HandleBar Adelaide - pub on wheels

The HandleBar Adelaide uses vehicles devised by brothers Henk and Zwier Van Laar in Amsterdam in the 1990s. The four-wheel, open frame vehicles, the size of a family car, have allowed fans to take in dozens of US, European and Asian cityscapes, beer in hand, since the vehicles were first tested. Americ-an Stephen Lindsay and Australian Jason Seris operated 9 of the Amsterdam-manufactured vehicles in the U.S since they took up the venture in 2012. The vehicles were brought to Adelaide in 2016 by Lindsay & Seris because the 2 men found the project has most positive impact in smaller cities. The two men chose Adelaide because they liked the size. From experience in the USA, they found that a somewhat smaller city was generally more receptive

Driving down Franklin St

Experience Adelaide

The men met extensively with Adelaide City Council and State Government agencies to ensure compliance in safety, food and alcohol service, waste disposal, suitable city routes and stopping points. The final stages of securing a liquor licence for the vehicles was critical.

Australia’s first pub on wheels in Adelaide is an open framed, pedal-powered mobile music, fun and drinking experience, offering two-hour tours of the city centre. The bike allows 16 customers to book a tour, pedalling around the CBD at 10 ks per hour, and the company provides the driver. They are tot-ally powered by the pedalling passengers with the driver-bar handler guiding its braking and direction. Each side also has a seat over the wheels, which means they don’t have pedals. Each bike also has a bench in the back that seats 3 people who want a rest and is perfect for those who don’t fit the height (5’3” min) and weight limitations (136 k max).

The HandleBar is great for pre-wedding parties, birthdays, corporate team building and Christmas parties. Australia’s only pedal pub ride includes beer, Adelaide wine, pre-mixed spirits and cider that can be pre-ordered and prepaid online while pedalling around Adelaide’s city centre. Wear sunscreen and hat in summer, comfortable clothes and avoid high heels! The pedal-power exercise is VERY energetic!

 

The driver controls the steering wheel and brakes

Adelaide Mums' Group

Though the vehicle’s speed is provided collectively by the pedalling drinking passengers, steering-braking is the sole responsibility of the driver/bar handler. And while they’re cruising around the city, the bike itself the license making it legal to drink on. So the designated driver  maintains control of the vehicle at all times and the riders don’t have control of steering or braking. And the Adelaide City Council controls vehicle compliance and safety, food and alcohol service, waste disposal, suitable city routes and hotel stopping points en route have been satisfied. Lindsey, who drives one of the vehicles, says he and Seris were in discussion with local bars about stopping off during the tours, choosing handpicked, small pub-crawl stopping points for their customers. For comfort onboard, drinks are pre-organised and paid for online before leaving the starting point, so there no need for cash. If a customer thinks that pedalling tends to make him peckish, he can bring snacks on board. If the whole group pre-books food, everyone can enjoy progressive dinner sampling at some of Adelaide's favourite eateries.

The HandleBar Homebase

Tripadvisor

While the tour drives around,  the customers pedal the streets of Adelaide, enjoying a drink to remain hydrated. Making 2-3 stops along the way, and waving to pedestrians, it is heaps of fun! Sip and sing through Adelaide's vibrant WestEnd aboard a giant party bike. HandleBar trips are Adelaide's most talked-about experiences.

A vehicle can operate with as few as 6 people, people who can decorate the bike, and play their own tunes for a personal touch. There is only one thing I, Helen, cannot find i.e confirmation that the bikes feature electric assistance so groups can pedal less and party more if they choose. I hope it is true. I broke the bottom of one leg 2 legs ago and could not pedal even some of the time.

An organised tour filling two vehicles

Adelaide Mums' Group

Bookings for groups cost $400 Sun-Thu, $500 Fri-Sat. The minimum number per bike is 6, the maximum per bike is 16. Larger parties can rent multiple bikes, the price per party bike remaining fixed regardless of party size. Get details and start planning the adventure at The HandleBar.

Heysen art, new Museum, The Cedars

The original house, now called The Cedars in Hahndorf, was built in the late 1870s by Alfred Wheelwright, then he sold the property to a North Adelaide gent and onto other moneyed families. Lastly the house and its 36 acres were sold to artist Hans Heysen (1877-1968) in 1912. Hans, his wife and eight children lived in the house, the original studios of both Hans and daughter Nora Heysen. Hans’ studio was finished in 1913, designed by Adelaide architect Albert Conrad and was a unique example of C19th German Arts and Crafts influence 

   The Cedars house and gardens, Hahndorf

I have examined Hans and Nora’s art works a number of times in this blog eg bushland images and war paintings. But I have never seen their house or studios, and have never included any photos of the architecture and gardens in my posts. Clearly it is one of Adelaide’s best preserved historic homes. The famous chalet style studio has recently been identified as the Nation’s oldest surviving purpose-built artist’s studio while the homestead has a charm that speaks of a bygone era's style. The house and studios have carefully retained their original furniture, collections and artwork of the Heysen family. Many of the two artists’ works were displayed in the original home at the top of the garden. Now c200 original works are on display in changing exhibitions in the studios and the house.

Entrance Hall

Original furniture in the original dining room

  

Hans' studio

12 years in the making, Hahndorf’s anticipated $9 million Heysen Gallery at The Cedars opened in July 2026. We already know that the rolling Adelaide Hills landscape inspired some of Australia’s most iconic artworks, so the gallery featured its inaugural exhibition called Heysen: A Shared Legacy. The Gallery is clearly located on one of SA’s most significant heritage sites, sitting alongside the historic home and studios of landscape painter Sir Hans Heysen & daughter Nora. Note she was the first Australian woman to win the Archibald Prize and was Australia’s first credited female war artist. This will be the first time in Sth Australia that there a father and daughter team have been displayed in any gallery, said Chair of Heysen Heritage Foundation. And although it took years to make it a reality, the first idea for the gallery dated much further back. Hans discussed with his family the desire to have a gallery at The Cedars, describing his vision as a place of observation and education.

When Hans died in 1968, son David continued those plans with his grandson, Peter Heysen. Now 60 years later that vision has come to life, exactly where Hans himself originally saw it. Designed by Hahndorf-based Fore Design, the gallery is connected by walking paths connecting the two original art studios and the surrounding bushland.

