James Francis McHale, better known as Jock, remains the most successful coach in the history of the VFL/AFL competition. He coached Collingwood for 38 years (1913-1950) in which time the Club won eight premierships – 1917, 1919, 1927-30, 1935-36. To Collingwood supporters he is still considered the ‘Prince of Coaches’. Over the years his fame as a coach  reached legendary status as his love of the Club rubbed off on his players who were ready to ‘run through walls’ for Club and coach. He inspired his teams with an insatiable desire to win. He coached the famous ‘machine’ which won four premierships in a row.

Scottish-born Daniel McKenzie was the incumbent of St George’s Presbyterian Church in Wellington Street Collingwood for 26 years and resided with his wife Helen and family at The Manse in Gold Street Clifton Hill.  On first arriving in Australia he took up the ministry at the United Presbyterian Church in Geelong in 1868; during this time the United Presbyterian Church became incorporated with the Presbyterian Church of Victoria. He then went to Footscray in 1872, until in 1878 the congregation of St George’s requested him as their preferred minister.

Towards the end of 1880 Melbourne residents were busy anticipating the greatest spectacle their city had yet experienced: the opening of the Melbourne International Exhibition. Cargoes had been arriving from all parts of the world and a grand exhibition hall was under construction. For the opening ceremony the exhibition commissioners specially commissioned a 'solemnly versed and composed cantata'. Public competitions, open to entrants from all the colonies, were held for both the lyrics and musical score. John Meaden, a draper and temperance lecturer from Collingwood, won first prize and 50 guineas for his composition Victoria in which the colony's 'dismal Past' is contrasted with its 'glorious Present’.

Throughout her life Marion Miller was an ‘active citizen’, but especially in her later years as a Clifton Hill resident and Collingwood Councillor. She believed in the importance of democratic local government and took representing the individuals in her ward seriously. Her contributions included initiating the Collingwood Residents Association and working for the establishment of the Carringbush Library. It was for her contribution to the community and as a councillor that she received the Australian Centenary Medal posthumously on 9 April 2003.

Rees Miller established his hay and corn store on the corner of Wellington and Gipps Street as early as 1861; his eldest son William Rees Miller eventually went into partnership with him, and continued the business after his father’s death.

Joseph Moody, one of Melbourne's leading freemasons, was the first town clerk of the fledgling East Collingwood Council. He had arrived in Victoria in December 1852 with his wife and four children, having left his home in Cheshire, England. In Melbourne he was soon active in various companies. He was appointed town clerk shortly after Council was established late in 1855, received a salary of £200 per annum and served for five years. 

Sir Francis Murphy was a well-known member of parliament for over twenty years, lived in Abbotsford for over a decade, and was chairman of the first Collingwood Council.

James Nation became one of Victoria’s most well-known nineteenth century builders and contractors, establishing the company Nation and Co in which he was joined by son Alfred. Later they branched out into the distilling and brewing business when they bought Aitken’s Northumberland Distillery and the Victoria Parade Brewery. This venture turned out to be a disaster, with headlines such as ‘Speculator loses £150,000’, but Nation’s bricks and mortar legacy can still be seen in many Victorian buildings. Among his noteworthy local buildings which remain to this day are the Fitzroy Town Hall (1873), Floraston at 39 Victoria Parade and the Children’s Church, Harmsworth Street, Collingwood.

Yorkshireman Peter Nettleton arrived in Australia in 1849, having worked in the woollen cloth trade, and commenced work as a fellmonger and wool scourer in Melbourne in partnership with a Mr Mills. On discovery of gold he visited the Ballarat, Bendigo and Mt Alexander goldfields and was highly successful as a digger. Returning to Melbourne, he set up his own fellmonger’s business by the Yarra River in Abbotsford towards the end of 1852. He had married Mary Ann Hill in March of that year, and the couple would remain on the property until their deaths in 1901 and 1903. Buildings on this property are a remarkable and rare survival of an early Collingwood industry.

E B Norton spent only a short time in Melbourne but made his mark in farming, land-owning and subdivision of Yarra Grange on the banks of the Yarra in Abbotsford. The youngest son of the Reverend Eardley Norton, rector of Blythburgh cum Walberswick in Suffolk, he was farming at Elsternwick or East St Kilda shortly after arriving in Melbourne.

Richard Norton was a respected and well-known member of Collingwood society, despite his origins. A chair maker in London, he was convicted of theft in 1831, sentenced to transportation, and arrived in NSW on 22 July 1832. Obtaining his Certificate of Freedom in 1839, he had arrived in Melbourne by 1844 when his third child was born. He eventually married his children’s mother, Ann Laing, in 1849 and the couple added to their family until Ann’s death in 1860.

To John Orr goes the honour of originating the name Abbotsford for the eastern section of Collingwood. In the 1840s he acquired an extensive landholding near the Yarra River and built Abbotsford House, assumed to have been named after the home of the popular Scottish novelist Walter Scott. When Orr began subdividing his property in the 1850s, the allotments were referred to as ‘The Abbotsford Estate’, or ‘The New Town of Abbotsford’ and this name was later assigned firstly to the electoral division and eventually to the whole of the area of Collingwood east of Hoddle Street. A nineteenth century photograph shows his house as a substantial gentleman’s dwelling with a veranda on three sides and a well-stocked garden running down to the Yarra. Within a few years he would die a hopeless alcoholic, living out his last days in a small hotel room.

