Status Updates From A City Lost & Found: Whelan...

‘What was it Iain Sinclair wrote? ‘Memorials are a way of forgetting’? This time, the forgetting came first.’ (p. 232)

The story of the Colonial Storekeepers is really interesting to me. The history of this building has been forgotten because it got demolished and replaced with an office building. It’s sad because it feels as if a piece of Melbourne’s identity has been lost too.

My favourite thing about this book so far is how it tells the story of Melbourne through the literal rise and fall of it’s buildings. The history of Whelan the Wrecker tells the story of how Melbourne has changed and grown. I have heard of Whelan the Wrecker before but this book is showing me the great impact they had on the Melbourne we know today. Sometimes, progress involves knocking things down.