Sundial on the bank of the Elwood Canal

In May 2022, a sundial on the bank of the Elwood Canal was stolen from its bluestone plinth. The sundial had been donated to the people of Elwood by local children's author, Celeste Walters.  

Ms Walters donated the sundial and plinth in 2017 after receiving a generous bequest from a friend to encourage learning. “I wasn’t sure what to do until one day I saw a mother and child studying a sundial on an octagonal plinth. This is more than a beautiful monument, I thought - it’s a tool for learning. Until it was stolen, the sundial was studied by Elwood College science students and admired by passers-by.*

In some good news, a replacement sundial was installed on 10 November 2022 and this will hopefully continue to delight children travelling to and from school along the Elwood Canal for decades to come.

The replacement sundial. 

Image: © VanishedVictoria

*Brazen Bronze thefts in Port Phillip. City of Port Phillip media release.
https://www.portphillip.vic.gov.au/about-the-council/news-and-media/brazen-bronze-thefts-in-port-phillip

Larry Latrobe sculpture

It is thirty years since Pamela Irving's sculpture, Larry Latrobe, was installed on the footpath in Swanston Street.  In August 1992, John Stevens, writing in The Age newspaper described Larry as a slightly larger than life-size bronze dog, a grinning bitzer of a beast, which will be mounted where it will take pedestrians by surprise (1). Larry spent three years watching activity in the City Square (2) until August 1995 when he was stolen, in spite of being tethered to the ground by 30 cm long bolts.

A new Larry was recast by the foundary owner, Peter Kolliner, although Pamela Irving slightly altered the new Larry's colouring to give him an individual look. New Larry was unveiled on 16 September, 1996.  In 2017, due to the Metro Tunnel works Larry was removed from his City Square home and the next year re-located outside the Melbourne Town Hall. 

Larry in the City Square

Image: Pamela Irving's website https://www.pamelairving.com.au/

Larry was based on Pamela Irving's own dog, Lucy, and named for her uncle, Larry. Larry the dog still delights Melburnians, but where is the original Larry?

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Footnotes and Sources
(1) Echoes of art along the Walk by John Stevens. The Age, 15 August 1992, p. 2
(2) Street sculpture finally turns the corner by John Schauble. The Age, 31 July 1994, p. 5

Other references
Larry Latrobe City of Melbourne City Collection https://citycollection.melbourne.vic.gov.au/larry-latrobe/
Pamela Irving website https://www.pamelairving.com.au/
Viginia Trioli column in The Age, 18 September, 1996, p.17

Southgate Fountain by Robin Boyd

The Southgate Fountain, designed by Robin Boyd. was officially 'turned on' by the Governor of Victoria, Sir Dallas Brooks, on 1 November 1959. The fountain, reported to have cost £23,000 was given to the City of Melbourne by an anonymous donor, described as a man who has a great love of Melbourne and desires to see its advancement. 

Southgate Fountain. Photographer: Peter Wille.

State Library of Victoria Image H91.244/2775

The Age newspaper noted that - 

The water jets are automatically controlled. On a still day, time clock mechanisms cause the water to rise and fall in accordance with a regular, slow rhythm. As the wind rises, the higher jets are cut off until, in a gale, the curtains are reduced to a waterfall. The water falls into three cone-shaped bowls - the largest 60 feet in diameter, one below the other, on the sloping laws of Snowden Gardens.

Snowden Gardens were on the west side of Princes Bridge, on the south side of the Yarra River. The unveiling of  the fountain prompted the Chairman of the City Development Association, Mr R.F.G Fogarty to state that he hoped Melbourne would develop into  a 'City of Fountains'. Sadly, this fountain barely survived 25 years. In 1974, the City of Melbourne presented the Snowden Gardens to the State Government to build the Arts Centre Concert Hall (Hamer Hall). 

In December 1975, The Age  reported that the existing fountain in Snowden Gardens would be removed to the other side of the new plateau, beside the concert-hall complex of the centre. The three acre garden 'plateau' was to provide a pedestrian link from the Snowden Gardens to the Arts Centre. This work was expected to commence in March 1976 and this is the likely date that the fountain was dismantled and put into storage, awaiting re-erection on the new site, which never happened. Another Melbourne fountain - vanished. 

