Once carefully hand-painted on billboards or business walls, then neglected and ignored for decades, ghost signs have become markers of Australia's advertising history.
Faded signs are the ghosts of advertisers past — once carefully hand-painted on billboards or business walls, then neglected and ignored for decades, they have become markers of our cultural history.There is an online community of ghost sign hunters who photograph and share locationsThese derelict advertisements are known as "ghost signs" and they attract a certain type of ghost hunter.
The photo is only part of the joy of being a "ghost hunter". Much of the joy also comes from the hunt itself. Towns such as Broken Hill, Coober Pedy, Charters Towers, Clunes, and Ballarat are happy hunting grounds for ghost sign hunters. "I was asked to create a digital trail for Ballarat Heritage Weekend and that led to co-producing the website Ballarat Revealed," Dr Tsilemanis said."The first trail was about buildings and we created a slider function where you could see the site as it was in the past and what it looks like now.
"As a lover of vintage advertising I was drawn to ones like Richards and Co photographers and the vivid descriptions of their wares, or really sweet ones like Jim and Marg Welsh's dance studio," Dr Tsilemanis said."There's also the ones that reveal stories of immigration and how people made homes and formed communities in Ballarat."
"These brands were a very big part of Australian history and that's why there is still so much affection for these signs," he said.
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