The surprising story behind Melbourne’s ubiquitous ‘Whelan the Wrecker is here’ sign
It was a grim sign that conjured up images of a sinister mob wielding sledgehammers and wrecking balls. But there was a surprise twist to Whelan the Wrecker’s methods that helped create Melbourne’s beauty as it is today.
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IT was one of the best-known signs around Melbourne: “Whelan the Wrecker is here.”
As The Argus reported in emotive terms in 1932, it meant whatever building the sign was plastered on was about to be reduced to rubble.
“When the grim notice ‘Whelan the Wrecker is here’ appears on a building in the city one immediately conjures up romantic visions of a sinister being wielding a sledgehammer,” the report began.
For a century, Whelan the Wrecker symbolised the loss of Melbourne’s heritage for many people, while for others, it signalled progress and the emergence of a modernised city.
Whelan the Wrecker is the subject of the 38th episode of the free In Black and White podcast on some of Australia’s forgotten characters, available today.
The story of Whelan the Wrecker and the man who founded the company, James Whelan, is told by Chris Adams, co-author of the forthcoming Melbourne edition of the Grave Tales book series, out in May.
Adams says it’s estimated at least 95 per cent of the Melbourne buildings torn down by the time James Whelan died in 1938 were victims of Whelan the Wrecker.
Some of Melbourne’s best-known landmarks, including the old scoreboard at the MCG and the original Skipping Girl sign – erected in 1934 and replaced with a replica in 1970 – disappeared at the hands of Whelan the Wrecker.
But Whelan the Wrecker did not simply smash down the buildings, wrecking-ball style.
Instead, the secret to the company’s success was the way it disassembled buildings brick by brick and beam by beam.
“That created a lot of material that he was able to sell,” Adams says.
“Here was a bloke barely able to write his own name who, in the middle of a depression, was going extremely well because of that, and the demand for second-hand goods.”
But Adams says Whelan’s accidental role as a building recycler meant some of the materials he tore down can still be seen today on some of the inner suburbs’ most beautiful homes.
“In that period between the wars, the Melbourne City Council decided that it wanted all the iron lacework taken off the buildings around town,” Adams says.
“Their suggestion was the posts on which the verandas and the lacework sat were dangerous and people could walk into them.
“Much of that ironwork was taken away by Whelan the Wrecker. It was in his yard at Brunswick and people came and bought it for the front of their houses that were being built in the suburbs.
“So the irony of the Whelans who tore so much down was they sort of accidentally became the vehicle for the recycling of this magnificent ironwork that we see around the suburbs of Melbourne today.”
Adams says Whelan credited much of the success of his wrecking business to his six “cats”, who were men willing to go anywhere, even risking their lives.
A story in The Weekly Times in 1929 described how these men would climb up tottering buildings, perch on bricks and mortar at dangerous angles, scale giant chimneys
and generally look down on Melbourne to do their work.
“His star ‘cat’ is Jacky Thorp, who has been many years with him,” the newspaper reported.
“He is known as ‘The Cat’, for there is no height which he will not reach, and no work is too hazardous for him.”
Five years earlier, Jackie Thorp spent four weeks demolishing what was then Melbourne’s highest chimney at the Northcote Brickworks.
“This chimney was 210 feet high, and he took so long climbing up the iron bars inside the chimney that Whelan the Wrecker thought he had got stuck,” the report said.
James Whelan was born in Stawell in western Victoria in 1864.
When he was 20 he moved to Melbourne and worked as a horse and cart driver.
When the 1890s Depression hit and cash was in short supply, the trade in second-hand goods was thriving.
So Whelan took a punt. He took a job demolishing some shops in Swanston St on the basis he would receive no cash, but only the building materials.
He must have done well enough from the deal, because from there, he began buying and wrecking deserted cottages in Brunswick and reselling the salvaged building materials.
Adams says the company boomed, surviving the 1890s and 1930s depressions and beyond, and the business passed down to his sons after his death.
Even into the ‘50s and ‘60s, the famous sign could be seen on almost every city block, and remains a vivid memory for many Melburnians.
Listen to previous episodes including Chris Adams’ tale of the man who may have been Australia’s first serial killer and the story of Charles Brownlow, the man behind the medal.
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW NOW IN TODAY’S NEW FREE EPISODE OF THE IN BLACK AND WHITE PODCAST ON AUSTRALIA’S FORGOTTEN CHARACTERS TO LEARN MORE
Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here or Spotify here or on your favourite platform.
Buy the Grave Tales books in book shops or at gravetales.com.au.
Check out In Black & White in the Herald Sun newspaper Monday to Friday to see more stories from Victoria’s past.
inblackandwhite@heraldsun.com.au
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