piers – Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society

Growing up in Port Melbourne – Port Melbourne 1920 – 1940

Growing up in PortMay 29, 2024

In 1920, as Australians emerged from the events of the First World War and the Spanish Flu epidemic, many people were ready to settle down to life as it had been before either of these traumas, yet here in Port Melbourne the people and their suburb were actually entering a period of transformation. Until 1920 most industry and housing was…

Salt on the Windows by Janice C MacDonald

Free DownloadsOctober 12, 2023

Author Janice Christine MacDonald neé Morton was an active PMH&PS member in our foundation decades, Jan authored Thomas Edwards & Family – Farriers and Yachtsmen of Sandridge/Port Melbourne, and Monkey for a Yacht, the story of her grandfather, noted yachtsman Dick Edwards. For some time in the 1940s and 50s, the family lived in ‘Irvine’ at 42 Beach Street next to the Pier Hotel. Jan wrote these evocative…

Town Pier

Places, Port Melbourne HistoryMarch 18, 2022

by Margaret Bride Jetty at Sandridge, State Library of Victoria For over 100 years Town Pier jutted out to sea from the end of Bay Street an extension of the route from the city of Melbourne to the ships in Port Phillip Bay. This was the site of the first small jetty built by the Liardet family soon after they built…

Now and Then 2021 – Corner Bay and Beach Streets

Port Melbourne HistoryAugust 2, 2021

Bay Street at Beach Street (2021). Photo: David Thompson, PMHPS Collection. For more than 150 years Morley’s Coal Depot has stood on the south-east corner of Bay and Beach Streets. William Morley was a prominent local merchant in Port Melbourne in the years of the gold boom. In 1860 he was elected as the first chairman of the Sandridge Council. The…

Now and Then 2021 – HMAS Apartments and Lagoon Pier

Port Melbourne HistoryAugust 2, 2021

Completed in 2001, the HMAS Apartments were designed by the renowned architectural firm of Fender Katsalidis, who also designed Eureka Tower, Australia 108 and many other striking buildings. The towers of this apartment complex are visible from many parts of Port Melbourne. The name reflects the history of the site which was the location of the naval base HMAS Lonsdale…

Now and Then 2021- Beacon Cove Towers

Port Melbourne HistoryAugust 2, 2021

Shrouded in Controversy Apartment Towers at Beacon Cove (2021). Photo: David Thompson, PMHPS Collection. This peaceful waterfront has been a centre of controversy many times since it was first occupied by Europeans in 1836. Surveyor Darke’s Camp, Sandridge. Watercolour by W.F.E. Liardet (1875) State Library of Victoria William Darke was one of the surveyors given the task of surveying the district…

WWII Hospital Ship – MS Oranje

Collection, Port Melbourne HistoryJuly 9, 2021

Hospital ship, MS Oranje, at Port Melbourne, 1940s. Photograph by Roy Liebig. PMHPS Collection. This story was sparked by a couple of images in the PMHPS Collection taken by Roy Liebig in the 1940s. Both images appear later in this story so more on those later. MS Oranje, 1940s. Photo by Roy Liebig. PMHPS Collection. The MS Oranje started life in the…

I’m Glad I Was There

Port Melbourne HistoryJuly 31, 2020

On Tuesday 28 July 2020, unable to meet in person due to the COVID-19 restrictions in place in Victoria at the time, the Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society held its first ever online meeting via Zoom. The topic, 'I Wish I Had Been There', was conceived by Margaret Bride and resulted in eight PMHPS members each describing an…

Henry Whatty’s Port Melbourne

People, Port Melbourne HistoryMay 22, 2020

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,…

Time and Tide – The presence of J B O Hosking: A photographic exhibition

News and NoticesMay 15, 2019

More than 1600 negatives collected by J B O Hosking, Melbourne Harbour Trust Chief Engineer from 1936 to 1959, have been painstakingly indexed and digitised by Public Record Office Victoria volunteers. The black and white images depict Port of Melbourne facilities and activities including many of those overseen by Mr Hosking himself such as the development of Appleton Dock, operation…

Acknowledgement of Traditional Custodians