Welcome
Welcome to the East Melbourne Historical Society.
East Melbourne is a tiny suburb adjoining the city of Melbourne bounded by Treasury and Fitzroy Gardens to the west, Victoria Parade to the north, Hoddle Street to the east and Yarra Park to the south, home of the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground. East Melbourne was included in Robert Hoddle's original 1837 plan for the city but the first private house was not built until 1853. The suburb today reflects a history of Victoria with its beautiful gardens, grand houses of the gold rush era and workmen's cottages. Cast iron lacework adorns the houses, bluestone cobbled lanes lead to old coach houses and brick dunnies. Artists, scientists, politicians, judges, educators, priests, explorers, entrepreneurs, courtesans, philanthropists and social activists lived here and many a tale is told of characters wild and exotic.
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Recent articles
The Curious Mr Stanford: from East Melbourne to California
Thomas Welton Stanford arrived in Melbourne in 1860 to make money. He achieved this by quickly securing the sole licence to import Singer sewing machines. But it is not for his business success that he is primarily known.
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- 469 reads
Pros and (Mod) Cons
In aid of the Red Cross and War Comforts Funds Melbourne City Council has transformed the Treasury Gardens into a Garden City with an extensive lighting scheme. It will be open on Monday at 1 p.m. for one month, with daily sessions from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
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Bedggood: Friendly Footwear
Daniel Bedggood arrived in Melbourne in 1854. Almost immediately he set up a boot and shoe factory in Richmond. A successful business from the start, succeeding generations kept it going and his son, John, oversaw the transition to a new and bigger factory in Jolimont, at 22 Agnes Street, in 1899.
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- 427 reads
Yarra Park State School Comes Back To Life
Yarra Park State School In East Melbourne was located in a very prominent position - the intersection of Punt Road and Bridge Road. The building that still occupies the site and which housed the former school is familiar to generations of Melburnians who have passed through that intersection on the busy roads north-south and east-west.
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Smelling History
Smells trigger memory just as effectively as old photos or objects. Think of some of Melbourne’s more famous smells such as tomato sauce from the old Rosella factory in Richmond, or baking bread from the Capitol Bakery in South Yarra, or even roasting coffee from Quists in Little Collins Street. East Melbourne had its own famous smell emanating from the Victoria Brewery in Victoria
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Recent acquisitions
East Melbourne, Simpson Street 171, 173
A colour photo of the pair of houses at 171 and 173 Simpson Street, East Melbourne.
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East Melbourne, Simpson Street 167, 169
Two colour photos of 167 and 169 Simpson Street, East Melbourne. The houses have an unusual parapet embellished with a row of small lion masks.
- 202 reads
Valentine's Snapshots. Melbourne No 1. 1920s
Small card folder with 12 photographs. Each photo has its title printed on reverse in handwritten style. Valentines snapshots were made of many places in the world, and packaged in a convenient size to be posted. They were printed in Great Britain.
- 200 reads
Eastern Hill from Parliament House
A colour tinted postcard with a wide white border. It was printed in Saxony for the Victoria Stamp Market (V St M). The message on the back of the card is dated 23 February 1910. This is probably about the time the card was printed.
The photo was taken from the roof of Parliament House and shows a view of Eastern Hill looking towards Fittzroy.
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Eastern Hill Fire Station
A black and white postcard published by Robert Jolley, Melbourne. It is postmarked Hamilton 14 November 1906, but is earlier as from 1905 all postcards were printed with a vertical line down the centre, allowing for a message on one side and the address on the other. This postcard has no vertical line.
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Forthcoming activities