The Number 96 from East Brunswick to Costa da Caparica

Yesterday I farewelled my Portuguese friend. She had come out to visit me, braving a 35 hour journey from Lisbon via Paris and Guangzhou to Sydney, then Melbourne. Intrepid Portuguese traveller, in the spirit of her forebears who explored the known and unknown worlds.

From the thoughts of Bobby Gatto of Brunswick

“I find it annoying that the female staff member spends so much time in front of the small screen instead of attending to me. Whenever I attempt to press the buttons in admiring emulation of her (well, really only to capture her attention), she gets very agitated and pushes me off the table. OFF the table! How dare she! Therefore, I take every opportunity to sit ON the table. She also gets annoyed when I sit on the lovely white, warm, smooth paper that she spreads out and makes strange markings on. She is slowly learning that I will stay away from her for a while if she gives me a handful of crunchies in my bowl.

Textile industry ghost signs

 

Here are a few signs from buildings that are standing empty in Brunswick. This old factory on Albion Street just past the corner of Holmes Street must have been a hive of activity once. I wonder why it was called Yorkshire Textile Mills. I would love to be able to see inside it now.

Not ghost signs but living, shouting signs

Many of you know of my interest in ghost signs. Even more of you know of my passion for the environment and a sustainable future.

So I thought I would post some pictures that I took at the Climate Action Rally in the Treasury Gardens in Melbourne this morning. It was not only a demonstration of public concern and anger, it was a festival of protest, a carnival of expression. The abundance of home-made signs and banners was a delight to behold. They really are signs that shout....

An evening at the Prom

It was a perfect day in Melbourne. Not everyone was at the races. Thousands of people converged at Tidal River on Wilsons Promontory, to take part in the Hands Off Parks action. I travelled down on the bus organised by the VNPA, and immediately found people I knew. We arrived in time for a picnic lunch on the beach at Norman Bay and then we all went for various walks.

Wildlife Rescue

Last weekend I noticed the two white plumed honeyeaters flying around the dense creeper on the wall of our apartment block. I had been aware of them for the past week or so, as we only occasionally see native species in this inner suburban setting.

But their behaviour was strange:

Urban Dweller

Right next door to the Brotherhood of St Lawrence’s vast shop on Brunswick Road, a new place has just opened up in what used to be a fish and chip café. But I discovered that it is more than just a shop; it has the air of a gallery, with its beautifully laid out sets of retro kitchenware, tableware, furniture, books and pictures. And its most interesting feature is the owner.

Meeting the ghost sign man

Dr Stefan Schutt at the Lewis & Skinner exhibition

Character, circumstance and chance: those were the three “c’s” that I was taught about in Ulverstone High School so many years ago (or should I say decades ago?). They refer to the three essential elements of Shakespearean tragedy.

But they are also relevant to the story behind the exhibition I attended today: the Lewis and Skinner (an old Melbourne signwriting company) papers and recreation of an artisan hand painted sign on the side of an old building in Yarraville (now Lady Moustache Café).

Ghost signs in other languages

 

The multicultural nature of the city of Moreland is evident everywhere, as is the rapid rate of change sweeping across this city. But to have all of this evident in a 50 metre stretch of road is surely remarkable.

The first tram of the day

 

Yesterday I was out and about even before the first number 96 came trundling up Nicholson Street from the depot. I was parked alongside a church hall, having claimed prime spot for the political banner I was tasked to set up.  Yesterday was federal election day and the culmination of months of campaigning and preparation.

I needn’t have been out quite so early. Only in the hotly contested seat of Melbourne were the political volunteers out as early as possible to get the plum spots on the school fences, the church hall gates and even the trees and bushes. Many people slept in their cars to guard their posters. It was, as it turns out, worth the effort.

However, Wills was not a battleground. The other parties turned up just an hour before the gates opened to the voters. They were a bit surprised to see me, but there was fence space enough for all.

