another review:

"If you are looking for a quirky gift for the ultimate Melbournian this Christmas, pick up a copy of When We Think About Melbourne: The imagination of a city. Jenny Sinclair’s book explores what makes Melbourne unique, why we are such an ‘it’ city and what our collective imagination can create.....

The chapter on Melbourne’s souvenirs also managed to bring a smile to my face – who amongst us doesn’t have a Melbourne tea towel lingering at the bottom of a drawer somewhere?"

The Only Melbourne website has reviewed the book...I feel like I should be sending them a bottle of wine, it's so kind...

so we will have a new government. and with it, a whole new set of policies about everything from roads to the arts. fingers crossed for the city...

have just booked in to speak at the St Kilda Library in Carlisle Street on Thursday 16 December from 6.30 pm. Quite close to Christmas, but an easy to get to location for the St Kilda types; I'll be focussing on the St Kilda-related elements of the book, particularly photography, and talking about the cultural landscape of the suburb generally.

a little You Tube-assisted time travel: Melbourne trams in the 1960s, complete with plummy-toned voiceover and comments on "typical weather". Flinders Street trams....

there are lots more old tram vids under the history heading.


I was on 3CR's Published...or not program yesterday (to which I drove after starting out on my bike and being assailed by some "typical weather"). Had a good chat with the presenter, Jan Goldsmith, about the Melways, tourist cliches and why the book is such a personal perspective. There was also the pleasure of meeting my co-guest, Lloyd Jones.