He emigrated from Germany as a child, an erly European artist to capture the distinct light and character of the Australian outback. A committed conservationist ahead of his time, he spent much of his life fighting land clearing and quietly purchasing and protecting native trees, incl much of the land surrounding The Cedars. That legacy has shaped the Gallery’s design, which prioritises sustainability, natural light, timber tones and a low-impact footprint that sits within the environment, not competing with it. Go Hans!!

Heysen Gallery at The Cedars, opened 2026

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Inside the  exhibition, Heysen: A Shared Legacy brings together 120+ works by Hans and Nora, many of them rarely publicly displayed before or have been lent. A lot of these paintings may never have been seen before, including very rare ones. There’s a one that the famous ballerina Anna Pavlova wanted to buy, Zinnias and Autumn Fruit. Hans had already given it to his wife, so he said he would paint Pavlova another one. He DID paint another and sent it off to London, but Anna rejected it. The gallery has both those two paintings, plus the letter of rejection. 

Visitors are able to walk through the original house, studios and surrounding site, including guided artist walks that map the exact vantage points where Heysen painted some of his most recognisable works. It’s a rare Australian experience. So see Heysen Gallery in The Cedars, which itself has been a hidden gem for a long time. Thank you Helena Snelling.

 

Lutana Garden Village, Hobart

a Lutana Arts and Crafts house, c1922

Britain’s company towns were settled by giant companies for their workers. In 1887 for example, Lever Brothers Co. began looking for a new site on which to expand its soap-making business, build housing and develop services for their factory workers. They bought 56 acres of flat unused marshy land near Liverpool, well located near a railway line. The site became Port Sunlight, where William Lever built his industry and his model village. Lever wanted a healthy, happy and productive work­force.

The garden city movement was a contemporary but slightly different British approach to urban planning, founded in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard. Garden cities were planned, self-contained communities surrounded by green belts. They included carefully balanced areas of residences, industry and agriculture. Howard’s book Tom­or­row: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform came out in 1898, followed by Letchworth /Welwyn Garden Cities, both in or near London.

View of the Valley
over the top of the gardens

Reformers before WW1 were concerned with town planning, sanitation, building regulations and slum clearance, influenced by the Garden City Movement in Britain and City Beautif­ul ideas from the USA. I have described planned towns in Australia in this blog, especially Colonel Light Gard­ens in Adelaide, an excellent example of town plan­n­ing. It had radial street pattern, reserves and gardens, wide avenues, useful laneways, street frontages and a park-like setting. This post-WW1 Adelaide suburb adopted a consistent architectural style: Californian bungalows.

But I had not heard of Lutana Garden Villa in Tasmania. There had certainly been state government initiatives to build garden cities in Tasmania. In fact Charles Reade, the visiting English town planner, designed a scheme for Lutana, but all hopes were defeated by conservative politicians. Instead the next Tasmanian government negotiated the establishment of a private corporation, the Electro­lytic Zinc Co., on the site. Herbert Gepp was the General Manager.

This zinc company did indeed plan a garden suburb complete with com­munity and health services for its workers, but economic diff­ic­ult­ies resulted in only a section being completed. The lasting legacy of this compromised vision was a low density suburb with individual houses and gardens; but without the associated overall planning.

Built between 1918-21, and designed by architect and town planner William Butler, Lutana’s prime goal was to build a most beautiful and healthful site just over the hill from the recently established zinc works. Since this suburb was remote from the centre of Hobart, the Company had to provide access to shops and transport. Two railways services daily allowed families to travel and shop.

Unlike the Colonel Light Gardens with its exclusively California Bungalow architecture, Lutana had excellent Arts and Crafts style houses that formed coherent street­scapes. The Garden City approach to housing development was further acc­en­tuated in the curvilinear street pattern and the arrangement of buildings. The strong visual quality of the open spaces and semi-rural land was loved, as was the development of the river.

I've no doubt that providing good housing at an affordable price by a major Tasmanian industry was to attract quality staff at a time of staff shortages. As was the company’s early C20th philosophy of Welfare Capitalism.

Before the village started, all the surrounding countryside was open farm land. Once the locality started to become the centre of the zinc working com­munity, some workers would be living in the village and some would be building around the village. The roads were professionally organised and footpaths were laid down.

In 1922 General Manager of the zinc works, Herbert Gepp, set a first task in Lutana Village of planting special trees with his own silky hands. In the first 2 years, 6 dozen horse chestnut trees were imported to the village and planted.

The houses and facilities were not the private property of the people in the village, but were to be rented. Once the village started, more homes were built by the comp­any and more were rented out to workers. Then the village got their first shared community facility, Lutana’s village hall. Opened in 1924, the hall was surrounded by fine grounds, where the village children could play games. The interior of the hall was compact, but it had plenty of open floor space and an excellent stage at one end of the building.

The hall became the home for the village kindergarten. The parents were asked to assist the kindergarten teacher, if they were going to make it successful for the youngest children (a la kibbutz). A Sunday School was opened in the hall, to save the kiddies a long walk on Sunday afternoons.

The town's kindergarten 

in Lutana's Village Hall

See the outside of the hall as it was orginally built. A gate and fence were built, later to be replaced with a higher fence and more security for the hall and garden. The wooden boxes were built at the front of the hall to protect the horse chestnut trees. Then the co-operative shop was opened, to provide the necessaries of life (once again a la kibbutz). It was a beautiful building, both the exterior and interior.

A mutual assistance tenants' committee of tenants was formed to promote social cohesiveness and to run a scheme of improvements. Many ideas were considered to improve the village, and to pro­vide pleasure for the residents. For example the postal authorities installed a public telephone and opened a letter clearance. A Lutana Xmas Tree was placed in the Hall, for a children’s party. In addition to a bus service from Lutana to central Hobart and good sanitary conditions, Lutana gained its own gas supply, greatly appreciated by the villagers in Tasmania’s cool winters.

The houses, which had 4,5 or 6 rooms each, were fitted with modern con­veniences, including sewerage, water and electric light. The company planned for 180 homes on the site, but they stopped at 42. These 42 houses were rented to employees at very fair rentals: a 4 room house cost only 20 shillings per week. Tenants were selected and the houses were allotted by a sub-committee of the Co-operative Council, Workers HAD to have a high moral character, and men with large families were given preference.

advertising for the Lutana co-operative shop 

that also promoted social cohesiveness

The gardener/workers laid out their own gardens spaces in attractive flower beds, lawns and vegetable plots. The vegetables ensured fresh table supplies of onions, cabbages and beans at a minimum cost, and providing healthy exercise. The houses’ beauty was enhanced by pot plants and garden seats; creepers appeared on trellis work.

