Since gatherings are not permitted during the COVID-19 parademic, no Anzac service was held at the Port Melbourne War Memorial.
Nevertheless, some did assemble (distanced, of course) in the dawn to hear the Last Post and lay wreaths. Cr Marcus Pearl laid a wreath for the City of Port Phillip, as well as at the Navy memorial (Answering the Call)…
Just because the war had ended didn't mean that the work of the local patriotic organisations was finished.
In all probability, preparations for the Combined Schools Sports and Demonstration advertised in the Port Melbourne Standard newspaper on 30 November 1918 would have been well advanced before the Armistice was signed but even so there was good reason to hold the event…
At 11.30am on Wednesday (13 Nov 1918] one thousand students of Nott Street State School paraded in the school grounds where they saluted the flag, sang the National Anthem and patriotic airs.
The students were addressed by the headmaster, Mr Richards, Cr J P Crichton, chairman of the school committee, and Mr J L Murphy MLA.
Mr Richards gave an apology from…
I've been reading a lot of newspapers recently but not the Leader or the Weekly Review that appear in our mailboxes each week these days, I've been reading the Port Melbourne Standard from the time of the First World War. The National Library of Australia have digitised all the weekly editions of the Standard from those war years and added them…