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

Florence Place (& Britain Street)

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…

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Church Street

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

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

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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Stokes (and Wickham) Street

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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The Church at 170 Farrell St

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…

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Byrne Street

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…

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