MANY CELEBRATIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 27, 1 February 1934, Page 9

MANY CELEBRATIONS.

MELBOURNE'S CENTENARY. GREAT SCOUT JAMBOREE. Plans for the Melbourne Centenary are now Hearing completion, and the Centenary Council has decided that the official opening of the celebrations will take place on the morning of October 18. Tho form of the opening ceremony has not yet been decided, and will depend upon the wishes of His Royal Highness, Prince George. The council has approved of a centenary band championship, and over £1000 has been allocated as prize money. This is the largest sum ever offered for band contests in Australia. The council expects that bands from overseas, including New Zealand, will compete. Approval has been given for the carrying out of a competition to bo known as "Queen of the Southern Hemisphere" competition, the winner of which will receive £1000. There is also to be a "Centenary Girl" competition, for which a, large sum of money has been set apart. This competition will bo restricted to girls resident in .Victoria. Tho Scout Jamboree for boys all over Australia and New Zealand will be held at Frankston, about 20 nailcs from Melbourne. Over 300 acres of pleasantly timbered country has been secured for the camp site, and it combines the peculiar charm of the Australian "bush" with the multifarious delights of a vast expanse of golden beacli, where bathing, boating and fishing may be enjoyed. Committees of experts are busily engaged upon a great assortment of plans, so that the camp will constitute a striking manifestation of genuine 6cout efficiency. In the Commonwealth of Australia there are some 60,000 scouts, 7500 being situated in .Victoria, Competitions have been provided for public school boys, and a team of twelvo boys and one manager, or amateur . coach, probably a schoolmaster, will accompany the boys to Australia. It is likely that the visit will be of a month's duration, a fortnight to be spent in playing and a fortnight in sight-seeing. Tho steamer fares of the boys will be paid by the Centenary Council, and they will be the guests of the old public school boys during their visit. The sporting contests will include 100 yards, 220 yards, 440 yards, 440 yards relay, 880 yards, one mile, 12Q, yards high hurdles,_ 121b ehofc put, pole vault, running ,high jump, running broad jump, mile relay. These competitions will take place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground during November, 1934. Shrine of Remembrance. The Shrine of Remembrance, perhaps better known as Victoria's War Memorial, is practically completed, and the dedication of the shrine will take place on November 11. Just now hundreds of workmen are excavating for an artificial lake, immediately in front of the memorial. Within the crypt, unit memorials are being provided by the respective associations, consisting of bronze panels let into the walls of the crypt, and bearing the name and number of the unit, its motto, and its battle honours. Clustered around it are the Union Jack and the Australian flag. ' Substantially it is a memorial to Victorians who served in the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Imperial Forces. The memorial has been contributed to by the Government of Victoria, tho Melbourne City Council, and the public, and when completed will have cost over .£250,000. The outstanding feature of the shrine is the "eye of light" which strikes down on a simple rugged unhewn Rock of Remembrance. The rock is sunk below the pavement, where men must bow their heads to read the incribed message eternally true: "Greater Love Hath No Man." Eight sentinels carved in white marble will guard the inner shrine, representing love, charity, courage, integrity, strength, faith, honour and brotherhood. Two rings enclose the inner shrine. One ring contains the stairways to the upper promenades, the other will enshrine 42 Books of Remembrance, containing tho names of 150,000 Victorian men and women who served abroad during the Great War. Twelve action panels, depicting "The Progress of Our Arms," and illustrating all the arms of the service, will be en "raved on the walls of' the inner shrine.