Corners of Melbourne: The great orange-peel panic and other stories from the streets

by Robyn Annear

What better defines a city than its street corners? A corner gives you a starting point, a destination and a place to turn. It’s furnished with pillar boxes, newsstands and tram stops, and lamp-posts for light and lounging. Where would you be likeliest to find a pub? At the corner, of course. And who better than Robyn Annear to usher you around the corners of Melbourne, and reveal their bizarre, baroque and mostly forgotten stories?

In this (appropriately corner-shaped) book she will introduce you to:

street-corner ‘galvanisers’ who offered the thrill of electric shock at threepence a time

the rude boys of the Fitzroy back streets who became the original ‘larrikins’

infants named for the corners on which they’d been abandoned

a rogues’ gallery of unruly women, incorrigible men and runaway horses


…and, of course, the civic reprobates who discarded orange peel in the streets, to the endangerment of life and limb.

Genres: Nonfiction, Australia, History

336 pages, Hardcover

Published October 31, 2023

Reviews

[Text Publishing]

The following reviews have been shared by Text Publishing - publisher of Corners of Melbourne:

‘One hell of a book.’
David Astle, ABC Evenings

‘Corners of Melbourne is overflowing with encounters. These are evoked with gusto and brilliance and a depth of understanding of the zeitgeist of the time...Anyone with a love of history or an interest in Melbourne will find this book enthralling.’
ArtsHub

‘What a breath of fresh air! [Robyn Annear’s] anecdotes and case histories gave me the feeling she was spinning yarns at a bar, or a campfire…Corners of Melbourne was thoughtfully collated and gave me a sense of what I might encounter walking the early streets of Melbourne as it was expanding and developing into the city I now call home.’
Carpe Librum

‘Annear's appetite for humour does nothing to diminish the documentary value…A great harvester of emblematic tales from the historical record. Annear presents us with a street-corner population full of preposterous impresarios, riotous quacks and people slipping over all the time on orange peels.’
Sydney Morning Herald

‘Always a first port of call when it comes to the history of our city and the state.’
ABC Radio Melbourne, Saturday Breakfast

‘Noted historian Robyn Annear is our pick for the best travel guide in town. These fascinating and handsome hardback editions are the perfect gift for anyone with an interest in the history of our great city.’
Avenue Bookstore

‘Unearths the quirkier anecdotes from Melbourne streets we walk today.’
Domain Review

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of anecdotes about Melbourne in the late 19th and early 20th century, with the vague unifying idea of them occurring on corners. It's OK, but it lacks the distinction of Annear's earlier work. Annear seems to think she's funny when she really isn't; some of her attempts at humour are truly lame. Her footnoting is also quite weak; at one point she has a footnote reading "as to what happened to Mabel Walstab, you don't want to know". Say what? Why even bother with a footnote then? My instant response was to put the book down and go read up on what happened to Mabel. I doubt that's what the author wanted to achieve, and the answer was nothing that couldn't have been mentioned in the footnote. Just silly.

The final chapter is also quite weak, using a lame device to tie together a bunch of more unrelated anecdotes, which just made me wonder why such a device was needed there, but not earlier in the book.

This book could have been so much better, and I think people should expect better of this writer.

[Rozanna Lilley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an entertaining read! Packed full of stories about Melbourne street life and local characters, gleaned from Trove Newspapers, covering the period up to 1899. The hazards of daily life were many - including slipping on orange peel, or accidents involving horses. Annear provides a fascinating history of water fountains, water provision and sewage in a famously unsanitary city. Larrikins and rude boys, street preachers and unemployed actors congregate on corners. Advertising hoardings assault passers by, billposters hauling their tools of trade as pickpockets exercise their art. If you enjoy the history of cities, strap yourself in for a wild ride.

[Mitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly researched and well written scattershot history on the City of Melbourne, but one that presents some of the more under valued features and attributes of the city. Annear does an excellent excellent job at portraying Melbourne in its weird and wonderful post gold-rush period in the late 1800s, which while being my personal favourite period of Victoria’s history, the social and more human side somewhat goes undervalued, and from explaining bizarre ghost signs begging people to not urinate on the ground to the origins of the Larrikan, this is probably one of the best anthologies on early Victoria that’s been written.

[Giovanna Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun, you get exactly what it advertises. Many laugh out loud moments, interesting to read the language in newspapers during the 1800's, and also many of the complaints are still the same today - hoardings, perambulators, larrikins, rude boys, rubbish, dangerous 'driving' (even before cars!). Melbourne was like the Wild West! Runaway horses, awful injuries. Gosh we are lucky nowadays! Petty disputes, people blowing up things...what a rich tapestry! Also enjoyed reading about things happening locally here in Melbourne.

[Sarah Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rather interesting look at the history of Melbourne and a re-telling of some of the quirky incidents of days gone by. I particularly like the descriptions of pre-modern sewerage system dramas. Very interesting and well-researched.

[Loki · Rating 5 out of 5]

A highly variable assortment of stories that took place at various intersections in the city of Melbourne, especially in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Ranges from hilarious to tragic and back again.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and often bizarre stories of historical Melbourne and the inner suburbs. Thoughtfully curated archival research. Interesting historical context for my daily walk through Carlton Gardens.

[Rania T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well researched text about Melbourne's forgotten corners, bawdy chapter headings as well as the origins of the "larrikin" (don't they call them eshays and roadmen these days?). Recommended.

[Saturday's Child · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again Robyn Annear has delivered a highly entertaining read about Marvelous Melbourne. There are so many stories to be told and she shares them in such a well researched and written way.

[Lou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining anecdotes from early Melbourne. Anneal is always a funny, engaging historian and this is no exception. In this case the structure is a little loose for my taste, so 3.5 stars.

[Don Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robyn Annear is a great writer and researcher and this is equal to her best works. Such an engaging book.

[Dietmar Schäffner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so grateful to Robyn Annear for this fascinating book. As good, if not better, than 'Bearbrass' her earlier work on the early days of Melbourne. I will never look at my home town the same way again.