Nostalgic photos reveal forgotten Melbourne of ‘60s, ‘70s and ’80s
A new photo collection shows off a time in Victoria when Fords and Holdens ruled the roads and paperboys hit the streets.
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It was a time when Australian-made Fords and Holdens ruled the roads, supermarket staff bagged your groceries, and paperboys cried out “Herald” on city streets.
A captivating new collection of photos reveals how much Melbourne and its suburbs have transformed in the past six decades.
The new book, Old Vintage Melbourne 1960-1990, by lawyer Chris Macheras is a romp down memory lane for readers who grew up in those decades.
It shows life in Melbourne has changed dramatically, from streetscapes to celebrations to cars to fashion.
“People seemed to dress up more for the city in the ‘60s and ‘70s,” Macheras says.
“You didn’t see people wear thongs in the city.
“You see some really vibrant colours in the ‘60s and ‘70s too, whereas now we have a reputation as a city that wears all black.”
Macheras says the skyline was reshaped after a lot of heritage buildings were demolished in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
“There’s a lot more glass and steel around Melbourne than there was back then,” he says.
One significant survivor is the facade of the old Herald and Weekly Times Building in Flinders St.
“The Herald Sun itself is such a big part of the way news has been delivered to Melburnians for decades, so I had to include that,” Macheras says.
“The Herald Sun itself is an institution, and it’s one of the first heritage buildings you see as you enter the city from the east.”
A photo on opening day in 1968 of Coles New World in Greensborough highlights how much customer service has changed.
As well as a cashier at every register, a packer stands ready to load each customer’s groceries into brown paper bags.
The new book is a sequel to Macheras’s Old Vintage Melbourne book, which captured life back to the mid-1800s.
Both books sprang from his Old Vintage Melbourne Instagram account, a boredom-induced lockdown project that now has 106,000 followers.
This time Macheras focused on 1960 to 1990, recognising the appetite from his followers to see photos capturing their childhood memories.
“I found because people have really lived the ‘60s to ‘90s, as opposed to the late 19th century, they can just relate to the photos more,” he says.
“People can open the book and say, ‘Wow, I remember that’ or ‘I was there’.”
Old Vintage Melbourne, 1960-1990 by Chris Macheras, published by Scribe, is out on October 18.
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