Re the interior of the homes, the colours were charmingly done and handy cupboards and shelves were built in. The baths have been made from our own rolled zinc sheets.

The views from the verandas revealed some of Tasmania's finest scenery, including the Derwent Valley beyond Prince of Wales' Bay and the lofty Wellington over Hobart. A beautiful panorama of green past­ures was visible, dotted with splashes of colour, orchards, trees and shrubs.

Clearly the zinc workers’ houses were built on ample blocks, were sewered, well drained & fitted with modern facilities. So why did the company not start the second tranch of home building? And why did the Company write to the Co-operative Council advising there were very substantial reductions in the rents of Lutana homes? In 1926 house rentals were dropped to 14 shillings/week for four rooms! Workers were even advised that the very low rents provided an opportunity for them to start a Savings Bank Account.

Now called Nyrstar, the company still advertises the strong themes it's held since starting in 1917 on the site formerly called the Hobart Zinc Works. The strong relation­ship the smelter created with the community was forged early and continues today via community meetings, sponsorships and partnerships. A engineering heritage marker cerem­ony at Lutana was unveiled by the state Govern­or in Ap 2013

Lennox Avenue, Lutana 2024

Real Estate

Quotes come from Lutana Village - Historical Website

Great Emu War Australia 1932 - not a joke!

A flock of 20,000 hungry emus

WA, 1932

photo credit: Footnoting History

 

In the years following WW1, the Australian Government struggled to find work for their ex-servicemen to do on returning home. From 1915 a Soldier Settlement Scheme began to be rolled out across all states, and event­ual­ly it saw c5,030 ex-soldiers given plots of land to con­vert into working farms, primarily to cultivate wheat and sheep. By Sep 1920, the government had purchased 90,000 hectares for the ex-servicemen but still needed more. So they started placing returning soldiers in marginal areas of Perth in W.A, even though setting up a successful farm with little experience in a good area would not have been easy. Plus the ex-servicemen struggled even more when the Great Depression hit in 1929, as wheat prices plunged. Alas the government’s promised subsidies for wheat never came.

Aust­ralian emus had been a protected native spec­ies up until 1922 when they started to destroyed the fences around wheat farms and ate or trampled the wheat. Thus they were officially reclas­sified as vermin. In summer 1932, a flock of 20,000 6’, hungry birds migrated from the coastal regions to inland regions, looking for food and to breed. By late 1932, they were wreaking havoc on the marginal wheat farms owned by the ex-servicemen.

A group of local ex-soldiers were sent to speak with the Minister of Defence. These farmers had no access to the nec­essary ammunition, so they called on the Aust­ralian military to act and soldiers were sent to the region with mach­ine guns!! Being ex-mil­it­ary, the farm­ers were very aware of how eff­ect­ive mac­hine guns would be.

Led by Major GPW Meredith, 7th Battery of Royal Austr­al­ian Artillery, the army set out in Nov 1932, certain to gun down birds in one district. The soldiers moved in formation behind the birds, and the birds immediately scattered in all di­r­ect­ions - emus cannot fly but they can run VERY quickly. 2 days lat­er, hidden gunners sighted 1,000 emus nearby and waited patiently for them to arrive. The soldiers open fired at short range, killing 10-12 emus, while the others re-scatt­ered. The media noted: Each emu mob has its lead­er, always an en­or­mous black-plumed bird standing fully 6’ high, who kept watch while his fellows busied them­selves with the wheat. As soon as he gave the signal, the leader always remained until his followers reach­ed safety.

WW1 Lewis machine gun

used against the emus in W.A

credit: Wikimedia Commons

On 8th Nov 1932, it was reported that Maj Mered­ith’s party had used 2,500 rounds of ammunition (25% of the all­otted total) to destroy 200 emus. The Australian House of Repres­entatives discussed the military operat­ion and following the humiliating negative coverage of the Emu War in the local media, the army withdrew the military personnel and machine guns! Instead the government decided to prov­ide the ammunition that the locals need­ed to take care of the problem th­emselves, and 57,034 emus were killed over six months. The Journal of Aus­tr­al­ian Studies suggested it could have been a pro­p­a­ganda exercise to show that the government was supp­orting its strugg­ling war heroes. But I would have been more worried about physically and psychiatrically damaged WW1 soldiers being given machine guns again ☹

Australian coat of arms

starring the kangaroo and the emu

 

The emu still takes its place of pride on the Australian coat of arms with our other native, the kangaroo, having had its status as a protected animal reinstated. The emu population across Australia is c600,000-700,000+, not in danger of dying out. But conservation­ists are working to save several specific populations greatly at risk, especially in NSW.

Emus are very large, flightless birds and the massive number of emus was causing concern to local farmers. I have no doubt that the West­ern Australian farmers were facing hard times with their crops foll­owing the Great Depres­sion, and their difficulties greatly in­creased with the arrival of c20,000 emus migrating inland in their breeding season. But these birds are in­digenous to Australia, prot­ected and importantly symbolic. So the Great Emu War of Australia was both underst­and­able and unforgivable! At least they could have given the emu meat, which is both healthy and tasty, to families starving during the Depression.

The birds still remain plentiful in the areas outside Perth, so in some sense the War was also futile. Conservationists were clearly unhappy and hoped that problematic wildlife management would never involve machine guns again! So I am pleased to note that, although in the following years farmers requested assistance from the army again, the government did refuse!

Wilsons Promontory National Park, Victoria, 2010

Wikimedia Commons

Mt Barker WA: history, architecture, wine

Federation-style Plantagenet Hotel

built 1912-4

Mt Barker is 360 ks south of Perth, Western Australia, in the shire of Plantagenet. Fr­amed by the Stirling and Porongurup Ranges, Mt Barker is the ideal base to expl­ore the surround­ing mountain country, wildflowers, great coast, na­tional and re­g­ion­al parks, and wineries.

                                  

Chapel at St Werburgh’s.

built 1873

In 1836 George Egerton-Warburton, a lieutenant in 51st Reg­im­ent, arrived in Albany WA. He sold his commission later, return­ing to Albany where he married and settled. In 1872 he received £550 from his eldest brother, Squ­ire of Arley Cheshire to build a Chapel at St Werburgh’s. The Chapel was dedic­at­­­ed to St Wer­bur­gh, a C7th Engl­ish Abbess who was a daughter of Wul­f­ere King of Merc­ia and 3rd Abbess of Ely. Artisans completed the building in 1873 and Bishop Hale consecrated the Chapel in 1874. The walls were made of clay plug and the roof of shingles. An Albany carpenter did the wood­work, using local she­oak and jarrah, whereas the iron­work was made in the family forge. Some of the materials need renovation. 

