Garden City – Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society

A Modern Woman from Garden City

People, Port Melbourne HistorySeptember 20, 2024

by Robyn Watters Norma Madeline Watters Born: 7 June 1924, Albert Park (at home) Died: 23 April 2021, Brighton We often imagine that women born a century ago saw their destiny only as wives and mothers fleshed out only by the necessity to bring in money if they were from the working class. My aunt Norma Madeline Watters born in 1924…

Growing up in Port Melbourne – Port Melbourne 1920 – 1940

Growing up in PortMay 29, 2024

In 1920, as Australians emerged from the events of the First World War and the Spanish Flu epidemic, many people were ready to settle down to life as it had been before either of these traumas, yet here in Port Melbourne the people and their suburb were actually entering a period of transformation. Until 1920 most industry and housing was…

Growing up in Port Melbourne – Housing

Growing up in PortMay 29, 2024

In 1920 there was an eclectic mix of houses in Port Melbourne from grand, two story houses built in the 1870-1900 period to the shacks on Fisherman’s Bend behind New Pier. Some of the worst of the 19th century slums had been cleared as a result of Dr George Cuscaden’s work but many still remained as the photographs on the panel…

Buckingham Reserve

Places, Port Melbourne HistoryMay 3, 2024

by David Thompson Buckingham Reserve [highlighted]. City of Port Melbourne map (detail), Amended June 1983. PMHPS Collection. Cat No 704.02. Buckingham Reserve is near the western edge of Garden City. It is named for former Councillor and Mayor Theodore Thomas Buckingham. Tom Buckingham was elected to Port Melbourne Council on 21 January 1961 and served until 1986. He was Mayor on…

Leith Crescent

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryFebruary 2, 2024

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.…

Cyril Letts Reserve

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryAugust 4, 2023

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…

Back-to-Port Melbourne Celebrations 1932

Port Melbourne HistoryMay 5, 2023

by David Thompson After months of meetings, planning and a rearrangement of dates and events, April 30, 1932 marked the first day of the Back-to-Port Melbourne festivities. The Age that morning promoted the event with the inclusion of an illustration of the tent used by the Holy Trinity church in 1853 under the heading Glimpses of Old Melbourne.[1] Glimpses of Old Melbourne,…

Back-to-Port Melbourne Preparations 1932

Port Melbourne HistoryApril 21, 2023

by David Thompson Letter, The Record, 14 November 1931 A letter to the editor from someone identifying themselves as RRR appeared in The Record on 14 November 1931 bemoaning the lost opportunities of not staging a Back-to-Port Melbourne event to coincide with the visit of the ocean liner, “Strathnavar”, to Station Pier and the visiting warships berthed at Princes Pier.[1] The letter opened, “Port Melbourne…

Pye Street

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryJune 3, 2022

Pye Street (highlighted). Robinson's Street Directory of Melbourne and Suburbs, Ed 3, c. 1950s. Pye Street is a short street running from Williamstown Road to Dunstan Parade in Garden City. It is named for former Victorian State politician, Henry Pye. Henry Pye was born on Christmas Day, 1873 to a farming family at Burnewang near Rochester, Victoria. At a young age…

A Garden City Life

Port Melbourne HistoryJuly 3, 2020

Robyn Watters writes: My grandfather Bob Watters had a hard start in life. His mother Eliza was deserted by his father Captain James Renton Watters as soon as he was born in 1892. Single mother Eliza and her seven surviving children proceeded to move around rental properties in South Melbourne and Port Melbourne. Bob probably attended the Montague Primary School in…

Acknowledgement of Traditional Custodians