The Top Factory ghosts

There is a fascination with the ghost signs on buildings and in streetscapes of our older towns and inner suburbs. They offer an almost romantic connection to our past and invite us to think about the people and activities that occupied these places before we did. Some people actively seek them out to photograph and share with a wider audience. They can be found on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, blog sites and web sites. And they often (always) add to the making of a place as it was lived in and used by subsequent generations and activities.

Not so for ghost sites!

I’ve been investigating a site recently that has a fascinating history but is in such a state of disrepair it is difficult, expensive and cumbersome to do anything more than put a fence around it and put off action for a more convenient time. Unfortunately, given these difficulties, the site has naturally degraded over time and the fence hasn’t really prevented people from getting inside if they really want to. This is common across all types off neglected sites and they become a haven for people who can’t find safe and welcoming places, or who need places to hide, or just like to explore regardless of what authorities think.

I wouldn’t normally put myself amongst any of these categories but I was recently wondering around one of these places (of course for my work!) and the differences between ghost signs and ghost sties loomed large in my mind.

Of course the obvious factors of safety and expenses related with restoration or interpretation are always why empty places become ghost sites and neglected. Unlike their cousins the much-loved ghost signs which have us preserving them, sharing them, and telling new stories from old.

Nonetheless, the stories from ghost sites are often more significant, more far reaching, and of greater public interest because they do encompass whole sites of industry and large numbers of people living or working there in the past,.

People across the heritage industry are thinking about this, and in academia and even some developers, but I wanted to bring this missing story to your attention in the hope that one of these ghost sites will become as much appreciated as its smaller cousins.