Wine tasting

Mt Barker is a starting place for travellers exploring the Great Southern Wine Region. This became an important region, producing ov­er a third of the state’s wine. In 1859 George Egerton-Warburton first pl­an­t­­ed vines and soon bott­led the first vintage. In the inter-war era, the Mt Barker region successfully made table wines in the light European style. In the growing-season, the Mt Barker region has warm sunny days, cool nights, excellent fruit-ripening and acidity-ret­ain­ing conditions. These conditions cr­eate wonderful intense wines, and I loved the tasting in the wineries!!

Mt Barker hosts yearly fest­ivals and events, incl Grapes and Gallops, Graze Mt Barker and Taste Great Southern Festival.

Police Station Museum

Police stables

changed to a lockup

There are some fascinating historic build­ings eg the historic Police Station Museum Complex built by convict labour in 1868, are part­ of this rich heritage. The Old Police Station was used un­t­il 1908 when a new station was built next door. The police hor­se stables were div­id­ed off as a lockup and a Court House of­f­ice was added in 1919.

Surrounded by lovely lawns and gard­ens, the Plantagenet Hist­or­ical So­ciety opened the cottage as a Mus­eum in 1968, furnishing it with lo­cally donated objects. In 1971 the Pion­eer Room was built to dis­p­lay more artefacts, in 1985 and 1987 the cottage and stables were re­stored, and in 1994 the Napier Creek one-teacher schoolroom was mo­v­ed to the Museum. In 1997 the second Po­l­ice Station and Court Room were acquired. And an apple picking shed has been assemb­led in honour of the apple industry's historical contribution.

Police duties included having a change of horses ready for the mail coach which operated from Albany to Perth. They also patrolled as far as Esperance (400+ ks) on horseback, also doing the census and rep­orting on weather.

At the Old Police Museum, the main and out-buildings nest in beautiful landscaped gardens, with structures covered in colour­fully flowered creep­ers, giving an old fashioned village look. Any­one visiting the Museum comp­lex with an inter­est in his­t­or­ical heritage sh­ould allocate a few hours. There’s a wide ran­ge of hist­or­ic­al arte­facts and images spread around.

The Plantagenet Hotel was a two st­orey pub built by the Sounness fam­ily in 1912-4 with Feder­at­ion style ch­ar­acter. The veranda posts and balcony’s ap­p­le motifs depicted their link to large apple orch­ards in the area in the early part of the century. It took ov­er the licence from the origin­al Park Hotel when it was delicensed in WW1.

In 1996 the hotel was smartened up so it would continue to be a soc­ial gathering place for the local comm­unity and visitors. The large open fire in the lounge area is a beautiful feature on cool Mt Bar­ker ev­enings and the wide veranda is for en­joy­ing pre dinner drinks. Yet another of the many historical land­mark jewels of the area!

Art Gallery

The Gallery & Arts Centre is where artists can create, exhibit or sell their paintings, quilts, jewellery or pottery. The Gallery runs the Art Trail and the Plantag­en­et Art Prize, and runs a yearly fund-raising exhibition. And they hold solo exhibitions at Mitchell House in the little pink building that once was a post office. Here cours­es are run in Drawing, Painting, Pottery, Hat Mak­ing, Weaving, Felting and Craft.

Mt Barker Railway Station

built 1883

The rail line southwards from Mt Barker Junction to Mt Barker was const­ructed by Messrs Walker & Swann who had previously built an Ad­el­aide line. The sub­stantial stone station buildings were built from Aldgate freestone in 1883, including a Stationmaster's quarters at the southern end. Ceremoniously opened by the Gov­­er­nor in 1883, Mt Barker passenger facilities were still in place into the 1970s. At the northern end were timber refreshment rooms which were used up until 1963, with white linen laid out un­d­er the poplar trees. The Dis­trict Council of Mt Barker restored the historic Railway Station building to coincide with the transfer of SteamRanger from Adelaide in 1996 and they re-planted the turn-of-the-century gardens.

Mt Barker Rolling Stock Depot took the south of the station first used as a goods yard, and incorporated the original bluestone goodsshed. New Depot has been operating since May 1996, while the heritage goods shed was retained as a storage area for Track Maintenance. My young sons loved it.

ES&A Bank building, erected in 1928 

Later converted to a bookshop

Photo credits: Photographs of Perth and the South West of Western Australia 

Langton Vineyard in Mount Barker

Wine Searcher

Sydney massacre; honoured in Adelaide

15 innocent victims were massacred on Bondi Beach Sydney in a shocking attack last weekend. Excited families had been standing on the Bondi sand, celebrating the most festive holiday in the Jewish calendar, Channuka. When two men suddenly came out firing their rifles, innocent people ran away and hid; tackled the gunmen with their bare hands; or died. Two policemen, there to protect the families, were themselves shot. The whole nation was in shock - Jews and Christians, parents and grandparents

The victims were remembered this week in Adelaide as The 3rd Cricket Test Match between Australia & England was starting. “After the tragic events at Bondi Beach last Sunday evening, we come together as nations to pay our respects to all those who lost their lives and offer our condolences to their families, their friends and to the Jewish community. We also acknowledge those who bravely offered assistance to others at the scene,” the ground announcer said. The 60,000 cricket fans stood silently in the grand-stands, the cricketers all wore black armbands, and the flags were held silently in respect. A minute’s silence at Adelaide Oval was to honour the murder victims and to express condolences to their families, friends and the Jewish community.

60,000 cricket fans at the Adelaide Test Match

plus the two teans and flags

standing and remembering the mass murders on Bondi Beach

John Williamson was singing at the cricket in the centre of the huge green pitch, leading a stirring tribute at Adelaide Oval as the cricket world paused to remember the victims of the Bondi Beach terrorist attack. Cricket fans in the stands came together in silence to remember the murder victims and then to watch the cricket.

It was a powerful moment before the match started in Adelaide as John Williamson sang the Australian classic True Blue. In one of the finest cricket ovals in the world there was not a dry eye in the house for that moment of silence, followed by a stirring rendition of the music. True Blue was sadly perfect on this occasion; a beautiful and poignant rendition of a classic Aussie song and a single guitar.

