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

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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Church Street

Places, Port Melbourne HistoryDecember 2, 2022
Church St (highlighted), MMBW Map (detail), 1895. State Library of Victoria Church Street is the Z-shaped laneway running from Stokes Street to Nott Street highlighted above on an MMBW map from 1895. St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, MMBW Map (detail), 1895. State Library of Victoria. The Stokes Street end of Church Street is opposite St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church which was…

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Piecing Together the Past

Places, Port Melbourne HistoryNovember 18, 2022
by David F Radcliffe When researching the story of the entrepreneurial Otto Schumacher, one question proved very difficult to answer. When did the small factory he built on Esplanade East in 1890 turn into the impressive building that defined the corner of Graham Street and Esplanade East from the 1920s? With its distinctive red brick and white stucco façades and flanked…

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Lind Avenue

Places, Port Melbourne HistoryNovember 4, 2022
by David Thompson Lind Avenue (highlighted), Morgan's Official Street Directory, 34th Edition, Map 36 (detail) Lind Avenue runs from Dunstan Parade to Sandridge Avenue along the western edge of Buckingham Reserve. It was probably named after Albert Eli Lind, later Sir Albert Eli Lind, who was a Minister and Deputy Premier in the Dunstan State Government as well as serving…

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Meeting – 22 November 2022 @ 7.30pm

MeetingsOctober 26, 2022
The Society's November meeting will feature our annual trivia quiz where John May Esq will put us through our paces. As the trivia format does not easily fit with a presentation on Zoom, the meeting will be an in-person event only. Could attendees bring a simple gift (up to $5 value) that can be used as a prize. It's…

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Otto Schumacher: Entrepreneurial Engineer

People, Port Melbourne HistoryOctober 21, 2022
by David F Radcliffe What many remember as the Knox-Schlapp factory on the corner of Graham Street and Esplanade East in the shadow of the former gasometer was originally the Schumacher Mill Furnishing Works. The entrepreneurial Otto Schumacher erected this facility in stages over three decades. Its facades provided a billboard proudly promoting the many products made there and engineering…

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Stokes (and Wickham) Street

Places, Port Melbourne HistoryOctober 7, 2022
by David F Radcliffe When the first allotments of Crown Land in Sandridge (now Port Melbourne) were sold in 1850, the settlement comprised just six streets – Graham, Rouse, Stokes, Nott, Bay and Dow. While Bay Street is obvious, the origins of the names for the other five streets remains something of a mystery. Margaret Bride has written about the…

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PMHPS acknowledges the generous support of the City of Port Phillip.

 

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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.