Activities: Free frisbee!

 

Difficulty Rating: 1

 

Thoughts: Ahhh, Federation Square! If you ever want to get something for free, Fed Square is the place to go. I mocked it for its wonky architecture and ungainly TV screen, but it has definitely proven itself to be worth its weight in free! For the third time this month I trekked to Fed Square, this time with the intention of busting in on Visible Studios, an installation of artists working in the Atrium.

 

When I rocked up to where I thought Visible Studios was, the room was packed full of spotty faced brass players in stripy jackets. It seems I had arrived at the end of some kind of school band display. I lingered, confused, near the NGV for a fair while asking about the installation and when no one was able to point me in the right direction I decided to prowl the square and see what else I could find.

 

Up by the obscenely large TV was a huge gathering of people. I asked at a tent, and they said it was The Long Walk – a march of solidarity for indigenous Australians. Apparently, a footballer once walked from Melbourne to Canberra to raise awareness of aboriginal issues and now every year the people mark his long walk by doing a substantially shorter walk from Fed Square to the MCG.

 

As someone who watches neither TV nor football this was all news to me. I heartily joined in the celebrations (and got a free frisbee!) but stopped short of walking to the MCG as I had no intention of watching a football game. It was a very fun afternoon full of aboriginal music and football-themed games. including football.

 

Here’s a photo of some of the fun. I’m glad that even though I came for a completely different event, Fed Square is always chockablock with celebration.