Lyrics
Hey True Blue, don't say you've gone
Say you've knocked off for a smoko
And you'll be back later on
Hey True Blue, Hey True Blue

Give it to me straight, face to face
Are you really disappearing
Just another dying race
Hey True Blue

True Blue, is it me and you
Is it Mum and Dad, is it a cockatoo
Is it standin' by your mate when he's in a fight
Or just Vegemiite
True Blue, I'm a-asking you

Hey True Blue, can you bear the load
Will you tie it up with wire
Just to keep the show on the road
Hey True Blue
Hey True Blue, now be Fair Dinkum

Is your heart still there
If they sell us out like sponge cake
Do you really care
Hey True Blue

Listen to the heartfelt music on cricket.com 

John Williamson singing True Blue

and playing the one guitar.

True Blue was written and performed by folk singer-songwriter John Williamson, and released in 1982. Williamson’s aim had been to capture authentic Australian spirit and slang, and to become an unofficial national anthem celebrating mateship and the Aussie character. The lyrics drew heavily on Australian slang, with the title meaning authentically Australian, but the slang meant of course that people from other countries may not have understood the song’s details.

John Williamson said he celebrated the genuine, loyal and cultural references, to define a core national identity, but he emphasised it was about caring, inclusive people, not racism, despite attempts by some groups to hijack the song. The phrase itself apparently came from British slang meaning steadfast loyalty. But Williamson's song applied it to an Australian context, asking questions about what makes an Aussie in a changing multi-cultural nation, focusing on fairness, honesty and caring for mates and the land. No song could have been appropriate for a nation in mourning.

Sydney mourners after the wounded were taken to hospital and the dead were buried

Thank you John Williamson, thank you cricket players and fans, thank you all Australians across the nation.  We will never recover, but your comfort has been vital.

John Curtin: Australian PM's modest homes

John Curtin (1885–1945) was born in rural Victoria to hard working parents and left school at 13. He became involved in the labour move­ment in Mel­bourne, joined the Labour Party at a young age and then the Vict­or­ian Socialist Party. He became State Secretary of the Timber Wor­kers' Union in 1911, then Federal President in 1914. Curtin was a lead­er of the No Campaign in the 1916 referendum on overseas conscript­ion, and was briefly gaoled for not attending a compulsory military medical examination.     

Curtin lived in a modest Brunswick residence from 1912-15, as Fed­eral President of the Victorian Timber Workers Union. He later bec­ame a leader in the Australian Workers Union. He married in 1917 then moved to Perth to become the editor of the un­ion movement newspaper West­ralian Work­er, and later was State President of the Aus­t­ralian Journ­al­ists' Ass­oc­iation. In 1923, he and wife Elsie built a house in Cottesloe, Perth. [This Cottesloe home was restored by the National Trust much later].

                                           

John Curtin and his wife Elsie built this modest house in 1923.

Cottesloe in Perth

National Trust

After 3 unsuccessful attempts, Curtin was el­ected to Fremantle in the W.A House of Representatives at the 1928 federal election. He remained loy­al to the Labour gov­ernment during the party split of 1931 but lost his seat in Labour's land­slide defeat at the 1931 election. Only in 1934 did Curtin win the seat again and rose up in the Aus­t­ralian Lab­our Par­ty, becoming party leader from 1935.

In 1936 Curtin was elected party lead­er in place of James Scul­lin. The party gained seats at the 1937. In Sept 1939 Prime Minister Robert Menzies announced Australia's entry into WW2 in Europe. The 1940 elections re­sulted in a hung parliament. The ALP eventually formed a minority gov­ernment in Oct 1941, just after the Japanese at­tack on Pearl Harbour oc­curred, so Australia now had to fight Japan as well! Worse still bom­bing raids on northern Australia started! John Curtin, Australia's 14th Prime Minis­t­er, led the nat­ion's war eff­ort and made significant de­cisions about how the war was conduc­t­ed. He placed Australian Pacific forces under the com­mand of the Amer­ican General Douglas MacArthur, with  whom he formed a close relat­ion­ship.   

John Curtin (R) became the prime minister in 1941.

Ben Chifley (L) was elected to the Cabinet as Treasurer

 

    

The Curtins with Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King,

Book of Remembrance in Memorial Chamber, 

Parliament House Ottawa, 1944. Wiki

The ALP won almost two-thirds of the seats in the House of Represent­at­ives at the 1943 election, a party record. In total Curtin was prime minist­er for 4 years, leading Australia through the last years of WW2 un­til his death in 1945. He was long­est serving leader of the Aust­ral­ian Labour Party-ALP from 1935-45, his leadership and interper­s­onal skills being accl­aimed by his polit­ical contemp­or­aries. Curtin died in office in July 1945, after months of war-related ill health. Fortunate­ly many of his post-war reconstruction plans were implemented by his succ­es­sor Ben Chifley.

 
In 2011 the heritage-listed home came up for sale; the vendors bought from a family who'd owned it since 1921. The unrenovated house had heritage demolition restrict­ions, so many of its original period features remained.  

Original facade, built in 1906

Brunswick Melbourne

The Brunswick home where Curtin once lived was bought at auction in 2011 by a family paying $710,000. Since then, the ex PM’s home had a renovation, while keeping many of its original Victorian features eg the original façade, stained glass at the front door, ceil­ing roses, wrought iron lacework and 3.3m ceilings. It now had quite gen­erous rooms wh­ich were more fitting as a form­er Prime Min­ister’s home than his actually home had been. Later the house had a plaque added onto the front, mark­ing its historic signif­ic­ance.  

Blue plaque

   

Now Curtin’s former Brunswick home, Melbourne property with a prime min­ist­erial pedig­ree, will be auctioned again at the end of Mar 2023. The less modest four-bedroom house at Fallon St Brunswick still feat­ur­es a plaque on the footpath outside marking its historical sig­nific­an­ce, and has a price guide of $2.1-2.3 million. I would buy the house in a heart beat, but not just because the historical architecture and déc­or should be heritage-protected forever. Rather I need like to know how many prime ministerial houses can rec­eive a blue plaque; Curtin lived in 1]Creswick and 2]Brunswick in Vic­toria, 3]Cottesloe in W.A and 4]Canberra, and possibly other cities I don’t know about.

renovated Brunswick kitchen

Woodards

renovated alfresco deck
realestate.com.au

Myer: great Russian-Australian retailers

Russian Elcon Baevski (1875-1938) was born in Krichev to Hebrew scholar Ezekiel Baevski, went to a Jewish primary school, then high school and later managed his mother's drapery business. In 1896 Elcon migrated to Australia, working in Melbourne with a relative, Lazer Slutzkin. Simcha Myer Baevski (1878-1934), the youngest of the 11 siblings, attended the same schools as his brother, then he too managed his mother's store. Simcha fled poverty in Belarus and joined Slutzkin's business.

