The Stick Shed

During the last school holidays, I found myself in the Grampians with a few hours to spare. Having read about The Stick Shed some months earlier, I was determined to see it and set off for Murtoa. First, some facts for the curious and factually minded…

The Stick Shed (previously known as the Murtoa No. 1 Grain Store) is the only remaining emergency grain store built during World War II. Designed in mid-1941, it was completed early in 1942 after an impressively quick five-month build. The structure is 265 meters long, 60 meters wide, and 20 meters high, constructed from 560 unmilled Victorian Mountain Ash poles, four acres of concrete, and approximately 10,000 sheets of roofing iron.

I was not disappointed to have made the effort. I spent several hours wandering, framing, making images and completely lost time, as I do. Much to my dismay on returning to the main shed door, it was locked shut! I had unknowingly overstayed my welcome and was locked inside. Fortunately, after a brief panic, I remembered that I had a mobile phone and weak but sufficient internet coverage to find a phone number for the office, who were horrified to hear they’d locked me in and were still 5 minutes out from departing for the day! Yikes.

Anyway, I lived to tell the tale and highly recommend a visit if you’re in the area.

Something from the Japanese Alps

Another little collection from my 2025 Japan travels - this time from high in the mountains behind the gorgeous alpine village of Nozawaonsen.

A little bit of temple and a lot of concrete wall

I spent over a week exploring Tokyo (barely scratched the surface) and of all of the areas I spent time in, I’m going to say Yanaka was my favourite. It’s part of Tokyo’s “Old Town” and known for the high concentration of temples (70 something in Yanaka.) This little collection of photos includes a small part of one of those temples but is about the gorgeous surrounding concrete wall..! I love it. If you’ve been following for a while or you scroll back a few years, you’ll know, or find, that it’s not the first time I’ve professed my love for a wall and a concrete one at that.

Fixation 8

It’s been a little while since I shared a fixation. I’ve got a number waiting in the wings to share with you but this one, shot no too long ago, has jumped the queue. A bit like the last fixation, where I stumbled across something new in old territory, this one is just down the road from me in Richmond. It’s a carpark. Did you know I like carparks? Thing is, although I’m not traipsing through Richmond on foot all that often, I can’t believe I’ve never seen this before, in the 20 (wow!), yes 20 years that I’ve been living in Melbourne. Clearly this lot has been vacant for some time and likely a carpark for much of that time.

So this little gem of a site has all the things that cause me to fixate. Concrete, strong lines, colour, a touch of detritus, repetition, natural elements creeping in and the added bonus of the new and old stood together and also in the distant background.

To top it all off the sun was shining, I’ll revise that to beating, and the sky was perfect blue. A happy little occasion indeed.

Khun by Yoo

During last year's trip to Thailand, I stayed in an up and coming area of Bangkok, Thonglor. It's a trendy little spot with great restaurants, cafes and shops. On one of my walks I stumbled across this sales office, yes, just a sales office. The Khun by Yoo sales office, along with the condos that will eventually stand there, were designed by Yoo in collaboration with Phillippe Starck. I see an elephant...