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

Miss Elsie Holmes

People, Port Melbourne HistoryMarch 9, 2023
Miss Elsie Holmes was a forewoman at Swallow and Ariell, the biscuit manufacturing company, during the First World War. Her father also worked for the company, as did many other people in Princes St where the family lived. Her exceptional administrative and organisational abilities came to the fore during the First World War. She brought together a group of…

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The Dillon Family

Port Melbourne HistoryApril 22, 2022
by Ray Jelley The man directly responsible for the existence of the Excelsior Hall was Charles Dillon (at times known as Chas. Dillon Jnr.), the son of Charles Middlemiss Dillon and Catherine née Wallace.[1] The history of the building and the family’s history were inextricably linked. Excelsior Hall, Bridge Street PMHPS collection The place to start this journey…

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Swallow & Ariell Matchbox

Collection, Port Melbourne HistoryApril 8, 2022
One of the loveliest items in the PMHPS Collection is Cat No 581, a small metal matchbox promoting Swallow and Ariell Ltd. Swallow & Ariell Ltd promotional matchbox. PMHPS Collection (Cat No 581). It is only 6cm by 4.3cm with a full coloured paper insert fitted into the lid with a swallow swooping over the words With Compliments From Swallow &…

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Smells

Port Melbourne HistorySeptember 10, 2021
Swallow & Ariell viewed from Princes St 1987 PMHPS Collection The National Trust has argued that the smell of Vegemite, produced at Fishermans Bend, warrants recognition as part of the heritage of the place.  This has prompted a post on how many Port stories are associated with smells. The fetid Sandridge Lagoon gave rise to virtually a whole vocabulary of smells…

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Derham Street

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistorySeptember 2, 2021
Frederick Thomas Derham was born in Somerset, England, in 1844 and arrived in Melbourne with his family in 1856. Derham's first business undertaking was as a mercantile broker with Callender Calwell & Co. In 1864, he married Ada Anderson with whom he had three sons and a daughter. Ada died in 1874. Derham had met Thomas Swallow, founder of Swallow…

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School Sports & Physical Training Display – 7 December 1918

Home Front Stories, WWI CentenaryDecember 7, 2018
Just because the war had ended didn't mean that the work of the local patriotic organisations was finished. In all probability,  preparations for the Combined Schools Sports and Demonstration advertised in the Port Melbourne Standard newspaper on 30 November 1918 would have been well advanced before the Armistice was signed but even so there was good reason to hold the event…

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The War in Port – 1917

Port Melbourne HistoryDecember 19, 2017
As we make final preparations for Christmas . . . On the 20th December 1917 men and women in Port Melbourne voted in a referendum on this question "Are you in favour of the proposal of the Commonwealth Government for reinforcing the Australian Imperial forces overseas?" This question, although it does not use the word conscription, came to be known as the…

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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.