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Murphy’s
The $4.3m upgrade of the Murphy Reserve Pavilion has been completed. It was to have been opened on Sunday 22nd March. The plaque announcing its opening has been removed – awaiting an uncertain future...
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#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. an array of...
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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...
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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...
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Towers on Normanby
construction in the time of COVID-19 on Normanby Rd, Fishermans Bend Are they in Southbank? Fishermans Bend? Montague or South Melbourne? and does it matter? Two towers are taking concrete form in...
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Housing Innovation
Parts of what is now thought of as Port Melbourne were once known as Fishermans Bend. The area west of Princes Pier and extending to the the arc of the Yarra River was generally known as Fishermans...
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Vulnerable
On the first day of summer in 1990 a procession made its way from Albert Park through Gasworks Park to the beach at the end of Pickles St in South Melbourne. Children carrying hand made paper lanterns...
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Year in Review 2020
This review will not dwell on the ebbs and flows and ups and downs of COVID 19 which were covered, albeit briefly, in last week’s visual summary. Instead it will focus on decisions made and directions...
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Port Places mark 2
Port Places begins 2021 with a new website. In 2013, I started Port Places – a project to observe and document the changing places of Port and South Melbourne, Fishermans Bend and the lower Yarra –...
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At a crossroads
The Wayside Inn, on the corner of City Rd and Ferrars St, has been sold and has a new tenant. There has been a hotel with this name on the site since 1868. The exterior of the hotel remains remarkably...
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Sandridge
This week I walked with Year 12 geography students from Albert Park College in the Sandridge Precinct of Fishermans Bend. Sandridge became a precinct of the Fishermans Bend urban renewal area when it...
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Waterfront
This week is Waterfront, a programme presented by Open House Melbourne as part of Melbourne Design Week. In opening the Waterfront Programme in 2019, then Director Emma Telfer asked ‘have you been in...
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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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Many shades of green
You’ve seen the marketing. Of developments cascading with greenery, only to be disappointed when the greening turns out to be a pot plant – possibly a yucca – on the balcony. But the urgency and...
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The Bird Issue
Migratory birds are leaving our shores now to breed in the Northern Hemisphere. Their epic journeys will be acknowledged and celebrated on World Migratory Bird Day on 8 May. Their flight path on the...
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The GMH site
There’s a definite sense of arrival where Turner St meets Salmon St at the sprawling former GMH site. Generous Turner St connects Fishermans Bend from east to west like an arrow. Turner St is planned...
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Vegemite and peanut butter
It may take a while before Bega becomes the household name that ‘Kraft’ has been for several generations in Port Melbourne. Bega bought the Port Melbourne Vegemite and peanut butter business and the...
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GMH site
The arrangement and layout of the streets and sites on the Yarra River side of City Rd and Normanby Rd have always been a bit of a puzzle to me. The sites are large and irregular. The tight, neat...
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Turning a corner
Woolworths Fishermans Bend opened today. A flurry of workers were still applying finishing touches as the store opened. The anticipation was only slightly dampened by the announcement of the 5 day snap...
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The Timber Shortage
continuing the exploration of the other side of Williamstown Road, Fishermans Bend Fox Hay’s jaunty logo Last week we neglected to mention Fox Hay located opposite Murphy’s Reserve and the emerging...
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