I was visiting a friend’s place over a year ago and the first thing I noticed about his home were the incredibly high ceilings, given its history as an old girls convent. Close to the front door was a long stretch of floor to ceiling wall and hanging on it was an old black and white bus scroll. It was just the right place for this artwork as there was enough room to go through all of the destinations whilst highlighing the height and openness of the place. I thought to myself, when had bus rolls become trendy and befitting for a wall in someone’s home? All I could come up with or come back to moreover was the old saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.

After picturing my friend breaking into a bus depot, hijacking a 190 Palm Beach-destination bus and cheekily pulling out the scroll, I enquired where he had got it from and learnt of the store Home Furniture On Consignment (HFOC). My friend explained that the store stocked and sold previously loved and second-hand quality furniture and these were available to purchase in-store (Sydney or Melbourne) or online at quite affordable prices. Hopping online I saw more bus scrolls, wingback chairs, ornate antique mirrors, butchers blocks, Persian rugs and a whole assortment of other collected goodies. I have yet to buy something from HFOC but love the concept that there is somewhere central to go in order to give a second-hand piece of furniture, more often than not a branded or collector’s item or someone else’s trash – a new home.

Not long after seeing the bus scroll hanging in my friend’s home, I came across an exhibition in the middle of Bondi Westfield by Print Dolls. Taking inspiration from the original bus and tram scrolls, these were instead printed on canvas and seemingly easier to hang up. I immediately loved the boldness of the typography and the sentiment and nostalgia they created from a list of bus or tram destinations. Never would I have believed as I sat on the 263 bus heading into the city that something so simple as a bus scroll could become a collectors item but who am I to question what people treasure?