People – Page 8 – Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society

Proud to be a Port girl, Part 2

People, Port Melbourne HistoryJuly 18, 2019

Beverley Stephens (nee Dredge) remembers growing up in Port. She takes up the story after her grandmother and uncle were tragically killed in a house fire as told in Part 1. After the fire, Uncle Bill decided to bring his daughter Val to 82 Evans Street so that the brothers could bring up their children together. Shortly afterwards my eldest…

Cambridge Street

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryJuly 4, 2019

Cambridge Street (highlighted). MMBW Map, 1894 Passers-by today would find it difficult to identify the street highlighted in the above 1894 MMBW map. That's because it doesn't exist, although that is not strictly true. Part of the street is still there but it no longer intersects with Farrell Street. This is Cambridge Street. The origins of the name are unknown, but…

Proud to be a Port girl, Part 1

People, Port Melbourne HistoryJune 20, 2019

Beverley Stephens (nee Dredge) remembers growing up in Port Our family came to live at 82 Evans Street when Mum and Dad were struggling through the depression. Around the time I was due, Dad was trying to earn a living selling Jelly Crystals door to door - and anything else he could sell. They were living at that time in the house three doors…

Seisman Street

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryJune 6, 2019

Seisman Street runs between Dow Street and Esplanade West near Liardet Street. Originally known as Clark Street, but unproclaimed as an official street, Sandridge Council at their meeting on Thursday 22 November 1883 approved that it be renamed Seisman Street, after the immediate past Mayor, Cr Frederick Seismann. The reasoning being that a Clark Street, already proclaimed, existed in the west of…

Tarver Street

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryMay 23, 2019

Tarver St is a short street - only 500m long - between Prohasky and Salmon Sts in Port Melbourne. William Richardson Tarver was born in Daventry, Northamptonshire and came to Australia on the steamship Great Britain in 1857 aged 12. His brother, Thomas, had preceded him, arriving the year before on the Royal Charter. Their father, James ,established the Vulcan…

Catherine Terrace

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryApril 17, 2019

Ray Jelley writes An enquiry from Julie Peck of Drouin about her grandparents, Herbert and Emma McConnell, was the spark that ignited a warming fire of historical research on a cool autumn night into the cottages at 53 – 63 Bridge Street, currently nearing the completion of an extensive renovation. Julie’s great grandparents William and Winifred Bolitho lived in 57…

What’s in a name? Quinn St, Quinn Ave, or Quinn Rd?

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryApril 4, 2019

As was the custom of the time, many streets in Port Melbourne were named after prominent citizens, including mayors and councillors. In this tradition you will discover a small roadway, Quinn Road, tucked away in a new housing development, 164 Ingles Street, at the northern boundary of the borough. Other names of roadways amongst this cluster of townhouses include; Velvet,…

R.F. Julier Reserve

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryMarch 7, 2019

When the Housing Commission of Victoria built a new estate at Fishermans Bend, open space was a critical part of the health oriented design. Although the roads were named, the open space reserves were not named at the time. Layout of the Housing Commission estate at Fishermans Bend State Library of Victoria In the seventies, or thereabouts, the…

Family secrets

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryFebruary 20, 2019

Margaret Bride writes: Are there any secrets in your family? Do you even know whether or not there are any? We are all aware that many families have their mythologies, based sometimes on fact, but myths never the less. Families pass on their stories from one generation to the next. Many of us were brought up from a young age…

Fred Jackson Reserve

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryFebruary 11, 2019

Fred Jackson Reserve, Garden City. Photo by David Thompson. Fred Jackson Reserve is positioned at the head of Centre Avenue in Garden City, bounded by The Bend, Batman Road, Cumberland Road and the Ada Mary a'Beckett Childrens Centre. Frederick Caton Jackson was Town Clerk of Port Melbourne from 1973 to 1988. He was born on 19 February 1931 and died on…

Acknowledgement of Traditional Custodians