The Collingwood History Plaques Project

The Collingwood Historical Society, with the support of the City of Yarra and Heritage Victoria, has installed 12 plaques to mark local buildings of significance and allow passers-by to share a new layer of awareness and appreciation of the history of their community…

The sites relate to the industrial heritage of the area and represent the first two stages of an ongoing project to inform the community about the historic importance of Collingwood in the development of Melbourne (and Victoria). The information on each plaque is necessarily brief, so for each site additional information, including the address, has been prepared and can be viewed via the links below. This information was originally on the City of Yarra site and is reproduced with permission. Note that the 12 plaques were installed in 2006 and 2007 and the notes were written at that time. There have been significant changes to some sites in the meantime. In particular:

The Doll’s House has been moved a short distance and is now on the Collingwood College grounds opposite the end of Islington Street.

The Yorkshire Brewery site has undergone a major high-rise development, and the brew tower has been extensively restored.

The former Kodak building is no longer the headquarters of Fosters Australia.

The plaque sites (HV indicates that the plaque was placed by Heritage Victoria – all others were placed by City of Yarra) are:

Collingwood

• John Wren’s Tote, 148 Johnston Street, Collingwood
• Doll’s House, Collingwood College Grounds, corner Cromwell Street and McCutcheon Way, Collingwood (HV)
• Foy & Gibson factories, 170 Oxford Street and 7 Stanley Street, Collingwood (HV)
• Yorkshire Brewery, 1-21 Robert Street (88 Wellington Street), Collingwood (HV)

Abbotsford

• Denton Hat Mills, 48-60 Nicholson Street, Abbotsford (HV)
• The Kodak factory, 4 Southampton Crescent, Abbotsford
• Alma Wool Scouring Works, 663 Victoria Street, Abbotsford
• Former Yarra Falls Mills, 8 Trenerry Crescent, Abbotsford

Clifton Hill

• Gold Street Primary School, Clifton Hill, No. 1630, Page Street, Clifton Hill (HV)
• Organ Factory, 6-10 Page Street, Clifton Hill
• Trueform boot factory, 43 Groom Street, Clifton Hill
• Shot Tower, 94 Alexandra Pde, Clifton Hill (HV)

Below is a link to the locations of the plaques on Google Maps. Click on the markers for the address of each plaque or use the link to the larger Google Map to see a street view of the location.