Southgate Fountain, c. 1960-1964. Photographer: Mark Strizic.

State Library of Victoria Image H2011.55/1880

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Sources

Council names City Fountain - The Age, 13 August 1959, p.5
Fountain turned on - The Age, 2 November 1959, p. 3.
Land for the People - The Age, 14 March, 1974, p. 14
Arts Centre will get Garden link by Richard Goodwin - The Age, 24 December, 1975, p. 3.
City of Melbourne City Collection has 12 photographs of the construction of Southgate Fountain https://citycollection.melbourne.vic.gov.au/

Anne Graham Fountain at the Southern Cross Hotel

One of the features of the Plaza at the Southern Cross Hotel in Melbourne was a fountain designed by Anne Graham.  The Age interviewed the artist in May 1962 and reported that the fountain was in the shape of two spiral boomerangs,  50 square yards in area and covered by 1/16th of an inch mosaic tiles in blues and greens. The fountain was constructed by a party of 40 artists, art teachers and students, under the supervision of Anne Graham.  The article also noted that she had studied the art of mosaics at workshops in Italy in 1960, under an Italian Government art scholarship. On her return, Anne had created two mosaics - one in High Street, Malvern of birds in flight and the other in Geelong of the Madonna and Child. 

Anne Marie Graham was born in Austria in 1925 and arrived in Australia with her family as a 13 year old. She studied at the National Gallery of Victoria and the George Bell School  and in the early 1960s lectured in Architecture at Melbourne University. In 2016, when she was 91, a retrospective of her paintings, Anne Marie Graham: A Survey 1956-2016, was held at the Without Pier Gallery in Melbourne.

The Southern Cross Hotel was opened on August 24, 1962 by the Prime Minister, Robert Menzies. It was built on the site of the old Eastern Market, on the corner of Bourke and Exhibition Streets. The Hotel was closed in April 1995 and completely demolished by 2003. 

What happened to the fountain? Presumably turned to rubble like the rest of the Hotel.

Anne Graham's fountain at the Southern Cross Hotel.

Southern Cross Hotel and Fountain at Dusk. Image: Melbourne in Full Color postcard booklet by Nucolorvue.

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Sources
Melbourne Artist is responsible for Mosaic in New Hotel - The Age, 1 May, 1962, p.8.

Art here is Individual - The Age, 1 December 1960, p.14.

People are Artist's Speciality by Maureen Bang - Australian Women's Weekly, May 14, 1969, p. 12, online here.
At 91, Melbourne artist Anne Marie Graham opens a retrospective by Hannah Francis - Sydney Morning Herald 5 August, 2016, online here 
Anne Marie Graham entry - Australian and New Zealand Art Sales Digest, here 

Harold Alexander Pavilion Signage, Middle Park

The Harold Alexander Pavilion at the Middle Park Life Saving Club was demolished in 2006. The sign, made up if individual orange letters, was removed and put into storage due to the intervention of David Brand, City of Phillip Councillor. David described it in 2006 as a sign of the time, which deserved a new home. The letters have now disappeared. Recently, when interviewed by Vanished Victoria, David said I was pretty pleased I’d saved them, in the face of general indifference. I felt very disappointed when they couldn't find them again.

The Harold Alexander Pavilion

Image: Victorian Heritage Database https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/13893

It's not just the loss of the letters, it is the fact that the Pavilion was named to honour and recognise the achievements of Harold Alexander (1902-1964), Town Clerk of the City of South Melbourne from 1936 until his death. Over ten years later, in 2017, the City of Port Phillip named the  forecourt in front of the Emerald Hill Library and Heritage Centre as Harold Alexander Forecourt. A report in the Port Phillip Leader in April 2017 noted Lettering used to adorn the former pavilion in Middle Park has been in storage since its demolition and council officers are confident it can be incorporated into the new forecourt design.

It was a wasted opportunity that the linking of the original memorial to Harold Alexander to the new memorial was not undertaken, with the result the original lettering has now disappeared.

