Garden City – Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society

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…

Sandridge Stars

People, Port Melbourne HistoryJune 26, 2020

Recently Mark Nettleton wrote to us about two football clubs from Garden City that played in the Melbourne Amateur Sunday Football Association during the 1950s. Garden City Football Club played their home matches at Garden City Oval No. 1 (now known as R F Julier Reserve) while the Sandridge Stars Football Club were based at Oval No. 2 (now known…

Emery Street

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryMay 8, 2020

Margaret Bride Emery Street is one of the shortest streets in Port Melbourne. It runs between Williamstown Road south to Edwards Avenue opposite Letts Reserve, Garden City. It is named in honour of George Emery, General Manager of the State Savings Bank of Victoria from 1897 to 1929. Bankers are not often seen to be people of imagination but Emery…

Garden City Reserve

Places, Port Melbourne HistoryMarch 23, 2017

Garden City Reserve. This is a photo of Garden City Reserve taken early Autumn 2016 at about 7 am. I always make a cup of tea in the morning and go out the front in my dressing gown and look eastwards towards the park. There is always a difference in the horizon. It can be the sun breaking with the clouds bright…

Finding

Places, Port Melbourne HistoryJanuary 29, 2014

The difference between joy and frustration in local history research is being able to find things. This was a theme of Monday's meeting. Further integrating the Society's computer records, catalogue database and paper files will make it easier for researchers to find what they're looking for in the fascinating PMHPS collection. Steve Tserkezidis, guest speaker, brings a particular tenacity to finding.…

Meeting – Mon 27 Jan 2014, 7.30pm

MeetingsDecember 19, 2013

Aerial view of Garden City from "Melbourne - Plan for General Development", Report of the Metropolitan Town Planning Commission, 1929 Steve Tserkezidis will present some stunning material from the PROV archives on housing developments in and around Port Melbourne. Steve has spent some years in the archives researching not only the 'Bank Houses' of Garden City, but also of Montague, plus other…

Acknowledgement of Traditional Custodians