This post was inspired by Andrew, who is actively collecting the old signs of Melbourne for a project he has on the boil.
The last signs of Whelan The Wrecker.
The public used to call the early workers of this company ‘ Whelan’s Birds’ because of the heights they would scale, balancing on the walls of their vanishing quarry, chipping the bricks out from under their own feet.
I must have walked past these signs before but it was not until I read the excellent and (for me sad) book – A City Lost and Found. Whelan The Wrecker’s Melbourne -that I set out to find them. So here they are in Sydney Rd Brunswick at No. 605, attached to a building called Stawell. There are other Whelan sites in the area, all vanished themselves, including a site in Barkley St, East Brunswick where significant chunks of marble, columns of former grand buildings et. al were left to wait for a taker.
Behind the shop is a large space which was the Whelan’s salvage yard. The shops to the left of the signage (see below) were owned by Mokbel before they were seized and sold off with many of his other assets. Now, someone is developing the site for flats. I hope the signage and the shops are being protected but nowadays…well, you know what I think about that issue.
Whelan’s became history themselves in the 1980′s when The Commonwealth Bank decided they were no longer a going concern. Somewhat perversely, I now care about their history just as I care about all the history they crumbled.
Just to change the subject for a moment. Here is my lunch from the Lebanese bakery next door to the Whelan’s signage. You can just see Tabet’s on the right in the photo above the food. This was a delicious spinach and cheese pie with fresh, fresh spinach and cheese. Students and the locals love these places. Simple, fresh food, although the cheese was a bit salty for my taste. That famous Brunswick institution the A1 Bakery is near by which supplies everything you could possible need for Middle Eastern cooking and has great food as well.
So we move on to A’Beckett St in the city. I am not sure of the number – it is either 60 or 56.
G recognised the company as Bulleys (will have to check the spelling as it is almost illegible on the signage) who were leather merchants and to his knowledge supplied, among others, the shoe making industry in Australia. He remembers their premises on Elizabeth St opposite the beautiful, under-utilised Argus Building. Apparently stuff cutters refers to stamping out leather to shape. If anyone knows more I would love to hear it. NB: I have checked the spelling and corrected my typo and the company was called F. Bulley & Co.
Whelan the Wrecker building development update
They are great LiD. Thanks. I am having some trouble getting signs on the map at the moment, but will let you know when they go up, with credit of course. I haven’t read the Whelan book, but I believe there is a tale in it from an experienced demolisher who never cared about what he destroyed, until he came to demolish Illoura at 426 St Kilda Road.
Thanks Andrew,
It’s a pleasure to contribute. I will keep my eye out for more as I travel around the place. I remember reading one of the demolishers, could have been a Whelan, only felt sad when the company was demolishing a private home; they had no qualms about other buildings. I can’t remember the story regarding Illoura but it rings true because anyone could/should have wept buckets over destroying that masterpiece.
I like the — Art Deco? — font and trim used on the Stawell Buildings.
Obviously I don’t know anything about Melbourne buildings, but I could try a sentence or two about “stuff” . The word in French is “etoffe” (I hope that’s spelled right) . It means fabric, material. In Victorian novels you may read that the young lady was wearing a dress of (insert adjective here) stuff. So, not “paraphernalia” as we usually use the word today.
lavenderbay,
It does look Art Deco and I like it too. Hey, thanks for the explanation of stuff, that makes sense. Stuff cutters means fabric cutters. Mystery solved and very elegantly I might add. Great deduction, using French and Victorian examples. By the way, I have just finished reading The Hound of the Baskervilles. I know you are a Sherlock Holmes fan. :)
Old signs and buildings are fascinating. We occasionally ride our bikes along an abandoned stretch of the 101 (the famous “Coast Highway”) and there are old, overgrown signs along the way giving distances to Los Angeles and other cities.
Love the photos :)
A lot of (older generation) parents referred to a kid’s mess as “Whelan the Wrecker Was Here” borrowing the signage Whelan’s would use at demolition sites.
Signs are up LiD. It was 56 A’Beckett Street. Hope there are no errors. Thanks again.
James,
That sounds like an excellent idea for a post to me. :)
Maybe when you and your wife ride down that way again you could take some shots. It sounds very atmospheric being an abandoned road.
Thanks Jayne,
Lol, I love that! :)
My brother used to get labelled Whelan The Wrecker when he was a child…and he earnt the name for his window smashing abilities amongst other things.
In the book I read an anecdote describing how that slogan came about. Apparently, it was a worker who first scrawled the words ‘Whelan The Wrecker is Here’ on a wall (I think) to guide visitors to the site they were (nash) commencing work on, the Whelans liked it and adopted it as their slogan.
Andrew,
It all looks great! :) So it was 56 A’Beckett. I wasn’t sure which way the numbers went but I knew the building next to it was 58.
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