The Pigeons of Yarraville

Having recently completed a significance assessment of a small weatherboard building in Regent Street, Yarraville that used to be the Yarraville Racing Pigeon Homing Club, we discovered all sorts of things about pigeons!

You can see our instagram story, or read our article about the community of pigeon ‘fanciers’ who gathered at the club for nearly 100 years, and the two pigeons that made such a valiant contribution to Australia’s war effort they were awarded the Dickin Medal for gallantry, equivalent to our Victoria Cross. Awesome birds!

This article is courtesy of Madeline Pentland, our student intern from Australian Catholic University. Maddy is doing her history honours year and completing her internship with us this semester as well as her honours thesis, which she has written about here.

Images:

Above - Gordon Whitwell’s pigeon Blue Bar, from the Yarraville Homing Club. Source: Australian War Memorial collection:  https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1227304?image=1

Left - Daniel Pockett, photographer, published in Carolyn Webb, ‘Poor man’s racehorses’: Iconic Yarraville pigeon clubhouse to be sold, The Age, June 9, 2019