Allan Whittaker Memorial Commemoration

Update 3 November 2013

At sunset people gathered at Princes Pier to commemorate the life of Allan Whittaker, shot by police in the waterfront dispute in 1928. Kevin Bracken emphasised the importance of getting together to tell the stories of the place and the people that have shaped Port Melbourne. 

Former Supreme Court Judge Frank Vincent, who was born into a waterfront family in Port Melbourne in the thirties gave an impressive address - all without notes. Here is a brief excerpt from his speech (for more, click here)

 Frank Vincent, born in Port Melbourne

"But the remarkable thing about what occurred at that time, and which is not simply the story of one man, is that there was a bonding, a linkage between those people who remained with the Waterside Workers Federation in the very, very difficult period of almost twelve years that followed that particularly shooting.  Because quite a few defected. Quite a few left the industry entirely.

Those that remained, those that lived in this area of Port Melbourne, formed a very very powerful community and a community that had its effect right across our industrial scene for the many years that followed.

I don’t think anyone should underestimate the significance of the struggles which occurred at that time. The courage that it took for men and women to hold together when they could easily have joined a scab union and defected and given away their principles and given away their community.But they didn’t do that. And it took a very special kind of courage and it ought to be memorialised, it ought to be understood, we ought to be inordinately proud of it.

There are lots of things in our Australian history of which we should be massively ashamed - some of them are occurring at the present time - but this is certainly not one of them."

The Allan Whittaker Memorial Commemoration will be held at Princes Pier on Friday 1st November at 6.15 p m.
The commemoration will mark the 85th anniversary of the 1928 Dock Strike and fatal shooting by police of Allan Whittaker, a waterside worker and Gallipoli veteran.
The commemoration will feature talks as well as the sunset presentation of memorial items to commemorate Allan Whittaker, his fellow waterside workers and rich maritime industrial history.
(PMHPS warrants that this is a photograph taken of a notice about the Whittaker commemoration and is not contrived)

Beacon views

Do you remember that in a previous post I mentioned that the off shore beacon used to have a timber walkway connecting it to the shore?
These two great images from the City of Port Phillip's collection show this perfectly.
From the left looking towards the foreshore:  the Commonwealth Engine Works  and on the right the Missions to Seamen.

PORT PHILLIP CITY COLLECTION

PORT PHILLIP CITY COLLECTION

The citation says the photos were taken between 1960 and 1970. Can you assist with dating the pictures more accurately?
To view more images from the City of Port Phillip collection go to

http://heritage.portphillip.vic.gov.au/Home and search the heritage database

Got some information to add, some photos to show, some memories to share? Post a comment here, or write to janet.bolitho@gmail.com

ANZAC Day 2013

25 April 2013
Was it the beautiful sunny day or the growing pull of the ANZAC tradition that led to this year's record crowd at the Port Melbourne ANZAC service?
Commander Mike Lovell once again gave a memorable address - all without notes. His theme was the evolution of Australian society from a time when white males ruled at home and in all areas of decision making to a more inclusive Australian society. He urged those who are impatient for more rapid change to be patient while old attitudes die out and 'and give way to the fresh ideas of a new generation'. He challenged everybody to contribute personally to a more equitable Australia.
Martin Foley MLA reflected on the declining number of veterans and the closure of RSL venues around the state. He saw the future of ANZAC commemorations being 're-interpreted respectfully in an appropriate way' along the lines of the Port Melbourne service - local and participatory, and supported by engagement with schools, community and civic leaders. Perhaps its a return to where such commemorations began as expressed in the inscription below.

Cllr Bernadene Voss acknowledged the community organisers of the event, especially Geoff Jackson who passed away just a few weeks ago. She spoke of her family's history at Gallipoli and ANZAC Day's unique power to bring about such a large gathering of Port Melbourne people - old and new, young and old.
For the first time, our civic leaders were accompanied by children when laying their wreaths.

ANZAC Day is next Thursday.
It will be commemorated in Port Melbourne at the Memorial Fountain at 9.45 am.
The commemoration has taken place faithfully every year. The foreshore and waterfront setting has changed over time, as this picture shows.

Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society collection

Rosemary is flowering now throughout Port Melbourne as it did on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
Funds for a project to protect, restore and re-discover Avenues of Honor are being raised through the sale of Rosemary plants* cultivated from cuttings brought back from Gallipoli after the First World War. Three hundred and sixteen avenues are known to have been planted in Victoria. Many survive - not always in the best of health - and some have been lost to neglect and road widening projects.

sources and more information
Avenues of Honour Project
* will be available by Remembrance Day

Where plaques lead

Talking of plaques, and their near neighbour, foundation stones, I noticed that the memorial stone on the Holy Trinity Church Hall has recently been re-pointed and is now a deep smooth grey.

