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

Garton Street

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistorySeptember 1, 2023
by David F Radcliffe Garton Street is a quiet cul-de-sac at the northern boundary of Port Melbourne. Gazetted in March 1860, this short street was settled soon after, as Sandridge expanded rapidly under the population pressures of the gold rush. Today it has an eclectic range of dwellings from different eras. There is also a disused factory. The street was…

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William and Christiana Barlow

People, Port Melbourne HistoryJuly 20, 2023
by David F Radcliffe In November 1862, William James Barlow, aged 29, married Christiana Caroline Stivey, aged 18, at Holy Trinity Church in Bay Street. They started married life in a rented four-room wooden house at the very southern end of Station Place. Christiana gave birth to their first child, James, in early 1863. Later that year, the young family…

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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”…

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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…

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Florence Place (& Britain Street)

Places, Port Melbourne HistoryFebruary 3, 2023
by David F Radcliffe When I first came across Florence Place it grabbed my attention as my mother’s name was Florence. Running between Stokes Street and Nott Street just south of Liardet Street, it affords access to the northern side of the large apartment complex that occupies most of this block. Strolling down it, I wondered why it was straight…

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Picturing Bessie Ross

People, Port Melbourne HistoryDecember 9, 2022
by David F Radcliffe After we bought our Victorian era place on Esplanade East in 2017, I wondered when it was built and who had lived here previously. This led to the discovery that the allotment on which our house now stands was purchased by Elizabeth Ross and Simon Patience at a Crown Land auction in December 1883. Who were they…

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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…

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Alfred Harman & Sons: Engineers of Derham Street

People, Port Melbourne HistorySeptember 30, 2021
by David Radcliffe Twenty-one year old Alfred Harman is reported to have started his engineering business in 1885.1 He proudly advertised his services as an “engineer, blacksmith and brass-founder” offering “engines and machinery of every description made to order and repaired at lowest possible rates”.2 His firm, the Port Melbourne Engineering Works, which later became Alfred T Harman & Sons…

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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.