Sidney and Elcon took the family name Myer, moved to rural Bendigo and in 1901 established their drapery store. Sidney ran a rural trade in fabrics, on foot then on horse-cart. The brothers formally became partners in new premises in Pall Mall Bendigo, and in Mar 1902 Elcon married Rose Marks. 

Myer evolved from a drapery to a Bendigo department store

ABC News

Bendigo’s 1856 synagogue was replaced later by a larger, solid brick synagogue, so families had a religious centre. But the brothers’ partnership struggled because Elcon opposed Sabbath trading. He returned to Melbourne, opening clothes production in Flinders Lane. Sidney bought him out and remained in Bendigo, but they were still close. In 1905 Sidney married Hannah Flegeltaub at Ballarat.

In the Bendigo drapery, Sidney followed new fashion trends and presented stock attractively. He also advertised boldly, appealing to women's shopping habits. By 1907 Bendigo's busiest drapers had 60+ staff and expanded its premises. In 1908 Sidney bought Craig Williamson Drapery for £22,000, and a fast sale of its stock repaid his creditors.

Late 1909 Sidney travelled overseas to study British and European merchandising methods and to establish contact with exporters. In 1911 he purchased Wright & Neil, a Bourke St drapery, paying £91,450. He raised staff wages and closed up for a fortnight's stocktaking and ordering! In June, full-page newspaper ads promoted the long Myer sale.

Soon Sidney took over more Bendigo shops, then opened other Melbourne and Adelaide shops. Then Elcon rejoined his brother and managed 2 Bendigo shops. Modelled on San Francisco's Emporium, the new £70,000, 8-storey building opened in July 1914 with a popular gala sale. Myer grew the business, occupying a broad City area between Bourke and Lonsdale Sts. The area included 10 buildings built by Sidney, designed by commercial architects HW & FB Tompkins.

When war tragically erupted in 1914 and damaged trade, Myer opened a London office to deal with suppliers, sourcing more products locally and even manufacturing. It aided Sidney's plan to maintain imports in WW1. Elcon travelled to London again, to organise shipments of cloth. He joined the Army Service Corps, serving in UK and then at the front. In 1915 he built a clothing factory and bought Doveton Woollen Mills in rural Ballarat in 1918.

Myer Emporium, Bourke St, 2007

The retailer evolved from being a drapery into a department store in Bendigo, Wiki

The success of their retailing was also due to their classy window displays. The new Bourke St windows attracted customers, using theatrical sets and models to display goods. Designed by famous commercial buildings architect Nahum Barnet in 1892, two extra buildings were bought by Myer.

In mid-1919 Sidney visited U.S, getting divorced in Nevada and converting to Christianity. In Jan 1920 he married young Margery Merlyn Baillieu and had 4 happy children.

By 1920 Myer Emporium had 200 departments, famous for its motorised delivery vans! Myer's Australia Ltd brought together all firms solely owned by Sidney, with a capital of £2 million; and the London subsidiary was unified. In 1921 warnings of a post-war slump overseas prompted Sidney to predict the collapse of import prices and cut his losses with a Million Pound Master Sale. It cost £500,000+ but, by restocking the cheaper imports, he traded out of crisis.

Sidney offered 73,000 staff shares of £1 each, and 200,000+ shares among his managers (plus paid vacations, access to a sick fund, holiday homes were built) and a free hospital went in-store. He ran annual staff balls, football & cricket matches, a Christian Fellowship and choral society shows.

 

From 1925, a separate section was devoted to display design and installation. The Lonsdale and Little Bourke St building facades showed Classical and Beaux Arts styles while the Bourke St facade had an Inter-war Art Deco style. The present Bourke St façade (8 storeys) was completed in 1933. By 1925 the Bourke St front increased with the first section of an 11-storey Lonsdale St store opened with £3 million capital. In 1926 Myer opened Melbourne's first Cash and Carry grocery, plus self-service cafeterias.

Sidney was managing director, with a large committee. In 1927 the Co's net profit was £328,000 and shareholders received dividends of 17%. In 1928 Myer took James Marshall department store of Adelaide, placing Myer Emporium SA Ltd under his nephew Norman. Furthermore Myer bought out Webb Table Ware Merchants 1930, then WH Rocke smart furniture dealers 1931!

Sidney had ethical employment beliefs, and in times of financial strain here, instead of reducing worker numbers, he lowered wages and increased worker numbers! With the terrible Depression, he launched a £250,000 rebuild of his Bourke St shop in 1931, to increase employment. He’d already anticipated Scullin government's tariff embargoes and import restrictions, so reduced his overseas buying and started a Made in Australia Week. He limited profits to 5% so no retrenchments were needed!

The objects of his philanthropy were sometimes cultural, rather than charity. In 1926 he gave 25,000 Myer shares worth £50,000 to Melbourne Uni! Then he formed the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 1932, and created a trust fund for them with 10,000 Myer shares. Sidney was on Royal Melbourne Hospital’s management committee; in 1933 he was chosen for the executive committee of Victoria's Centenary Council and raised £20,000+; and he gave an ambulance to the Victorian Civil Ambulance Service. What a great man.

Sidney died of cardiac failure in Sept 1934 and his will placed 1/10 of his wealth in trust for the charitable, philanthropic and educational needs of his community. The business was left to nephew Sir Norman Myer and Baillieu Bails Myer’s brother Ken Myer.

New windows were installed to Bourke St in 1955, the Myer Christmas windows commencing with 1956’s Olympic Games, and each year, a new theme was created. The Bourke St Myer Christmas window displays were visited by generations of children as their Christmas holiday ritual.

One of the Christmas windows for children after 1956

Mother's Little Explorers

 

Myer Mural Hall used a Streamline Moderne dining room for 1000 people, completed in 1933 on the 6th floor. It is a large space with a décorative plaster ceiling, balconies and wall panels. At one end the mannequin stairs led down from 2 balconies to the landing for fashion parades. The Hall was decorated with 10 murals by famous neo-classical artist Napier Waller (1893-1972)

half the Myer Mural Hall, completed in 1933 on the 6th floor

wedding reception, Tripadvisor

He donated to: Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne Uni and Yarra Boulevard, roadwork for unemployed men. And when the Children's Hospital had to close wards, he donated £8000. His love of classical music meant he gave £1000 annually to concerts by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

He was succeeded by Elcon, with Norman Myer as managing director. Elcon presided over the completion of the modern Bourke St shop. Elcon was also active in many charitable causes eg the Alfred Hospital board and St Kilda Synagogue Board. Alas Elcon died in 1938 of cancer, and was buried with Jewish rites in Boxhill cemetery. His estate was probated at £114,353. Elcon left 2 sons of his first marriage and by his 2nd wife Myrtle Fisher (married 1929).

