Wednesday 15 July 2009

Mid-month theme: Subway day (2 of 3)


Walking into Museum Station is just like walking into a museum of the era in which it was built. The walls along the platforms are lined with advertisements from that era:
Top: Arnotts Until just a few years ago, Arnotts was an iconic Australian company producing biscuits. There are signs similar to this in some quite striking spots all over Sydney. One that comes to mind, is on an overpass on Parramatta Road, just after the start of the motorway at Concord.
Bottom left: MorteinWhen you're on a good thing - stick to it! Even today, swatting flies is known as "the great Australian wave".
Bottom right: Orient Line From Australia to London for less than three farthings a mile. Australia is an isolated country very far from The Home Country. This was the era of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith. Qantas was just being established in the backblocks of Queensland.

The mid-month Subway theme has contributions from the following cities:
Budapest - London - Paris - Stockholm - Sydney
and you can still catch Ming's earlier posts at New York

18 comments:

Leif Hagen said...

Godday Julie! I missed out on another "Mid-month theme day." Zut alors! We don't have subway in Eagan. Cool subway snaps!

Unknown said...

Great adverts. I've never got off at this station when I've visited Sydney. Don't know if you can. London has some disused underground stations, which you vaguely see as you rattle along in the darkness.

Julie said...

Absolutely GM, you can get off at Museum. It is jam packed at peak-hours, just not at weekends because of what is above ground - offices.

brattcat said...

I feel as if I've stepped into the past. Thank you for the guided tour of days gone by. Old ads tell us so much about who and where and what we were.

Joan Elizabeth said...

The commentary today is just terrific for bringing the signs to life for overseas readers.

My sister lived in Canada and she used to stock up on Arnotts when she came home. They don't make biscuits (cookies) like ours over there.

Anonymous said...

Nice shots. I really like the signs in the subway.

BlossomFlowerGirl said...

Good photos Julie. The Arnotts and Mortein ones take me back to childhood. I remember the Rosella was always on the Arnotts products and who could ever forget "Mortein - when you're on a good thing stick to it!"

BTW, found the problem why my Melbourne blog came up as being removed - I had changed the Blogspot address. Have solved this by posting a redirect to my new address.

Cheers.

James said...

This sounds like a really interesting place. I love old
advertisements.

-Ironically my wife just told me that she grew up playing the UK edition of Monopoly.

Jim said...

Awesome shots. I love Museum station. It's just across from where I work but I don't get a chance to use it much because it's not on my railway line. Thanks for sharing these photos with the world.
Sydney - City and Suburbs

Ann said...

Its a real shame that they don't have the Mark Foys signs there any more. I miss those.

stromsjo said...

Like a king size time capsule for us to appreciate.

Happy subway day !

AB said...

Reading this blog, I am always struck by the little bits of England in Sydney. This looks so much like the London tube, and the names such as Hyde Park are so familiar.

I read that Sydney is one of the most cosmopolitan places on earth. So I guess the ties with England are weaker these days.

PeterParis said...

What a beautiful station and what a good idea to save these old advertisments!! (Waiting for the 3/3!) :-)

eamon@ewmphotography said...

"To England on a 20,000 tonner." I'm guessing this would take longer than a Boeing?

Bhavesh Chhatbar said...

Beautiful photography in this one and in the previous post!

TV Tower on Sinhagad - Going Inside Clouds

Julie said...

AB: I guess it stands to reason that there is much in Australia that is modelled on England. The convicts and soldiers who were shipped here tried to create a little bit of England to assuage their home-sickness. They wore top hats'n'tails and crinolines and even when I was a child we HAD to have hot Christmas dinners! The main streets of our CBD are George, York, Clarence, Elizabeth. Our first park was Hyde Park. Radiatig streets are Oxford, Liverpool and William. It goes on ...

Are we cosmopolitan? Hard to judge ... I go to Amsterdam, Paris and London and marvel at the mix: so different from ours but still a mix. I guess we are cosmopolitan but in enclaves.

I can go to much smaller states and to country towns and feel strange - as though I have gone back half a century to the ascendency of the WASP. I much prefer it the way it is today.

Unknown said...

What a clever idea leaving the old signs there! They are really cool!

I've checked Michael's Melbourne blog; what a fantastic photo! Thank you, Julie!

Mo said...

Now here is a tasteful station. Should we send our contractors down under to learn how to do it.