Watery names: A cluster of Floodgate, Pool and Spring

It is shaping up to be our wettest June in many years. It prompted a look at the place names that reveal Port Melbourne's watery foundation.  A particularly flood prone spot was, and remains, the area around Ingles and Crockford St.  In December 1863,

'...a flood of unexampled severity occurred, which overwhelmed the low-lying land along the river course ... The diverted current of water pouring across St Kilda Road is said to have been 11 feet deep. Flowing across Albert Road through the park, the water cut a passage to the sea. Emerald Heill was isolated in a waste of water, communication being maintained by boat. At the appropriately named Floodgate Hotel, near Sandridge, a channel 16 feet deep was cut out, over which a temporary bridge had to be built to carry traffic.'

Floodgate Hotel - Madonnas restaurant

 The PMH&PS calendar (2008) has a great picture of the cable tram making its way along a flooded Crockford St in 1919, with the Globe Hotel (now the childcare centre) in view. The Society also has in its collection a fascinating and very detailed report on Stormwater Drainage of Port Melbourne by Town Clerk Heath dated 1904. The report provides detailed rainfall records, describes the catchment, analyses the performance of the pumping station,  and the direction of stormwater flows. One observation picked out of the report is that

'When the Lagoon was open it acted as a storage reservoir for storm water, and served to quickly relieve the streets of water, which falling now, would cause a flood. It is partly on this account that flooding is more frequent now  than in old times. Then only heavy storms, in combination with extraordinary tides, will produce the same effect.'

He makes a series of recommendations which include - improved street cleaning!
That general area is covered by a Special Building Overlay in the Port Phillip planning scheme which identifies land 'liable to inundation by overland flows from the urban drainage system.' The Special Building Overlay area can be seen quite clearly on this planning scheme map. 

Pool St and Spring St also reveal their watery origins.
Street names are the theme of the CLUSTER exhibition at the City Gallery in Swanston St, on until the end of July. It includes the poet streets of Elwood, but not the ship cluster of Beacon Cove. Professor Graeme Davision has written an entertaining and interesting essay in the finely designed catalogue - its no surprise to learn that the curator is a graphic designer with a particular interest in typography.

This is just the briefest introduction to flood stories from Port Melbourne - it would be great if you could add anything you know.

Sources and further information
Charles Daly A History of South Melbourne
Graham and Margaret Bride's The Borough and its People Port Melbourne 1839 to 1939 discuss the 1863 flood in some detail
The Argus for 18 December 1863 which can be read online at Trove
Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society calendar June 2008
A V Heath Report on the Storm-Water Drainage of Port Melbourne April 6, 1904 (PMH&PS collection)

Migrant hostel in Fishermans Bend

Mike Brady's huge contribution to Australian life has been recognised in the Queens Birthday Honours with an AM.
A less well know part of his story is the time his family spent in the migrant hostel in Fishermans Bend after their arrival in Melbourne in the '50s.  The experience of life in the hostel is described in a colourful way by Noel Delbridge in his book 'Up There Mike Brady':

"A blind man could describe the scene, because the inescapable odours of Port Melbourne are penetrating the tiniest chinks in the bus doors and windows. It’s an obnoxious smelling cocktail of animal, vegetable and chemical waste.  To the south of the hostel is the Port Melbourne tip, permanently burning the rotting garbage deposited from homes and nearby vegetable and fish markets. The prevailing wind drives the sour smoke over the hostel.  To the east, stretching almost to the city, is a chain of animal-holding yards and abattoirs. Here, pigs are slaughtered and put through a furnace to burn off their bristles. The stench of burning hair and flesh is compounded as it joins the stink of boiling fat from the Unilever and Cedel soap factories.  Adjacent to the hostel is the Kraft Vegemite factory. The pungent, yeasty smell drifts over constantly. Vegemite is not the spread of choice at breakfast in the hostel canteen. The Brady's accommodation was in a large corrugated-iron hut divided into four flats. Each flat had three rooms - a living room in the middle and a bedroom at each end. Bathroom and toilet blocks, concrete and wet, were outside. An easement on the southern perimeter of the hostel became the boys' secret adventure park. It was a dumping ground for hard rubbish. ... Near Cook Street, adjacent to the hostel, was a brackish swamp of uncertain depth containing unknown liquids ... Old car bodies provided islands. This was a scary place, and they banned horseplay among themselves for fear of falling into the ooze and dissolving." It is poignant to recall those times when there was work for everybody, the car industry was in a growth  phase and new migrants were welcomed to the country. As another resident of the hostel recalled, her mother got a job at GMH 'just a walk over the sand dunes'. She attended Graham St School and her brother went to South Melbourne Tech. I am not absolutely sure of the precise location of the hostel. PMHPS member Don delivered telegrams to the hostel, and he is definite it was in Ingles St near Lorimer St, even though Delbridge says it was in Hall St. Do you have any further information or recollection of the hostel?

