Rock Posters street poster printing factory – Don’t miss this Open House Melbourne ephemera highlight

In an increasingly digital communication world, old school printed posters continue to be used to promote cultural and sporting events, entertainment, new products and campaigns. Appearing on urban walls, lane ways and hoardings, these eye-catching street posters are paper, printed and transient – wonderful ephemera.

Operating for over 40 years, Rock Posters is the company behind printing and distributing street advertising posters across Australia.

Australian owned and independent, Rock Posters was started by the D’Aquino brothers, Frank and John, alongside Joe Di Natale and printed their first poster at their Fitzroy premises in 1986. Initially producing work for the music industry, Rock Posters expanded and adapted to a diversified client base and a very different commercial environment. Business growth saw expansionary relocations to North Melbourne, Brunswick and now Thornbury.  

In an Open Melbourne first, Rock Posters is opening its doors to the public for a behind-the scenes look at its factory. Together with viewing the working machinery and operations, visitors will also see a display of an extensive archive of original posters, spanning decades of Australian music history.

NB For those interested in Rock Music posters, the Rock Poster website contains an interesting blog article ‘Vintage rock poster designs that still inspire today’ by Bre Davis (September 2025).

And, if you are seeking pointers on designing a street poster, see the following advice from Ant Keogh, Chief Creative Officer, The Monkeys 

Street posters have an energy about them. After all, they’re out there on the street. They’re literally down with the people. Transient and immediate. Of the moment. At best, they seem to be part of the street culture itself. So, when we design street posters we want to go with that energy. They’re a chance to be bold, imaginative, sassy, maybe a bit rough around the edges. I’m going to generalise here in the interest of creating some guidelines, but really, of course, there are no rules. Maybe, in this medium, the more you break them the better.

and Ben Coulson, Chief Creative Officer, McCann