Overview

Beloved Melbourne historian Robyn Annear takes us on an unorthodox tour of the city's streets and corners, telling stories about the events and people that have made these the most interesting places to be What better defines a city than its street corners? A corner gives you a starting point, a destination and a place to turn. It's furnished with pillar boxes, newsstands and tram stops, and lamp-posts for light and lounging. Where would you be likeliest to find a pub? At the corner, of course. And who better than Robyn Annear to usher you around the corners of Melbourne, and reveal their bizarre, baroque and mostly forgotten stories? In this (appropriately corner-shaped) book she will introduce you to- street-corner 'galvanisers' who offered the thrill of electric shock at threepence a time the rude boys of the Fitzroy back streets who became the original 'larrikins' infants named for the corners on which they'd been abandoned a rogues' gallery of unruly women, incorrigible men and runaway horses ...and, of course, the civic reprobates who discarded orange peel in the streets, to the risk of life and limb.

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9781922790453

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Reviews

‘Annear tackles her sprawling subject matter with her trademark wit and her knack for singling out the perfect historical reference.’ * Age * ‘An unexpected delight. Annear writes history with a smile but with a deadly acerbic stare…On this tour of Melbourne we are in the best possible hands.’ * Saturday Paper * ‘It is a privilege and a pleasure to walk the streets of Melbourne guided by Robyn Annear.’ * ArtsHub * ‘Annear is a charming and intelligent guide…A lively sense of humour suffuses the pages.’ * Canberra Times *

‘Corners of Melbourne is overflowing with encounters. These are evoked with gusto and brilliance and a depth of understanding of the zeitgeist of the time...Anyone with a love of history or an interest in Melbourne will find this book enthralling.’ * ArtsHub * ‘What a breath of fresh air! [Robyn Annear’s] anecdotes and case histories gave me the feeling she was spinning yarns at a bar, or a campfire…Corners of Melbourne was thoughtfully collated and gave me a sense of what I might encounter walking the early streets of Melbourne as it was expanding and developing into the city I now call home.’ * Carpe Librum * ‘The most amazing stories that we do not know about…Absolutely fascinating.’ * JOY 94.9 * ‘Amanda Lohrey makes writing look effortless: every sentence is a pleasure to read. Her characters immediately come alive on the page...The Conversion is a beautifully written, quietly profound novel that explores purgatories of the past and present as its characters move between and meditate on structural and personal conversion.’ * Saturday Paper *

‘Annear tackles her sprawling subject matter with her trademark wit and her knack for singling out the perfect historical reference.’ * Age * ‘An unexpected delight. Annear writes history with a smile but with a deadly acerbic stare…On this tour of Melbourne we are in the best possible hands.’ * Saturday Paper * ‘It is a privilege and a pleasure to walk the streets of Melbourne guided by Robyn Annear.’ * ArtsHub * ‘Annear is a charming and intelligent guide…A lively sense of humour suffuses the pages.’ * Canberra Times * ‘One hell of a book.’ * David Astle, ABC Evenings *

Author Information

Robyn Annear is the author of many books of history, including Bearbrass- Imagining Early Melbourne, Nothing but Gold- The Diggers of 1852, Nothing New- A History of Second-hand and Adrift in Melbourne. Her podcast 'Nothing on TV' presents stories from Trove historical newspapers.

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