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

Fred David: Designing Planes on the Bend

Featured, Port Melbourne HistoryMay 24, 2022
by David Radcliffe In early 1942, Australia urgently needed a fighter aircraft to defend against possible invasion. The result was the CA-12 Boomerang, designed by Fred David at the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation in Fishermans Bend. Before coming to Australia, Fred David had worked for aircraft makers in Germany and Japan. This included helping to design the Aichi dive bomber used…

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WWII Hospital Ship – MS Oranje

Collection, Port Melbourne HistoryJuly 9, 2021
Hospital ship, MS Oranje, at Port Melbourne, 1940s. Photograph by Roy Liebig. PMHPS Collection. This story was sparked by a couple of images in the PMHPS Collection taken by Roy Liebig in the 1940s. Both images appear later in this story so more on those later. MS Oranje, 1940s. Photo by Roy Liebig. PMHPS Collection. The MS Oranje started life in the…

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Gems from the Collection

Collection, Port Melbourne History, PresentationsFebruary 23, 2021
PMHPS Monthly Meeting, 23 February 2021 at the auditorium, Port Melbourne Town Hall featuring members' presentations of Gems from the Collection. Suzy Milburn - Tennis and School Visits David Radcliffe - Port Melbourne Free Library John May and Janet Bolitho - Jim Sinclair and a Japanese map of wartime Port Melbourne The presentation starts approximately 12 minutes into the meeting.

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Peace at last

People, Places, Port Melbourne HistoryAugust 28, 2020
Rosie Bray (Thrupp) wrote this piece on 15th August 2020. Yes, August 15th 1945 was Victory in the Pacific day, and I remember it well. It meant Peace at last, and we all let out a sigh of relief when we heard Prime Minister Ben Chifley officially announce that Japan had at last surrendered. The news was not unexpected as…

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WWII Air Raid Precautions

Collection, Port Melbourne HistoryJune 19, 2020
ARP Lapel Badge. PMHPS Collection. PMHPS has a small number ARP lapel badges in the collection (right).  They serve as a reminder that while WWI was mostly fought in far-off Europe, during WWII there was a very real danger that air raids could strike Australia and that the ARP played an important role in preparing the civilian population for such attacks. The…

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War Memorial

Home Front Stories, WWI CentenaryJanuary 12, 2020
One of the issues raised at the meeting of the Port Melbourne branch of the Sailors’ and Soldiers’ Fathers’ Association on Monday 12 January 1920 was the intention of the branch to erect a memorial to the local men who were killed in the war. Cr Owen Sinclair suggested Edwards Park on the land reclaimed from the lagoon would make…

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Who Needs a Chair?

Port Melbourne HistoryApril 6, 2017
John Beaumont, sitting on the footpath in Bridge Street, Port Melbourne circa 1943. My cousin John Beaumont, sitting on the footpath in front of his home at 43 Bridge Street Port Melbourne around 1943. John’s father Freddie, after returning from war service in North Africa, was sent to Singapore, escaping from there when the city fell to the Japanese on 15th February…

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Meeting – Mon 27 June 2016, 7.30pm

MeetingsMay 23, 2016
Harder Than Football - League Players at War Our special guest in June will be Barb Cullen, author of Harder Than Football - League Players at War, a comprehensive list of all players from the Victorian Football League who served their country in war. Barb has a long history of commitment to AFL affiliated groups and clubs. Barbara is currently a volunteer curator assisting…

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