King’s Birthday Weekend

One of Australia’s public holidays is called the King’s Birthday. It was formerly known as the Queen’s Birthday and many people were still adjusting to the new name! It’s not actually celebrated on the monarch’s birthday, but rather is commemorated on the second Monday in June. (Sorry Charles.)
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The 3-day King’s Birthday weekend coincided with the beginning of my last week in Melbourne. Since many people were off work, it was a convenient chance to spend time with local friends before leaving town. I ended up squeezing in 6 different social engagements, including a footy game at the MCG!

The first was my usual Saturday morning Parkrun at the Kirkdale reserve with Ben. As usual, the race organizer asked if anyone was visiting from other cities or Parkrun sites. There were several runners from other Australian capitals, presumably in town for the long weekend.

It ended up being my 8th and last Parkrun. Even though it was a bit inconvenient getting out of bed and commuting to the park, I still grew fond of this Saturday morning ritual. I would see Ben again before leaving town, so it wasn’t goodbye to him just yet.
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In the afternoon, I finally had the chance to meet my Aussie-Czech relatives at a historic pub across from Flinders Station called Young & Jackson’s. They were visiting Melbourne from Gold Coast to watch footy with their kids over the holiday weekend. At the pub were two brothers, Jason and Danny, and two of their kids. We had a lovely chat over a few pints.

Quick refresher on the family connection. My great grandmother Marie, who moved from Czechoslovakia to New York, had a sister named Frances who moved to Tasmania. Frances’ daughter Eva worked as a dentist in Penguin, alongside her husband Antonin who was a doctor. Eva and Antonin had two children – Mark (who died young) and Dan, the father of Jason and Danny. Dan worked as a plumber and moved to the Gold Coast, where he built his own house. Jason and Danny had two older siblings, Nate and Nicky, who were born in Tasmania before the move. Nowadays, the whole clan was rooted in Gold Coast – the four adult siblings, their spouses’ families, and their kids. If things had worked out differently, it would have been delightful to meet everyone during my visit to Gold Coast in May. I was still so thankful that Danny and Jason happened to be in Melbourne and made time to meet with me.
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They were both personable and generous fellows. They insisted on buying the drinks. Later on, they had their kids bring money to the homeless man outside the window (the “Aussie way,” as they described it). Jason worked for a hotel chain that spanned from Hawaii to the Maldives and traveled a lot for work. He thought the Polynesian sense of hospitality was even more impressive than Australia’s. One time, Jason had visited the Czech town of Hluk, where our mutual ancestors were from. Unfortunately, he didn’t have much luck finding family as he didn’t speak the language. Danny was a yoga instructor and painter, working on a teaching credential. He spoke with an air of wisdom and gratitude, keeping a positive perspective on life’s hardships. He and his daughter enjoyed surfing, and while in Melbourne, they visited the UrbnSurf manmade wave pool.
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The two brothers had memories of visiting Frances and Eva in Penguin. They told stories that added color, like Frances being a whirlwind and giving one of the kids an ashtray as a spontaneous birthday gift. I learned that Eva was an unmatched host who ensured there was excessive food available. One time, the brothers visited Eva and deliberately didn’t notify her about the visit until they had already landed in Launceston, as they didn’t want a fuss. But as soon as they got off the phone, Eva (who couldn’t drive at that point) took a taxi to the grocery store and was back with food before the guests arrived. We also talked about their father Dan’s reluctance to talk about their Uncle Mark’s suicide, and how he changed to become a more active grandparent after his wife died of cancer.
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I sincerely hope to see them again, perhaps in the US! Danny had once visited California and Oregon, recalling times in Santa Monica and the Avenue of the Giants. And Jason goes to Hawaii regularly for work. In any case, it was great to make the initial connection. The mystery of these Gold Coast relatives had been a loose plot thread in my Australia adventure – a seed planted during my very first week in the country in Tasmania. Here it was, my last week in the country, and resolved in the best way possible.
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Sunday morning, I took the train to Elwood and met with Zeah for a coastal walk and a coffee. The sky that day was gray but peaceful. While talking, we strolled past expensive mansions and runners from a community event who were dressed as footy players. I mentioned I was going to see the Grigoryan Brothers perform a concert later in the day, and Zeah provided the insider scoop on their careers and styles. She mentioned teaching at an event in the Philippines, where the Spanish influence has maintained interest in classical guitar. The café she selected was modern and cozy.

