Kingston Local History

Discover information and stories about the City of Kingston

Highett General Store and Newsagency, Reynolds & Company, opposite Highett railway station. Shows truck from Llewellyn Bros Carrier and loaded horse wagon. People in photograph unknown.
Courtesy: John Brooks. View photo

Students from Mentone Grammar School watch Mr R Chatterton operate a linotype machine at Standard Newspapers, 1964.
Courtesy: Leader Collection, City of Kingston. View photo

Christ Church, Anglican Church, Dingley from land originally owned by Mary Attenborough and given to the church on her death. Crop of Dutch carrots. Land worked by Mitchell Bros at this time and originally used as a horse paddock.
Source: Jean Mitchell. View photo

Cheltenham State School, Charman Road. Old students under pine trees with school buildings in background, 1936.
Source: City of Moorabbin Historical Society. View photo

Scroll down

Latest updates

Fighting for a Library at Chelsea

It took twenty-five years and the determination of people like Cr Nola Barber to gain a library for the municipality of Chelsea. Several of her colleagues had other priorities for the expenditure of council funds. Many residents were concerned with the expense and likely rate rises they faced with the planned connection to the sewerage scheme. They asked, ‘where would they find the extra money for a library?’ Persistence of the pro-library group paid off and Chelsea joined with Mordialloc municipality to provide a regional library service, building a library in Bath Street, Chelsea.

Recollections of Robins Stores Mentone

Geoff Stratford, author of Robins Store in Mentone, has fond memories of playing in its storerooms and the people who worked at the store. He recalls features of the old grocery shop which sharply contrast with shopping at the big supermarket stores today. Do you recall the broken biscuit tin, the self-service honey container, the stacking of shelves with heavy canned items on the lower levels, home delivery and the grocer behind the counter waiting to serve you dressed in a long white apron? There is much more here to stir the memory of how it was more than fifty years ago.