In a city where development is ever growing, you have to be quick to get a glimpse into one of the many abandoned places that sit in the shadows of Australias second biggest city.  Just like wolves circling a chicken coup, both local and foreign property developers are constantly on the prowl, always searching for new development opportunities.   Whether this be to restore and renovate or to demolish and rebuild, Melbourne's expanding population has paved the way for a boom in demand for local real estate.

 

As Melbourne’s development continues at an exhaustive speed, an abundance of dusty, dark spaces still sit forgotten and somehow overlooked in the corners and cracks of its inner and outer areas.  And whilst they can be hard to find, entering any one of these spaces is an enchanting, privileged and curious experience.   Instead of reading a sterile story on a brass placard, some real Melbourne history can be experienced in these spaces.  The exploration of this forgotten urban environment also gives one the opportunity to experience and immerse in a sublime, rich visual where nature has reclaimed the environment.

 

One such place being the former Calder Park Raceway.  After sitting in eerie silence for 15 years, alien like weeds and thistles now creep thought and swallow up its grand stand, like a scene out of the Day of the Triffids.

 

Recently demolished, a former factory sat decaying for 25 years in the shadows of an iconic Melbourne bridge.  Becoming a haven for hundreds of pigeons, its dusty, dark  and moody hallways bared a visual comparison to a horror movie mental asylum.

 

A newspaper from 1939 lays discarded on the floor of a pigeon infested kitchen in a small house on the far outskirts of the city.

 

In a long forgotten Masonic Hall a row of three dusty, mould covered thrones wait to greet you in a space that has sat in silence since the 70’s.  

 

Now boarded up, an outer Melbourne mental asylum sits forgotten in silence as a haunting breeze creeps though its hallways.

 

A disused drain in the western suburbs has gathered 60 years of dust and dirt after being permanently sealed over.

 

An old rusty weather beaten control panel in a closed factory is visually reminiscent of a post apocalyptic war scene.

 

The echoes of students haunt the hallways and classrooms of a long closed school.

 

This long forgotten concrete power station watches over the edge of a windy coastline like a gargoyle

 

Each environment provides a unique and