Radical Melbourne: A Secret History
Australian History Local History Social History Radical History Urban History Political Activism Labour Movement Social Issues
Radical Melbourne: A Secret History peels back the city’s respectable façade to reveal 180 years of protests, secret meetings, street battles and underground presses. From the gold-field rebels of the 1850s to the anti-globalisation blockades of the 2000s, Jeff and Jill Sparrow guide readers down forgotten laneways and into long-demolished halls where unions were born, anarchists printed broadsides and suffragists chained themselves to Parliament. The result is a fast-paced, story-driven tour that turns Melbourne’s familiar landmarks into living evidence of Australia’s most sustained radical tradition.
What makes this 2004 first-edition paperback so collectable is its unique combination of meticulous research and street-level storytelling. More than 150 rarely-seen photographs, posters and maps—many reproduced from the archives of the Australian labour movement—illustrate every chapter, letting readers see the faces, banners and streetscapes that shaped the city’s hidden past. Unlike dry academic texts, the Sparrows write with the energy of investigative journalists, so each episode reads like a political thriller while still serving as a reliable reference for students, heritage professionals and local-history buffs.
For anyone who loves Melbourne, this book is the ultimate alternative walking-tour companion: it supplies exact addresses, dates and context so you can stand on the spots where history happened. Teachers and university tutors consistently list it as a set text for Australian-studies and urban-history courses because its 220 pages condense decades of scholarship into vivid, teachable narratives. Copies in very-good condition are increasingly hard to find; grabbing one now means owning the illustrated sourcebook that sparked a new wave of interest in Australia’s radical heritage.
Refer to our eBay listing for a full condition report and many more high-quality pictures of this item.
Buy Now