Past 2 Present

ST. KILDA CITY HALL c.1950 / 2017

St. Kilda's new City Hall building was built in 1890 with the first council meeting held on June 23 of that year. At the time it was still unfinished. It remained exposed as raw brick, undecorated and for a period of time was covered in creeper. It wasn't until 1925 when the portico was added, with the building fully rendered in 1957. A 54 metre high open tower was originally planned but never eventuated. The building today on the corner of Carlisle Street and Brighton Road is home to the City of Port Phillip. The City of Port Phillip was created in June 1994 with the merging of the St. Klida, South Melbourne and Port Phillip councils. This blended image uses two photos, one taken around 1950 and the other in 2017. 

MELBOURNE - 1839

John Adamson's coloured lithlograph shows Melbourne  as it was in 1839. Drawn from the south side of the Yarra Yarra, John also drafted the detailed guide depicted below.

THE UNION CLUB HOTEL Crn Collins & Market Streets - Melbourne

The allotment on which the Union Club Hotel stood was first purchased by one of Melbourne's founding fathers, John Pascoe Fawkner as part of the second land sales in November 1837. The price he paid was £10. At the time Fawkner's allotment neighboured that of the Western Market. It wasn't until August 1846, Market Street was proclaimed by the Governor-in-Council of New South Wales by excising the land required from the reserves granted to the Customs and Western Markets respectively. The Union Club Hotel building was built in the 1860s and lasted until it was demolished in 1927. Prior to the Union Club, Fawkner's Shakespeare Hotel occupied the site. It was this hotel the newly formed Melbourne Club had its first permanent club house before moving to their present location at the eastern end of Collins Street. This view of the Union Club Hotel was taken in the early 1870s. The 10 storey steel-frame heritage listed building on which now sits on the site was built in 1929-31 for the Australian Mutual Provident Society.

WESLEYAN METHODIST / UNITING CHURCH 1901 - 2019

The Wesleyan Methodist Church on the corner of Scott and Robinson streets in Dandenong opened on the 1st August 1887 with the memorial stone laid earlier that year. The church started in a nearby blacksmiths shop before moving to the present site. This blended image uses two images, one taken by Charlie Hammond in 1901 and the other 120 years later. I would assume Charlie's photo was taken to celebrate the 14th anniversary of the church building as it is dated 1st August. With the growth of Dandenong from a sleepy market town to a bustling city with a multicultural population, a veritable United Nations of faiths worship at what is now the Trinity Uniting Church and use its various buildings for fellowship and special celebrations.

5NBB / 21NQR  BEECH FOREST  c.1905  -  5NBD / 21NQR  BELGRAVE  2017

It is a credit to the Puffing Billy Preservation Society that we are able to experience rail travel just like it was over 100 years ago. These two carriages, one a second class passenger carriage and the other a general purpose goods wagon are both pictured here at Beech Forest around 1905 and Belgrave in 2017.To get the current photo took a bit of planning but the good folk at Puffing Billy were all too willing to oblige. It was taken one early Sunday morning in October last year before any of the regular trains had departed for that day. A little bit of shunting was involved as 5NBD is always a part of Lunch and Night Train consists. Thanks go to Driver Graham, Head Shunter Ian and Guard Zac (all pictured in the current photo).5NBB was built in 1901 and entered service the following year. This second class passenger carriage was one of six that was built between the years 1898 and 1904. Four survive to this day with three in regular service and one awaiting restoration.After being withdrawn from service in 1950, the carriage was used as a lineside hut at Pakenham. In 1963 it was bought by the Puffing Billy Preservation Society and restored ten years later to operational standard. In 2006 it was modified to become Puffing Billy's food service car / van servicing their daily Steam & Cuisine and regular Night trains.21NQR was one of 218 wagons that were built between 1898 and 1915. Weighing four tonnes and with an initial loading capacity of ten tonnes, these wagons were the mainstay of the Victorian narrow gauge lines. It was initially converted to carry passengers in late 2004 before reverting back to its original condition the following year. Seats were again added later and have remained so to this day.

FLINDERS STREET - MELBOURNE 1882

UPPER MOONDARRA (ERICA) RAILWAY STATION.

A very early view of what would become the Erica railway station on the Moe - Walhalla railway. Originally named Upper Moondarra and later Harris, this Wilfred Henty photo shows the station during the railway's construction period at the turn of the last century. The station officially opened along with the railway on this date back in 1910. Sections on the line started closing from 1944 with the final section from Moe to Erica eventually closing in June 1954. By 1960 all the tracks and buildings were removed leaving only the roadbed and a number of bridges to the ravages of Mother Nature. Today, the former station site is occupied by the Erica Caravan Park along Station Street. Recognizing the potential of the railway, in 1991 the Walhalla Railway Taskforce was formed, later becoming the Walhalla Goldfields Railway Incorporated. Restoration of the Thomson to Walhalla section began. Firstly the railway commenced operations in April 1994, within the Thomson station yard. Gradually the line progressed, first over the nationally-heritage-classified Thomson River Bridge later that year and then pushing up the Stringers Creek Gorge to Happy Creek. This became the terminus until the six bridges in the last kilometre into the Walhalla Station yard were completed and opened in March 2002. The operating line is 4 km in length whereas the entire Moe to Walhalla line was just under 42 km. Plans are in place to extend the current line from Thomson back to Erica where the railway's permanent workshop complex will be built. Reconstruction of the line from Erica to Moe would likely be impractical and uneconomical, as the original right of way was sold in many places, and is partly covered by the waters of the Moondarra Reservoir.

BELFAST - MARCH 1912

PRINCES PARK - 1946 Carlton Football Club

The Carlton Football Club was founded in the early 1860s but it wasn't until 1897 when they played their first home game at their newly constructed ground at Princes Park. It was the same year the football club was invited to join the Victorian Football League in its inaugural year that included the following clubs Collingwood, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne and South Melbourne. St Kilda was the other club invited at the same time. Prior to 1897, Carlton had played their home matches at a number of ovals around Melbourne including the East Melbourne and South Melbourne cricket grounds, the MCG and even Victoria Park. It was at this ground back in Round 1 of 1892, Carlton played the newly formed Collingwood football club. This was actually a Carlton home game, and the Blues donated the gate takings to the new club. The Blues had supported the efforts of the former junior Britannia club to gain admission to the V.F.A. as Collingwood. This "hand of friendship" was not forgotten when a then struggling Carlton was asked to join the V.F.L. some years later.....and you wonder why the two clubs 'hate' each other today. Today Princes Park is officially known as Ikon Park and is still the home of the Carlton Football Club. It was the last suburban ground to be used in the AFL. This aerial photo was taken in 1946. The previous year the ground hosted the VFL Grand Final between Carlton and South Melbourne where Carlton won by 28 points. At the time the MCG was still being used for military purposes. A crowd of 62,986 attended that day and to this day is still a record for Princes Park.