Melbourne Daily Photo

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Waltzing Australia

Sunday, 9 August 2009

Federation Bells

C'mon, ring dem bells
These beautiful Federation Bells are in the grounds of Birrarung Marr along the Yarra River a short stroll from Federation Square.
There are 80 sets of Federation Handbells totalling 1920 individual bells. Each set covers two octaves and consists of 24 bells contained in four travelling crates. There are 320 crates in total. The total weight of all the bells is 5 tonnes. The total storage area the handbells cover laid flat is 640m2, or a volume of 18m3.

The bells are played from 8-9am, 12.30-1.30pm and 5-6pm daily. Cast in silicon bronze, their design and pitch is unique, and range in size from 120mm high to 180mmhigh and have an average weight of 1kg. The Federation Bells installation was opened by Sir Gustav Nostle on the 26th January 2002. Seven Australian composers wrote 5 minute pieces for the opening.

Listen to the Bells

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Fantastic instalation! Love this!

BlossomFlowerGirl said...

They're very eye-catching and you can hear them from a fair distance when they're played.

I don't know if there are bells like this elsewhere.

Melbourne Daily Photo

Hello, I created this blog because Melbourne is my city and I want people to see what a beautiful place it is. So come with me on a journey of discovery as we traverse the dining precincts, the culture, the laneways and hidden gems that make Melbourne marvellous.