'A difficult and poor place'

This is how former Supreme Court Judge Frank Vincent described Port Melbourne in the early thirties when he was growing up here. He learnt 'what it is, and what it means to have to struggle'. In commemorating the life of Alan Whittaker, waterside worker shot by police in 1928, he pointed to the contemporary relevance of his story. Whenever a group of people is de-personalised and de-humanised as the waterside workers were at that time be alert to the abuse of power. 'This place, these people and this history' have deeply influenced his personal and professional life. I had to shut my eyes to imagine that past described as a luxury boat made its way into Waterfront Place.