East Egg MC

Despite the title, I was gonna give the State Library's "The Greatest Wonder Of The World" photographic exhibition a miss, but then a segment on "Landline" convinced me of its import. The reporter compared the views of 1800s NSW and Victoria to the most revealing Civil War shots, and praised the remarkable quality and depth of the thousands of images captured by Merlin and Bayliss at the behest of gold baron Bernhardt Holtermann, who dreamt of touring the pics across Europe. I couldn't single out a fave photo, but my fave caption related to a Melbourne street scene. The write-up focused on one of the city's then-popular coffee stands, where a cuppa, saveloy, boiled potato and buttered bread roll could be had for a sixpence - a steal of a deal that allegedly made these places a meeting point for crims and resulted in some mayor or other forcing them to close earlier.


CD: Eagerly awaiting the MS MR album (May 14).