Mr "Plum" GarlandPrint Page

The playground was established in 1952 to commemorate Mr. "Plum"  Garland, former barman at the Bleak House Hotel, who took a great interest in the welfare of the children of the District and the community.

The playground has been redeveloped several times. 

The opening of the Plum Garland Memorial Playground on the foreshore at South Melbourne on Saturday morning by the Mayor of South Melbourne (Cr. G. F. Dwyer) is an excellent example of what can be achieved by community effort. The site was made available by the South Melbourne Foreshore Committee and the Council; the Community Chest equipped the ground, and the Memorial Fund, started by friends of the late Mr "Plum" Garland, will assist the financing of the cost of the equipment.

The late Mr "Plum" Garland was for many years barman at Bleak House Hotel. He took a great interest in the welfare of children in the district, and in all phases of community life. When he died, his friends and his employers started a fund to build a lasting memorial to him, and it was decided that a playground for children would be the perfect choice. The playground now stands opposite the hotel where he worked for so many years. There are swings and rockers, and later there will be shelter sheds and drinking fountains. It is proposed that these shelters will perpetuate the memory of the late Mr Bill Reilly, the late Mr Wally Lovett, and the late Mr Tom Gilbert, all of whom were ardent workers for the Memorial Fund.
Weekly Times (Melbourne), 20 August 1952.

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Dedication