James Page was a Scottish immigrant who spent most of his adult life in Collingwood and was an active member of local society as a plumber, hotelkeeper, lodge member, councillor, and Justice of the Peace. He acquired a number of properties in Johnston Street and surrounds, and raised a large family. Page Street in Clifton Hill was named in his honour.

In the late 1890s a little Tasmanian girl named Florence Carmel Parker but known as Rieke arrived to stay at The Steyne in St Heliers Street Abbotsford. She was bedridden due to a back injury and had come to be treated by Josephine McCormick, a gymnast and talented physical therapist who specialised in such cases. Eventually cured, Rieke would go on to become a noted pianist and remained living at The Steyne until the 1950s. 

Soon after arriving in Melbourne in 1857 Thomas Pearce set up a timber yard and factory in Fitzroy with his cousin, John Stone. Eventually he established a business on the corner of Victoria Street and Church Street Abbotsford, which was to remain in the family until 1957 and continue to use the name Pearce until late in the twentieth century.

In the 1870s William Peatt started a Collingwood boot making business which would be run by three generations of William Peatts and was still operating in the 1950s. The Peatt buildings remain standing in Langridge and Wellington streets.

Flora Pell was the first head mistress of the Collingwood School of Domestic Economy; and author of Our Cookery Bookwhich was so popular that it went into at least 24 editions. But don’t imagine her as a mild domestic woman, quietly teaching the girls of Collingwood to peel potatoes, mend their garments, and boil eggs. Articles about her blaze with headings such as “Flora Pell and her turbulent career”, “Australia’s first domestic goddess” and “The turbulent history of Our Cookery Book”.  A photo of her taken around 1906, which displays an eager expression, the hint of an impudent smile, and an impressive Edwardian hairdo, indicates a young woman who is going places. 

Born in Somerset in 1847, Edward Petherick was the eldest son of well-known Collingwood identity Peter Petherick who was a hotelkeeper, rate collector and councillor. Edward was to become a noted bibliographer and the foremost authority on Australiana; he eventually transferred his extensive personal book collection to the Federal government in return for an annuity and the position of archivist. He is also known as a founding member of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria.

Petherick was a son of well-known Collingwood identity Peter Petherick, who was variously hotelkeeper, councillor and rate collector. Harold was reputed to be a clever boy, matriculating at fourteen, and passing his law examinations with distinction.  In the 1880s he assisted his elder brother Edward, the noted authority on Australiana, with the compilation of a substantial bibliography of colonial works.

Pitt commenced practice as an architect in 1879 and quickly achieved success. His most prolific years coincided with the boom period in Melbourne and his designs remain a testament to the confident exuberance of the period. Much of the west end of Collins Street owes its distinction to his buildings such as the Rialto, the Olderfleet and Pitt’s Buildings. His re-design of the Princess Theatre was one of his great achievements.

David Provan was a carpenter and joiner, following in his father’s footsteps, and then went on to found two timber merchant businesses – Mulready, Provan & Clarke in 1903 and David Provan & Sons in 1923. An enterprising and resourceful man, his single-minded determination and sheer hard work assured success. He valued loyalty and pride in workmanship and this comes through in company advertisements of that time “Quotations with pleasure, large or small orders promptly executed, first class materials and workmanship”.

Samuel Ramsden had a straightforward, plain speaking manner and used his skills to take full advantage of all the opportunities that the new colony of Victoria had to offer to rise from a humble station in life to one of wealth and position.

Canadian-born U.S. citizen George Raymond set up in business as a bespoke boot and shoemaker in Smith Street. In the 1870s he advertised himself in the local paper as a ‘Fashionable Boot and Shoe Maker’:

Plain and fancy goods made to order on shortest notice. Fit guaranteed. Lasts
draughted with care and skill to meet the requirements of all feet. Repairs done.

Percy Rendle was the founder of Rendle and Sons, a furniture warehouse in Smith Street Collingwood which continued operating for about 70 years. It was advertised as ‘Complete House Furnishers’ and stocked ‘furniture, oilcloths, linoleums, carpets, crockery, ironmongery &c.’ In the late 19th and early 20th century Smith Street was an important shopping centre for drapers and furniture stores and Rendle rightly judged that the market was ready for another retail emporium, especially one that offered the popular option of time payment.

Collingwood born and bred Lou Richards was an Australian icon - often described as a multi-media megastar - loved and respected for his football prowess but even more widely for his football commentary and good-natured antics in print, radio and television. On his death in 2017 he was honoured with a State Funeral at a packed St Paul’s Cathedral to celebrate his life. In its tribute the Victorian Government stated ‘his reach transcended his time as a player … and he went on to represent the sport through his enduring and distinguished career within the media'.