Sources and further information
Noel Delbridge Up There Mike Brady (Coulomb Communications Port Melbourne)
Vivienne Gunn, recording of talk to the PMH&PS 23 September 2003

Naming

The earliest streets named on the Street Plan of Sandridge 1849 were those clustered around the foundation place of the early settlement - Bay, Dow, Rouse, Stokes, Graham. They were named from Sydney.

Garryowen made this unflattering assessment about some of the later names: ‘the nomenclature (street names) was distributed amongst a batch of local mediocrities.' He adds ‘Certainly they have amongst them a Pickles Street –no misnomer considering the briny nature of the place.’ 

John Pickles, a shipwright blacksmith, is best known - not for what he did - but for what others did to him during the election for mayor in 1862. He was lured out to the Bay on the pretext that work needed to be done on a ship. While absent, he was elected mayor. On returning to shore, he resigned the role he had never sought and Morley was elected. Punch headlined it ‘a case of Pickles.’ But don’t be too quick to join with those early commentators in having a joke at Pickles expense.  According to E C Crockford, reminiscing about the early days in Port, John Pickles loved Shakespeare to the extent that he named some of his children Horatio, Orlando and Ophelia and could command ‘rapt attention’ for his recitations of excerpts from Shakespeare including The Address by Polonious to his son Laertes.

Nevertheless, it is true that most of Port’s streets, parks and reserves have been named after Mayors and Councillors.  The first place in Port Melbourne, as I’m aware, to be named after a woman was Olive’s corner (Liardet/Bay) named for Senator Olive Zacharov who died in 1995. That is a story for another day.

The City of Port Phillip’s policy now favours the recognition of indigenous people and places, women and community contribution.

Sources and further information

Graham and Margaret Bride The Borough and Its People: Port Melbourne 1839 to 1939

The Age 2 February 1935

Garryowen: Chronicles of Early Melbourne 1835 - 1851. Thanks to local history librarian Kay Rowan for advising me that this is freely available on line through Trove. 

Made a mistake? Something to add? Please comment or send an email to janet.bolitho@gmail.com

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

It's heritage, isn't it?

Farams
This is not the place to tell the tale of Farams because it has been done with so much care by Kevin Anderson in his film The Last of the Independents. People often mention having seen it when you say you come from Port.
'Farams' has become the word that seems to capture the feeling about the changes in Port over recent times.
The re-development looks curiously modest to Port eyes grown used to bigger buildings.
In Farams final years, people might have said that it could have done with a coat of paint. Someone told me the other day that when he asked Doug Faram why he didn't paint the outside of the shop, Doug responded 'Its heritage'. Doug said the original paint was an attention grabbing red. Perhaps like this?

The planning history of the development is told more fully here. The VCAT member said in making his decision:

'The front facade and verandah of the existing shop premises are the key elements of the heritage fabric and these are to be retained in the proposed development.'

Here we see this direction implemented. 'Its heritage, isn't it?'

What are your thoughts on this approach?

The site (could you say its still the same building?) has undergone many changes since the first shop and dwelling were built in 1859. As you can see, the shop originally had a second storey where the family lived. It was demolished in the 1970s. The verandahs were added around 1920 to the Council design. More about verandahs another day.

PMHPS Collection

Sources and further information
They Can Carry Me Out: Memories of Port Melbourne
Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society calendar 2001 (month of September)
The Last of the Independents can be purchased directly from Kevin Anderson at kevina@deakin.edu.au 

Got something wrong? Left something important out? Got a better picture? Have something to add? Please comment below or send an email via janet.bolitho@gmail.com

Edwards Park

The layout of Edwards Park has adapted to a range of activities over time. The radial paths meeting in the centre create a setting that lends itself well to Port's current preoccupation with exercise, health and fitness. A playground for children has been a part of Edwards Park from the beginning.
Edwards Park was, of course, once part of the tapering Sandridge Lagoon. The Lagoon has been such a profound shaper of Port's history, leaving its trace even today in the street layout of the Esplanades East and West.
A landscape plan for Edwards Park prepared for the City of Port Phillip in 2001 describes the history of Edwards Park in so far as it can be gleaned from Council records. Unlike neighbouring St Vincents Gardens and the St Kilda Botanic Gardens, there is no single designer of Edwards Park.
The land, having recently been reclaimed from the Lagoon was not suitable for housing. Establishing jurisdiction over the land in the first instance took many years of protracted argument with authorities. Pressure for a children's playground came early from the Guild of Play reflecting the need for such opportunities for children in Port at that time.
The Canary Island palm trees appear to have been planted some time between 1923 and 1931 - though the exact number and date is not established.

