Going on at the Mission

By Sue Dight

It is exciting times at the Mission to Seafarers.

You will have seen the horrific graffiti left by those who have no idea of the value of the Mission to Seafarers building to the people of Victoria and our community in Docklands – but it is changing.

If you have crossed the Seafarers Bridge to Southbank recently you will have seen that Riverlee has put up their display suite on the Seafarers Rest Park area.

The Mission has scaffolding on the back of the building and there are workman’s huts all around.

Services continue for the seafarers on the inside – but also a transformation.

The builders have replaced the timber floors in the main hall.

The pool table will no longer have its peculiar tilt as they are very level, and no longer bouncing underfoot.

The main hall is also getting fresh coats of paint, and new carpets.

The Dome has had the damage to the concrete repaired, and the skylights replaced, and repaired.

The Heritage Centre has also had a fresh coat of paint, new carpets, and will be ready for exhibitions soon.

The chapel windows, and other stained glass in the building are being repaired, and the weather vane is back from the conservators and will be back on the roof as soon as the access is available via scaffold.

The Mission will reopen to the public just in time for the Annual ANL Maritime Art Prize and Exhibition.

The exhibition is open from October 4 to 20, 10am to 10pm.

It is a wonderful opportunity to see or purchase works from artists that have submitted from all around the world. Entries this year have come from Spain, NZ, USA, Germany and every state in Australia.

The Mission is looking forward to the floors lasting for at least the next 60 years, as they discovered the last time repairs were done were in 1959 as the newspaper discovered below the floors indicated.

A small-time capsule (including a copy of the August edition of Docklands News) was placed under the new boards to remind the next generations of the work going on at the Mission.