of cosy winter woollies is well underway that will be packed up to send to the Cottage by the Sea in October.
Members took a one hour ten minute train from Southern Cross Station to Geelong. Eleven members and one guest walked through the Botanic Garden to the Library café for coffee and cake before visiting the Geelong Art Gallery. Julie Fragar won the 2025 Archibald Prize with her portrait Flagship Mother Multiverse of artist Justene Williams. Members shared mixed opinions over lunch but agreed the Geelong Regional Art Gallery is an excellent venue.Indifferent weather and wind did not discourage our intrepid group of 18 members who travelled to Warrnambool early this month. Members came by road and rail, staying in a range of accommodation options along Pertobe Rd. Each day started with a walk to the sea wall followed by coffee and an outing. Warrnambool and its surrounds has much to offer: galleries, Flagtaff Hill Maritime Village, the Fletcher Jines complex, mineral baths, Tower Hill and Port Fairy being some of the member destinations. Shared evening meals were a great opportunity for catching up and lots of laughs. Our fourth annual club get away did not disappoint. Where to next year? Watch this space.
Sunday Roasts continue to be very popular events, attracting up to 25 Bearbrass members and guests, on the third Sunday of each month, to share a lunch at a local hotel. The venues are chosen based on first hand recommendations, proximity to public transport, pricing, and the opportunity for everyone to pay separately for their meal and beverages.
While most venues are in, or around the inner Melbourne area, recently a large group ventured to regional Victoria. This was one of the more popular lunches, with members meeting at Southern Cross station and catching a V-line train to New Gisborne to enjoy a magnificent meal at The Barringo Restaurant.
With its Grand Renaissance style exterior that has overlooked Melbourne down Collins Street since its completion in 1862, the Old Treasury Building has remained an iconic landmark for most of the city’s history. As well as exploring the original gold vaults where gold bullion was stored during the gold rush era, we were treated to a feast of historical documents and artefacts. A particularly fascinating room held a marvellous twin photographic display permitting a direct comparison of Melbourne of circa 1880 with Melbourne in 1990. We visited areas of the building inaccessible to the general public, including the Executive Council Chamber. This historic room is where the Governor of Victoria has met for over 160 years to sign legislation into law. Thanks to our fantastic guide Jackie, who really brought Melbourne’s past alive for us!
Ten members and guests took part in an hour of tenpin bowling. Everyone enjoyed a mix of friendly competition and laughter. Several players celebrated “strikes,” while a few gutter balls brought smiles and encouragement from the group. The atmosphere was lively, with plenty of socialising before we wrapped up with a relaxed lunch at Mojo Jojo Café in The District.
My “Co-pilot AI” expanded on my initial meagre words. The Co-pilot, untangling my words, described the exhibition, as “The paintings, awash with light and colour, transported us to the heart of nineteenth-century Paris, evoking the spirit of Monet, Renoir, Degas, and their contemporaries. Each canvas revealed the innovation and boldness of the impressionist movement, inviting reflection on brushwork, fleeting moments, and the play of natural light.” -much better words! Whilst we were lost in admiration for the artists' visions and the stories captured on canvas we could not linger any longer and all agreed that this beautiful and stunning exhibition is well worth seeing at least twice.
We were fortunate to lunch in a sunlit outdoor café and discuss the curation of the rooms in which paintings are hung.
A Bearbrass party had a marvellous time discovering behind the scenes how a ballet is put together. Our ballet hostess was Mary (centre of pic - no other pics allowed inside) — in full costumed rig-out. She took us through the Ballet Centre at Southgate showing us everything from dancers limbering up to rooms full of nothing but jars of sequins and beads for the costume makers.
Another circular room was piled floor to ceiling with many hundreds of ballet shoes — allocated in compartments for each dancer by name. In a season the Centre gets through multi-thousand point shoes made largely of paper-cache and glue. They’re all imported from London and cost up to $200 each. For Swan Lake the shoes for the heroine Odette/Odile don’t even last one performance and she needs a new pair for the last act.
We also learnt what goes into a tutu — well over 10m of gossamer fabric. One reason it’s kept light is that the male has enough of a job already, lifting the wearer overhead. Each costume has a series of hooks-and-eyes spaced to adapt to multiple dancers’ size.
Watching the dancers on their six-days-a-week practising, we marvelled at how tall the males are these days — almost all at 6ft plus.
Our big takeaway was that even with tickets $125 upwards, ballet is an inordinately costly business: you just have no idea what’s involved backstage!
