Page 48 - History of Parkside Football Club (1897-2017) Editied Version Completed_optimized

Parkside Football Club 1897/2017

Occupying the site of the old civic buildings, the new brick structure presented the latest thought in
municipal office planning, and its progressive design symbolised the faith of the Footscray people in
the future of their municipality. Footscray was the Birmingham of Australia, with the largest revenue
of any city in Victoria, excepting the City of Melbourne itself, and the new town hall would establish
Footscray’s claim to leadership of Melbourne’s Western Suburban Districts. Things were indeed
looking up for Footscray; the economic outlook was brightening, and the council was about to restore
salaries and wages to predepression levels.

The foundation stone for the new building was laid by Mayor, Councillor W. H. Anderson, J.P., on 22
February 1936. Later in the year, on 19 November the Governor, Lord Huntingfield and his wife came
to open the new £40,000 town hall in front of 5000 people.

Compared to the new edifice the former civic building was sombre, its bluestone staid and grey, and
its entrance small and unimpressive. In its place, architect, Joseph Plottel had designed an imposing
Romanesque structure of grand civic proportions. Historian, John Lack aptly captures the

mood of the new architecture: Designed for a community emerging from a depression, Plottell’s
Town Hall amalgamated the suburban cinema with the moderne office block, and merged the
Hollywood Mediaeval of Errol Flynn’s Adverntures of Robin Hood with the suave interiors of Fred
Astaire’s Top Hat.”

http://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/4926/download-report

At the same time, Parkside Football Club continues to build on it’s reputation as one of the best
junior clubs in the west.

FOOTSCRAY DISTRICT LEAGUE

PRELIMINARY FINAL AT SUNSHINE TO-MORROW

“To-day the preliminary final of the Footscray District League will be played at Selwyn Park,
commencing at 2.45 p.m.

This game will be contested by West Footscray and Spotswood Citizens, and as the winners will
qualified to meet the Parkside combination in the grand final on the same ground on September 26,
nothing will be given away by either side. The teams are old opponents and have staged some
wonderful games during the past two years.

Once a Parksider, Always a Parksider