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

Leith Crescent

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.…

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Cyril Letts Reserve

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…

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Back-to-Port Melbourne Celebrations 1932

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,…

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Back-to-Port Melbourne Preparations 1932

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…

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Pye Street

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…

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A Garden City Life

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…

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Sandridge Stars

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…

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Emery Street

by 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…

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Garden City Reserve

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…

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Finding

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.…

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PMHPS acknowledges the generous support of the City of Port Phillip.

 

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Acknowledgement of Traditional Custodians

We respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we meet and work, the Bunurong Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nation and pay respect to their Elders past, present and emerging.