David Brand, left, and fellow councillor Peter Logan, who also fought for the retention of the sign, 

with the letters in 2006.

Image: Divercity: the official newsletter of the City of Port Phillip, April/May 2006

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Sources

• Divercity: the official newsletter of the City of Port Phillip, April/May 2006
• City of Port Phillip Council Meeting Agenda, April 5, 2017, can be accessed here. This includes a short biography of the life and achievements of Harold Alexander.
• City of Port Phillip Council Meeting Minutes April 5, 2017, can be accessed here. 
• Port Phillip Leader, April 12, 2017, can be accessed here.

Edith Cavell bust, St Kilda

This delightful bust of Nurse Edith Cavell once graced the St Kilda Botanical Gardens in Blessington Street.

We have no information when and where it was originally installed, but in October 1986 it was restored and located in the Blessington Street Gardens. Less than seven years it was gone.

Nurse Edith Cavell bust, Blessington Street Gardens

Image: St Kilda Historical Society https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/603efb1a092fbbe37f3e9751

Plaque at the base of the plinth of the Nurse Cavell bust.

Image: St Kilda Historical Society https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/603efb1a092fbbe37f3e9751

An article by Jane Cafarella in The Age on August 18, 1993 on the subject of why there were so few public memorials to women, noted that the Edith Cavell bust in the Blessington Street gardens had been the  victim of vandals. 

The Edith Cavell bust vandalised.

The Age August 18, 1993

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Mooring rings, Elwood Canal

These wrought iron rings look to stem back to the Elwood Swamp Canal's 1889 construction through the lagoon, where not only reclamation was a goal, but securing safe anchorage for small vessels between Brighton and St Kilda was also an essential goal. 

One of the remaining mooring rings

 Image: © VanishedVictoria

The industrial scale of the Canal was primarily designed for navigational purposes, with an early proposal for a deep water lagoon for commercial vessels and barge transport.

'Tinnies' regularly moored in the Canal, though with the lowered height of the two 1967 Country Roads Board Marine Parade bridges, access became difficult. The new St. Kilda Marina nearby was also seen to provide alternative anchorage.

Only 11½  mooring rings remain out of the original 82.

1956: A low tide view of the Elwood Canal anchorage from Marine Parade

Image: Development of the Elster Creek Drainage System / 

 Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works, 1979.

 1976: High tide view from Marine Parade

Image: Development of the Elster Creek Drainage System / 

 Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works, 1979.

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Hazard signs at Elwood Canal footbridge

These two canal slip hazard signs at either end of the 1970s Elwood Canal mouth footbridge signalled a period where traversing the 'Chinese' or 'Rocking Bridge' was a risky venture, especially when joggers were on it. Often groups of joggers would veer over to the adjoining 'John Cribbes Footbridge' for bicycles only. 

These two safety signs were unique cartoon-like caricatures. They went missing about August 2021.

Up until the bridge's thorough overhaul in March 2022, crossing over it remained a risky proposal especially during frosty, wet or busy periods.

One of the missing signs

Image: © VanishedVictoria

The other missing sign and the bridge

Image: © VanishedVictoria

The bridge was known by some as the 'Chinese Bridge'  and separately by kids as the 'Rocking Bridge'. Chinese because of its traditional arched form, clearly seen in the photo below;  and rocking bridge (from rocking horse)  because it had a terrible swaying that kids enjoyed.

The bridge during refurbishment works, March 2022

Image: © VanishedVictoria

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St Bede's street sign in Elwood

Old street signs to discontinued destinations that remain in situ will continue to be markers of yesteryear, often suggestive of destinations gone by the wayside, and in some cases of bygone customs and culture. Other lamp post signs such as 'Hail Cars Here' denoted old tramway stops (1); while a 'War Savings Street' was an indication of local patriotic support (2). Even the round metal tags embedded in the actual timber pole and inscribed with two mysterious letters informed us of the type of tree by its common name. Old street signs are indeed intrinsic to the local flavour of neighbourhoods. They are little sentimental links that continue to bind us to our sense of place.

