Ladies Pipe Band – Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society

Returned Soldiers’ Reception and Smoke Concert

Home Front Stories, WWI CentenaryDecember 5, 2018

About 250 returned soldiers and sailors with about the same number of relatives attended the civic reception provided by the Mayor, Cr Richard Gill and councillors at Port Melbourne Town Hall on the afternoon of 5 Dec 1918. The reception and the ‘smoke concert’ to be held later that evening were the work of the Anzac Reception Committee that had been…

Welcoming the Returned Soldiers

Home Front Stories, WWI CentenaryNovember 23, 2018

Some three thousand people gathered along the roads leading from the New Railway Pier (Princes Pier) on the morning of Saturday 23 November 1918 to welcome the first contingent of returned soldiers.1 Barriers along the route restricted the roadway to 12 feet to allow the cars carrying the soldiers to proceed to the city. At the foot of the pier, two strong…

South and Port Melbourne Thistle Society Lady Pipers

Home Front Stories, WWI CentenaryJanuary 12, 2018

On Saturday 12 January 1918, during the South and Port Melbourne Thistle Society monthly concert at the South Melbourne Town Hall, the President of the society, Cr Tom Smith, made an important announcement. The society intended to enrol lady players in the pipe band. The committee had agreed to fill up the ranks in the band which had been…

Returned Soldiers’ Reception and Smoke Concert

Welcoming the Returned Soldiers

South and Port Melbourne Thistle Society Lady Pipers

Acknowledgement of Traditional Custodians