Creswick

The family is in Creswick this weekend, which is a town to the west and north of Melbourne. I have learned things while in Creswick. I have learned that Creswick was overrun during the gold rush of the 1850s. Deforested, dug up, washed over.

I learned that the prime minister of Australia during the second world war, John Curtin, was born in Creswick. I learned that John Curtin was the prime minister during the second world war. I had heard the name John Curtin before: there is a Curtin University, for example. Only I learned (by looking it up just now) that the university is actually in Western Australia, on the opposite side of the country.

I learned about the Lindsay family. They lived in Creswick in the late 1800s. There were ten Lindsay children, five of whom became artists. For example, Daryl was a curator of the National Gallery of Victoria in the 1950s. But the most famous of the ten is Norman Lindsay, who was an illustrator, artist, and children's book writer. On a bet, he wrote a book that is now regarded as a children's classic in Australia, called the Magic Pudding. I learned this by walking into a room in the somewhat crazy Creswick Museum, open only on weekends from 11am to 3:30pm, that was entitled "The Magic Pudding."

The book was written 100 years ago, which means its copyright has expired. Which means that you can download it for free.

So I did. It is here: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23625

Wikipedia says that "Philip Pullman has described The Magic Pudding as "the funniest children's book ever written" and as his favourite book."

So there you go.

I haven't finished, because I just downloaded it this afternoon. But so far, I have found it a lot like reading Alice in Wonderland, which is also supposed to be a funny children's book. All I can say is that some people have a strange sense of humour.

 Here are some pictures of Creswick.

The creek through town. 

Mama kangaroo and a joey. I don't know if you'll be able to see the joey because alas, my phone camera does not have optical zoom.

Sunset. It looked nicer in real life, as sunsets often do.

Same for those white things. They are sulphur crested cockatoos.

The wattle trees are in bloom. They smell wonderful.

It is spring here, finally. Although still cold. The trees know it is spring anyway.

And there you go. Creswick. Did you learn something?