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
Joe Pearce - Informant Saw Him Killed
On 17 August 1914 Arthur Mueller ‘Joe’ Pearce enlisted to fight in the Great War. He was the eighth man from Essendon to sign up and the first VFL footballer to volunteer for the war. He had played 152 games for the Melbourne Football Club from 1904-1913, and in a game where players had fixed places on the ground, had kicked five goals. The Argus newspaper nominated him as ‘a
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Vernon Ransford: the elegant left-hander
The holiday season is with us, and top level cricket at the MCG makes its seasonal appearance in the East Melbourne area, the high point being the Boxing Day Test, this year being an Ashes series against England. The MCG was of course the place where Test cricket was born in 1877, and was also the venue of the first One Day International in January 1971.
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That was Then, This is Now
If you stand on the corner of Powlett Street and Wellington Parade looking east, there’s the 7-Eleven store, the dry cleaner, a couple of cafes, the Il Duca restaurant and, at the end of the line, the Post Office, an unassuming, utilitarian modern building.
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Former Yarra Park School
The East Melbourne Historical Society is undertaking a project on the history of the former Yarra Park State school.
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Spotted: a Spotted Pardalote in Jolimont
This tiny Spotted Pardalote was recorded in a cottage garden in Agnes Street, just up the road from a huge demolition taking place on Jolimont Street. It was nervously flitting between a branch and a small verandah ledge. The noise from the jack-hammers and diggers was too great to hear or record its call. We were quite concerned that its habitat had been destroyed, but a couple of days later we saw it again in the same garden before it flew next door into a much more protected bushy garden. We can only hope that it lives and thrives with its family without further disturbance. See a video at: https://emhs.org.au/catalogue/emdf0455
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Forthcoming activities
Women Artists over 400 Years
Local resident, Krystyna Campbell-Pretty, has donated several portraits to the NGV which demonstrate the long-overlooked talent of women artists. She has arranged a guided tour of some of these works for us.
Following the tour we will have Afternoon Tea as her guests, during which she will talk
about her work in philanthropy.
Numbers strictly limited
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Recent acquisitions
Aerial Photograph of Yarra Park and MCG 1928
Aerial Photo of Yarra Park and MCG looking west from a point above Punt Road Oval. Taken in 1928 by Charles Daniel Pratt.
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Mercy Private Hospital under construction, 1935
Shows Mercy Private Hospital, Grey Street, East Melbourne, under construction in 1935.
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East Melbourne, Victoria Parade, c.1905
Postcard, BP Series, colour print. The reverse is divided into a space for a message and a space for the address. This format first appeared in Australia in 1905.
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East Melbourne, Clarendon Street 64, 66, 68, 70
A photographic postcard published by Valentine's.
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