When it was time to say goodbye, I thanked her for arranging the guitar I borrowed in Melbourne and for making the time to see me. It was so special to keep the Suzuki guitar network alive and spend time with someone who shared my admiration for the late Frank Longay, my teacher in California. At the same time, I couldn’t help but feel a sad sense that the golden days of the Suzuki guitar community had passed for Zeah. The financial pressures of teaching, fewer opportunities to travel to conventions, and COVID impacts on student engagement sounded like a challenging combination. I hope these gray skies eventually clear for her.

I needed to stop back at my apartment in Carlton for lunch and a change of clothes. There was a massive anti-Israel protest in the middle of the CBD that blocked both Swanston Street and Bourke Street, the two major tram arteries that I relied on. I eventually made it back, wolfed down some food, and hopped on the bus to the next engagement of the day.
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The Grigoryan Brothers, Slava and Lenny, were playing a concert at the Collingwood Town Hall. I had only recently been made aware of this Australian duet, a recommendation from my Servas host in Perth. One of their albums, This is Us, immediately caught my ear. It was commissioned by the National Museum of Australia in Canberra, which I coincidentally visited in March. Each of the 18 original compositions were inspired by an artifact in the museum, including one called Thylacine – the same preserved thylacine which I previously wrote about in this blog. I looked up the brothers’ concert schedule and found they were touring the country for their latest album, Amistad. I knew I had to see them!

The beginning of the concert was a set from Amistad, many of which were composed by friends of theirs. Hence the title, Amistad, meaning “friendship” in Spanish. One piece was by the well-known guitar composer Leo Brouwer, titled Blue Mountains. It was inspired by Brouwer’s visit there, but I liked the real Blue Mountains much better than the song. The middle of the program included some guitar duet staples, like the Suite Retratos. Their fast playing was a feat of athleticism!
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To my delight, they ended the program with two pieces from This is Us. The first was called Loven Token. It was inspired by the carved coins that convicts would give to their loved ones before being shipped away to Australia. Lenny read the inscription of the specific coin at the NMA that had inspired them – “Dear brother / When this you see / Think of me / From far away.” The two brothers wrote the piece during COVID lockdowns while living in different cities, giving it extra significance. The last piece was an energetic piece called Don’s Bat, inspired by the cricket legend Don Bradman. The backstory needed no introduction for this Aussie audience.

​The Grigoryan brothers concert felt like the cherry on top of my weekend. But the event I had been anticipating the most was still to come – an Australian rules football game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Abbreviated as the MCG, and further shortened to the “G,” this was the most hallowed sporting hub of the city, and maybe even country. It was a short train ride from Collingwood to the “G.” Outside the gates, I met up with Gail who had agreed to accompany me to my first footy game.

​Tonight it was the Carlton Blues vs. the Essendon Bombers. My newly adopted team vs. Gail’s team. A perfect match to see together. Gail had the equivalent of MCG season tickets, covering both cricket in the summer and footy in the winter. Our initial goal was getting into the MCC member’s reserve, which had a dress code. It required a collared shirt and no torn jeans, so I wore the nicest clothes I had in my limited wardrobe – my wedding khakis and shirt. A little out of place, but oh well. Even though we arrived several hours in advance, we didn’t get into the MCC section as it was popular on a holiday weekend. Instead, we ended up in one of the highest rows in the highest section. I actually liked having a panorama over the whole stadium, which made it possible to appreciate the scale of the venue. There were 88,500 fans in attendance that night!

​Before the game, we had roast meat sandwiches and beers in a crowded food court. It was elbow to elbow, but most people were glued to a TV screen showing another footy game. We wandered the halls, looking at sports memorabilia including a statue of Don Bradman, a painting of the victorious women’s soccer team, a tapestry of notable MCG history, and many other pieces.

