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

Fishing business

People, Port Melbourne HistoryNovember 14, 2013
Dugga Beazley In the late 1980s, with great change looming in Port Melbourne, Dugga Beazley spoke to documentary maker Richard Crawley of his fear that a time might come when he would no longer be able to run his fishing business from Dow St. That time seems to come every few years when newcomers complain about his business or his trailer.…

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Allan Whittaker Commemoration 2013

People, Port Melbourne HistoryNovember 7, 2013
Frank Vincent Port in the twenties - a difficult, suffering place Former Supreme Court Judge Frank Vincent  spoke about Whittaker in the Port Melbourne and wider social and political context of the late 1920s. Here is a transcript of his speech: "Port Melbourne in the twenties was a place of considerable poverty.  It was a place where men were engaged in what…

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A Melbourne Cup Special

People, Port Melbourne HistoryNovember 3, 2013
Rose with her future husband, Norman Barry Melbourne Cup Day prompts this recollection from member Helen Barry: “Mum was a milliner. She was busiest at racing time. I always went to the Melbourne Cup with her. We used to walk past the members’ enclosure trying to spot the hats she had made. Rose Welsh began her apprenticeship as a milliner at Susanne et Cie…

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A bit early?

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryOctober 30, 2013
Robert Gooding at Olive's corner in Port Melbourne Walking through Olive's Corner earlier this week, saw a person reading the PMH&PS book 'Chartered Scoundrels: A Brief History of Port Melbourne Hotels'. Couldn't let this go unremarked and stopped for a chat. Robert Gooding enjoys visiting Port. By 9 am he had already taken two buses and a train to get here. With…

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Gateway to Melbourne

Places, Port Melbourne HistoryOctober 23, 2013
The Town Planning Commission report of 1929 was very critical of the entrance to Melbourne from Port Melbourne. It reported that 'this approach to Melbourne is a drab and shabby one'. The honorary secretary of the Commission, Frank Heath, said hopefully 'What a difference a tree lined boulevard, extending for several miles around the esplanade would make to the Port Melbourne…

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Metropolitan Planning 1929

Port Melbourne HistoryOctober 16, 2013
Last week, Premier Napthine and Planning Minister Guy released Plan Melbourne which sets out the government's vision for Melbourne to 2050. In the Society's collection is a copy of the first plan for Melbourne prepared by the newly formed Metropolitan Town Planning Commission in 1929. While the whole report is full of interest, unsurprisingly PMHPS headed straight for the Port Melbourne references.…

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Foundation stories

Places, Port Melbourne HistoryOctober 10, 2013
PMHPS finds it endlessly fascinating that it is still possible to 'read' the shaping stories of Port Melbourne in its street layout - the influence of the Lagoon and the Railway in particular. Township of Sandridge 1860, State Library of Victoria This is well explained in this report: "Perhaps the most significant element of Port Melbourne's infrastructure in terms of its ability to…

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Ghost signs

Port Melbourne HistoryOctober 3, 2013
Dr Stefan Schutt is documenting 'ghost signs' around Melbourne. That led to thinking about signs in Port Melbourne. Port Melbourne's most splendid signs would have to be those that adorned the UDL building (now the id apartments) on Pickles St. They were painted by sign writer Keith Martin. UDL was a successor company to Joshua Bros Distillery which made brandy, whisky…

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Remembering Letty Bellion

People, Port Melbourne HistorySeptember 26, 2013
Letty Bellion Margaret Bride tells the story of her grandmother Letty Bellion. Her story is a window into Port life through the 1890s depression, the First World War and the difficult post war years that followed. The story tells of a disappeared cluster of shops in Graham St, and the shadow cast on this family and community by the First World War.…

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