IN this extract of the book Signs of Australia: Vintage signs from the city to the outback, Brady Michaels and Dale Campisi explore the importance of Australia’s fading, ageing signs. SIGNS come and go. But the ones that remain are a visual record of Australian social history. They tell us who we are and how […]
Melbourne Circle Project
Tuesday 28th February 2017 by
Melbourne Circle is an account of a series of walks around the suburbs of Melbourne by Nick Gadd. Taken together, the walks form a circle around the city. Beginning in Williamstown in the south west, I walked in a clockwise direction, with very occasional brief detours into the city centre. The walk ended with a […]
Brushing Up On Old Skills
Friday 12th February 2016 by
This wonderful article by Carolyn Webb in TheAge tells us that handpainted signs and murals are not a thing of the past. Young entrepreneurs make it big with hand-painted street ads A fledgling advertising company is earning up to $200,000 a job by returning to old-fashioned handpainted outdoor murals. In just two years, Apparition Media […]
Adelaide’s Fading Brick Signs
Monday 19th October 2015 by
These days, you’re just as likely to learn about that hot new pair of running shoes or sugar-free soft drink in a sponsored Facebook post or promoted tweet than you are by more conventional methods of advertising. But long before social media – even before radio and TV – when brands and businesses wanted consumers […]
Halmes | Volck Kleenup
Saturday 14th March 2015 by
A wonderful addition sent to us by Paul of a sign on an old building opposite the Queen Victoria Market near the Dudley St intersection. I can find little on it except I believe it was a garden spray and I assume Halmes made or sold it.
Café BÜ Ghost Sign
Wednesday 4th June 2014 by
Isn’t life wonderful? I was reading an article about this great new coffee shop in Carlton (Café BÜ) when my eye caught a glimpse of a ghost sign in the image accompanying the article. Now, I have been and photographed this location in the past, long before it became a coffee shop, and being honest, […]
Cracow Ghost Town
Saturday 3rd May 2014 by
We often see pictures of old deserted towns in the US described as a ghost towns. Cracow in Queensland is the closest we have to a ghost town in Australia. According to good old Wikipedia, Cracow was a gold mining town in the Banana Shire local government area. The town is located on the […]
Fading Victoria
Monday 10th March 2014 by
Its a wonderful feeling when you find a web site that is right up your alley and thats exactly what we found at Fading Victoria. Rowan Crowe has amassed an excellent collection of signs, landscapes and architecture covering Victoria, so pop along and take a look, you will not be disappointed: www.fadingvictoria.com www.facebook.com/fadingvictoria Some of the […]
Signwriting | Signs Of The Times
Thursday 30th May 2013 by
Disappearing commercial art preserved in photographs by John Hunter, Melbourne Australia. A wish to document for future generations the skill and art of generations of signwriters resulted in this collection. I wanted to record the craft of signwriters and commercial artists who who used font, colour, shape, space, a keen eye for proportion and a […]
Ghost Sign Hunting
Friday 22nd March 2013 by
Experts have discussed the phenomenon of ghost sign hunting that has taken off in large cities around the world. Dr Stefan Schutt from Victoria University’s Centre for Cultural Diversity and Wellbeing said thousands of people worldwide were now capturing old hand-painted advertising signs on their cameras and mobile devices to share on social media and, […]
Ghost sign hunters snap fading ads on Melbourne’s walls
Friday 22nd March 2013 by
Hobbyists are taking photos of aging advertising signs in a form of ‘commercial archaeology’. You’ve seen them. Peeling and faded hand painted billboards advertising a product that might not even exist anymore. They’re known as ‘ghost signs’ and there’s a worldwide movement of amateur and professional photographers who are dedicated to catching these bites of […]
Retrostalgia | Ghost Sign Hunters
Tuesday 12th March 2013 by
This excellent article: Retrostalgia | hunters on the trail of ghost signs faded in time written by Jill Start featuring Stefan Schutt explains the nostalga behind ghost signs. Retrostalgia | hunters on the trail of ghost signs faded in time Like memories from a distant past, some have faded with time. Others reveal themselves in […]
Our World Tuesday – Unwrapped
Monday 24th December 2012 by
We found this excellent find by Stewart Monckton about a ghost sign in Surrey Hills. The sign was on Union road between Croydon and Guilford roads (on the right hand side as you are facing the railway) Surrey Hills. The sign is no longer visible – it was revealed when an old building was knocked […]
