Off this afternoon to visit the Abbotsford Convent for their open day. On the way we walked past more of Richmond’s industrial heritage.

The magnificent old wool store building is now for lease, I pray it won’t be destroyed, then further up towards Victoria Gardens we came upon one of the huge old industrial warehouses … only problem being that it had disappeared. After learning yesterday that the Violineri on Bridge Road is closing I was determined to take a few pictures of any other buildings, to try and capture them before the whole lot disappear to be replaced by bland new apartment developments…

The 30s-era building up near Victoria gardens is a favourite, photos were a problem with a big ugly ute parked out the front, but somehow I managed. Then came the skipping girl on Victoria street, extra degree of difficulty being the large “For Lease” sign. At least the neon sign is now heritage listed so it’ll stay awhile.

Then it was over the river at the Walmer street bridge, slip and slide through the mud around the walking trails to cross back into Abbotsford, and up to the convent to view the buildings for their first open day in a long time. Finally, after years of passing by along the river bank or through the streets, I got to walk around inside and view the buildings and grounds.

A strange place really, the current convent buildings were built early in the 19th century and replace an earlier Australian-style building that had a low roof line and wide verandahs. The main convent building mimics the English buildings from several hundred years ago.

Local activism has saved the site from being bulldozed and replaced by more apartment housing, the plans are to develop it all as an arts precinct, and to retain and restore the existing buildings — one sore point seems to be that the only car-park nearby is to be replaced by housing, which may threaten the viability of both the convent and the Collingwood Children’s farm next-door.

Hundreds of people were thronging the site, even with the grey skies and drizzly rain. The guide on our walking tour stated that they had been running six tours an hour, with fifty people per tour, non-stop between ten in the morning and five in the afternoon! There’s obviously a lot of interest in the old convent site.

Five o’clock and the convent was closing, winter solstice and the sun was going down — it was time to retreat to “The Retreat” for a beer or two. It must be one of the snuggest and friendly feeling pubs in Melbourne. For fans of the Sullivans — an early 80’s TV Soap — the walls are lined with shots from when the pub scenes were filmed here, for the rest of us, its just a warm and cosy place to sit and drink and talk.

I could have happily stayed in the Retreat all evening… if only I lived just around the corner. Since we still had to get home we continued back southwards, down through the wilds of Abbotsford until we reached familiar ground in Richmond — or at least within sight of Richmond, just over the road as we stopped for a meal in E Lounge, another favourite café, but one that is just a little outside our normal walking radius! Magnificent calzone, plentiful wine, tasty coffee — a fine end to a great afternoon.