RIP to the old Majorca general store in regional Victoria, with its ghost sign

This week the old general store in the former Victorian gold mining town of Majorca (now a ghost town) burnt down. What a shame. One of the few reminders of a past boom time that used to include 250 shops. Here's a pic from the Lost Maryborough Facebook page:

And here's some video of the fire on Facebook, courtesy of local journalist Caleb Cluff:


https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153364720301913

Great online article in the Star Tribune about local ghost signs from Minneapolis & St Paul, USA

Thanks Sam Roberts for passing this on:

http://www.startribune.com/streetscapes-ghost-signs-reveal-past-almost-imperceptibly/303905901/

Superb old shops in East Malvern

Earlier this week I had an appointment at the Monash University campus in Caulfield. I was early, so parked across the road and went for a walk down and around Waverley Road. The walk started promisingly....

....and then got really good. As in this great old deli/butcher's shop, preserved by the current occupants. They've taken the trouble to build in the old windows (one of which looked like it was hit by a bullet):

And down the road, a brilliant old grocery (was taking the pics into the light, so excuse the poor quality pics):

And as a coda, here's another one across the road:

A few signs from Middle Park and Albert Park

This week I managed to get a few minutes en route from Caulfield back to Footscray...here are a few signs I encountered in Middle Park and Albert Park.

From the Middle Park shops:

Is that a Robur Tea sign?...

Albert Park shops:

 

And up the road:

Carlton beer and Velvet soap...different times, differing priorities...

...and still visible from a way away.

My ghost signs talk this Saturday at Public Records Office Victoria, and article in this week's Beat Magazine

This Saturday I'll be talking at PROV about Lewis & Skinner, ghost signs and accessing public records to research them.You can book here (it's free):

https://register.eventarc.com/29643/dig-the-archives-2015-ghosts-from-the-open-archive

Theme of the day will be Robur Tea :)

And here's an article from the street press about the talk:

http://issuu.com/furstmedia/docs/beat1471/44?e=4239323%2F12550473

Great Facebook collection of Melbourne ghost signs by Stephen Beaumont

Check out this album of 400+ ghost signs snaps - some beauties in there....

https://www.facebook.com/buff.goldenrod/media_set?set=a.10150309507238563.360059.573178562&type=1&pnref=story

This blog racks up 30,000 reads - plus info on forthcoming archival talk

Well, this blog has got around a bit of late - nice to see that it's generated a comfortable 30k reads in its three years, especially given that it's about such a 'niche' area of interest. A big thanks to those people who have taken a look, shared posts, supplied me with ghost sign pics and commented.

Also, I'm doing a talk at Public Records Office Victoria (PROV)'s Victorian Archives Open Day on May 2. The day will feature a range of great practical archival workshops and talks: http://prov.vic.gov.au/dig-the-archives

I'll be discussing ghost signs, open digital archives and how we’ve used PROV records to find out more about rescued signwriting documents. If anyone you know might be interested, the booking details are here:

https://register.eventarc.com/29643/dig-the-archives-2015-ghosts-from-the-open-archive