{"id":313275,"date":"2025-08-03T01:03:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T01:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/313275\/"},"modified":"2025-08-03T01:03:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T01:03:18","slug":"century-old-water-tower-in-wodonga-transformed-into-unique-bookshop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/313275\/","title":{"rendered":"Century-old water tower in Wodonga transformed into unique bookshop"},"content":{"rendered":"

With its towering, cylindrical form and circular internal shelves, booklovers who enter regional Victoria’s newest bookshop have to be willing to fossick for titles in a confined space.<\/p>\n

Wodonga’s 100-year-old water tower has been transformed into a second-hand book store by Melissa Boyes.<\/p>\n

For decades, the water tower housed a shoe repair business but has sat empty for the past year.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Melissa Boyes has created a bookstore inside a water tower at Wodonga. (ABC Goulburn Murray: Philippe Perez)<\/p>\n

“When we first took occupancy, it was very empty and echoey \u2026 we’ve tried to soften it with a bit of carpet, and obviously a lot of books,” Ms Boyes said.<\/p>\n

“It’s been a bit of a slog \u2026 we wanted to change it from that empty concrete cylinder into something nice, colourful and cosy where people can hang out.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Melissa Boyes has a history of opening bookshops in unique spaces. (ABC Goulburn Murray: Philippe Perez)<\/p>\n

When the local council asked for expressions of interest for people to occupy the space, Ms Boyes knew a bookshop was the answer.<\/p>\n

She had experience in such ventures, having opened her first bookshop in an old tobacco shed on her farm in north-east Victoria.<\/p>\n

“You can squeeze bookshelves in anywhere, and you can make do with the space that you have,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Renovated<\/p>\n

It’s thought the shed was built in the 1930s and was\u00a0used to dry tobacco and store hay. (ABC Goulburn Murray: Allison Jess)<\/p>\n

Hidden treasures in Port Fairy<\/p>\n

In Victoria’s south west, Jo Canham had just finished an arts degree in literature and criminology when she decided to ditch a career in the justice system and open a bookshop instead.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jo Canham opened Blarney Books in Port Fairy 20 years ago. (ABC News: Jean Bell)<\/p>\n

In 2004, she moved to Port Fairy where she transformed an old Masonic Lodge into a bookshop.<\/p>\n

“It had previously operated as a church and youth centre, so there were crosses, bibles and even a step-into baptismal font,” Ms Canham said.<\/p>\n

\"Inside<\/p>\n

Blarney Books is one of two bookstores in Port Fairy, south-west Victoria. (ABC News: Jean Bell)<\/p>\n

“The dreams just started coming to me then, and we pictured turning it into something fun.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Her store, Blarney Books & Art, was also once home to a bowling alley that ran the entire length of the hall.<\/p>\n

\"Jo<\/p>\n

Jo Carnham’s bookstore in Port Fairy was once a masonic hall. (Supplied: Jo Carnham)<\/p>\n

“We considered for a while whether we should have a combined books and bowling spot, but it was incredibly loud,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We’ve chopped it up, used it for tables, benches, and other things, so it hasn’t been wasted.”<\/p>\n

Books rather than beers<\/p>\n

A health scare and the need for a tree change inspired Ann and Paul Smith to open a little bookshop in a quaint gold rush town on the outskirts of Castlemaine in central Victoria.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ann Smith owns a second-hand bookstore in a former hotel building near Castlemaine. (ABC Goulburn Murray: Philippe Perez)<\/p>\n

Mr Smith had previously managed a bookshop in Melbourne for Frank Cheshire before purchasing the 1854 Bath Arms Hotel at Campbell’s Creek in 1994.<\/p>\n

“There was already a good, new bookshop in Castlemaine, so we thought we’d be the good second-hand bookshop,” Ms Smith said.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

This former hotel near Castlemaine houses 150,000 second-hand books. (ABC Goulburn Murray: Philippe Perez)<\/p>\n

“It’s called Book Heaven because that’s where the good books go; the bad books go to hell.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, the renovated building houses approximately 150,000 books in nine rooms.<\/p>\n

“It’s probably the biggest second-hand bookshop in Australia now, I think,” Ms Smith said.<\/p>\n

Giving back to the community\"two<\/p>\n

Bruce Brine (left), Heather Jameson, and Ethan Piddington at Quercus Bookshop in Beechworth. (ABC Goulburn Murray: Philippe Perez)<\/p>\n

Water towers and watering holes are not the only heritage buildings in Victoria being repurposed as bookshops \u2014 there are old school buildings too.<\/p>\n

At Beechworth, in Victoria’s north east, a former schoolroom and chapel for the Wesleyan church built in 1854 now houses the Quercus Bookshop.<\/p>\n

The volunteer-run social enterprise has operated as a second-hand bookstore alongside an opportunity shop since 2008.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Quercus Beechworth volunteers Bruce Brine and Ethan Piddington with Heather Jameson.\u00a0 (ABC Goulburn Murray: Philippe Perez)<\/p>\n

“It’s a space where community can come together, and we offer community activities and support programs,” operations manager Heather Jameson said.<\/p>\n

“[Books] tend to bring the community together and, especially here, with the space led by our volunteers, it just brings people in.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With its towering, cylindrical form and circular internal shelves, booklovers who enter regional Victoria’s newest bookshop have to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3938],"tags":[3444,44100,77,114244,114246,28606,363,114247,16,15,114245],"class_list":{"0":"post-313275","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-bookstores","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-heritage-buildings","12":"tag-quirky-bookshops","13":"tag-reading","14":"tag-retail","15":"tag-second-hand-bookshops","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-wodonga-watertower"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114962144525053733","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}