Like Kleenex is synonymous with tissues, Hoover for vacuum cleaners and Kelvinator is for fridges, the Melway was just this for road maps in Victoria.
Even up to 10 years ago, a Melway was nearly guaranteed to be inside the passenger or drivers door pocket, easy to hand to navigate around the streets of Melbourne.
Mere Godfrey was the founder, designer and cartographer of the Medway Street Director, who trained as a survey draughtsman for the Victorian Lands Department.
Serving with the RAAF as a radio operator during the World War 2, Godfrey was later employed as part of the State Electrical Commission of Victoria, but was involved in producing various tourist maps as a hobby.
A founding member of the Institute of Cartographers and later an honorary treasurer for a decade, Godfrey holds the office of Fellow Member in recognition for his contributions.
The path towards the first Medway begins when Godfrey met publisher Ray Harrison through an opportunity to produce a map ahead of the Melbourne Olympic Games in 1956.
Although there were many street directories available, Godfrey noticed many shortcomings and proposed to Harrison the possibility of making his own.
Godfrey’s concept was to produce a multi-coloured high quality directory printed on top grade paper.
Another piece in the Medway puzzle was when Godfrey met another with the same aim of his, Iven Mackay. This meeting proved crucial when Harrison passed away before the project had progressed to a printing level.
Quitting his job at the SECV in 1961 proved another step for Godfrey as the journey continued to a point when the first version was printed and sold in 1966.
Produced by P.C. Grosser of Moorabbin, the Medway was sold for $2.50 at a price double its competition, but it defied sceptics to prove very popular.
The second edition for the 1967 year welcomed a change from the pen and ink version of the first to scribing, cut and peel masking.
All this was completed in Godfrey’s home study, which remained his ‘office’ until 1985.
In 1977, hand developing was replaced by film processing and in 1993 PCs were used to generate indexes in-house.
By 2000, the whole Medway was computer generated and continues to this day to be produced. Emergency services, government industries, real estate, public transport and many other customers including the public continue to use the Melway as technology through GPS is popular via phone apps.
Becoming part of the Melbourne culture, advertisements across all platforms still refer to Melway references.
Mackay passed away in 1989 and Godfrey in 2013 just as the rise of this technology was starting to build.
Melway street directories celebrated its 50th edition this year as it still updates yearly as Melbourne continues to grow.
Expansion led to Sydway and Brisway covering the east coast of Australia.
CLICK HERE to check out the maps from the first Medway in 1966.