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SBS Australia
10-07-2025
- Business
- SBS Australia
'City of literature': Hundreds help to relocate Melbourne's oldest bookshop
Book by book, hand to hand — hundreds formed a human chain to help Melbourne's oldest bookshop move to a new home, on a rainy day in the city. The chain was formed on Thursday morning, in front of the Hill of Content bookshop, which is relocating from the Bourke Street address it has maintained since 1922. Last year, the building was sold for $5.3 million, forcing the owners of Hill of Content to vacate after 103 years. "[The] building feels quite iconic, and we've loved our time there ... but a new chapter is starting, and we're really embracing that," Jaclyn Crupi, bookseller, author, and staff member at the store, told SBS News. "It's bittersweet." Jaclyn Crupi walked into the bookstore in 2008 and asked for a job. She said it changed her life. The bookstore is relocating 120m down the road, from 86 to 32 Bourke Street. 'Get something positive out of it' Robyn Annear, the person who came up with the idea of shaping a human chain, told SBS News that she read about something similar happening in the US. She said that she suggested the bookstore members "get something positive out of [the relocation] and get your customers involved." "It is amazing when people come in on a day when small hail is predicted, it's just fantastic. "People love these books." About 18,000 books were packed by members, and in the human chain, hundreds helped move a few thousand of the books. Veronica Sullivan, festival director of the Melbourne Writers Festival, was among those passing books from hand to hand in the rainy weather. "It's kind of raining a little bit, but it is an opportunity to show how much we love the store," she told SBS News. "It says something about the community here in Melbourne ... It tells you how much Melbourne loves books and writing. "We are a city of literature, and that's embedded in our cultural fabric, and the turnout is testament to that."
The Guardian
10-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Hundreds form human chain to help Melbourne's oldest bookshop relocate after more than a century
On the street, in a huge line, undeterred by rain, they gathered to pass books. Bibliophiles, builders from nearby construction sites, kids with their parents all stood for hundreds of metres along Bourke Street in Melbourne's CBD on Thursday morning in a human chain. They were there to help the beloved bookshop, Hill of Content, move from its location of more than 100 years to a new home. Undeterred by the wintry weather on Thursday morning, 300 people stood in a line passing thousands of books up Bourke Street, from Hill of Content's old store into the new. As the rain started falling people pulled out umbrellas and raincoats, with the books wrapped in brown paper. Hill of Content is the city's oldest bookstore, opening in 1922 at 86 Bourke Street. The three-storey heritage-listed building it occupied for 103 years was sold for $5.3m last year, with the bookshop's owners forced to start searching for a new home. Diana Johnson, who owns Hill of Content with her husband, Duncan Johnson, said the human chain would pass 17,000 books up to the new store. 'There are a fair number of people I know in the line, lots of loyal customers, we are so grateful they have supported us all those years,' she said. 'We couldn't possibly close the shop down on our watch. It's been in Melbourne literacy for over 103 years. So we decided we would continue it on.' Within an hour, the army of book lovers had already put hundreds of books on the new shelves, Johnson said. She was inspired to try the relocating with a human chain after a customer told her of one that had happened in the US, where a 'book brigade' helped move bookstore Serendipity Books in Michigan to a new location. 'I am just so grateful,' Johnson said. The new premises at 32 Bourke Street are just metres away from the old, and Hill of Content put out a call on social media earlier this month asking book lovers to help it move. 'Many hands make light work. Join us and see the power of bookish community,' the Instagram post read. On Thursday, literature lovers turned out in force. Jess, who was standing in line, described it as 'a human conveyor belt'. She admitted she 'didn't come often' to the old store, but would visit the new one. A little further up the chain, three young builders had jumped into the line after seeing it happening while on break from work. 'We were just doing the fit-out work on the building, next minute people lining up, so we thought we'd get down,' Wyatt said. Standing next to them, Angela joked they were getting 'book fit' as they stood in line. 'These young men, they don't really read a lot, I don't think', she said. 'But we've been giving them some recs.'
Daily Mail
04-07-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Dramatic moment onlookers form human chain to rescue boy trapped in weir in China
This is the extraordinary moment a boy was rescued from a weir after a group of onlookers formed a human chain in China. The incident unfolded near the Moon Bay Scenic Area in Jing County, Xuancheng, Anhui and the boy recovered without serious injuries. Click to watch the moment above.
