Signs

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 [...]

Look what they done to my town ma!

I remember reading about the fate of The Stork Hotel quite a while ago. I stored it in my file of infuriating facts and due to the many distractions in life I forgot to go down and photograph the old pub while it was still a working concern. I am kicking myself right now for [...]

Coburg Cemetery needs care

I finally got around to visiting The Coburg Cemetery approximately 15kms from the centre of Melbourne. I wanted to go because I find cemeteries fascinating. They are a vital record -historic, botanic and artistic. I rarely feel maudlin when I walk around them and I think in some way a visit is appreciated by such [...]

Demolition days

I was walking around the city yesterday, clearing my head I call it. I took a shortcut down a faithful old path between the two halves of Myers (a large historic retail store in the Melbourne CBD) expecting things to be the same. What a surprise to find an old building being torn down [...]

It’s like a giant rusty toy yard

I found these old characters in a yard in Alexandra in country Victoria. They make me think of the fantastic metal toy trucks my brother had as a child. His toys were loved. They made holes and trundled down stone steps. Mum would call and they’d sit out in the evening rain glistening [...]

Yackandandah

Well, finally it is time to go to Yackandandah or Yack as the locals call it. I said I would go there earlier but the truth is that as soon as I did an incredible period of blog block descended. I have no idea why although I dreamt about Beechworth the other day ( [...]

The working past

Yesterday I posted about the little garden next to this building. What is this place? That is the question I send out to all who spend a little time looking around with me.
This section of the property opens onto the grassy verge and it seems to have delivered or taken in deliveries. I [...]

A Secret Garden

A quiet, little secret garden.
Having washed my eyes on the scenery of Breamlea I was happy to find this rampant little garden tucked away on the road back to Melbourne. It may have been a working garden once with edible qualities. I am not sure.
The garden is located next to a set of interesting [...]

Cranky Cow

Today, as the weekend beckons, I am going to show you some indignant cows I met when I was trying to photograph another old farmhouse in the Victorian countryside.
When I saw these cows they were in an endearing pose looking through the window of this abandoned house. Great, I thought. What a lovely photograph that [...]

The Blues Mobile of Melbourne

Once upon a time I used to see a car dolled up as The Blues Mobile parked around Richmond. In fact, quite often it was parked opposite my house when I lived in a back street on Richmond Hill.
At the time I always thought there was only one car decorated like Jake and Elwood’s
trusty [...]