Our annual History Walk was held on Saturday 10 November.
This year's history walk focused on the industrial heritage of Abbotsford. We were very pleased that Matthew Churchward, a Senior Curator at the Museum of Victoria, agreed to lead the walk and give us the benefit of his extensive knowledge of technology and industrial history. Sites visited included the former Kodak buildings in Southampton Crescent, where we heard about the innovative Thomas Baker setting up the Austral Laboratory in the grounds of his house Yarra Grange and going into partnership with Eastman Kodak; Bates Cocoa Mill established in a former Common School; the former Denton Hat Mill, the first steam-friven hat mill in Australia; the building in Gipps Street where the Cyclone Woven Wire Fence Company manufactured the decorative and practical fences and gates which had such an influence on the appearance of our suburbs in the early part of the twentieth century; and the Yarra Falls weaving mills in Johnston St and Trenerry Crescent. We finished with an inspection of the locally-manufactured bread ovens at the former Convent of the Good Shepherd bakery.
