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Town Hall, 333 Bay Street, Port Melbourne
Town Hall, 333 Bay Street, Port Melbourne

Derham Street

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistorySeptember 2, 2021
Frederick Thomas Derham was born in Somerset, England, in 1844 and arrived in Melbourne with his family in 1856. Derham's first business undertaking was as a mercantile broker with Callender Calwell & Co. In 1864, he married Ada Anderson with whom he had three sons and a daughter. Ada died in 1874. Derham had met Thomas Swallow, founder of Swallow…

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Mrs Jane Adam: A Difficult Life

People, Port Melbourne HistoryAugust 20, 2021
by David Radcliffe In the late 19th century, life for many in “Marvellous Melbourne” was often tenuous. Living conditions were fairly basic and the economic depression that lingered from the 1890s until the First World War meant there was no guarantee of having a roof over your head or food on the table. It was not uncommon for children to die prematurely,…

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A Young Girl’s Interests

Collection, People, Port Melbourne HistoryJune 18, 2021
In 1927 the Duke and Duchess of York (future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, later the Queen Mother) visited Australia for the official opening of Parliament House in Canberra. After the ceremonies, the royal couple returned to Victoria by train alighting at Montague so they could say goodbye from an open car at brief civic receptions outside South…

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Hall of Remembrance

People, Port Melbourne HistoryMay 21, 2021
by Greg Hansen At last year’s annual general meeting, I reflected on what it was like for my wife Sherrie and I to have made Port Melbourne our home these past 30 years. My thoughts had little to do with anything I might have learned or could tell about the history of Port – rather, they were connected to the…

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A Corner Shop

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryApril 23, 2021
In the days before supermarkets and large shopping centres the people of Port Melbourne and other inner suburbs shopped every day at small local shops located cheek by jowl amongst their own houses. One such shop was located on the corner of Esplanade East and Spring Street East. PMHPS has a digital copy of a photograph album compiled…

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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…

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Stella Edwards 1883 – 1975

People, Port Melbourne HistoryMarch 8, 2021
Stella Edwards Sarah Stella Edwards, known as Stella at her preference, was born into a close-knit Sandridge pioneering family that was strong on talent and ability. Even so, she was notable among them as the independent, entrepreneurial and highly talented woman that she was. She was much admired. Stella's mother was Sarah Whiteman, one of the earliest settler children born in…

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Norma Barnett Lane

People, PlacesMarch 4, 2021
Norma Barnett came to Port Melbourne in 1953 to work at the Melbourne City Mission. The Mission had been established a century earlier to give aid to the thousands of immigrants who had flocked to Victoria in the gold rush, failed to make their fortune and were stranded, destitute. Just behind the Fountain Inn (now The Cornerstone) stood the…

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PMHPS acknowledges the generous support of the City of Port Phillip.

 

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Acknowledgement of Traditional Custodians

We respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we meet and work, the Bunurong Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nation and pay respect to their Elders past, present and emerging.