One compensation for my early morning vigil was watching the first trams, and seeing the early morning sunshine on this beautiful Art Deco building on the opposite street corner.

 

Is ghost sign spotting a crime?

I don’t think a phalanx of police on horseback will come charging down Sydney Road to prevent me photographing ghost signs. No, that is not what I mean.

“Was sind das fuer Zeiten, wo ein Gespraech ueber Baeume fast ein Verbrechen ist weil es ein Schweigen ueber so viele Untaten einschliesst.” (Bertolt Brecht, An die Nachgeborenen)

( What times are these, when a conversation about trees is almost a crime, as it implies silence about so many horrors! )

The shirt on your back

Vintage shirts at Phillips Shirts Melbourne

One of the many things I love about Brunswick is the heritage of the Clothing and Textile industry. Like many other people, I grieve the loss of this sector. It is great that there are some local revivals of this tradition, such as the Olive Grove Studios and Otto and Spike. But as far as I know, there is little public documentation or celebration of the history of the garment manufacture industry in Brunswick.

Another ghost sign

“What are you looking at? Is there something wrong?” asked the lady. I suppose I cut a strange figure, standing in a laneway peering into the mid-distance. I explained I was trying to decipher the lettering above the side doorway to the factory. I could make out COO but was struggling with the other letters. “Oh that was Sidney Cooke Fasteners” she said, blithely. “And before that it was a woodshed. Now it is a dry cleaning factory.” And in the future it will be a massive apartment complex, I thought.

“My parents live just here, have done for the past sixty years and so we know. Yes, it used to be a wood yard.”

Winter solstice

“Ich geh mit meiner Laterne, und meine Laterne mit mir..”

This lovely children’s song is traditionally sung at the lantern parade on St Martin’s Day in Germany. In the dark November evening, children clutching their school made lanterns walk along narrow cobbled streets behind a man riding a white horse. He represents the fourth century figure Martin of Tours, the Roman soldier who became a convert to Christianity and reluctantly became a bishop after his whereabouts were betrayed by the loud cackling of geese. Tonight I was reminded of this custom when Brunswick South Primary School held a Winter Solstice festival.

Sydney Road Fabric Shops

 

A few months ago I did a little stroll along Sydney Road with an old friend. Whilst I thought she would like the bookshops and the mediterranean food, I did not realise she would be enthused by the row of fabric shops which extends from the Glenlyon to Albion Street corners. She bought several lengths of fabric and I have not caught up with her since to see whether they have become beautiful garments.

Eleanor or Hildegard?

Not much time left until Medieval Day at school. So I sauntered down to Centre Stage in Lygon Street to get a costume. I was undecided as to whether to go as Eleanor of Aquitaine or Hildegard of Bingen. Upon entering the cavernous shop, housed in an old factory building, the tall, dark, bearded young man in a long red leather coat ushered me to the racks labelled “Medieval”.

The Little Teapot

Recently I met up with a friend at a very trendy café up on Lygon Street, but on the way I was amazed to see this little teapot painted on the bricks of an old building. This would have to be my favourite ghost sign so far! It is short and stout with a handle and a spout, just like in the children’s song. 

Methven Park

This is a small park just off Lygon Street, with magnificent old elm trees and a path that winds through it from one corner to the other, causing the beholder to wonder: where did it used to lead to? Surely not just from one street to the next? The destination and the story have disappeared.

Ghost signs

 

Well, I knew that my interest in bricks and twentieth century industrial buildings is shared at least by Thomas Ryan in Tasmania, but I thought this was perhaps a rather obscure interest. As also my eye for what I called in an earlier post "bricks with vanishing signage". Then I heard on the radio about a recent conference and followed this lead on the internet. To my delight I learned that there are a whole community of people documenting what are officially known as “ghost signs”.  And I discovered the websites of Dr Stefan Schutt of Victoria University.

Milano, Brunswick West

What a surprise to come across this Italianate mansion on top of the rise in Cohuna Street West Brunswick! And still with an expansive block around it. I had to do some research.

