The Great Depression came early to Port Melbourne and affected Port very severely. After the 1928 Waterfront strike many waterside workers did not find work again. Port at that time was a 'difficult, suffering place' in the words of Frank Vincent. From late 1930, unemployment relief schemes were …
Fishermans Bend & Montague
Gateway
2 - 28 Montague St and 80 Johnson St One of the largest development sites in the Montague precinct of Fishermans Bend has recently received a planning permit for three towers of 38, 24 and 15 storeys. The original planning application submitted in October 2017 was for three towers: two of 40 …
Towers on Normanby
Are they in Southbank? Fishermans Bend? Montague or South Melbourne? and does it matter? Two towers are taking concrete form in Normanby Rd immediately opposite each other. Are they in a race to their 40 storey top? On the River side is Oakwood Premier, part of the Yarra Hotel group, at 202 …
The first quarter
Conventionally, avoiding that complicated word 'normally', I post a summary of Port Places at the end of the first quarter of each year. Such an arbitrary marking of time is less useful when life as we know it has been ruptured by the impact of the coronavirus. A State of Emergency was declared …
Soap
Port people are out walking, walking. And walking further - getting to know their place, their local-ity, as they would the overseas cities they once explored. I walk into Fishermans Bend down Ingles St, past the Port Footy ground and the former Kitchen and Son factory where soap and candles were …
#Stayathome reading
Staying at home, the pile of library books is calling. They must be read before we are released from isolation, though that uncertain time undermines my determination to read them all. Top of the pile? Sir Laurence Hartnett's Big Wheels and Little Wheels. I retrieve this chatty book quite …