In the Society's April 2020 Newsletter, David Thompson relayed the story of the discovery that P A May of 137 Esplanade West, Port Melbourne appears in the Register of Entrants for the 1946 Easter Carnival at Stawell. The large registers are held at the Stawell Gift Hall of Fame and it was Wendy Hopwood from the Hall of Fame…
by David Radcliffe
Over the past four years, the article on Malcolm Moore Pty Ltd has elicited many reminiscences from people with personal or family ties to this former Port Melbourne based engineering company. The numerous fond memories suggest it was a great place to work, one that fostered loyal employees. Most of these responses are based on experiences from the 1960s…
There is no need to go looking on any 21st Century map for Bain Street, Port Melbourne, you won't find it.
Bain Street was gazetted on 27 July 1898 and as you can see from the map from around the 1950s (below), it was west of Swallow Street and it wasn't quite 100 years old when it succumbed…
Rosie Bray (Thrupp) wrote this piece on 15th August 2020.
Yes, August 15th 1945 was Victory in the Pacific day, and I remember it well. It meant Peace at last, and we all let out a sigh of relief when we heard Prime Minister Ben Chifley officially announce that Japan had at last surrendered.
The news was not unexpected as…
by Ray Jelley
‘there was a sheep dressed up to represent Carbine II with his jockey; Bunny Hare all ready to run for the Port Melbourne Cup; saddles of mutton in fanciful designs; poultry and geese formed from the shoulders of mutton; pigeons, made of suet, flying about the windows …’
proclaimed the Standard on 18 May 1895 when describing the display in…
Recently Mark Nettleton wrote to us about two football clubs from Garden City that played in the Melbourne Amateur Sunday Football Association during the 1950s.
Garden City Football Club played their home matches at Garden City Oval No. 1 (now known as R F Julier Reserve) while the Sandridge Stars Football Club were based at Oval No. 2 (now known…
In 2016, Janet Bolitho wrote about Archibald Todd, State President and Federal Vice-President of the Timber Workers' Union, Port Melbourne Councillor and Mayor, and Member of the Victorian State Parliament so it's no secret that Todd Road is named in his honour.
Todd Road does not appear on the Port Melbourne landscape until the 1970s but what was there before…
by Ray Jelley, April 2020
While researching John August Daniels I noticed the name Stivey in the list of watermen who lived in Beach Street according to the 1870 edition of the Sands & McDougall directory. I guessed that the family might be one that could be easily researched with such a distinctive, and I assumed, rare surname. My research…
by David Radcliffe
Henry Martin Whatty grew up in Port Melbourne during the 1870s and 1880s. He loved boats and boating and the photographs he took reflect his nautical interests.
Boat Harbour, Port Melbourne Lagoon Mouth. Photo: Henry Whatty
HMS Mildura. Photo: Henry Whatty
His father, Charles Whatty, was born in 1850 in Snettisham, Norfolk but his family moved to Mevagissey,…
by Margaret Bride
Emery Street is one of the shortest streets in Port Melbourne. It runs between Williamstown Road south to Edwards Avenue opposite Letts Reserve, Garden City. It is named in honour of George Emery, General Manager of the State Savings Bank of Victoria from 1897 to 1929.
Bankers are not often seen to be people of imagination but…