Share your stories, photos and videos

Check out the themes and timeline for inspiration and contribute to the memory wall below to help build a rich understanding of our local history.

Historical themes

This review of our past will be presented in themes or categories.
Scroll through these themes below for ideas around the insights we are keen to discover.

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  • Places in Bayside

    Do you have a special connection to one of our local beaches?

    Do you have stories about particular buildings or parks and gardens in Bayside?

    Do you have photos or stories of a great catch off a local pier or jetty?

  • Life in Bayside

    What do you recall about the social life of Bayside in earlier times? Any particular clubs or organisations you remember?

    Were there key shops or family-owned businesses that everyone knew and used?

    Do you recall the opening of Italian, Greek or Chinese restaurants which were perceived as very exotic but become local institutions?

  • People of Bayside

    Do you have memories of key people in Bayside who everyone in the neighbourhood loved and admired?

    Tell us about your memories of the women in your neighbourhood who organised events or set up programs to support those in need.

    Share your memories of someone who received Australia Day or Queen’s Birthday honours for their community contributions.

  • Events in Bayside

    Do you remember any special community events?

    Do you have stories or photos from the 1956 Olympic sailing events at Sandringham and Brighton?

    Were you part of the early Keep Australia Beautiful events with Dame Phyllis Frost?

  • Streets in Bayside

    Do you know anything about the history of the street where you live or where you grew up?

    Was there an event that occurred on your street?

    Do you remember a different time where the street had different looking houses or a significant person live there?

  • Transport in Bayside

    Do you remember the trams from Sandringham station?

    Do you recall the railway crossing gatekeepers at New Street until 2007 or even at Abbott or Hampton Streets before automation in 1960s?

    Today we have EV chargers but where were the early refuelling spots - the horse troughs - located in Bayside?

  • Sport in Bayside

    Were you part of a local sports club in Bayside?

    Was this a place where lifelong friendships were formed?

    Do you recall young local stars, like Trevor Barker or Shane Warne in their younger years?

  • Before it was updated, transformed or removed

    Do you remember or have photos of places as they once were before they underwent upgrades or redevelopments?

    What do you recall about places like the Dendy Theatre before any of its transformations?

    Perhaps you have memories of elements of Bayside in the 20th century that have been removed?

A Bayside timeline

Click the icon for more information

The Kulin Nation 50,000 years; Dendy's Special Survey 1841; Municipality of Brighton 1859; Rail extended to Sandringham 1887; City of Sandringham 1923; Post war boom 1946; Amalgamation 1994

About this project

Why Council is calling for contributions

Celebrating our history is a vital function of local councils.

We have four key responsibilities**

  • Knowing: gathering information on key places, people and events that shaped the community
  • Protecting: developing and implementing policies and procedures around these influences
  • Supporting: providing assistance and advice to help recognise and conserve this history
  • Communicating and promoting: raising awareness and appreciation of the heritage of the area.

Over the next few months we’re focussed on knowing more of our history and we’re calling for community contributions to help expand our understanding of Bayside’s past. Who were the people, what events and activities, and which places played important roles in shaping the Bayside we know and love today?

** Recommendation from Victoria’s Municipal Heritage Strategies: A guide for Councils (October 2012), as quoted in Bayside Heritage Action Plan 2025

Why we need community insights

Whether its information about a key local event, knowledge about a certain development period, memories of community gatherings or regular events on the local calendar, your recollections could help bridge the knowledge gap in our vibrant history.

We also know that influencers existed long before Instagram and TikTok. Do you remember any community leaders or local identities who touched the lives of many around them? Let’s collect our memories to recognise and celebrate the legacy of these people.

Everyone's perspective is unique and we are keen to hear from past and present residents and friends of Bayside, from those who

  • have always lived in Bayside
  • grew up in Bayside
  • spent summers here with family and friends
  • worked in local and family business in Bayside
  • are the holders of stories and photos of life in Bayside in 19th and 20th centuries

Your contributions, together with insights gathered from special interest groups, historical societies and Indigenous community leaders, will help update our Thematic Environmental History (TEH). This important document outlines the significance of era, architecture, landscapes, monuments, people, events and/or places in history relevant across Bayside. It is a key component of our heritage strategy.

We're particularly interested in increasing our knowledge around the:

  • inter-war development period (1920s and 1930s)
  • women and their roles and contributions to shaping Bayside
  • migrant communities and the cultural dimensions they introduced

The existing thematic history can be found amongst Council's heritage documents.

Frequently Asked Questions

Get in touch

Project timeline

Revising Bayside's Thematic Environmental History (TEH)

  • Timeline item 1 - active

    Consultation with key stakeholder groups begins

    November 2025

  • Timeline item 2 - active

    Call for community stories, photos and videos opens

    24 November 2025

  • Timeline item 3 - incomplete

    Deadline for contributions to be considered in draft TEH

    18 January 2026

  • Timeline item 4 - incomplete

    Targeted consultation on the draft TEH sought

    Early - mid 2026

  • Timeline item 5 - incomplete

    Proposed TEH finalised after community feedback reviewed

    Mid 2026

  • Timeline item 6 - incomplete

    New TEH presented to Council for consideration

    Mid 2026

Photo credits

  • Red Cross Fete 1917

    Photo credit: Brighton Historical Society

  • Half Moon Bay 1970s

    Photo credit: Bayside Library Service (Picture Victoria website)

  • Hemsley’s grocery store c.1940

    Grocer Horace Hemsley in his shop on New Street, Brighton, speaking to a delivery boy around 1940

    Photo credit: Sandringham and District Historical Society

  • Bent family 1930s

    Former Brighton Councillor and Premier of Victoria Thomas Bent dressed in regalia with Elizabeth Beaszby and granddaughter Nancy

    Photo credit: Brighton Historical Society

  • Keep Australia Beautiful event 1987

    Children collecting rubbish in 1987 from around Sandringham including bottles and cans.

    Photo source: Sandringham and District Historical Society donated by photographer Pauline Reynolds.

  • Kuring-Gai 1925

    This"influential Californian Bungalow" was the cover image for Australian Home Beautiful magazine 1925 & 1965

    As shown on National Trust blog site: trustadvocate.org.au

  • Sandringham tram 1950s

    Film from 1950s of tram from Station St to Black Rock

    Photo credit: Sandringham and District Historical Society

  • Sandringham Football Club 1947

    Sandringham Football Club Team taken with the club's first premiership banner won in 1946.

    Photo credit: Sandringham and District Historical Society

  • Dendy Theatre 1943

    The Dendy Theatre opened in 1940.

    Photo credit: Harold Paynting Collection, State Library of Victoria.