Bails Myer, born in San Francisco in 1926, was Sidney and Merlyn’s youngest of four children. Bails followed dad in the retail trade, after being a WW2 officer in Royal Navy. When Sir Norman died in 1956, Bails and brother Ken started an ambitious expansion strategy for the company. In 1960 they set up in a giant shopping centre, Chadstone. The brothers believed that the future of retail depended on bringing shopping to the masses, in the suburbs. Correct! Myer store became the retail heart of country’s largest mall!

Myer Chadstone, 2025

Tripadvisor

Bails was also involved in Myer Emporium’s acquisition of the Lindsay’s retail chain in Geelong. That business re-emerged as Target under Myer’s ownership and became another famous Australian retail brand. But in 1983, Bails went back into Myer’s management as a recession strangled Melbourne’s retail trade. This was just when Myer was in a corporate tussle with Grace Brothers. Myer won, securing ownership of the significant NSW department store owner in 1983. Bails led the group’s merger with GJ Coles and Myer Emporium, to create Coles Myer in 1983-5, the ?biggest deals in Australian corporate  history.

In 1994 Bails retired to focus on his interests in the arts and philanthropy, as a trustee of Victoria’s National Gallery. He also worked with the Myer Foundation, a trust that had started in 1959 by Sidney’s sons; it had distributed $300+ million since then. Re scientific studies, Bails became president of Howard Florey Institute and executive member of CSIRO. He also played a key role in the early 2000s in the refurbishment of the Sidney Music Bowl, built to honour dad’s legacy. He died (96) at home in 2022. My grandfather was correct; of all immigrants, Russians added the most to Australian culture.

Sidney Myer Music Bowl summertime venue

has been wowing crowds opened 1959.

Visit Victoria

World's most liveable city. Hello Vienna!

The Global Liveability Survey is a measure of urban quality of life, published annually by the Economist Intelligence Unit/EIU. The EIU is a multi-nat­ional media company based in London, best known as publish­er of The Economist 

baroque Plaque Column, Vienna

1679. Bing

Vienna kohlmarkt

The survey assesses 140 of the world’s major cities in fixed cat­egories, stab­ility, education, universal health care, public trans­port, culture and envir­on­ment. Cities were scored out of 100, with the avail­ability of goods and services pushing scores up and pers­onal risk (guns, terrorism) pushing down.

In 2010 & 2011, Vancouver remained in top position. Even in 2014, 2015 and 2016, the top cities have remained amazingly constant, scoring VERY closely:

1 Melbourne; 
2 Vienna;
3 Vancouver;
4 Toronto;
5 Calgary;
6 Sydney;
7 Helsinki;
8 Perth; 
9 Adelaide;
10: Auckland.

Australian and Canadian cities did best, capturing 7 of the top 10 spots. So why did the world’s most powerful cities not score well? Global business centres (cities with 8+ mill­ion) eg New York, London, Paris and Tokyo were victims of their own size, with strained public transport, higher crime rates and crowd­ing. London ranked 53rd! In addition, The Economist Intelligence Unit show­ed Europe scores had been pushed down a bit by the euro-zone crisis.

The report concluded the best scoring cities were mid-sized cities (2-4 mill) in weal­thier countries with a relatively low population density. Cities with a significant proportion of their area allocated to green parkland did well, as did cities with Olympic Games-standard sporting facilities.

But some disagree that the successful cities were equally live­able for all residents eg The Victorian Council of Social Ser­­vice said Melbourne's top ranking failed to recognise the growing disparity between those who can afford to live where the services and jobs are, and those who have to live in areas of high unemployment, expensive housing and very long public transport commutes. [NB aggr­eg­ated stats lose individual differences in overall results].

The same Global Liveability Survey listed Damascus Syria as the least liveable cities in the Aug 2015 index, although Harare Zimbabwe, Dhaka Bangladesh, Tripoli Libya, Lagos Nigeria and Port Moresby PNG were close. But that too can change. Ongoing conflicts in Syria, Ukraine and Libya might have been predicted, but totally unexpected tragedies in France, Belgium, Tunisia, Ukraine and Gaza were not predict­ab­le. In Athens, governmental austerity reduced employment and reduced the provision of public services.

European cities dominated the top 10 positions in the Quality of Living Rankings, with Vienna remaining in the No.1 spot and Zurich, Geneva, Munich, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Copenhagen coming in the top 10. How could the Mercer results be so different from the Glob­al Liveability Survey results, in the same year? Because this American global human resource and fin­an­c­ial firm, is more infl­uenced by business concerns eg currency exch­ange regulations, banking services, housing costs and consumer goods.

The Economist Intelligence Unit is a British business providing fore­casting and advisory services through research and analysis, includ­ing country, industry and management analyses world-wide. It has pub­lished an annual Global Liveability Ranking which began in 2004. The Unit ranks cities for their urb­an quality of life, based on assess­ments across five categories: stability, infrastructure, healthcare and culture, education and environment.

With Melbourne winning the world title for the many previous years, it may come as a surprise to Australians that in 2018 Vienna for the first time topped the EIU’s Global Liveability Index. The diff­eren­ces between the top 30 cities in this index were small. Vienna and Melbourne were VERY close in the index of 140 urban cen­tres for years, and are still separated by less than a point.

In 2018, Vienna was the World's Most Liveable City, the results being: 1. Vienna Austria; 2. Melbourne Australia; 3. Osaka Japan; 4. Calgary Canada; 5. Sydney Aus; 6. Vancouver Canada; 7. Toronto Canada, Tokyo Japan; 9. Copen­hagen Denmark and 10. Adelaide Aus. Vienna and Melbourne saw an improve­ment in their score this year, scoring maximum points in health-care, educ­ation and infra­structure. But while Melbourne extended its lead in the cult­ure and environment component, that was out­weighed by Vienna’s improved stability ranking. Os­aka's impro­ved in public traffic, as well as a consistent dec­line in crime rates, contributed to Osaka’s im­p­roved ratings in infra­structure and stability categories.

