The cement works in Geelong has been abandoned for over a decade. Although partially demolished, it’s an imposing structure that still has an uncertain future.
x Kitten of Doom
Sail Yards skate park, Melbourne CBD
•January 11, 2015 • 3 CommentsI moved to Melbourne at the beginning of 2001, and I used to walk around the city a lot both day and night. I remember a skate park on the corner of Swanston St and Lonsdale St which I walked past most days and Friday nights after I finished work in Bourke St Mall. Sometimes I’d stop and watch the skaters through the fence for a little while. I remember a lot of sketchy people hanging out there, but also a lot of kids who just wanted to skate.
I didn’t take any photos during my first year in Melbourne – one of my big regrets, as so many things look completely different to the way they do now.
Sail Yards skate park was closed a few months after I moved to Melbourne and QV now stands in it’s place.
If anyone with stories and/or photos of Sail Yards would be keen to share, please do!
x Kitten of Doom
Sail Yards 1997, by Rick Curran.
In memory of Yorkshire Brewery: a pictorial retrospective
•November 16, 2014 • 4 CommentsIt is my blog’s 5th birthday today! To celebrate, I am posting a tribute to the subject of my very first blog post: Yorkshire Brewery.
I first visited Yorkshire in 2007 when a photographer friend wanted to find a way up to the top. We were peering through the fence when the caretaker came up behind us and asked if we were photographers and if we wanted to have a look around the grounds. We didn’t go in the buildings that day, but I returned a few months later and from there on Yorkshire pretty much became my second home.
I’d go early in the morning to watch the sunrise and the hot air balloons float across the sky whilst doing a bit of writing. I’d go late at night when I couldn’t sleep. I’d scramble up to the top on my way to work just to have a half hour of peace and quiet to myself. I’d have a few ciders with friends on the silos watching the sun go down.
Being up high afforded me not only a great view, but a solitude and silence unachievable on the ground.
Last year the silos were demolished in preparation for redevelopment of the site into apartments. Redevelopment is inevitable, but it was sad days for me to see my second home go.
Who remembers inching your way around the very edge of the uppermost room where the floor was made of rotted wood barely holding together, hoping you didn’t plunge through to your death several stories below, so you could get up onto the outside ledge at the top of the tower?
Feel free to share your stories in the comments section.
The following photos were taken 2007-2012.
RIP Yorkie!
x Kitten of Doom
Sunny afternoon in Coburg Cemetery
•October 31, 2014 • Leave a CommentI realise today is Halloween but that is not why I am posting photos of a cemetery. That happens to be coincidence. Caiti and I went for an afternoon stroll through Coburg Cemetery the other day as we’d both been past it quite a few times and had been meaning to have a look.
The cemetery was established in 1856, and being so old many of the grave sites are in a bad state of disrepair.
There were some interesting old headstones. Some very elaborate, some very basic and some which were erected fairly recently.
According to the Greater Metropolitan Cemteries Trust records for Coburg Cemetery commenced in 1875 but there is evidence of burials dating back to the 1850s. However, records for these early burials have been lost.
We saw some cute bunnies hopping around too.
x Kitten of Doom
Abandoned Melbourne reception centre
•October 30, 2014 • 4 CommentsHere’s one from a couple of years ago that I never got around to posting. The reception centre, originally built as a theatre, closed some years ago and remains derelict. Understandably, it’s in a pretty bad state. There were plans to convert it into shopfronts or demolish it to make way for apartments but so far nothing has happened.
x Kitten of Doom
Mayven building vanishes
•October 23, 2014 • 1 CommentThere are two new building developments underway on either side of the Melbourne Anarchist Club on St George’s Road, and I noticed today that the Mayven building is gone. The website for the Mayven Apartments says that the art deco facade will be retained, although the entire thing is gone – I can only assume they are going to re-erect it once building commences.
Now, on the other side of the MAC is the St George Apartments. This will be situated where the old junk shop once stood.
The Melbourne Anarchist Club building will remain nestled in between the five- and six-storey developments. This little strip is going to look very different.
x Kitten of Doom
Update: It has been pointed out to me that the Mayven Apartments website states “The street frontage will reflect the signature 1930’s Art Deco façade, providing the apartments with a unique and highly recognisable blend of old and new architectural styles.” A new facade will be built, resembling the old one. What’s the point of making a new facade that looks like the old one rather than retaining the original one?
Boatspotting
•October 22, 2014 • 2 CommentsA rare warm, sunny – yet not windy! – Melbourne spring day. Must go to the beach! I visited Sandringham for the first time today. Much quieter and cleaner than St Kilda. I will definitely be back.
Also, I really want to learn how to sail.
x Kitten of Doom
Historic facade on St Georges Road to become Northwood apartments
•October 22, 2014 • 3 CommentsEver wondered what the old facade that’s been propped up on St George’s Road for the past few years is going to be used for?
Picture: Kitten of Doom
Construction is still to start of a block of 71 one- and two-bedroom apartments backing onto the Merri Creek trail at the top of Fitzroy North. The building will be seven stories high and is named “Northwood“.
Picture: mayfairinvestmentgroup.com.au
The building was originally the Merri Palais, a theatre and ballroom, I believe, but information is hard to come by. The majority of the Merri Palais was demolished in 2010 with only the facade remaining. The building was then sold in October 2013.
So many beautiful old theatres in Melbourne have been demolished; I would love to have been able to see them in their hey-day.
x Kitten of Doom
Soundtrack for upcoming Aussie sci-fi film ‘The Rare Earth’
•October 7, 2014 • 4 Comments
Over the past couple of days I’ve been listening to the soundtrack for upcoming Australian sci-fi movie The Rare Earth, produced by Martin Kennedy from All India Radio. The soundtrack is made up of deconstructed All India Radio tracks as well as work from Kilbey Kennedy, Martin’s musical collaboration with Steve Kilbey of The Church.
It’s a beautiful soundtrack; atmospheric and melancholy. My favourites are definitely the Kilbey Kennedy tracks Lorelei and Unfocused.
The Rare Earth is written and directed by Aaron Stevenson and stars Eliza d’Souza. It is due for release next year.
x Kitten of Doom
Kitten of Doom 