Historical information

Mr Alfred Morton with his sisters, brothers and friends camping at Carrum in the 1890's. This area was later called Chelsea.
Alfred Louis Morton (known as Louis) was born in Geelong in 1866, the fifth of eleven children of Mark Morton and Eliza nee Heard (married 1898). Alfred began work for the Post Office at South Yarra in the 1890s. In the late 1800s it was common for people from Melbourne and north of the city to travel to Chelsea area beaches for their holidays and many liked the area so much that, like the Mortons, they moved here permanently.
In the 1890s Alfred’s sister, Mrs William Ashmore, built a weekend house at the foot of what is now Foy Avenue in Chelsea. The Morton family, including Alfred, visited the area often, camping on the foreshore during the 1890s.
In 1911 Alfred moved his family permanently to a house on the corner of Morton Grove and Main Road Chelsea (now known as the Nepean Highway) on property that extended from the main road to the beach.
This house was destroyed in the fire of 22 December 1913 which raged amongst the ti-tree on the foreshore between Aspendale and Chelsea. Many buildings were destroyed in this fire. The Argus newspaper reported on Wednesday 24 December that 94 houses were burnt with glowing embers blown a mile and half inland. According to the Argus but for the wide break provided by the Point Nepean Road (now the Nepean Highway) and the railway line, the scrub on the other side might have caught.
The Morton children, Elsa and Ivan, attended Chelsea State School (now Chelsea Primary School) and Mrs Morton was active in the establishment of St Chad’s Church of England in Chelsea.
At the age of 80 in 1945 Mr Morton was concerned about reports that English children had lost their toys due to the war and so he made (as part of a wider effort in Australia) 100 toy engines that were sent to England. He died in 1946 in Chelsea.

Physical description

Sepia photo of members of the Morton family camping at Carrum (now Chelsea). Tents and a wagon in the background