Port Melbourne History – Page 9 – Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society

Steel Castings Pty Ltd of Derham and Bertie Streets

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryMarch 4, 2022

by Jim West and David Radcliffe The premises of the Port Melbourne Engineering Works, built by Albert T Harman in Derham Street, Port Melbourne in 1902, included a foundry for casting components out of iron and brass.[1] In November 1934, this foundry was purchased by his son, Alfred Henry Harman, and James Robertson and registered as JV Robertson Pty Ltd.…

February 1942 – War Comes Close to Home

Places, Port Melbourne HistoryFebruary 18, 2022

by David Radcliffe Eighty years ago this month, the Second World War came very close to Port Melbourne. Early in the morning of February 26, 1942, a small float plane, launched from a Japanese submarine, conducted a reconnaissance flight around Port Phillip Bay, observing the port and other facilities. That morning, Marlene Firman and her younger sister, Gloria, were sound…

Bismarck Street

Places, Port Melbourne HistoryFebruary 4, 2022

by David Radcliffe Around Port Melbourne there are streets, like Bain Street, that once existed but have since disappeared. There are many more streets whose name has been changed. In April 1878, a cluster of intersecting streets in the south-western corner of the rapidly expanding Sandridge were gazetted as shown below.1 One of these was Bismarck Street. Note the self-referential nature of…

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 Until superseded by more recent technology, the beacons guided vessels safely to the piers.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…

Christmas Cards

Collection, Port Melbourne HistoryDecember 10, 2021

As the ubiquitous adoption of electronic mail and text messages on smart devices has become the norm for our daily communications the practice of exchanging Christmas cards has declined enormously. It doesn't seem that long ago that mantlepieces, sideboards, desks and even office windows were crowded with festive cards. People sent cards to their friends and family, businesses to their important…

Barkly Avenue

Places, Port Melbourne HistoryDecember 3, 2021

Surely such a grandly named boulevard would be one of the more prominent streets in Port Melbourne. Nothing could be further from the truth. Barkly Avenue is a short laneway off Garton Street, tucked in behind Crockford Street. It is named in honour of Sir Henry Barkly who was Governor of Victoria when the Borough of Sandridge gained separation from…

Cardie Visits a Port Pawnbroker

People, Port Melbourne HistoryNovember 19, 2021

Elephant Escapes Damage at Port Melbourne Aroused by a neighbour, who was on his way to work at an early hour yesterday morning, Mr M Rabinov, a pawnbroker of Bay Street, Port Melbourne, found that his back garden had been completely wrecked. There was a large gap in a wooden fence which separates the garden from a vacant allotment…

Smith Street and Smith Reserve

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryNovember 5, 2021

Two streets, one in Port and one in South Melbourne, as well as a section of Port Melbourne's Railway Reserves, bear the name Smith. And that doesn't take into account the curious occurrence of, what is now, Frangipani Court also being referred to as Smith Street in the Sand's & McDougall Directories from 1915 to 1974. But why are…

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…

‘Lagoon Reserve’: Residential or Recreational?

Port Melbourne HistorySeptember 30, 2021

by David Radcliffe In the 1890s, the name ‘lagoon reserve’ applied to any part of the strip of reclaimed land, bounded by Esplanade East and Esplanade West, extending from Bridge St to Rouse St. Formed by filling in the Sandridge Lagoon, it was also known as the ‘lagoon lands’. The recreational park we know today as Lagoon Reserve, between Liardet…

Acknowledgement of Traditional Custodians