Julian O’Shea - Maps

Two years ago, my partner and I had just moved to Melbourne from Perth, and it took a while for us to stop feeling like overwhelmed tourists as we acclimatised to this big, new city.

But it wasn’t long after stumbling upon Julian O’Shea’s incredible work about our city online that we began to feel like locals, slowly learning about all the quirks and wonders this town has to offer.

Julian’s passion for Melbourne is equally infectious in-person, and his Comedy Festival show about its maps offers bountiful ‘detours’ (hehe) that also engage with broader Australian history. I think we all owe an apology to Geelong for fudging the maps to make it look further away than it really is for the sake of Melbourne’s growth... And the revelations only kept coming! Like who knew that St Kilda is a typo? That H&M is the exact centre of Melbourne? 

I now totally agree that those ‘tiny town’ map carpets from our childhood embedded a car-dominant culture into our brains, and we should definitely change our city flag to one inspired by the Myki card colour scheme.

Julian O’Shea has finished his run at the Comedy Fest, but you can check him out online! @julianoshea