Notice of AGM 2023 - 27 August 2023
4:00 – 4:45pm
St Kilda Army and Navy Club, 88 Acland Street, St Kilda (upstairs)
As a member of the St Kilda Historical Society, you are invited to attend this year’s Annual General Meeting. The business of the meeting is to present the Annual Report including the annual Financial Statements and to elect the Committee of Management. Nominations of candidates for election as officers of the Association or as ordinary members of the committee will need to be made in writing and delivered to the Association by 22 August (seven days before the meeting). It won’t be possible to nominate from the floor. To download a nomination form, click here. Your completed nomination form can be emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or posted to PO Box 177, Balaclava 3183.
Please note that only financial members are able to vote and/or seek nomination for election to the Committee of Management. Membership renewal was due by 1 July. You can renew your membership by clicking here.
Proxy
Members unable to attend can appoint a proxy, who must also be a member of the Society. The proxy form, which can be downloaded here, must be sent to theThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. no later than 24 hours before the time of the AGM.
Kindly note that any one member can represent no more than three proxies.
Documents
Driven by a push for zero rate increases, Council has taken a red pen to its Cultural Development Fund. In February 2023, it recommended the $187,000 fund pool for cultural projects be reduced to just $100,000. More cuts to community and arts programs are expected in the next budget round.
The small project grants distributed via Cultural Development Fund create enormous opportunities for artists and organisations to generate arts, cultural and heritage activities in our neighbourhoods and precincts. Their loss will be felt deeply.
St Kilda Historical Society contribution
The St Kilda Historical Society regularly auspices story-telling projects about the diverse history of St Kilda. Our volunteers share their knowledge and time to help with the grant application, provide mentoring throughout the project, inject additional funding as needed, and promote the work when finished. Recent projects include Janine Burke’s 2020 Mirka Mora Seaside Angel essay and Remembering Mirka interviews, the podcast series Unplugged in St Kilda, recorded by Sally Moore in 2021/22, and a book by Carmel McKenzie, to be published in June 2023, that provides new insights into St Kilda’s 19th century social classes: St Kilda 1841-1900: Movers, Shakers and Money-makers.
Another Society auspice, Marianne Latham’s documentary The Posh and the Riff Raff, was among the 18 successful Cultural Development Fund projects awarded $12,000 or less in 2022/23. Marianne’s project, to be completed this year, will tell St Kilda’s rich history through the lens of a variety of voices; including historians, former councillors, residents, Gay archivists, activists, social workers, and artists.
For the next round, this modest pool of funds will reduce to $100,000, effectively halving the number of community cultural projects in the City of Port Phillip. We are losing our ability to pass on our stories to future generations.
Why the funding cut?
The cuts come as Council looks for ongoing savings that will enable it reduce future rate increases, eventually freezing rate increases altogether. The extensive and exhaustive, months long review, costing $70,000, involved a detailed investigation by councillors into 28 council service areas. In the end, they were unable to agree on any meaningful cuts to the annual budget of $245M, except for the $87,000 to be removed from community arts and cultural projects. The desired 2023/2024 rate freeze goal needs some $54M worth of savings to become a reality.
What can you do?
We are determined to campaign against this reduction as we would hate to see the Council’s support for community groups bear the brunt of the proposed Council budget cuts. We are preparing our submission to Councillors ahead of the budget process.
We are encouraging City of Port Phillip citizens, who value local arts, culture, and community engagement, to get involved.
One way to get involved is to provide feedback to the budget process at: https://haveyoursay.portphillip.vic.gov.au/council-plan-and-budget
We are inviting past Cultural Development Fund recipients to tell Council what the project meant to them and to their community, and how it enriched our knowledge and culture.
Write to Councillors:
Let Councillors know your concerns. Send an email to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Request to speak at Council meetings:
Attend the Council meeting and organize to speak for 2 minutes on the project to Councillors.
To register to speak, you will need to submit an online Request to Speak form, BEFORE 4pm on the day of the meeting
The following is the time table for Council Meetings and location details:
4 April Tuesday: Council Meeting at the St Kilda Town Hall starting at 7.30.
19 April Wednesday: Council meeting at the St Kilda Town Hall starting at 6.30.
3 May Wednesday: Council meeting at Port Melbourne Town Hall at 6.30
17 May Wednesday: Council meeting at St Kilda Town Hall at 6.30
7 June Wednesday: Council meeting at St Kilda Town Hall at 6.30 (last meeting before the final budget is approved)
A celebration of St Kilda's fantastic music scene from the 1970s, 80s & 90s.
Each episode features a musician who lived and gigged here.
Take a walk down memory lane and hear how St Kilda inspired these artists and the impact it had on their creativity.
We acknowledge the people of the Kulin Nation, on whose land this series was recorded on and we pay our respects to their Elders, both past and present.
A big thank you to the people and organisations who made this recording possible:
The City of Port Phillip through their Cultural Development Fund Recovery grants;
The St Kilda Historical Society and Committee;
Volunteers, especially Rob Frankiewicz, Anna Bongiorno and Adam Ferrier.
The Animals
Big Ears Audio
...and the artists
Theme Song Credits:
Dirty Filthy Rock n Roll
Written by C. O'Connor (Mushroom Music)
You're Going Home in the Back of a Divi Van
Written by C. Badger/P.Stewart (Mushroom Music)
