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 [...]

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 [...]

From little things…

The wonderful Archie Roach and Sarah Storer
I recently bought the Journey cd by Archie Roach. I find it incredibly powerful. It has sorrow and it has light. An incredible album.
So tonight I felt like listening to Archie Roach and Sarah Storer perform the Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody song – [...]

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 [...]

Which side are you on boys?

Eight hours work. Eight hours recreation. Eight hours sleep.
I passed this monument the other day walking down Swanston St past the union buildings and cafes. Somehow, I have never noticed it before but it attracted my attention this time, maybe serendipitiously, while ‘Work Choices’ is being binned.
The monument is dedicated to James Galloway, the [...]

Merri Good Morning

Early Sunday morning walking past the market garden on the Merri Creek
This is a photo of the CERES run market garden early this morning with mist still in the air and dew on the grass. The garden covers a two and a half acre plot on the banks of the Merri Creek in Coburg.
This [...]

Melbourne history below our feet

A while ago I found an evocative and fascinating article on the archaeological
dig carried out in Little Lonsdale St Melbourne in the early 90’s. It is a recommended
sift through time. I have also been told (thanks Jayne) that The Melbourne Museum has artefacts discovered during the dig on display.

Digging up the unexpected in your garden?

I have always been curious about what people discover when they are renovating or digging around in their garden. Sometimes it is a sack of money, sometimes an old coin worth less than the day it was minted. More often than not it is a few old fragments of plate buried where you want [...]

The half church of Greendale Victoria

This partially completed church sits in a paddock in Greendale Victoria.
I took photographs of the building on two different visits so the first image
is quite moody but the others are full of sunlight and lush greenery. It is
true, Greendale is green.
The area of Greendale had a population surge after 1855 when gold was
discovered in nearby [...]

Have you seen the sky lately?

The old Chicory Kiln at Bacchus Marsh in Victoria.
The sky was so dramatic when I took this photo last Saturday. The clouds were moving quite fast. This is a photo of a chicory kiln built in 1885 which is still adorned with an old advertisment for “Dr Morse’s Indian Root Pills”.
Dr Morse’s Indian Root Pills [...]