Our latest Wine Group tasting sampled six wines from WA’s iconic south-west, namely the sea-kissed Margaret River region with its billion-year gravelly soil giving a Bordeaux hint to the wines.
We started with a Leeuwin Estate chardonnay followed by Forester, Vasse Felix and Voyager reds. The commentary was largely film clips with a quick travelogue about this beautiful and diverse promontory, followed by youtubes about each winery and seriously expert discussion by WA and overseas wine buffs. We also had an extempore report by Mel G on the club wine tour he led to the Rutherglen region.
The discussions were followed by instant arrival of copious Indonesian take-away, rapidly using up our supply of paper plates while we sampled favourite wines brought in by our dozen attendees.
Supported by Sally, the CEO of Working Heritage Victoria, tour guide Andy led a party of Bearbrass members and others around the impressive, if somewhat concealed, property of Jack’s Magazine by the river in Maribyrnong.
Specifically designed to safely hold huge volumes of gunpowder imported into the colony of Victoria, this little known part of Melbourne’s history was completed in 1878. It later provided storage for dangerous explosives used in the ammunition factories that formed part of Melbourne’s industrial military precinct, known as the ‘Arsenal of Australia’.
Incorporating a large site on the banks of the Maribyrnong River and surrounded by an imposing bluestone perimeter wall, huge blast mounds surround two magazines, connecting tunnels, a canal and a variety of ex-storage and administrative buildings. The protective mounds offer tremendous views of Melbourne’s skyline.
The first Crafty Group gathering at our new venue was at the Wharf Hotel. Although the room we had booked was being used by hotel management, we were directed to two long tables upstairs on the ground floor. Six of us arrived early to enjoy a meal and agreed the lighting would do just fine—at least, until one of our members arrived and immediately commented on how dark it was! In good spirits, she added that she wouldn't grumble if everyone else was happy—only to be told she was still wearing her sunglasses!
After a chuckle and a group consensus, we relocated to a brighter spot and settled into our crafting. A special highlight of the day was celebrating the achievement of our newest member, who was inspired during a recent Queenscliff getaway to pick up knitting needles again after many years. She was handed a ball of wool and a pair of needles at our next gathering, and since then, has already completed four scarves, which will be donated to Cottage by the Sea. You can admire her beautiful work in one of the photos!
Pentridge was established in 1851 with 16 prisoners who were walked in shackles from Melbourne Gaol to Coburg. Its closure in 1997 marked the end of an era incompletely saved by its late heritage listing. The brutal stories of ‘Bluestone College’ from its building with basalt rock dug manually from Merri Creek to form Coburg Lake can still bring tears to the eyes of the most stoic.
The tour of the former prison evoked sad memories and emotional responses from Bearbrass members as they visited the notorious H Block, listened to the audio records and walked through the cells of such notable criminals as Kevin Joiner – shot dead while attempting to escape over the walls in 1952, and William John O’Meally – with 42 convictions before 1952 when he killed an unarmed constable patrolling around the Crystal Palace Theatre in Caulfield.
More graphically, members were reminded of Jean Lee - the last woman hanged in Australia in 1951, and Ronald Ryan - who shot and killed a warder as he escaped. Recaptured in Sydney 19 days later, he became the last person legally executed in Australia.
'Enjoyed' is hardly a word to describe the Pentridge visit with our amazing guide, Luigi. He brought back memories that re-ignited the history of the Victorian Prison system, its brutality and its legacy as we ponder its place in our lives today.
Twenty of us had a great morning at the refurbished Police Museum in Spencer St. After nearly an hour there, many were pledging to come back for a fuller visit and bring their grandkids for the interactive detective games.
The museum traverses Victorian police history since colonial days, with plenty more about police horses and their training and the K9 dog squads. None of us knew that to train police horses to push gently into unruly crowds, the horses are given a human-sized rubber ball to nudge from one end of the police stables to the other.
Naturally the museum includes the many dramas and tragedies of police work, with special emphasis on the bombing of the Russell Street headquarters in 1986, our first real introduction to the modern world of terror attacks.
We were joined in our tour by two burly police in their iconic semi-riot gear, typifying the friendly atmosphere at this gem of Melbourne experience (and free, what’s more).
Afterwards half our party trudged off to lunch at the Royal Melbourne Hotel in Bourke St., securing a quiet table in what used to be the bluestone prison there. How appropriate!
912 Collins Street
Docklands, VIC 3008
Australia