Places – Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society

Port Melbourne Uniting Church 1864 – 2022

Featured, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryFebruary 9, 2023

Port Melbourne Uniting Church in Bridge St, 9 February 2023 image Janet Bolitho The Rev. John Tansey conducted the final service of he Port Melbourne Uniting Church congregation at 5 pm on Sunday, November 2022. Anne Garrow, a member of the congregation since 1984, gave this overview of the Church's history Before this church was built, this land was…

Florence Place (& Britain Street)

Places, Port Melbourne HistoryFebruary 3, 2023

by David F Radcliffe When I first came across Florence Place it grabbed my attention as my mother’s name was Florence. Running between Stokes Street and Nott Street just south of Liardet Street, it affords access to the northern side of the large apartment complex that occupies most of this block. Strolling down it, I wondered why it was straight…

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…

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…

Allan Whittaker commemoration 2022

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryNovember 18, 2022

The weather settled briefly at midday on Thursday 3rd November for the Allan Whittaker commemoration. A bank of clouds over Williamstown edged closer but no rain fell. Kevin Bracken tells the Whittaker story photo Janet Bolitho In front of the recently named Allan Whittaker Centre, Kevin Bracken re-told the now familiar story of the…

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…

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…

Frangipani Court

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistorySeptember 2, 2022

by David Thompson The origins of the picturesque name of this short right-of-way are not clear other than it appears to have been named at the whim of a private owner. We do know that the name first appeared in Melway Ed 14 in 1982 but prior to that the name of the street is even less clear. Corner of…

The Church at 170 Farrell St

Places, Port Melbourne HistoryAugust 19, 2022

by Margaret Bride 170 Farrell Street, 2022. Photograph by David Thompson. On the west side of Farrell Street is a wooden building with a sign Full Gospel Assembly, although by its neat garden and fence it is clear that it is a private house. What is its story? In 1885 West Sandridge was well developed, the blocks of land had been subdivided…

Byrne Street

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryAugust 5, 2022

by David Thompson Byrne Street sign, August 2022. Photograph by David Thompson. Byrne Street is that short street near the Port Melbourne Tennis Club that provides access to Garden City via Poolman Street. It is named for Robert Byrne - Councillor, Victorian Member of Parliament, auctioneer and landowner. Robert Byrne was born in Waterford, Ireland in 1821. He emigrated to the…

Acknowledgement of Traditional Custodians