Australia

H. Newman & Sons (Have Removed), Melbourne

A surviving palimpsest in the centre of Melbourne reveals the legacy of the jeweller and watchmaker Henry Newman. Photo: Sean Reynolds.

23 Jun 2024

Recycling & Rearranging Ghost Signs

The above fragment of a ghost sign was revealed by the demolition of the adjascent building in Melbourne in 2014, as documented by Al Briggs at RMIT… “The majority of existing ghost signs that remain in suburban Melbourne are signs that were originally painted on the side walls of our Milk Bars – local shops […]

7 Sep 2018

The Enduring Legacy of the Joshua Brothers Distillery

Pickles Street in Melbourne was once home to the Joshua Brothers Distillery, and later United Distillers. The latter adorned the building with a series of painted bottles depicting the products that they distributed in Australia. The pieces were painted in the 1960s by signwriter Keith Martin and are wonderfully detailed pieces, reminiscent of Colossal Media’s […]

6 Jul 2018

On Tour with Albani Calusin and RMIT

Back in March last year I had the pleasure of taking two groups from Melbourne’s RMIT on my Stoke Newington Ghostsigns Walk. This was the second time I’ve worked with the University on their special European study tour and, again, it was a really enjoyable experience with two bright and enthusiastic groups. Following the study […]

5 Jan 2018

Dingo Flour Restoration in Fremantle Australia

On one of my recent Bankside Ghostsigns Walks an Australian guest tipped me off about the recent restoration of a famous Dingo Flour ghost sign in Fremantle, Australia. This was undertaken at the end of 2016 with a grant from the Western Australian Heritage Council. The sign was originally painted in 1940, and was maintained […]

22 Apr 2017

Ghostsigns of Mildura, on the Edge of the Outback

Stuart Walsh got in touch from Mildura, on the edge of the Australian Outback, following the ghostsigns feature in the Guardian. What he sent me really caught my eye and he has kindly let me share some of his photos here on the blog. Here’s a little of what he told me about the city, […]

26 Nov 2014

Perspex Protecting Ghostsigns from Barcelona to Sydney

This ghostsign for Peters Ice Cream in Sydney was photographed and shared by Mike Meyer while in Australia running signwriting workshops with Better Letters. It has been covered by a perspex sheet, presumably to protect it from vandalism and, to a degree, the elements. It is not a new approach but one that I think […]

18 Nov 2014

Ghostsigns in the Typographic Universe

A new book from Steven Heller and Gail Anderson features a handful of my ghostsigns photos from around the world (London, Cambodia, France and Australia). Typographic Universe documents a variety of ‘found’ letters in the environment, people and animals, alongside the creation of letters from everyday objects. These are split across ten themed sections with […]

5 Nov 2014

Dr King: The Story of a Melbourne Ghostsign by Nick Gadd

This Melbourne ghostsign is a recent reveal and was captured by Nick Gadd, the writer behind Melbourne Circle. Nick’s research into the sign was recently published in an anthology of papers titled ‘Melbourne Subjective‘. He investigates the sign and creates a tentative hypothesis about who Dr King was with reference to a fictitious, but plausible, […]

17 Sep 2014

I Love It: Marmite Ghostsign Revealed

John Hunter, one of Australia’s prolific prolific collectors of ghostsigns, sent me these images of a recent reveal in Caulfield, Victoria. They were captured by Tony Mead, local signwriter, and are for a brand that I’ve never seen advertised in this form before. Tony and Stefan have added some research to the discovery which dates […]

28 May 2014

Melbourne’s Ghostsigns and their Hunters

Back in March I was in Melbourne where I checked out some of the ghostsigns the city has to offer in addition to giving a talk alongside Stephen Banham at the University. Some of this was thanks to a chauffeur-driven tour by Stefan Schutt (Finding the Radio Book and Lewis & Skinner) and some of […]

13 Oct 2013

Lewis & Skinner Exhibit Featuring Ghostsigns and Live Signwriting

The Lewis & Skinner archive is a collection of materials relating to the work of a Melbourne signwriting company from the first half of the last century. These were fortuitously discovered by Dr Stefan Schutt last year and he has since been working to archive them. The result is this fabulous online display which includes […]

29 Sep 2013

The Greatest Wonder of the World

While on my recent travels I was lucky enough to stumble upon The Greatest Wonder of the World exhibition at the State Library of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. The banner outside in big gold letters of various scripts obviously attracted my attention, and what a treat it was (and still is until 12th […]

5 May 2013

Ghost Sign Hunting: Melbourne Seminar

I am very excited to announce a forthcoming seminar in which I will be speaking alongside Stephen Banham, author of Characters and something of a typographic legend, and Stefan Schutt, curator of the Lewis and Skinner archive and author of the Finding the Radio Book blog. It will be held on the afternoon/evening of Tuesday, […]

26 Feb 2013

Sydney ghostsigns from Finding the Radio Book

This and a number of other ghostsigns images from Sydney, Australia, are featured on the Finding the Radio Book blog. Stefan notes that he didn’t find a huge number on his visit there, many overlapping with those on the Preserve site. This could be due to the nature of the places visited i.e. more central […]

1 Dec 2012

Melbourne’s Ghostsigns with Finding the Radio Book

Finding the Radio Book is a fascinating piece of work being undertaken by Dr Stefan Schutt of Victoria University. It all started with a piece of paper floating in the wind and has now evolved into a research project focussed on the archival records of the Lewis & Skinner signwriting company who ceased trading in the […]

20 Jul 2012

The origins of painting on walls

I’ve become increasingly intrigued by the origins of painting on walls, and the evolution of the form over time, up to the current vogue for street art.  While the walls of caves were not made of brick, they did nonetheless provide people with an early canvass for their painting.  The transition from these depictions of […]

11 Jul 2012

Melbourne’s Milk Bars and the signs that adorned them

This is one of the shop signs found in this article which profiles the decline in Melbourne’s Milk Bars, retail outlets that once dotted the streets.  The article features a collection of 22 other shop signs and fascias and was spotted by Stef on the investigatory Finding the Radio Book blog.  The comments suggest that […]

28 Jun 2012

Australian ghostsigns profiled in this 2008 Stephen Banham article

Photo: Stephen Banham (Makes me want some Monty Leisurewear!) Full article here mainly focused on the hide and seek nature of many ghostsigns, including this line which echoes mine and Sebastian Groes’ urging against nostalgia: Instead of feeling mournful about the demise or entombing of these letterforms, perhaps we should embrace the dynamics of the ever-changing […]

14 May 2012

Melbourne’s signage in beautiful book form

Characters by Stephen Banham looks to be one of the must have new books on signage and public lettering.  It is high on my want list after reading this review sent to me by Geraldine of Birmingham Graphic DNA and this review picked up by Faythe of The Sign Painter Movie.  There is an accompanying […]

12 May 2012

Conservation guidelines for ghostsigns in Australia

This report, Conserving Historic Signs, was written in 2002 and published by the Heritage Office, Department of Planning, State of New South Wales in 2006. I was alerted to it by Jos Peeters and it is a detailed and fascinating account of some of the considerations when conserving ghostsigns. The work on the HAT archive seems […]

16 Apr 2012

Lovely painted wall in Sydney absinthe bar

Spotted on the BBC.

21 Mar 2012