Tag: Westgate Park

Look Back to Port Melbourne in the 1990s

by Russell Jenkins, posted in Uncategorized

Australian Hobby

Westgate Park, Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

1990s
I believe Westgate Park celebrated its 30th birthday today. Congratulations! It really is a wonderful place so near to the Melbourne CBD.

Here are some quick scans of pics from the 90s. Gee, I think my camera gear has come a long way. I have heaps more photos from Port Melbourne but where they are and how much time to scan them is a wonder. 

The Jewel

by Russell Jenkins, posted in Uncategorized

Australian Hobby

Westgate Park, Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

March 1994
This is another old photograph taken at Westgate Park, Port Melbourne in 1994. It was taken with my Pentax K1000 and a Takumar 400mm 5.6 lens with an added Kenko 2x teleconverter and print film.
I bought the Takumar lens at a camera store in Melbourne for $129. It rattled a lot and the front element was loose. Of course it was all manual and the aperture ring didn’t work. The photo was taken hand-held and I had to stomp on the ground to get the hobby to look at me.
I visited the park almost everyday and I think the hobby was used to me pointing my camera at it. I saw the same birds there most days.
In his book, “Eagles, Hawks and Falcons of Australia”, David Hollands says “If there is a jewel among the Australian hawks it is the hobby”. 
There are some remarkable raptors in Australia but I wouldn’t argue with Dr Hollands. I love hobbies.

Guardians of Westgate Park

by Russell Jenkins, posted in Uncategorized

Brown Falcon

launching from a stone sculpture with the

Westgate Bridge in the background.

Westgate Park, Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

1990s

Here are some photos from the Kodak Photo CD made on May 13, 1999. All these shots were at Westgate Park, Port Melbourne in the 1990s. I don’t know why I wanted these scanned. I think they had landmarks. I often visited the park in the 1990s as it was the best place to find raptors near the Melbourne CBD. 

I have many nice memories and loads of negatives and slides. Nothing worth hanging on the wall but I think I have some nice historical records for the end of the century. 

Apart from these pictures I also remember photographing a Spotted Harrier having a dogfight with a Whistling Kite in the middle of a 45C day. Who in their right mind would be out birding then?

I also had a close encounter with a young Black Falcon cutting through the park (winter). Well out of its recorded area but I’d been photographing them a week earlier in Queensland and felt they were following me around.

I watched a Nankeen Kestrel grab an Indian Myna in flight and the two cart-wheeled to the ground. I got two shots of it. It would be nice to find them. The birds disappeared behind a hedge in a business property next to the park so I couldn’t go in. Neither bird appeared again, leaving me to imagine the outcome.

Other raptors included, Australian Hobby (regular), Brown Goshawk – I watched being chased away by a team of Black-shouldered Kite and Peregrine Falcon (on one occasion), Collared Sparrowhawk, and Swamp Harrier. 

Pretty cool for a major urban environment!

Little Eagle

Fox

and

Australian White Ibis