This street sign to St Bede's Church was on the corner of  Ormond Road and St Kilda Street in Elwood and went missing around April 2021. St Bede's Anglican Church, in Ormond Road, opened October 3, 1916; a hall, kindergarten and a tennis court were later added to the complex (3).  It was closed some years ago and is now apartments.

The missing sign to St Bede's Anglican Church, Elwood.

Image: © VanishedVictoria

Image: © VanishedVictoria

An example of the tag inscribed with BB denoting the type of timber a pole was constructed of. 

In this case  'BB' stands for Blackbutt a native eucalypt hardwood. 

Image: © VanishedVictoria

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Footnotes

(1) 'Hail cars here' sign  - the Melbourne Tram Museum has one of these signs in their collection, see here.

(2) 'War Saving Street' sign - these signs are part of the collection of the Kew Historical Society, see here and Monash History, see here.

(3) Cooper, John Butler The History of St Kilda from its first settlement to a city and after 1840 - 1930, v. 1 (St Kilda City Council, 1931), p. 342; There is a short history of the Church in Spirit of St Kilda: Places of worship in St Kilda by Janette Bomford (St Kilda Historical Society, 2003). Access it on-line here, http://skhs.org.au/SKHSchurches/churches.htm

Cast metal hitching post, South Melbourne

This cast metal horse hitching post, outside 295 Clarendon Street in South Melbourne, went 

missing in the 1980s. 

Since this was first posted an update has been provided by the Port Phillip Library Local History Librarian. In 1983, the restoration of the Emerald Hill Estate was undertaken  for the occasion of the 100th anniversary of South Melbourne becoming a City in September 1883. The verandas on the Emerald Hill Estate site were painted in brown and cream stripes, the fences were renewed and 

painted and they decided to put a whole lot of hitching posts around various places on the hill. 

By that time 1983, the only original post was the one in front of 295 Clarendon Street which was originally the Bank of Victoria.  This one was taken away and used as the cast for all the other 

ones that are now in the streets. Unfortunately the original was lost (probably mixed up with the copies). 

Hitching post in Clarendon Street, February 12, 1971.

Photographer: John T. Collins.

 J.T. Collins Collection, La Trobe Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria, Image  H98.251/835:

These hitching posts were once a common part of the streetscape, but as horse transport was replaced by motor cars, there was no longer any use for them, so they may have been gradually removed, or in some cases just disappeared. Even 70 years ago these posts were rare as Emerald Hill Record reported in July 1954 - 

The rare hitching post outside 295 Clarendon Street

Emerald Hill Record July 24, 1954 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article164507426

The now vanished hitching post outside 295 Clarendon Street, 1970/1974.

Photographer: Committee for Urban Action.

State Library of Victoria Image CUASM199/3-4 Image 5

Plaque and bronze lettering, Elwood Life Saving Club

Recently, the commemorative plaque and the bronze letters, John R. Conabere, on the Elwood Life Saving Club Pavilion were stolen. The building was dedicated on October 23, 2004 and was named in honour of John R. Conabere, O.B.E. All that remains are the letters, O.B.E.

The commemorative plaque and bronze letters in situ.

Image courtesy Elwood Life Saving Club

John Russell 'Jack' Conebere was a Life Member, Trustee and former President of the Club. The Elwood Surf Life Saving Club was established in 1911 and Mr Conabere was interviewed by The Age  newspaper in January 1988 and informed the reporter that Elwood was the first club to use the reel and line in rescues and also pioneered the the use of flotation devices, which replaced the reel and line. They were also the  the first club to use marine radio. The report continued with  Listeners to Radio 3KZ were still informed by Elwood life savers about conditions on the Bay, a service started by Mr Conebere in 1956 (1). 

Jack Conabere received his O.B.E in the Queen's Birthday awards in June 1969 in recognition of service to life saving. He passed away January 8, 1989 at the age of 68 (2).

A tribute from the City of St Kilda to Jack Conabere.

The Age January 12, 1989

It seems a shame that a man who devoted so much of his life to keeping the beach at Elwood safe for the thousands of visitors every year, should be treated with such  a lack of respect by the thieves.

Elwood Life Saving Club.

