Industrial Traces - Melbourne Inner Suburbs

Industrial Traces-general background theme commenced September 2015 

 INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL RESEARCH re Faded Signs was planned and started for this site in 2015 and also for my part in Melbourne Ghost Signs Facebook page.

Working on grouping of my signs/historical interests by area and related businesses/communities. Some examples of "industrial and retailing critical mass groupings" from 19&20th centuries Melbourne are:


1. Abbotsford - Tanning, Brick making Leather and Wool, Breweries and Food Production around Victoria Street Abbotsford between Burnley and Church streets- backing on to Yarra river. Key reference: Collingwood Historical Society Walk

2. Richmond - Heavy equipment production, matches, food, shoes, clothing and textiles, yeast, breweries, church organs, metal fabrication. Key Reference: Hard Yakka, Richmond Historical Society etc.,

3. Collingwood and Fitzroy - Textiles, Wool Products conversion, Confectionery, large scale merchandising and distribution of clothes and furniture

4. Hawthorn - Brick-making, Home Preserving Bottling Kits, Department Store, Carriage production

5. Prahran and Surrounds - Biscuit, Cakes and Bread manufacture and distribution

Some of the well known company and brand names I intend to focus on are MacRobertsons, Foy and Gibson, Phoenix Biscuits, Pelaco, Alexanders, Rosella, Bryant and May, Maples, Moran&Cato ----- the list is almost endless but the aim is to demonstrate how the social fabric of the times was heavily influenced by the companies that employed and sometimes housed people.


I have started with Richmond today and have some Abbotsford places to follow. They are shown in Pages listed top right and I also have a link there to Guildford Lane in Melbourne City.

New Page and Direction - Industrial Traces

Ghost signs related to specific areas around Melbourne, which were once hives of industry and the people engaged in disappearing trades, are becoming a big focus for me.  There is now an area of my blog devoted to this as of September 2015 - on the right hand corner of the menu block.

Area 1: Guildford Lane area of central Melbourne - once vibrant engineering, printing and automotive precinct, now well preserved and blended with cafes, galleries and lots of thoughtful artwork inserted here and there on certain walls.

Bakery sign in Hawthorn near corner of Burwood Rd and Camberwell Rd

Mystery Sign for Baker using unadulterated ingredients

I have taken many photos of this sign from when it was first uncovered to now "recovered". Discussion with the Hawthorn Historical Society has sparked my interest in the wealth of interesting signs and buildings in the block from Auburn to Burwood to Camberwell Roads, then back down Burwood to Glenferrie and up to Barkers Rd. I plan to do a Hawthorn feature for a while to foster discussion with the Hawthorn Society on this Blog and on the HHS Facebook page. A few shots of the baker's sign follows. "Unadulterated Prize Bread " is the key marketing phrase and the signwriter is GE Constable but the baker is hard to read. Any ideas?

Progress as at 24 April 2015

Ah, now thanks to the Hawthorn Historical Society, their Facebook page provides quite a few historical markers for this site, including the baker's name of George Bird and they have found some of his advertising. Looking to find out a bit about the life of  George Bird and how he managed his business.

Bakery in 2014 before apartments

Cash Grocer near Auburn/Burwood Rds

George Fincham Pipe Organ Builder, Stawell St Richmond

Entrance off Stawell Street Richmond

The sign is near Office Works Richmond car park and seen or unseen by hundreds of people every day. Its a sign of a firm that had been in existence from 1862-2006, a remarkable period of time. George Fincham the founder was a master pipe organ builder and his work has been in many famous Melbourne icons.  Stawell St sign below. Fincham started in Bridge Rd premises and at one time had adjacent buildings, including this one, that fronted Bridge Rd as well. 

Fincham is believed to have manufactured over 200 organs including those at the Exhibition Building; Freemason's Hall; St Kilda Town Hall and a number of prominent churches including Baptist Church, Collins Street; Independent Church, Collins Street; Scots Church, Collins Street; Wesley Church; St Francis' Church, Elizabeth Street; St Peter's Church, Albert Street, East Melbourne; and St Patrick's Cathedral, Albert Street, East Melbourne.

Source: Victoria Heritage Building Database

Mc Nivens Ice Cream Cones and Drinking Straws

I started with a faded sign in Highett St Richmond near the Gleadell Fresh Food market. I have photographed it a number of times over a 7-8 year period and it has been hard to see for a while as a newish building is up close and partially covering it. The big news is that the web contains a huge amount of info on this product which seems to have been a much loved product originating from NZ, presumably made under licence in Australia. 

Reference is the web site McNiven Cones| longwhitekid at https://longwhitekid.wordpress.com/category/mcniven-cones/

Richmond sign below

Signs of --Bakeries of Prahran, Armadale, South Yarra

I have recently discovered that  around 50 years from1930 until 1980, these suburbs had a wealth of major bakeries - bread, biscuits and crumpets in a relatively small area. The companies involved were Table Talk Biscuits, Golden Crumpets, Gawiths Bread, Sutherlands Bakers and Capitol Bakery. Signs for Table Talk have been captured and a Capitol Bakery raised cement sign was seen at corner Toorak and Chapel street a short time ago.

Table Talk factory around 2009 from Prahran Station
Now a new warehouse living development

The Golden Crust Bread Company began in Armadale, in 1915. In 1927 it opened a self-raising flour and macaroni factory in Oxford Street, South Yarra. In my memory, crumpets became their best seller.

The Stockdale family had a long association with baking and began operations in Punt Road Prahran in 1860. The Gawith Bros came to Australia in 1927 and entered the baking industry themselves after the failure of their father's business, also in that field. In the 1930s they purchased premises and steadily built the company up, in competition with Stockdales. By 1955 they had developed bulk manufacture of sliced bread and the whole industry gained a big boost. The firm was eventually sold to Sunnicrust.

Reference: Based on A History of Prahran, Vol 2, 1925-1980 by Sally Wilde

Monopole Cigars Sign 413- 415 Swan Street Richmond

Background story derived  from City of Yarra Heritage Gaps Study by Lovell and Chen 2012

Nos 413-415 Swan Street, Richmond is a Victorian two storey brick terrace pair of shops and combined residences. The ground floor shopfronts have been modified, but the rendered first floor facades are intact, with no. 413 remaining unpainted save for the c.1920s 'Monopole Magnum Cigars' sign, which adds distinction.

Nos 413-415 Swan Street is of local historical significance, as a pair of two storey brick shops and combined residences constructed for carpenter, J Wood in 1892. This was just after the period of commercial development consolidation in Swan Street, and unusually during the severe economic Depression of the early 1890s. The buildings were subsequently occupied by a range of retailers and commercial operations, typical for a main street of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.