Osaka, Calgary and Sydney filled the top 5 positions. The EIU be­lieved the survey usually favoured medium-sized cities in wealthy countries, of­ten with relatively low population densities. Larger, more crowd­ed cities tended to have higher crime rates and more strained infrast­ruc­ture.

Australia and Can­ada achieved great liveability results, as expect­ed. Melbourne (98.4%), Sydney (97.4%) and Adelaide were joined by Calgary (97.5%), Vancouver (97.3%) and Toronto (97.2%) in the Top Ten. But apart from Vien­na, only one other European city achieved a great rating. This was Copen­hagen, 9th place at 96.8%. Helsinki and Ham­burg, who held Top Ten places last year, dropped out.

Green spaces are important. 50% of Vienna comprises green areas, parklands and gardens that can be reached on foot or by tram. Mel­bourne has huge public parks and wide, tree-lined boul­evards. Vancouver has its harbour setting, with beaut­iful parks and gardens. Copenhagen has fine Botanical and Tivoli facilities.

Now examine January Magazine's published results of The 2020 Best Countries Report which was part of US News’ Government Rank­ings init­iative, measuring government performance at the state and inter­national levels.

Overall Best Countries results 2020
1. Switzerland
2. Canada
3. Japan
4. Germany
5. Australia
6. United Kingdom
7. United States
8. Sweden
9. Netherlands
10. Norway and New Zealand

Regarding Switzerland, the report emphasised that “Switzerland has low unemp­loyment, a skilled labour force and one of the highest gross domestic products per capita in the world, according to the CIA World Factbook. The country’s strong economy was powered by low corporate tax rates, a highly-developed service sector led by financial services and a high-tech manufacturing industry.”

Citizens painted a bleak picture when asked about nations’ trust­­worth­in­ess. While the US was seen as the most powerful country in the wor­ld, it was not seen as trustworthy. Can­ada was seen as the most trustworthy country, and has been since the first Best Count­ries re­port in 2016. During the same time, perceptions of the US as being trust­worthy steadily drop­­ped to a record low of 16.3 on a 100-point scale. As did UK also fall in this attribute

There was global consensus about climate change’s effects, 87% agr­eeing it was serious. Of the 36 countries surveyed, people in Rus­sia agreed about climate change the least (71%), and Indonesia ag­reed the most (97%) with Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. Only 60% agreed their country addressed climate change.

For Quality of Life in 2022
1. Canada
2. Denmark
3. Sweden
4. Norway
5. Australia
6. Netherlands
7. Switzerland
8. New Zealand
9. Finland
10. Germany

Since 2012 the World Happiness Report has published World's Most Liveable Cities in an annual survey ran by the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network. The survey ranks global happiness in countries globally and the World Happin­ess Report’s most imp­ortant source has always been the Gallup World Poll, unique in the range and com­parability of its global series of annual surveys. The Gal­lup World Poll prov­ide the basis for the an­nual happiness rankings have always drawn in readers who want to know how their nation is faring but soon become curious about the secrets of life in the happ­iest countries. Right from the outset, we received very favour­able terms from Gallup and the very best of treatment. Gallup resear­ch­ers have also contrib­uted to the content of several World Happin­ess Reports. The value of this part­ner­ship was recognised by two Better­ment of the Human Conditions Awards from the Society for Quality of Life Studies. Although the statisticians typically base the ranking on data from the Gallup World Poll, this year was a bit differ­ent. Since the researchers were unable to do face-to-face in­terviews in a number of countries, they focused on the relation­ship between well-being and Covid-19 in order to rank the countries.

“Surprisingly there was not, on average, a decline in well-being when measured by people’s own evaluation of their lives. A possible explan­ation is that people see Covid-19 as a common, outside threat affecting everybody and this has generated a greater sense of solidarity and fellow-feeling.”

We need urgently to learn from Covid-19. The pandemic reminds us of our global environmental threats, the urgent need to cooperate, and the difficulties of achieving cooperation in each country and glob­al­ly. The World Happiness Report 2021 reminds us that we must aim for wellbeing rather than mere wealth, which will be fleeting indeed if we don’t do a much better job of addressing the challenges of sustainable development.”

Adelaide

Melbourne

Osaka

Vancouver

It's official! In 2021 Finland is the Happiest Country in the world for the 4th year running. So where did other countries fall on the list this year? Norway slipped a bit this year, coming in at #8. Last year, Norway was at #5, and in 2019, Norway was in the top three overall. United Kingdom slipped 4 spots from 2020, coming in at #18, while Germany is at 7—up 10 spots. Another big leap was Croatia, which rose to 23 this year, up from #79 in 2020.

One of the countries that had a challenging time this past year—China—made the top 20 in 2021, coming in at number 19. It was a dramatic leap from last year, when China was at 94. But the researchers, who took a deep dive into the lessons learned in Asia, weren’t surprised. “The East Asian experience shows that stringent government policies not only control Covid-19 effectively, but also buffer the negative impact of daily infections on people’s happiness,” said the Korea Development Institute.

There were similar success rates in Australia, which ranked #12 and New Zealand at #9 “The evidence shows that people’s morale improves when the government acts,” says the editors. Besides the happiest countries in the world, the Happiness Report also looked at the places where people are the most miserable. This year, countries like Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Jordan were ranked as some of the unhappiest countries in the world.

Vienna was named the world's most liveable city in 2024 for the 3rd year running, according to the EIU's latest results. Two Can­adian cit­ies (Calgary, Vancouver) and 4 in Asia-Pacific (Melbourne, Sydney, Osaka,Auckland) completed the top 10. 

The 2020 Best Countries methodology used data gathered from a sur­vey of 20,000 business leaders; college educated individuals; and general citizens who were repres­ent­ative of their count­ry. The goal of the Best Countries report was to understand how global perceptions are related to investment, foreign trade and tourism of a nation. But Best Count­ries should also measure peace for the re­sidents, democracy, universal health care, adequate social housing, unemployment rates, free schooling for all children.

Beyond the essential ideas of broad access to food and housing, to quality education and health care and employment, the Quality of Life measure may also include intangibles such as job security, political stability, individual freedom and environmental quality.

And I have another question. Does cultural diversity add to a city’s overall liveability? If GIU could measure cultural div­ersity (eg the proportion of a city’s population born overseas), Toronto might maximise its score. But then if climate was one of the included catagories, Toronto might go down the list a tad and Barcelona might go up the little.