Countryman Clothing building Brunswick Road

When I arrived home late one afternoon, Vince said: “Do you know that the back of the Countryman’s building has disappeared?”  I had to rush down and see. I knew that the building had recently been up for sale but I did not know whether it had sold. My dream of a museum of manufacture on this site had obviously not occurred to anyone else. What a pity.

So I went down and snapped a few photos. Then my day just got better:

Two Marches in March

Today I found myself at the March in March. It was amazing to see so many people out on the streets of Melbourne, all with different complaints and concerns. The effectiveness of social media networking to bring people together and advertise events is quite mindblowing.


On Twitter later today I found out that there was another march, on the wonderful Sydney Road. In fact earlier today I had been near the Sydney Road Baptist Church, from where the march started. Tri Nguyen, who had arrived in Australia after a horrendous boat trip from Vietnam and shocking experiences in a refugee camp in a third country, is setting out on a 35 day walk from Brunswick to Canberra, hauling a wooden replica of the boat which carried them through the monsoon. The boat had "thank you" written on the side, thanking the Australian community for the kindness and welcome he and his family had received.

What a wonderful odyssey, back up the trapdoor to Melbourne, to the seat of power in Canberra, via those small towns which are perhaps not as multicultural as Brunswick but with a great diversity of opinions and personalities. I will be following his journey, and gaining inspiration from it.

My installation at the Sydney Road Street Party

Inspired by the Yoko Ono wall of wishes and comments (visited by me and Rosario in Sydney in December), I thought the Greens stall at this year’s Sydney Road Street Party should have one also. Despite scepticism from a number of quarters, that the set up was “jerry built” (well, it was mounted on a paint spattered vintage ladder which had originally come from ETSA) and “hippy”, it became a talking point. Tim even tweeted a photo of him and Greg attaching their contributions to “What do you want for Victoria’s future?”

Men’s Hairdresser Ghost Sign

I love this sign in one of the old shops along Sydney Road in Coburg. Yesterday I had the opportunity to talk to one of the owners of the neighbouring shop, Al Nada Sweets. She told me that the Men’s Middle Eastern Hairdressing Salon had opened in 1978, run by a gentleman from Tripoli, who passed away just recently. He had run the shop for about seven or eight years. The shop was in the front but he had lived out the back.

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.