TOM Sevil is up a laneway inspecting some 1970s graffiti. He likes these places. He’s a stencil artist, graffitist and graphic designer, but also something of an archaeologist, because the work at hand here is but a fragment, partly buried beneath rich layers of history.

In white house paint applied with a brush, not an aerosol, this graffito no longer makes sense. It says: Frazer is a bottled toad in a trust – and there it ends, forever to remain a mystery, its final words obscured by years of others’ graffiti.

This fragment, a bastardisation of a phrase from Shakespeare’s Richard III, is more poetic than most of the illegible tags scrawled about the laneway. It might once have had something insightful (but misspelt) to say about Malcolm Fraser, then prime minister of Australia. But in this world of laneways and rapid-fire guerilla action, the scrawls, tags, posters and stencils are all ultimately temporary.

For Sevil, quality and longevity aside, it is all about political action.

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Geek sleek chique tour of places to hide in Brunswick from People's Tour on Vimeo.

Brunswick is a suburb in the north of Melbourne that mostly tries to resist its recent moniker, “the New Brunswick.” It’s about 6 km from the City, with Parkville, Carlton and North Fitzroy to its south. Brunswick has a mix of restaurants, pubs, shops, and cafes where its newer residents – students, artists, and young professional singles or families – mix with its older, predominantly immigrant residents.

Brunswick local before-it-got-trendy and People’s tour guide Francesca Sculli shows us places to find peace or to hide, or do both, in Brunswick.

Before you picture quiet, shaded parks, darkened church pews or as far away from Sydney Road as you can get, Francesca’s tour stops are not the usual suspects (despite her thoughts to the contrary). She narrows down exactly the type of “quiet” you may be seeking, introducing us to unique Brunswick hideouts that are “geek,” “chique” and “sleek”.

Listen now or download for later

This tour goes for 5 minutes and 30 seconds, and has five tour stops.
Download audio file (francesca-tour-FINAL.mp3)
Download the geek-chique-sleek tour (5 megabytes)

Tour guide

Francesca is a self confessed surrealist. She has worked in various occupations, most notably as a cake smasher in performance duo ‘slit’. She likes music, dabbles in art and the artistry of circus, and lives in a suburb that is considered cool but wasn’t when she moved there.

Francesca has dabbled in cake decorating and marriage. She has contemplated life as a Buddhist nun but gets around town with motley bunch ‘Quiche Lorraine’, which distracts her from this path quite a lot.

Francesca’s current phase is to ask people face to face if they will be her Facebook friend. She has been informed that this defeats the purpose of Facebook.

Tour map

Geek sleek chique map

Music

Music by b(if)tek, “Read to me” from Frequencies will move together (2003).

Music is used under Australian Fair Use law and/or with permission of the copyright owners.

Tour stops and links

Brunswick Library
Francesca’s local public library on Dawson Street.

Brunswick City Baths
Francesca’s local gym and swimming pool conveniently opposite Brunswick Library.

The Republic of Moreland
The blog that first brought attention to (and rejection of) the term, “the New Brunswick.”

A tour outside my comfort zones for people with anxiety from People's Tour on Vimeo.

A tour that of places outside the comfort zones of its tour guide, Jules Stopp, for anyone who has had anxiety.

Jules goes beyond the Tour Guide call of duty to bravely take us to the places that frankly freak her out – while managing to remain calm, informative and even cheerful.

Listen now or download for later

This tour goes for 11 minutes and 35 seconds, with four tour stops.
Download audio file (FINAL-jules.mp3)
Download A tour outside my comfort zones (10.6 megabytes)

Tour guide

Jules is a good for nothing South Australian who enthusiastically participates in: community radio, feminism, coming to terms with life in general and gluten-sugar-dairy free cake consumption.

She is obsessed with women’s health, ranting anywhere she can to blow up body image ideals and promote DIY YOU!

Other passions include: tunes, humans, conversations about gender, writing and artsy stuff. The colour red is currently her significant other, although affairs with blue and purple have been documented.

Tour map

Tour stops and links

Melbourne Airport
Official website of Melbourne Airport.

Metlink
Timetables, routes and anxiety easing (or provoking) online “journey planner” of Melbourne’s public transport system.