PMH&PS – Page 47 – Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society

1-7 Waterfront Place, Port Melbourne (1)

Planning & PreservationSeptember 28, 2014

Fire at 1 - 7 Waterfront Place The damage done - Waterfront Place In the early hours of September 14th 2014, fire broke out in the buildings at 1-7 Waterfront Place. Fire crews arrived on site at 1.42 am. 70 firefighters attended the fire. The area formerly occupied by the Platypus Junction childcare centre was worst affected. The cause of the fire…

Station Pier Welcomes Liners

Port Melbourne HistorySeptember 25, 2014

Crowds welcome the Empress of Britain Imagine an MCG Grand Final crowd thronging around Station Pier. That is what occurred 6 April 1938 when one of the Golden Age of ocean liners, the Empress of Britain, berthed there. This crowd estimate was published in The Argus the following day. At 42,500 tons (43,181 tonnes), it was the biggest vessel ever to…

Port’s eye sees inside ‘the silent ANZAC’

Port Melbourne HistorySeptember 18, 2014

Port Melbourne played a part in allowing scientists and historians to film inside “the silent ANZAC”* - the historic submarine wreck HMAS AE2. Discovered in 1998, the submarine was scuttled during the Gallipoli campaign. The hulk sits on the bottom of the Sea of Marmara. AE2 Australian War Memorial Researchers from the Defence Science and Technology Organisation, in Lorimer Street, Port Melbourne, developed…

Flinders St Station to Sandridge – the first journey

Port Melbourne HistorySeptember 12, 2014

Museum Victoria c1907 Although a later image, chosen for its 'birthday' feel At 12.20 pm on 12th September 1854, the first journey of the first steam powered passenger train in Australia left Flinders Street for Sandridge. The gold rush had made the long and convoluted journey up the Yarra River increasingly untenable. Goods had to be transferred to lighters which was expensive…

Meeting – Mon 22 Sep 2014, 7.30pm

MeetingsAugust 27, 2014

Our guest, Kevin Mooney will talk about his role as a founder of the Bradman Foundation and his relationship with Sir Donald Bradman. He will also be discussing the lessons we can learn from establishing such an enterprise and the great qualities of Sir Donald. PMHPS meet on the fourth Monday of each month except December in the Council Chamber …

McCormack Street

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryAugust 20, 2014

Member Dr Robyn Clinch explored the history of 26 McCormack St and learned about its very close connection with the Cricketers Arms Hotel. McCormack St is a short, angled street that runs between Esplanade East and Bridge St. McCormack St is so narrow, making it difficult to get a good picture Thomas McCormack began accumulating property in the Sandridge area from his…

Birthday photos

News and NoticesJuly 31, 2014

Calling for entries to Station Pier photographic competition - due 22 August To celebrate Station Pier’s 160th birthday in September, the Port of Melbourne Corporation is holding a photo competition. Capture your vision of Station Pier in its context on the Port Melbourne foreshore and send it in - note those words "in its context on the Port Melbourne foreshore". Or, if…

‘The Places We Keep’*

Planning & PreservationJuly 31, 2014

It all began with a mistake. Dr Robyn Clinch, member and guest speaker at the July meeting, was surprised to learn that her interesting house in Port was not mapped as significant whereas her neighbour’s 1980s house was. She later discovered that it was an error in the original mapping software, since corrected. 26 McCormack Street This puzzling circumstance as well as…

AGM – Mon 25 Aug 2014, 7.30pm

MeetingsJuly 29, 2014

The Annual General Meeting of the PortMelbourne Historical and Preservation Society will be held on Monday 25th August 2014 in the Council Chamber at Port Melbourne Town Hall. Guest speaker will be journalist/author Russell Robinson whose latest book, Khaki Crims and Desperadoes, traces the criminal and military records of some Australian offenders who served in World War I, including some well known gangsters of the time.…

Keeping Warm in Port

Port Melbourne HistoryJuly 23, 2014

South Melbourne Gasworks It is one of Port’s often told stories - how people ‘knocked off’ coal from the trucks taking coal to the Gasworks from Town Pier at the end of Bay Street. Emily Lock remembered "The different cargoes were a source of wonder. Some of them brought coal for the Gasworks. It was a dirty job unloading the coal into small…

Acknowledgement of Traditional Custodians