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).