The palm trees have now attained some stature and are a defining feature of the Park. There is concern for their health. It's hard to imagine a time when the palms were not so tall but this great photograph gives some idea.

Image courtesy John Gilcrist: PMHPS Collection

The Trugo Club, which has such strong associations with Port, is relatively recent - 1949. Over time, Edwards Park has increased in size through the addition of road space. The divided median of Esplanade East between Bridge and McCormack once continued right through to Liardet St until half of it was included in the Park.  The small triangle where Dow St and Esplanade West intersect - a constant source of confusion for taxi drivers - was added to the Park in 1978.

The Society has in its collection a tantalising drawing, undated, suggesting changes to the Park including a basketball court which were never implemented.

Edwards Park was recently included in a review of The City of Port Phillip's Heritage Overlay 1, and now has its own statement of significance - befitting a Park which has served Port Melbourne residents - especially its children - well though changing times.

image courtesy Fred Nicholson

Sources and further information

Statement of significance for Heritage Overlay 448: Edwards Park 
Edwards Park: Conservation Analysis and Masterplan: City of Port Phillip November 2001
A History of Port Melbourne Nancy U'Ren and Noel Turnbull

Got something wrong? Left something important out? Have something to add? Please comment below or send an email via janet.bolitho@gmail.com

Jack's journeys

Journey no 2

Here is an account of some research member Jack Bolt recently completed. 
Jack says in summary:

'Read a book, find an item interesting, go to the book's references and web, do more personal research closer to home, find the some more information/data, and inadvertently meet a PMHPS member who is part of the story. It only took about a week. 

It starts with a book . . . 

As a Dutch born Australian who came here with my family in May 1951 and disembarked at Station Pier, I'm interested in Australian history and any Dutch connection.

Recently I bought a copy of the The Dutch Down Under (2006) from the Brotherhood of St Laurence book site. The book, edited by Nonja Petrs, is a collection of essays by different authors. Petres was at that time the Director of the Migration, Refugees and Citizenship Research Centre at the Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia. Chapter 7 headed 'Evacuations into Australia from the Netherlands East Indies, 1922-1948'^, contains a reference to 77 Javanese 'boat people': men, women and children, who had been living in Sumatra and trying to return to Java and eventually arrived in Port Melbourne in 1942.

The Rev John Freeman was the minister of the Port Melbourne Methodist Church at that time as well as the Chaplain to the Royal Australian Naval Reserve at  HMAS Lonsdale. The large Sunday school hall next to the Graham Street Church* was converted to accommodation and the Javanese stayed there to the end of the War.

What a difference to the present sentiment/attitude to new arrivals!

I went onto the web to search for more and found the newspaper www.insideindonesia.org. The following week, I went to the PMHPS rooms and mentioned the story about the Javanese.

With the assistance of Lex Johnson, I found a letter in the file written in August 1995 by Mr W E Freeman, son of the Methodist minister, detailing his recollections of the events. The file also included a copy of some photos, published in the Sun newspaper on June 12,1943. Maree Chalmers copied the letter and photo page. I asked Suzy Milburn whether it was the Sun. Terry Keenan, also in the room, with no prompting and without even seeing the page with the photos said “it is the Sun and I'm in it!" Sure enough. On close inspection it was Terry with some Javanese boys taken at Nott St Primary.

The moral of the story is that with a bit of work there is a wealth of data available to us all.Thanks to members of the Society for the organisation of the files which enabled such ready access to the information in the Society's collection.
Journey no 1

The ship on which we, as a family - my parents, two brothers and a sister - traveled  was the Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. Originally the vessel was built for regular voyages from Holland to Indonesia carrying Dutch to and fro. It was very similar to the English vessels travelling between Australia and England. During the war it was used as a troop ship between England and America. To increase the carrying capacity of troops all the cabins were converted to large holds/dormitories for about 200-250 persons. The beds were metal frames with springs and in long rows and 3 - 4 beds high. Men and boys were separated and my mother and sister, aged 10 in different hold (zaals) to ours. We met at meal times and of course during the day. For a youngster it was an exiting time. More about the Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, known as the JvO, and the experiences of those who sailed in her can be found here at the Museum Victoria website.'
Do you have any other information about these events?

Notes and further information
^The author of the story is Jan Lingard in Inside Indonesia, still in business, in the Oct- Dec 2001 issue
*A picture of the church can be found on p107 of The Borough and Its People