Janet Bolitho – Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society

Growing up in Port Melbourne

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryOctober 18, 2024

Jim Sinclair extracts from an interview conducted by John May and Janet Bolitho on 30 June 2020. Where and when were you born Jim? I was born in 1924 in Cruikshank St, in Port Melbourne. My father was a fireman at Eastern Hill Fire Station. I don’t know what my mother did when she was working. She must of…

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Port Melbourne HistoryAugust 30, 2024

Melbourne’s Sewer Mains in Port Melbourne Instalment 3 of 3. The “Hobson’s Bay Main” by Richard Olive A previous instalment in this series described how sewage flowing towards Port Phillip Bay from the eastern suburbs was intercepted by the Hobson’s Bay Main, and redirected through Port Melbourne towards the Spotswood Pumping Station. Initially, in the 1890s, the main started at…

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Port Melbourne HistoryAugust 30, 2024

Melbourne’s Sewer Mains in Port Melbourne Instalment 2 of 3. The “Melbourne Main” by Richard Olive RECAP The initial instalment of this series provided some basic information about sewers in general and the layout in Melbourne in particular. It explained how two of the city’s main sewers, “The Melbourne Main” and “The Hobson’s Bay Main” run right through Port Melbourne. …

Allan Whittaker commemoration 2022

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryNovember 18, 2022

The weather settled briefly at midday on Thursday 3rd November for the Allan Whittaker commemoration. A bank of clouds over Williamstown edged closer but no rain fell. Kevin Bracken tells the Whittaker story photo Janet Bolitho In front of the recently named Allan Whittaker Centre, Kevin Bracken re-told the now familiar story of the…

The Leading Lights

Places, Planning & Preservation, Port Melbourne HistoryJanuary 28, 2022

Port Melbourne's beacons, also known as the leading lights, define the centre line of the Port Melbourne Channel. The light was visible for 14 nautical miles. Until superseded by more recent technology, the beacons guided vessels safely to the piers. In 1923 once the new Railway Pier, later Princes Pier, was fully operational, the Melbourne Harbor Trust wrote to…

Working at Tom Piper

People, Port Melbourne HistoryOctober 21, 2021

Win May (nee Smith) and Janet Bolitho worked together on this interview during lockdown in August 2021. Where did you grow up? My parents moved into our house in Griffin Crescent when it was brand new. My mother, Mary, worked at Swallows before marrying. My father, Alex, was a waterside worker who worked in gang 48 as a winch driver. He would walk…

Smells

Port Melbourne HistorySeptember 10, 2021

Swallow & Ariell viewed from Princes St 1987 PMHPS Collection The National Trust has argued that the smell of Vegemite, produced at Fishermans Bend, warrants recognition as part of the heritage of the place. This has prompted a post on how many Port stories are associated with smells. The fetid Sandridge Lagoon gave rise to virtually a whole vocabulary of smells…

Crockford Street

Places, Port Melbourne HistoryJuly 2, 2021

Crockford St is more of a street section than a street in its own right, connecting Bay St to City Rd. It runs for a mere 300 metres between Raglan St and Boundary St. Marking the place where Bay St and Crockford St divide is the Fountain Inn at 1 Crockford St. The Fountain Inn Brothers John Edward and Edward James…

Women activists in Port

People, Port Melbourne HistoryMarch 19, 2021

This piece is assembled from material on the PMHPS website and publications. The authors are gratefully acknowledged. You will find links to the posts at the end of this article. In response to the call put out by organiser Janine Hendry, thousands and thousands of women (and supportive men) turned out to March 4 Justice on Monday 15…

Ozone, Hygeia and Weeroona Sts

Places, Port Melbourne HistoryAugust 7, 2020

These three streets in Port Melbourne are named after the Bay excursion paddle steamers that traveled from Station Pier down the Bay to Mornington, Sorrento, Queenscliff and Portarlington from the turn of the 20th century to the Second World War. There are only 8 houses in Ozone St, 8 in Hygeia St and 11 in Weeroona St. The short streets…

Acknowledgement of Traditional Custodians