Port Melbourne History – Page 5 – Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society

Kitchen’s vs Swallow’s King’s Birthday Football Match

Port Melbourne HistoryJune 12, 2023

by David Thompson After so many years having a public holiday for the Queen’s Birthday, it felt a bit strange to have one for the King's Birthday in 2023. The public holiday honouring the monarch's official birthday, at least for football followers, means a blockbuster match between Melbourne and Collingwood at the MCG and the Neale Daniher-led Big Freeze event…

Guardian Family Health Soap

Collection, Port Melbourne HistoryJune 9, 2023

Guardian Family Health Soap. PMHPS Collection Cat No 3423.03. Among the PMHPS collection is an aged, chipped bar of unused Guardian Family Health Soap. And what's more, the Society also has the original box. Box, Guardian Family Health Soap (front). PMHPS Collection 3423.02. Guardian Family Health Soap was produced by J Kitchen & Sons Pty Ltd and the description on the rear…

Turville Place

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryJune 2, 2023

by David F Radcliffe Because Princes Street, originally called Railway Place, runs parallel to the Melbourne to Hobson’s Bay Railway, the block bounded by Graham, Stokes, Liardet and Princes Streets (Crown Block 10) is trapezoidal rather than rectangular in shape. Turville Place was created to provide access to the interior parts of the southern portion of this block. Unlike “interior”…

The Chapman Memorial Hall

Places, Port Melbourne HistoryMay 19, 2023

by David Thompson The red-brick Chapman Memorial Hall has stood in Ross Street for over one hundred and twenty years. When the foundation stone was laid on the afternoon of Saturday 24 January 1903 The Standard reported that many who had attended ‘were surprised to find that the new building was at an advanced stage of construction’.[1] It was already identified as the…

Back-to-Port Melbourne Celebrations 1932

Port Melbourne HistoryMay 5, 2023

by David Thompson After months of meetings, planning and a rearrangement of dates and events, April 30, 1932 marked the first day of the Back-to-Port Melbourne festivities. The Age that morning promoted the event with the inclusion of an illustration of the tent used by the Holy Trinity church in 1853 under the heading Glimpses of Old Melbourne.[1] Glimpses of Old Melbourne,…

Anzac Day in Port Melbourne 2023

Port Melbourne HistoryApril 28, 2023

It was warm, almost too warm for the time of year, as crowds gathered for the annual Anzac commemoration service. Beach St was closed to traffic. The crowd stretched from Nott St to Bay St and from the Beach St footpath to the blue stone wall. The crowd at the Anzac Commemoration Service photo Roger Tall The scene was…

Back-to-Port Melbourne Preparations 1932

Port Melbourne HistoryApril 21, 2023

by David Thompson Letter, The Record, 14 November 1931 A letter to the editor from someone identifying themselves as RRR appeared in The Record on 14 November 1931 bemoaning the lost opportunities of not staging a Back-to-Port Melbourne event to coincide with the visit of the ocean liner, “Strathnavar”, to Station Pier and the visiting warships berthed at Princes Pier.[1] The letter opened, “Port Melbourne…

Barlow Street

Places, Port Melbourne HistoryApril 6, 2023

by David F Radcliffe Barlow Street is one of those “internal” roadways that provide access to houses located off the main streets in Port Melbourne. Its entrance is on the eastern side of Nott Street between Liardet and Graham Streets. Access to Barlow Street off Nott Street. Photograph by David Radcliffe. Like Florence Place, Barlow Street is a consequence of the way…

Pat Grainger 1930 – 2023

People, Port Melbourne HistoryMarch 24, 2023

Pat Grainger neé Herman was born in Spokane, WA in north-west USA in 1930. After attaining a BA in fine art and music theory from Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA she moved to Los Angeles, CA to study and practice commercial art. In LA, Pat worked with Art Director Les Mason and they married in 1956. In the early…

Miss Elsie Holmes

People, Port Melbourne HistoryMarch 9, 2023

Miss Elsie Holmes was a forewoman at Swallow and Ariell, the biscuit manufacturing company, during the First World War. Her father also worked for the company, as did many other people in Princes St where the family lived. Her exceptional administrative and organisational abilities came to the fore during the First World War. She brought together a group of…

Acknowledgement of Traditional Custodians