Image: © VanishedVictoria

The wall where the plaque and lettering once was.

Image: © VanishedVictoria

The letters O.B.E are all that remain.

Image: © VanishedVictoria

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Footnotes

(1) Tuohy, Wendy Around the Bay: Elwood published in The Age January 7, 1988. p. 10.

(2) Australian Honours database https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/search; Death notice in The Age January 10, 1989.

Quarantine Station plaque, Point Ormond

There is a cairn on Point Ormond, Elwood which marks the site of Victoria's first quarantine station.  The quarantine station was established on April 24, 1840 when the ship, the Glen Huntley arrived, flying  the yellow quarantine flag. The cairn was unveiled in November 1985, a project of the St Kilda Historical Society and the Elwood Lions Club. Unfortunately the top plaque has recently disappeared. The lower plaque, which commemorates the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the Glen Huntley  is still there.

The missing plaque

Image: © VanishedVictoria

The cairn complete with both plaques, photographed in 2019

Image: © VanishedVictoria

The cairn in May 2022

Image: © VanishedVictoria

In good news, in September 2023 the City of Port Phillip replaced the missing plaque.

The cairn with the replacement plaque

Image: © VanishedVictoria, September 2023

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Ornamental bird bath, St Kilda

Image: © VanishedVictoria

This plinth is all that remains of  an ornamental bird bath (also called a bird fountain) presented by Victor Miller to the City of St Kilda for the St Kilda Botanical Gardens in Blessington Street on April 14, 1928.

The bird bath donated by Victor Miller and the Aviary, at the Botanical Gardens.

Image: St Kilda Botanical Gardens: a social snapshot of its first hundred years (1)

The presentation ceremony was reported in the Prahran Telegraph of April 20, 1928 -
Last Saturday afternoon a pleasant little ceremony took place at the Blessington Street Gardens. Mr. Victor Miller, an enthusiastic member of the Field Naturalists' Club, presented to the council an ornamental bird fountain which has been erected in the gardens. Members of the club - numbering about 40 - assembled, and after the formal presentation, the Mayor (Cr. F. L. Dawkins, J.P.), thanked Mr. Miller for his generous donation. The Mayoress (Mrs. Dawkins) then filled the fountain. Mr. Miller, expressing admiration of the fine aviary in the gardens, then offered to subscribe £10 towards the extension of same. The Mayor promised to bring the matter under the notice of the council. 

Members of the club then proceeded to plant a number of Australian trees in a specially prepared
bed and in other parts of the gardens. These trees were also donated by Mr. Miller. The Mayoress planted the first tree, a Gippsland Lillipilli, and this was followed by the Mayor planting a Kanuka. Various councillors then followed suit, and altogether quite a pleasant afternoon was spent. The Mayor and Mayoress then invited the president, Mr. Pescott, and members to afternoon tea at the Town Hall, where other speeches were made, and thus terminated a very enjoyable afternoon. Mr. Dickens, of the Horticultural Society, promised to plant a plot in the gardens at a later date. (2)

Victor Henry Miller was born at 84 High Street, St Kilda on November 8, 1875 the ninth child of  Jacob and Catherine (nee Streeting) Miller. Jacob was a cabinet maker, furniture dealer and a St Kilda Councillor. Victor was a member of, and also served as President of, the Horticultural Society of Victoria, the Field Naturalists' Club and the Bird Observers' Club and was an executive of the Historical Society of Victoria. He died July 4, 1974 (3).  The aviary mentioned in the article had been presented by Mrs Dawkins in 1926. 

What has become of Victor Miller's ornamental bird bath?

The plinth remains in the Blessington Street Gardens.

Image: © VanishedVictoria

Image: © VanishedVictoria

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Footnotes

(1) St Kilda Botanical Gardens: a social snapshot of its first hundred years by Patricia Convery 

(St Kilda Botanical Gardens, 2014) The source of the image, as listed in the book, is City of Port Phillip Archive. 

(2) Prahran Telegraph of April 20, 1928, here. 

(3) Biographical information - Birth certificate; The Herald, June 27, 1935, here and Walks in Port Phillip:  a guide by Meyer Eidelson, here.