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

Leith Crescent

by David Thompson Leith Crescent looking towards Howe Parade (2024). Photograph by David Thompson Leith Crescent is a short curving street running between Howe Parade and Williamstown Road. It is closed at Williamstown Road creating a cul-de-sac for the small number of ‘bank houses’ that face onto the street. And ‘bank houses’ are the key behind the naming of Leith Crescent.…

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A Bank in Bay Street

On Thursday, 1 January 1874 the following advertisement appeared on page 2 of The Argus newspaper. TENDERS are invited for the ERECTION of a BANK at Sandridge, for the National Bank of Australasia. Plans and specifications may be seen at our offices, 91 Little Collins Street West until the 8th inst. The lowest or any tender will not necessarily be…

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Tom Griffin

by David Thompson On Sunday, 8 Nov 1953 Port Melbourne Mayor, Cr E J Purchase with Crs J P Crichton and T G Douglas accompanied by the Port Melbourne Municipal Band attended the grave of the late Cr Tom Griffin at Lancefield. [1] This had become an annual pilgrimage since Griffin's death three years earlier. Advertisement, The Record, 15 August…

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Kyme Place

by David F Radcliffe Kyme Place runs off Liardet Street behind the burnt-out old Port Melbourne Theatre. It provides access to the rear of commercial premises on Bay Street and a public parking garage. A distinctive building, also called Kyme Place, utilises the airspace above the car park. Constructed in 2012, it was designed by MGS Architects to provide self-contained apartments as well…

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Garton Street

by David F Radcliffe Garton Street is a quiet cul-de-sac at the northern boundary of Port Melbourne. Gazetted in March 1860, this short street was settled soon after, as Sandridge expanded rapidly under the population pressures of the gold rush. Today it has an eclectic range of dwellings from different eras. There is also a disused factory. The street was…

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Cyril Letts Reserve

by David Thompson Cyril Letts Reserve, 2023. Photograph by David Thompson. The triangle-shaped open space between Edwards Avenue and Howe Parade remained an unidentified reserve until the early 1980s when it was named in honour of former Port Melbourne Councillor and Mayor, Cyril Letts. Record, 28 Sep 1968 Cyril was born in Wedderburn in October 1908 and came to Port Melbourne in…

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The Curious Case of King and Stone Streets with Bartlett Street Thrown in for Good Measure

by David Thompson Melbourne Harbor Trust General Plan, 1893 (detail). State Library of Victoria A General Plan prepared by the Melbourne Harbor Trust dated 1893[1] shows a regular grid of six streets to the west of Williamstown Road. Tarver Street, Plummer Street and a third unnamed street running parallel to Williamstown Road with King Street, Stone Street and another unnamed street running directly off Williamstown…

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Turville Place

by David F Radcliffe Because Princes Street, originally called Railway Place, runs parallel to the Melbourne to Hobson’s Bay Railway, the block bounded by Graham, Stokes, Liardet and Princes Streets (Crown Block 10) is trapezoidal rather than rectangular in shape. Turville Place was created to provide access to the interior parts of the southern portion of this block. Unlike “interior”…

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The Chapman Memorial Hall

by David Thompson The red-brick Chapman Memorial Hall has stood in Ross Street for over one hundred and twenty years. When the foundation stone was laid on the afternoon of Saturday 24 January 1903 The Standard reported that many who had attended ‘were surprised to find that the new building was at an advanced stage of construction’.[1] It was already identified as 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.