Art Deco in Downtown Geelong, AUS
Near Melbourne, The T&G Building and Clock are Local Treasures
Visitors to Geelong, near Melbourne, Australia come for the beaches, but downtown has some art deco gems. The 1934 T&G Building has a hidden message of responsibility.
Geelong is An Easy Day Trip from Melbourne, Australia
Easy to reach by car or train, the city of Geelong is 72 kilometres (about 44 miles) west of Melbourne. The main attraction of Geelong is the waterfront. However, the downtown, or CBD (central business district) has some attractive Art Deco style buildings worth having a look at.
The T&G Building, Geelong
Completed in 1934, the T&G Building sets the tone for the older downtown core of Geelong.
T&G stands for Temperance and General. T&G was an insurance company, the T&G Mutual Life Assurance Society, operating nation-wide in Australia until a merger in 1983. The company built several iconic buildings in a similar style in other parts of the country. Each features a corner location, a tower, several stories, the T&G name, and often the buildings are white.
The ground floor of the T&G Building has more recently been used for a coffee shop.
T&G "Farmer and Son" or "Father and Son" Clock
High up in the T&G Building's tower is a clock featuring two figures, a farmer and his son. Every hour the clock strikes and the farmer hands over a large bell to his son. According to Ingram's, the company that made the clock, the two figures are actually life-sized. They wear farmer's clothing from their period. The symbolic meaning is that the farmer is handing over responsibility to his son and encouraging him to do well. This would have been an inspiring message to the people of Geelong during the 1930's Depression, in a predominantly rural area.
Geelong City Council's Annual Report for 2001 mentions that the city supported the effort to restore the clock, which had fallen into disrepair.