CERES Harvest Festival

 

How quickly the year has passed since I went to last year’s Harvest Festival. I am happy to say that I regularly visit CERES for a variety of reasons, however yesterday I was involved in the Greens stall and it was a lot of fun. It was great to speak to a number of people from overseas and from Germany in particular. I say this because when I lived in Germany many years ago, in Ladenburg, which is a small town on the Neckar river, between Heidelberg and Mannheim, the idea of Harvest Festival (Erntedankfest) was very much a part of life and I remembered that fondly yesterday.

 

Mirabella 2 or writing in strange places

Yesterday as I walked past the Mirabella Lighting store, I noticed a small message written on the rim of a pavement lid. I had never noticed it before, yet it looks as though it has been there for a while. Obviously another admirer of Mirabella lights. The text says "there is a light that never goes out" then there is a heart and then a word I cannot make out. Have you walked past, seen it and wondered who wrote it?
A while ago I photographed these lines, written on the glass of a window that no longer exists as the site is being redeveloped. Coincidentally, it was next door to Mirabella. Perhaps it was part of a poetry installation or perhaps someone had just put them there.

Flowers of the White Night

Last night until early this morning, Melbourne celebrated its first White Night festival. We went down to take it in, although we did not stay the whole night. We took the 96 to Bourke Street and then walked down to Flinders Street, nearly getting trampled in Desgraves Street which was unbelievably packed. The colourful light displays on the buildings along Flinders Street and of the station itself were a sight to behold.

Bricks

I walk around my neighbourhood noticing the different kinds of bricks, the colours and patterns they make. This wall of concrete brick lacework is near the Aladdin's Cave (see earlier post). It makes an interesting contrast to the Victorian and Edwardian houses just down the road.

The Lady and the Moon

Recently on television there was a show about astronomy and there was a photograph of the night sky that one can see from a mountain in the Atacama Desert in South America. Due to the lack of light and other pollution, the sky seems literally ablaze with stars and the Milky Way is a veritable flood.

From the back porch in Brunswick, however, there are few stars visible. As compensation, the full moon in January was beautiful as it hovered over Our Lady. But even this will one day not be visible, if a large multistorey development of flats on the Gainsborough site goes ahead and blocks out the view of the lady and the moon.

Bricks with vanishing signage

With these advertisements on either side of the doorway, the corner shop in Pearson Street must have been a popular destination in times long gone.

Aladdin's Cave

It is rare enough nowadays to find an Alcoa Cash for Cans centre. Until we get container deposit legislation, it is only the very motivated who try to make a few dollars from recycling cans. However such a rare place is to be found along Brunswick Road, just a few doors from where the great Sydney Road begins. And when I went there, I found what looked like a treasure trove.

Luscombe Street Community Garden

Not quite a year ago, I chanced upon a lively street festival in a small street off Lygon Street. Bands were playing in a vacant block, which also had garden boxes full of the last summer vegetables growing in them. The festival was called Hot Diggity, and today it was on again. Only this time, there was a little street market and I had a stall there.

Pitt Street

One morning not long ago there was a garage sale in the Buddhist Centre in Pitt Street, just off Lygon Street. As well as buying a great vintage blouse there, I also had the chance to observe this fascinating little street. On the corner there is an old fashioned hardware store, then a few industrial buildings of different eras.

Teatro do fin do ano

As usual we spent New Year’s Eve quietly, however it was wonderful to be able to see quite a lot of the Melbourne midnight fireworks from the window of the front room. Vince always laughs at me when I say the Brunswick flat has “city views” but indeed we could see most of the pyrotechnics that were set off from the tops of buildings.

A few years ago I was lucky enough to resume an old connection with my childhood penfriend, Rosario, in Portugal. When we were schoolgirls and later students, we carried on a long friendship by correspondence. It was one of those legendary exchanges of letters that went on for years, accompanied by the sense of excitement when one opens a letter that has travelled through time and space half way across the world.