Category: History

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St Phillip’s Vicarage on Hoddle St

According to the Collingwood History Trail notes prepared by the Collingwood Historical Society in 1976 for the Centenary Celebrations of the City of Collingwood,  the church was demolished in 1968 because of lack of finance to repair the deteriorated building, despite a strong request for its preservation by the Natinoal Trust. The Society goes on:

‘The vicarage was built in 1866 in the same style as the church. It is little changed on the exterior, except for the demolition of hte single-storeykitchen wing at the back and the unfortunate addition of a luandry block in the 1950’s. The interior woodwork is intactand so are some of the pressed metal ceilings. It was deesigned to look into a garde which was originally laid out by patients of the Yarra Bend Asylum.’

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Collingwood and Northcote Historical Societies; the history of local pubs

The Collingwood Historical Society now has a website. It is fairly minimalist for the time being, but no doubt it will grow. Their main event from the public’s point of view is the annual history walk, which I lamented missing last year.  I discovered that there is an out of print book published by them, “Hotels of Collingwood”, which I must get a copy of: anyone want to lend me one? Though I must confess I still haven’t exactly read cover to cover J.M. Freeland’s The Australian Pub or Larkins and Muir’s Victorian Country Pubs or Griffin’s John Wren; A Life Reconsidered or Dr Kovesi’s book about the Abbotsford Convent’s Sisters of the Good Shepherd, Pitch Your Tents on Distant Shores.

Then I found the Darebin Historical Society’s website, which has a fair bit of stuff on it, including this little pamphlet on the earliest hotels in Darebin. And the pictured book seems to be in print and for sale for a mere $9.90.

The Collingwood Historical Society has put up 6 historical plaques, including this one on the front of what used to be the tobacconist which was the front for John Wren’s Tote in Johnston St.

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Catholic Church burns down in Collingwood

146 year old St Joseph’s burnt down yesterday morning. The alarm was raised around 6.30 a.m. when it was observed that the roof was on fire. I actually heard on the radio that the church was alight while I lay in bed. A more dedicated Abbotsford blogger would have leapt out of bed with digital point and shoot in hand and photographed the flames, which were up to 35 feet high. Here instead is David Schwarz’s excellent image from today’s Age. The Church had a large Vietnamese contingent amongst its parishoners. It seems likely that it will have to be demolished. Just before Easter too. Anyone got any stories about the place which deserve to be shared?