Design, Illustration and Architecture

Local Milk Bars

Milk bars played a bit part of suburban life in the Australia that I grew up in. You would walk to the milk bar to get milk and papers for your parents, mixed lollies, and summer ice creams. In my seaside home town the milk bar was also the local chippery.

But the place of milk bars has become less central in our lives. This set of illustrations records, nostalgically, some of the local milk bars that I find while riding around Melbourne's inner north. And because the branding and advertising on milk bars changes so often, these drawings are also a snapshot of the time.

I included only a small selection of the illustrations that I did on this website, and none of these are still operating as a milkbar. The Reid Street Milk Bar is now a cafe, the East Brunwick Milk Bar now houses Rusty’s Sandwiches and another small shop, the Brightway Milkbar is now a sort of diner. I don’t have a problem with any of these new uses, although I observe that they don’t collectively create such a clear urban pattern or sense of nostalgia.