The Point Ormond knoll is the remnant of what had been a high red bluff (see Thomas Clark's 1860s painting) carted away in dray loads by late Colonial and early State governments, in 1887-1905, to fill Elwood wetlands, and let Sir Thomas Bent KCMG have the Brighton railway embankment built from it.

The Liberal Government of Sir Henry Bolte GCMG initiated the St Kilda Land Act 1965, whose Section 5 entitled the then St Kilda City Council to lease the 1,000 square metre Crown land site for up to 50 years for a commercial restaurant to be built on the knoll, with the lease revenue to be gained by the Council. The distant view to the north-east is still of tree tops, although one crane is a harbinger of things to come.

A joint campaign by Port Phillip Conservation Council Inc, and the National Trust of Australia (Victoria), with the Federated Furnishing Trade Society of Australasia, led by its Secretary, Ken Carr, banning window installation in the restaurant, convinced the Liberal Government of Sir Rupert Hamer KCMG to repeal

Section 5 of that bad legislation, by means of the St Kilda (Ormond Restaurant) Land Act 1973. ELWOOD

Print 5C06 Melway 67A3 Mid-tide 1545 hrs Sun 22 Nov 1998 © 1998 Port Phillip Conservation Council Inc. A0020093K Victoria