The Lost City of Melbourne reconstructs, through archival photography and historical scholarship, the streetscapes and civic buildings that Melbourne erased during the demolition frenzy of the mid-twentieth century — a record of what the city chose to forget.
About This Book
In the decades following World War II, Melbourne demolished an extraordinary volume of its Victorian and Edwardian built fabric in the name of progress. The Lost City of Melbourne documents that erasure with unflinching clarity, pairing archival photography of exceptional quality with essays by leading local historians. The result is less an exercise in nostalgia than an act of forensic urban memory — one that asks readers to reckon with the decisions that shaped the city they inhabit today. For architects, historians, and anyone invested in Melbourne's urban identity, this is essential reading on heritage, loss, and the politics of demolition.
Key Features
- 208 pages of archival and documentary photography spanning Melbourne's demolished heritage buildings
- Contributions from historians and authors Robyn Annear and Graeme Davison
- Photography by Mark Strizic, Wolfgang Sievers, John Lindt, Angus O'Callaghan, Charles Nettleton, and John Gollings
- Companion volume to the documentary film that premiered at the 2022 Melbourne International Film Festival
- Published by Gus Berger, 2023
What You'll Discover
- The scale and character of heritage buildings lost to Melbourne's mid-century urban renewal, reconstructed through primary photographic sources
- How leading historians Robyn Annear and Graeme Davison contextualise the social and civic forces that drove large-scale demolition
- The photographic legacy of figures such as Mark Strizic and Wolfgang Sievers as documents of architectural loss rather than mere record shots
- How the book functions as a companion to a documentary investigation, extending the film's arguments into a sustained visual and textual form
About the Author
Gus Berger is the author and publisher of The Lost City of Melbourne, produced in conjunction with his independent documentary film of the same name. The film premiered at the 2022 Melbourne International Film Festival and became the highest-grossing Australian documentary nationally that year, subsequently winning the Best Australian Documentary Award from both the Australian Film Critics Association and the International Film Festival of Australia.
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Pages: 208
- Dimensions: 240 x 280 mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9780646885445
- Publisher: Gus Berger
- Publication Date: 2023
Perfect For: Architects and urban historians interested in Melbourne's built heritage, researchers working on Australian urban planning and conservation, and readers who engaged with the documentary film and want a sustained visual and scholarly companion.