​The two teams burst through their club banners and took the field for warm-ups while their club anthems played. Afterwards, a group of four brothers made an appearance on the field. They were all retired footy players, including one with Motor Neuron Disease (MND) who created a campaign to raise awareness of the disease and funding for research. The campaign was called the Big Freeze and was celebrating its tenth year. It was a beloved tradition of the footy community, and the stadium was filled with Big Freeze blue beanies. In the days after the match, the blue beanies were a common sight all over the city.

Then the game began! Aussie rules football gameplay is non-stop action. The players can dribble, toss, or kick the ball forward. The field is quite large, so there’s a lot of running involved. If a teammate catches a longer distance kick, it’s called a “mark” and they earn a free kick. Whenever there was a successful mark close to the goal posts, the crowd got excited about the impending shot on goal. Six points are awarded for the inner goal, and one point for the outer goals (called a “behind”). The box scores are reported with three stats: the number of goals, behinds, and total score (6x goals + 1x behinds).
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Carlton and Essendon are both suburbs of Melbourne, so there were lots of fans from both clubs. Essendon was the designated home team, and the stadium screens had celebratory animations when the Bombers scored. However, this match was a Carlton blowout. The Blues quickly accumulated a comfortable lead and maintained it the whole game.

The stadium was a lot less rowdy than an American sporting event. Sure, there were some groans of disappointment at players or referees. But there was minimal chanting or heckling, as the fans were too focused on actually watching the game, which didn’t have many breaks. Gail mentioned that a closer game would have been more tense and exciting, so perhaps that was the difference.

After the game, we had a drink on a patio with a view of the city skyline and watched the fans pour out of the stadium. Seeing a game at the MCG is something I will always cherish.

​Monday was the King’s Birthday holiday. In the morning, I went out for brunch with Reggie. The place was called the Pancake Parlour, an American-inspired Aussie restaurant. Fitting for an American-Aussie friendship. Reggie told me it was a childhood favorite, and it was nice to lean into their nostalgia. It was one of the few places in Australia serving bottomless drip coffee, a staple of American diners but unheard of in Australian espresso country. I ordered the tiramisu pancakes, which were decadent and amazing. Despite having a sweet tooth, I couldn’t finish them!

​We hung out near the State Library until Reggie had to take off. I wandered back into the State Library, which I had previously toured but not explored. I found a Lego model of the building in the basement, designed by the host of Australian Lego Masters. The high angle views of the octagonal La Trobe Reading Room were wonderful. I attempted to see if there were any newspaper articles about my Czech relatives moving to Tasmania, and got some help from a librarian, but eventually hit a dead end.

​That evening, I met up with my friend Gill who I met on the Kakadu tour. Gill was a fellow resident of Carlton, and had just gotten back from her additional week in the Northern Territory. We went to a movie at the Cinema Nova, a beloved Carlton institution right above Brunetti. Within the cinema there was an outdoor patio overlooking Lygon Street, offering a new perspective on this familiar place.

​The movie was a gripping documentary about Australian car culture, called Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Joking aside, Mad Max was a fun movie to watch in Australia, as it not only takes place in a post-apocalyptic Australia, but it was filmed in NSW and featured Aussie actor Chris Hemsworth as the main villain. It was good, over-the-top fun. On the way out, Gill commented it was neat to have a movie with so many Aussie accents. I hadn’t even registered this fact, after being surrounded by the accent for so long. The cinema had a message board where people could leave handwritten reviews, and Gill stopped to add hers.

​Afterwards, we grabbed a drink at a bar on Lygon called Good Measure. It had chic lighting, a DJ spinning records, and an edgy cocktail menu that was a little out of its depth. I ordered a babka-inspired drink with clarified milk that came with a piece of stale babka on a skewer. The coasters had a cute logo of a magpie-lark. Gill described it as a very “inner Northern suburbs” bar.

Gill had spent her whole life in Melbourne, studying and working in financial law. Even though Sydney is the country’s financial capital, she was pretty rooted in Melbourne, due to her family and owning a condo. We talked about travel and theater and other random topics. It was funny to think that despite living a few blocks apart, we had met in Darwin of all places.
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Even if I was largely an anonymous traveler in Melbourne, this social weekend had reminded me of the low-key but meaningful relationships that I’d cultivated during my time there. Ben, Jason and Danny, Zeah, Gail, Reggie, and Gill are all people I hope to see again someday. The long weekend was the perfect time to see them all.