City of Darebin Heritage Study Volume 1 Draft Thematic

DAREBIN HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 2holders formed in 1884, the Fitzroy, Northcote and St George’s Road League. The Leagueraised the funds to purchase private land needed for a new road into the area. They lobbiedthe Government and the Northcote and Fitzroy Councils to build the bridge and construct StGeorge’s Road. The promise of such road access encouraged subdivisions between St George’sRoad and High Street as far as Thornbury over the following few years.Figure 9c.1885 plans for boom erasubdivision, St George’s Park[Lemon, 1983:91]One of Darebin’s most active boom-time land agents was Charles Henry James, who boughtup large tracts of land in Fairfield, Alphington and Thornbury. His Fulham Grange andFairfield Park estates straddled Heidelberg Road, stretching down to the Yarra River. Jamespromoted the Strathallan estate, three miles beyond the Heidelberg rail terminus, on thepromise that the railway would soon be extended to Eltham. In fact, the railway did not reachEltham until 1902. James started the Dominion Bank to finance his dealings and built theEmpire Buildings in Collins Street Melbourne as the headquarters of his empire. He also builtthe Toorak mansion, Illawarra, as his home, just before his empire collapsed in 1891(Cannon, 1972:20).Further out, developers were also busy. A subdivision plan was drawn up for Pender’s Grove,but most of the land remained unsold. Only one purchaser, Frederick Harris, built on hisallotment. His boom-style mansion Barunah, still stands on the corner of Dundas andNewcastle Streets. Pender’s Grove had been acquired by Thomas Bent, one of Victoria’slargest land speculators, and later Premier of Victoria. Local land owners and businessmen,such as George and James Story of Preston, turned to land speculation, with varying degrees ofsuccess. Some sales were made in the more accessible parts of Preston, but most of Preston wastoo distant and inaccessible for suburban settlers. Other prominent ‘land boomers’ such as thefirm Munro and Baillieu had dealings in the area. Along with another infamous land boomerB.J. Fink, they were involved with the Heart of Preston Estate Company, which in 1888subdivided land bounded by High and Gower Streets, Murray and Plenty Roads, excludingthe town hall precinct. They sold about half of the allotments before the company collapsed in1893.All over Melbourne land companies were floated to buy land for quick resale at large profits,resulting in fortunes being made and lost. As land prices spiralled, banks and building societiesover-reached their lending capacities and borrowers borrowed beyond their capacity to repay.Eventually, in December 1891 the whole structure began to collapse. People lost their savings,building stopped and housing estates remained vacant. The collapse resulted in a disastrous28