Records of the Loss Property Department of Gardiner Reserve

This book of picture poems is a soulful, and at times gently satirical, meditation on the question of human loss. Set in the Shiel Street environ itself, the marvellous Gardiner Reserve.

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Praise from the Critics

…funny, quietly, original and in general great fun to read. I hope it heralds a whole new genre of municipal literature.

Terry Eagleton, Distinguished Professor of English Literature at Lancaster University

This is brilliant BJ, you mad bastard! Should we collaborate on the stage musical?

Tim Baker, excellent famous author. His latest book, Patting the Shark was published in 2022 by PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE AUSTRALIA.

As its playful title suggests, this is a book concerned not just with lost property but with the properties of loss in the most profound and pervasive sense of the word. It finds beauty as well as pathos in lost and discarded objects – hats and coats and shoes – and it also brings a comic, satirical intelligence to bear on the signs and symbols – labels, slogans, instructions – through which we organise and order our everyday lives. Words and images collide and collude in brilliantly entertaining ways. The poems are a testimony to the ways in which artistic creativity and linguistic vitality can undo the brittle directives of bureaucratic discourse. Looking out from a small but significant spot in North Melbourne, the book speaks for the lost and lonely everywhere.

Stephen Regan, Professor Emeritus, Durham University (UK) and Research Associate, University of Melbourne

A funny, moving tribute to the small things make our shared humanity. If you want a fun, moving tribute to our shared humanity in a gracious little book (Leunig style), this is for you! I love the balance between poking a tongue at the ludicrous way we organise ourselves in bureaucracy and the touching odes to the loss property items.

Dr Laurel Johnson, President (and Social Legend), Hub Community Projects, Inala, Queensland