Saturday, October 13, 2012

Friday Fotos - Faded Signs

Traveling home Friday from work, I stopped in the little shopping village of Surrey Hills. Well, its not really a village as such but it does have that small town feel. For how long is anyone's guess.
Why? Well some buildings have been demolished in the quaint shopping village and I expect that something modern will go up on this now vacant plot. There is however a positive aspect to the demolition.
I would guess that this might be the third building on this plot with the first building being single story, where this last one was maybe two story because behind its walls are some partly very well preserved signs.
The signs have been hidden from the elements over many years - they tell a story within themselves.
Two of them were rival tea companies - Robur and Bushells.
Another faded sign is Orlando Wines of the Barossa Valley in South Australia, one of the biggest exporters of the Jacobs Creek label.


Orlando wines are some of the first wines that I enjoyed in my 20s. An Austrian immigrant, Johann Gramp planted vines on the banks of Jacob's Creek (1847) in the Barossa Valley. His first vintage was in 1850.
Today the wine that bears the name of that first planting is one of the biggest exported wines of Australia.
Signs bearing the remains of Nestles, Robur and Medallion.
Alfred Bushell opened his first Tea Shop in Brisbane 1883 and his brand became an Australian national tea.
Kodak - Did they wait too long too join the digital revolution.
Kodachrome - a faded memory of the past.







6 comments:

  1. Love these old signs. You may be interested in http://www.ghostsigns.co.uk/ Since they have upgrade their blog it is not so easy to find your way around or I don't think so. They have ghost signs from all over the world though. Have a great weekend you two. D & N

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    1. I checked it out - thanks.
      Its always good to see new and interesting blogs.

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  2. I think those signs should be preserved!

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    1. I suspect that they will be lost forever in the name of PROGRESS!!!!

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  3. Really love the Bushells one, I hope you've contacted the Finding the Radio Book project as they are working a lot on documenting the ghostsigns of Melbourne.

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    1. Checked out the site and left a comment. Thanks Sam

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Love to get feedback so no reason to be shy - have your say.