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  • Who still uses a Melway?

    Next month, the iconic Melway street directory will celebrate its 55th anniversary. Despite the almost total shift of casual map use from paper to digital access, this uniquely Melbourne map has continued…

  • 5 things that you didn’t know about North Balwyn

    Having lived in North Balwyn for most of my life and represented it on the local council, it’s a special kind of place to me. Despite its reputation as ‘North Boring’ there…

  • When the Queen rode a tram

    The royal visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 2011 was the latest and one of the few times that she has visited Melbourne. It was also notable for being the only time…

  • 2020 in photos

    Well, that was an interesting year! Here’s a small selection of my photos from the past 12 months. Obviously the biggest event of the year was the COVID-19 pandemic. I took a…

  • Walking the Yan Yean Pipeline

    The post for this fortnight is a little different – in the form of a video instead. A few weeks ago, I walked the length of the Yan Yean Pipeline from Yan…

  • The unluckiest cinema in Balwyn

    Picture theatres were once a much more common sight around the middle suburbs of Melbourne. Suburbs that were in development throughout the 1920s and 1940s could have several different venues in close…

  • From white to grey – a little bit of North Balwyn history

    At only 1.6 kilometres, Greythorn Road is one of the shortest main roads in Boroondara. View Larger Map It shares its name with Greythorn, a locality within North Balwyn. There aren’t any…

  • Why gunzels should want more rail trails

    I have been a member of a few rail enthusiast groups on Facebook for several years. Something that happens in these groups almost every fortnight is that someone will post about a…

  • How to improve PTV disruption information

    Despite some recent changes, I think there is still a lot of work to be done to improve the quality and accessibility of rail disruption information in Melbourne. Consider the main ‘Disruptions’…

  • The right to photograph trains?

    Taking photos of places and objects that I find interesting is one of my favourite things to do. I have spent five years uploading over 14,000 photos to my Flickr account, most…