WWI – Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society

Growing up in Port Melbourne – Family

Growing up in PortMay 29, 2024

Aftereffects of World War 1 on Family Life: The long term human aftereffects of World War 1 have been little spoken of and only recently been the subject of research. Men who had spent extended time fighting in the trenches in Belgium and France rarely spoke about the horrors they experienced but the effects on their lives and the…

A L Nathan of the London Hotel

People, Port Melbourne HistoryFebruary 17, 2023

by David Thompson A L Nathan. The Record, 23 January 1923. In December 1922, Alfred Lewis Nathan retired as publican of the London Hotel, Beach Street selling the hotel to Mrs Emily Elsie Cotter of the Wayside Inn, City Road, South Melbourne intending to take a trip to Europe in May the following year.[1] A L Nathan had taken over the…

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…

The Freame Families of Port Melbourne

People, Port Melbourne HistoryJuly 24, 2020

by Ray Jelley ‘there was a sheep dressed up to represent Carbine II with his jockey; Bunny Hare all ready to run for the Port Melbourne Cup; saddles of mutton in fanciful designs; poultry and geese formed from the shoulders of mutton; pigeons, made of suet, flying about the windows …’ proclaimed the Standard on 18 May 1895 when describing the display in…

The Flu Epidemic of 1919

Port Melbourne HistoryMarch 20, 2020

by Claire Johnson In May 1918, reports of a mysterious and deadly disease ravaging Europe began to reach Australia, causing concern amongst those who had family members involved in the war in Europe. By July, England was affected, and Australian newspapers and letters from soldiers kept the Australian public informed. Dubbed the ‘Spanish Flu’, it was a variant of swine…

War Memorial

Home Front Stories, WWI CentenaryJanuary 12, 2020

One of the issues raised at the meeting of the Port Melbourne branch of the Sailors’ and Soldiers’ Fathers’ Association on Monday 12 January 1920 was the intention of the branch to erect a memorial to the local men who were killed in the war. Cr Owen Sinclair suggested Edwards Park on the land reclaimed from the lagoon would make…

Patriotic Fundraising in Port During the Great War

Collection, Port Melbourne HistoryMarch 21, 2019

During the course of researching the Society’s World War One Centenary Project we have been struck by the sheer number and variety of patriotic and fundraising events in Port Melbourne during the war years. Sometimes the proceeds went to local causes but the majority were for some aspect or other of the war effort. There were plenty of local people…

AGM – Mon 27 Aug 2018

MeetingsAugust 1, 2018

Our Annual General Meeting will be held Monday 27 August 2018 at Port Melbourne Town Hall, 7.15pm for 7.30pm. We will be celebrating our FIRST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS with a video and exhibition launched by our Patron, Ms Liana Thompson. Doors open 6.30pm for viewing the ground floor exhibition. Following a brief business meeting, historian/author Assoc. Prof. John Lack will speak on Port in a…

Women’s Welcoming Committee

Port Melbourne HistoryApril 20, 2018

It is unfair to say that 1918 marks the pinnacle of the work of the Women's Welcoming Committee (WWC) because they welcomed all but the first troopship returning to our piers right through the war until 1920. They did much more besides including the erection of the Band Rotunda on the foreshore as "there is no sweeter commemoration than music", as…

The War in Port – 1917

Port Melbourne HistoryDecember 19, 2017

As we make final preparations for Christmas . . . On the 20th December 1917 men and women in Port Melbourne voted in a referendum on this question "Are you in favour of the proposal of the Commonwealth Government for reinforcing the Australian Imperial forces overseas?" This question, although it does not use the word conscription, came to be known as the…

Acknowledgement of Traditional Custodians