Back then: National Wool Museum’s Padraic L Fisher with some of the latest retro exhibition.
By Noel Murphy
RETRO Geelong is in vogue, with exhibitions, online galleries and facsimiles of historic tourist guides celebrating all that’s old and gold in The Pivot.
Thousands of followers have hitched up with a mystery Facebook site titled ‘Geelong’, featuring heritage photographs of old Geelong locations and enterprises.
At National Wool Museum, an exhibition titled Wish You Were Here! has been pulled together from Geelong Heritage Centre, Queenscliff Maritime Museum and private collections to highlight yesteryear in a vibrant showcase of picture postcards.
A pocket-sized Illustrated Guide to Geelong and District, a facsimile of a 1908 Geelong Progress Association book and on sale at the museum, has been “almost walking out the door”, according to staff.
Old postcards are also selling fast at the exhibition.
The various collections are replete with bicycles, horses, carts, streetscapes of Victorian facades and verandahs, lush gardens and parks, sea baths, crinolines and suits and ties, beach and riverside scenes, port and industrial activities – all the activities of a thriving country city.
The Facebook page has drawn almost 4000 likes but does not identify who is behind its posts.
The images have drawn a massive response but without branding or directing viewers to other sites.
Coupled with the heritage centre’s website and a powerful city push via a $45 million library-heritage project, it’s clear Geelong’s rich past is coming into its own.
