Sunday 4 May 2025
Elster Creek and Point Ormond, Elwood
Members joined local historian and author Isaac Hermann for a walk exploring the history of Elster Creek, Point Ormond and the surrounding area.
Following the route of the creek, the walk examined many of the locations and stories that have shaped the area's history, including the "Slaughterhouse Road", the abattoirs, the rifle butt, the coal mine, the quarantine ground, the Glen Huntly graves and Little Red Bluff.
Along the way, members explored the true course of Elster Creek, the challenges associated with the canal, the flooding of "Ellwood", the failure of the Street Railway, the fall of Red Bluff and the fall of Tommy Bent. Through these stories, the walk highlighted the environmental, social and industrial history of one of Melbourne's most historically significant landscapes.
Guide
Isaac Hermann is an Elwood local historian and author who has frequented Point Ormond and Elster Creek for almost six decades, appreciating its landscape and, more recently, researching and sharing its rich and diverse stories.
Isaac is the author of Kingsley: Our House & Home: A History of the Elwood and St Kilda Neighbourhood Centre and A Labour of Love: The Public Works of Carlo Catani, Victoria 1876-1918. He is also co-author, with Heather Arnold, of Enchanted Beneath the Bluff: Agnes and Geraldine's Pursuit of Elwood's Elusive Black Diamonds.
Drawing on his extensive knowledge of local history, Isaac provided members with an engaging exploration of the people, places and events that have shaped Elwood, Point Ormond and Elster Creek over time.