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

Anzac Day in Port Melbourne 2022

On a mild, still morning, crowds gathered in Beach Street to find the scene set - the white crosses neatly laid row upon row and Beach Street closed to traffic. MC Dale Allchin acknowledged the passing of Bunna Walsh in March and the role that he and fellow citizens, including Perce White, had played in keeping the Anzac commemoration…

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Anzac Day in Port Melbourne 2021

The sun was shining as people gathered in Beach Street. The crosses had been laid out, as if by magic, but actually by Ken Jackson, son of the late veteran Geoff Jackson. Beach St shoreward of the memorial was fenced off to enable registration via QR Code. No traffic - neither truck, car nor bicycle - was permitted to pass…

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Anzac Day in Port Melbourne 2020

Since gatherings are not permitted during the COVID-19 parademic, no Anzac service was held at the Port Melbourne War Memorial. Nevertheless, some did assemble (distanced, of course) in the dawn to hear the Last Post and lay wreaths. Cr Marcus Pearl laid a wreath for the City of Port Phillip, as well as at the Navy memorial (Answering the Call)…

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Anzac Day in Port Melbourne 2019

With MC Dale Allchin's firm hand on proceedings, the event started promptly at 9.45 am. He reminded the ever growing crowd that Anzac Day is not a celebration, it's a commemoration. Even though the crowd filled the width of Beach St and the length from Bay St to Nott St, a podium and a new sound system meant that all…

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Nott Street School WWI Anzac Service

Order of Service, Nott Street State School. PMHPS Collection This order of service, presumably from an Anzac Day commemoration, was found within a recess of the Nott Street School Old Boys Honour Board along with many other pieces of paper bearing the names of soldiers to be included on the school's Honour Roll. It gives an insight into how the school commemorated…

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Anzac Day in Port Melbourne 2018

On this warm Anzac morning, the crowd swelled and swelled, almost filling the Beach St roadway between Bay and Nott Street. A bearded Perce White attended the Anzac Service to acknowledge and thank all those who had supported the commemoration over many years. Perce White took on the role of MC of the service when the RSL handed in its commission and…

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Anzac Day in the fifties

From the Collection - two photographs packed with interest  Catalogue No: 2622 Anzac Day in Port Melbourne in the 1950s image George Joostens Ron Joosten and his two sisters, Vera and Yvonne, observing the crosses laid on the grassed area of Sinclair Parade, Port Melbourne,  for Anzac Day, shortly after their arrival in Australia in 1956. Catalogue entry 2622 invites further exploration of…

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Anzac Day in Port Melbourne 2017

The crowd grows year on year, the perspective of the speakers image Bernadene Voss The Port Melbourne Anzac  Day Commemorative Service took place at the Beach Street Memorial next to the Port Melbourne Yacht Club at 9.45am on Tuesday 25 April. Guest speakers included Mayor of the City of Port Phillip, Councillor Bernadene Voss The Hon Michael Danby MHR, Federal Member for Melbourne Ports The…

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Reflections on Anzac Day 2016

As we approach the 101st anniversary of the landings at Gallipoli it is interesting to look back at how the news of the first Australian campaign of the First World War was received in the Port and how they commemorated the first Anzac Day in 1916. The First Casualties In the weeks and months that followed 25 April 1915, as the authorities…

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