The Chimes

by Abbot John Herbert

With international and inter-state travel now being part of life again, I recently spent a few days in my beloved hometown Melbourne, primarily to bestow the sacrament of baptism upon my grandniece Madison Wissell, the third child of James and Amy. It took place at the beautiful church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Middle Park, the National Shrine of the Australian and Timor-Leste Carmelites. Coinciding with Madison’s first birthday, we were afterwards treated to a celebratory lunch at the Golden Gate Hotel in South Melbourne, with celebrity guests Emma (of Wiggles fame) and Spiderman in attendance. It was great to be with family after years of Covid restrictions.

Later that Sunday evening I joined our Melbourne lawyer Joe Naccarata (Cornwalls) and his wife Thamie and friends at their home, a hundred-year-old cottage in Northcote, for a delightful Italian meal of antipasto, veal parmigiana, and cannoli…all home-made and very delicious indeed. Along with the stimulating conversation at both kitchen bench and table, it was a very special evening.

On Monday morning, I spent some time (ducking in and out of the rain) checking out the Catholic Precinct Walking Tour, via an App recently developed by the Mary Glowrey Museum. With all the interpretation signage we have been installing in recent years, as part of the New Norcia Interpretation Master Plan, we now have the ‘bones’ to be able to introduce something similar for our New Norcia visitors. We look forward to working with our Communications Manager, Sui Oakland, and our design consultants AXIOM on this exciting project.

Of course, one cannot visit Melbourne in the weeks leading up to Christmas without viewing the magical Christmas windows at the historic Myers Department Store. Celebrating 100 years of Disney, this year’s display is particularly exceptional…and I have not been able to get that Mickey Mouse tune out of my head.

That evening I strolled through the city to join our risk-management consultants Brian Parker and Piers van den Berg (CMG) at a tiny North Melbourne Italian restaurant Amiconi. These family owned and run eateries are what make the Melbourne food scene so distinctive – great ambience serving simple authentic Italian fare. On my way to the restaurant, I stumbled across a shop in the Victoria Market precinct called Books for Cooks, which along with making me late for dinner, became my primary focus in planning for the next day.

Along with my standard essentials when visiting Melbourne – like a coffee (each day) at Pellegrini’s Espresso Bar (est. 1954), a heady moment or two in the Hill of Content bookshop (est.1922), a cup of tea and a scone at Hopetoun Tea Rooms (est. 1892), and a cleansing ale in Chloe’s Bar at Young and Jacksons Hotel (est. 1861), I am always captivated by my visits to the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). This time I spent a few hours relishing all the fine offerings in The Ian Potter Centre, presently featuring an exquisite exhibition ‘Fred Williams – The London Drawings.’

One often hears footy fans describe the crowd gathered in the MCG on grand final day as something of a spiritual experience – I would say the same for the alluring atmosphere of the Victoria Market. In my cooking hey-days of the 1980s, this was a constant for me, and no less as I re-visited this quintessential Melbourne treasure. Spiritual experience is multi-faceted and encapsulates all of who we are. The splendid chaos of purveyors passionately selling their fine produce, shoppers seeking the best they can find to feed the ones they love, with love…it all makes for the good stuff in life.

After devouring my smoked ham and comte de gruyère focaccia, I called into the newly discovered Books for Cooks, and it was here that I truly thought I’d died and gone to heaven. I was however able to exercise some self-discipline, and purchased only three volumes: Dining with Proust (Jean-Bernard Naudin), France is a Feast – The Photographic Journey of Paul and Julia Child, and A Goose in Toulouse (Mort Rosenblum), research for future Abbot’s Tables, of course.

Early Tuesday evening, I caught the No. 96 tram to my old stamping ground St Kilda Beach to visit my friend Barry Morrison and his standard poodle Todd, the three of us enjoying a walk in the dog-friendly park and an alfresco meal at a dog-friendly restaurant in Acland Street, where I once dabbled in the crazy notion of being a restauranteur…mind you, the notion of becoming a monk is not far off the same mark.

Enough eating and shopping, I spent my last day of this brief sojourn wandering through the enchanting Botanical Gardens – green, lush, and very much in Spring bloom. I took time to sit and read – alternating between a lovely little book of ancient devotions of 14-17th century Carthusian monks (which I found at the Catholic Bookshop after Mass at St Francis) and Donna Leon’s Venetian murder mysteries. True reflection came, however, after spending an hour or so at the War Memorial – yet another spiritual icon of this marvellous city. Wandering through the state-of-the-art exhibitions, the sanctuary, the crypt and the balcony, the theme of remembering took hold of my thinking, which drew me to ponder and give thanks not only for the people who gave their lives for our country, but also for the present people in my own life whom I love.

Back to eating, I enjoyed a marvellous seafood dinner at the Waterfront Restaurant on Southbank with family. As I strolled back to my accommodation to pack for the journey home the next day, I was struck by the sheer beauty of this amazing city. But, as I passed the homeless in its less than beautiful darker corners, I was reminded too, that we live in a world of extremities, of paradox, of incompleteness. Knowing that my first task upon returning to the monastery was to prepare a homily for the First Sunday of Advent, I was reminded that this is the season of hope and expectation, of love and spiritual joy – a longing for all that the Incarnation promises. And, while that ultimately means new and eternal life, what we have right now is pretty damn good.