People – Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society

Bigamy and a Good Turn 120 years later

People, Port Melbourne History2 days ago

by Robyn Watters Last year my daily walk took me past the walls of memorial plaques in the Springvale Botanical Cemetery and I would look sadly at the bright orange ‘expired’ stickers on many of the plaques. This ominous warning sticker meant the deceased estate had only paid for a limited tenure for the plaque to be displayed. When the time was…

Frank Winwood, the Wizard of the Lamps

People, Port Melbourne HistoryNovember 7, 2024

by David Thompson At the meeting of the Port Melbourne Citizens’ Patriotic Committee held on the evening of Monday, 23 Sep 1918, a vote of thanks was accorded “Mr Frank Winwood, ‘the wizard of the lamps’, and his company of electrical craftsmen”.[i] On the previous Thursday, the Committee had held “a Night in the East”, a fund-raising event at Port…

McCormack: A Slender Street in Two Parts

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryNovember 1, 2024

by David F Radcliffe In her 2014 article on McCormack St, Robyn Clinch sketched the life of publican Thomas McCormack, after whom the street was named. The McCormack family lived on the southern part of this slender street between Bridge Street and Esplanade East. McCormack Street also extends northward from Bridge Street to Spring Street East. Each part has a distinct…

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…

A Modern Woman from Garden City

People, Port Melbourne HistorySeptember 20, 2024

by Robyn Watters Norma Madeline Watters Born: 7 June 1924, Albert Park (at home) Died: 23 April 2021, Brighton We often imagine that women born a century ago saw their destiny only as wives and mothers fleshed out only by the necessity to bring in money if they were from the working class. My aunt Norma Madeline Watters born in 1924…

O’Brien’s Terrace

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryAugust 9, 2024

by David Thompson O'Brien's Terrace, Bay Street, 2024. Photograph by David Thompson. O’Brien’s Terrace, an impressive row of five double-storey shops and dwellings, stands on the west side of Bay Street. The date inscribed on the façade of the building under the pediment indicates it was built in 1886. But who was O’Brien? The Port Melbourne Conservation Study from July 1979…

Captain James Renton Watters – The Truth

People, Port Melbourne HistoryJune 21, 2024

by Robyn Watters Captain James Renton Watters Born: 14 October 1838, Longhope, Orkney, Scotland [1] Died: 4 February 1919, Prahran, Melbourne [2] Captain James Renton Watters, master mariner, settled in Port Melbourne and surrounds in 1875, bringing his Cockney bride with him. Ancestral pride swelled his reputation as a capable and adventurous seafarer but The Truth newspaper filled me in on…

Brewster’s Lane

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryJune 7, 2024

by David F Radcliffe Brewster’s Lane disappeared from Port Melbourne twice. First, it was erased from local memory after the name of this small roadway changed in 1889. A century later, all traces of the laneway were lost when the area was redeveloped. The aerial photograph below shows the location of the former Brewster’s Lane. Former Brewster's Lane (1946), State…

The Last Train from North Port

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryMay 24, 2024

by Julie Peters I was one of the nine Cogan kids who lived in the old general store on the corner of Ross and Raglan Streets. My grandparents had the business from the 1920s until it closed in early 70s. This area was prone to flooding. 1954, the family shop, Nana in doorway, corner of Ross and Raglan Streets (photo…

Chainmaking – A Woman’s Occupation

People, Port Melbourne HistoryMay 10, 2024

by Robyn Watters Gertrude Brown (nee Duncan), Moorabbin, Victoria, c. 1964-68. As a child I had a horrified fascination of a piece of metal lodged under one of my grandmother’s fingernails. I was told it was from an industrial accident when she was a jeweller’s assistant. Years later when I investigated this claim, the electoral rolls for my grandmother Gertrude Duncan in…

Acknowledgement of Traditional Custodians