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The mask makers
From midnight on the 22nd July, wearing a mask became compulsory in metropolitan Melbourne. Ahead of the deadline, queues formed outside Darn Cheap Fabrics – a store in Port Melbourne usually only...
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Bay Street, Port Melbourne
I’m running late this week because I was preoccupied with preparing for a Port Talks panel discussion hosted by Port Melbourne Rotary1 Can Bay St recover? The topic was suggested, or perhaps thrust to...
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The local election
Postal voting for the 2020 local government elections has begun. This will be the first time a Port Phillip election has been conducted by postal ballot. It’s hard to gauge the level of engagement...
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Through the gate
Artist Benjamin Storch was glad to create a work especially for the Park where he has his studio. He has been at work in the studio for some time hammering those leaves into subtlety so they’ll catch...
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The Boxer
Over the prolonged lock down the Graham St underpass in Port Melbourne has become an outdoor gym. The concrete supporting pillars create discrete spaces occupied by a moving parade of personal...
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Parklets and picnics
Melbourne is opening up after several consecutive days of zero new cases of COVID-19 and zero new deaths. The ‘ring of steel’ has been dissolved and many people are getting out of town. The ‘gym’...
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‘A year like no other’
2020 3 January: Port Melbourne beach and a cruise ship through bushfire smoke haze 29 January: rain carries red dust from N W Victoria and South Australia to Melbourne – Port Melbourne Yacht Club...
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Wetlands
It rained heavily on Friday – 50mm according to a rain gauge in Port Melbourne. The rain fell quickly. It flushed the gutters which flowed towards Port Phillip Bay bearing whatever happened to be in...
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Glass works
There is always more to uncover about the ‘sand’ history of Sandridge, now Port Melbourne. Most sand stories have been associated with Fishermans Bend but this one is closer to home. The scale and...
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Finding community in regional Victoria
Sharon Willcox writes: As a Port Phillip resident of about 23 years (7 years in Port Melbourne and 16 years in Middle Park), I know and love the area. Moving to Port Melbourne in 2013 had brought me...
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The First Quarter 2021
Emergence Victoria plunged back into lockdown on 13 February for 5 days following a COVID outbreak known as ‘The Holiday Inn cluster’. On March 31st, 2020 there were 58 new cases of COVID-19. On March...
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The Volunteer
The mast is up in the yard like a flagpole, signalling that there is a boat in Dugga Beazley’s yard. It’s the Volunteer receiving its winter maintenance and annual coat of paint – Beazley Blue. The...
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What makes a good urban park?
‘It’s a lot of things’ responded Patsy when I asked her what made her local park, Garden City Reserve, such a good one. Patsy was in the company of her two dogs, so it went without saying that it is...
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Washed up
The bay is calm again. The turbulence following last week’s storm is settling as the Yarra’s plume bearing sediments mix and mingle with the Bay. Thin-ribbed cockle shell The storm shifted large...
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1 – 7 Waterfront Place, Port Melbourne
Visitors, new residents and long standing locals alike have been at a loss to understand how such an important site could have lain derelict for so long. Blighted 1 – 7 Waterfront Place, Port...
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Drain or wetland in Port Melbourne?
A wetland after the storm The beach at Port Melbourne after a storm in April 2020 When a high tide and heavy rain coincide, the beach between the Port Melbourne Yacht Club and the TT Lines truck park...
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On the roof of Bayview, Port Melbourne
Two ten level developments – Bayview to the east and Bayshore to the west – anchor the corner of Bay and Rouse Sts in Port Melbourne. Planning for the site occurred when planning controls for the Port...
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Gas stories
Recently I was lucky enough to interview Norm Lamb. Norm was born in City Rd, South Melbourne over 90 years ago. Norm’s parents died when he was a boy and he went to live with his grandparents and two...
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Places of remembrance
Remembrance Garden at North Port, Port Melbourne Out of lockdown, I return for coffee to the Station St Trading Company, surrounded by salvias, foxgloves and hollyhocks planted by urban gardener Sandi...
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Two trees in the urban forest
A healthy urban forest is diverse. It is made up of trees of various ages – from venerable trees to saplings. It is made up of many kinds of trees – it does not over rely on one or two species. It is...
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