The stone marks the opening of the Holy Trinity Church Hall by F. T. Derham in 1886. As you may know, Derham was Thomas Swallow's son in law.  He was appointed partner and managing director of Swallow and Ariell in 1877, a position held by several generations of his descendants - not unlike Kitchens, the subject of the previous post. Derham was an extremely influential person in Victoria: first as member and later mayor of the Sandridge Municipal Council and later as MLA for Port Melbourne and postmaster-general in the Gillies-Deakin ministry. He introduced the penny and parcel post to Victoria - significant communications innovations of the time.  The Age of January 30, 1930 said of Derham 

A man to do things and get things done. One who could speak. And one who could write logically and lucidly. 

Holy Trinity Church Hall has been undergoing extensive refurbishment under the energetic guidance of Father Noel Whale who came out of retirement to bring new life into the church community. The church hall is becoming a fully fledged church. The original prefabricated church blew down in a storm in 1908. The replacement brick church became apartments in the late '90s in what remains a controversial treatment of this locally significant heritage place.
Holy Trinity is important to the Society because so many Sandridge and later Port Melbourne residents marked the important life moments there - births, marriages and deaths. The PMHPS holds these records and many people investigating their family history find a connection to Holy Trinity.

sources and further reading: 
Australian Dictionary of Biography
Historic Port Melbourne Calendar 2010

VCs, plaques and mosaic tiles

'Plaque fancier'

Peter Quinlivian, speaker at this month's meeting and author of Forgotten Valour: The Story of Arthur Sullivan VC: Shy War Hero described how the 320 page book came about from following the threads of scant text on a plaque happened upon by chance.  He wondered aloud whether he was in the company of other 'plaque fanciers'.
This was enough to send me back to update the post on the All England Eleven to include a photograph of the plaque on the footpath.
Peter generously shared how he goes about his research. He highly recommended the aptly named Trove where old newspapers can be read on line from the comfort of your own computer. As he warned - it is highly addictive!
The link to Trove can be found on the menu on the right hand side of the screen.

What Port Melbourne plaque do you find the most intriguing?

Not just cricket

This post takes its cue from cricket and is prompted by Australia's poor performance in the test series in Sri Lanka.

corner Rouse and Princes Sts

What does this unprepossessing corner have to do with cricket?  It was the site of the All England Eleven Hotel. The hotel was demolished in 1953 according to this account in The Herald of this week's date:

‘If you stand in Princes St, and look in through the windows of the derelict All England Eleven Hotel, you can see the sky.The hotel has lost its roof and is fast losing everything else, too, as demolition works go on.  Eventually, it will disappear and a block of flats go up in its place.
But memories will linger. ...
One of the port’s ‘old-timers’ Mr G Porrit, who lives a few doors away, remembers when the All England Eleven was the busiest spot in town.
The last licensee, Mrs M Cass – she is now licensee of the Queens Bridge Hotel, South Melbourne, said it was delicensed before the First World War. Later it became a guest house.
For many years its present owners Swallow and Ariell Ltd have used it as a store.

Mystery surrounds its name. But the first official English Test team visited Australia in 1876-7 a year before it was built. Another hotel, in Bay St, was called the All Australian Eleven.' (Herald 23 03 1953)

This corner is more significant for being the first place in Melbourne to be connected to the sewerage system in 1897. The plaque in the footpath on Princes St marks this very important milestone in public health.

cnr Rouse and Princes St, Port Melbourne

Desperate for Ice Cream

My thoughts have turned obsessively to ice cream over this protracted spell of hot weather and it made me wonder about the best spots in Port Melbourne to buy an ice cream at various times.

Member Helen Barry recalls buying ice creams from a small shop in Crichton Ave, and apparently Woodruffs had a milkbar on Bridge St. People have mentioned that good ice creams and milk shakes were to be had from the dairy in  Graham St.

Perhaps these photographs might trigger memories

Ice cream van parked outside Missions to Seamen building 1987
Alison Kelly collection, courtesy of the Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society 

Kiosk on Station Pier , 1987
Alison Kelly collection, courtesy of the Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society

Have a look at this picture of St Josephs school, since replaced by the Bayshore complex on the corner of Rouse and Bay St.  See the Sunkist text on the wall? That was once the site of Swallow and Ariell's ice cream factory.

It would be great to hear members' ice cream memories. Leave comments below or email pmhps@hotmail.com