City of Darebin Heritage Study Volume 1 Draft Thematic

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DAREBIN HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 2Figure 15Electric tram at PrestonDepot (image date unknown)[DHE, ID 779]Like the electrification of the railway network, the new electric tramways encouraged suburbandevelopment along their routes. New shopping strips emerged in Plenty Road and GilbertRoad and at the northern end of High Street in Thornbury and housing spread out along thecross streets leading to them. As Carrolll & Rule (1985:141) note:Even today we can .. see how the coming of the trams cause a further stage of settlement. InPreston’s earliest days, most settlement had been near High Street, and this shos in those housesthat have survived from earliest times. The next phase came with the railways and most houseswithin walking distance of the station show an 1890-1920 style. Then spreading out furtherwest from of Gilbert Road and east of Plenty Road, for walking distances from the tramlines are1920-1950 houses. Further afield, most of the houses are post-1950, when most Preston peoplecould hope to have a car.Tram depots and workshopEach of the three enterprises that provided trams to Darebin had its own workshop. TheClifton Hill to Northcote and Preston Tram Co. had its depot and engine house on the cornerof High and Martin Streets, as noted above, and the building is still in existence. In 1919, theFitzroy-Northcote-Preston Tramway Trust built its depot on the corner of St Georges Roadand Miller Street. In 1924, the MMTB opened its Tramway Workshops opposite, on thecorner of Dundas Street. This was to be the workshop for the repair and construction of theMMTB’s entire tram fleet. Clive Boxer, who worked at the workshops from 1925 to 1974,remembered that all accident damage was repaired at Preston:You could have some bad smashes. … It was said that autumn leaves on tram lines could causeclose following trams to skid into one another. You would get some rear end sometimes. … If atram was over a certain age - five or six years, then they brought them in for a general overhaul.They were overhauled in the bodyshop taken to the paintshop to be repainted, came back to thebodyshop to be fitted up, or sometimes we would fit them up in the paintshop. The air for thebrakes and electrical gear was all checked, wheels fixed up, so it was a general repair overall.(Jones, 1994:26)In the 1930s the Preston Workshop commenced building the W Class trams, which have sincebecome a Melbourne icon. In 1955, the MMTB opened a new depot in Plenty Road, whichtook over the role of the Miller Street depot (Summerton, 1997:67).BusesThe lack or inadequacies of rail and tram services in some parts of Darebin was partlycompensated for by buses. In the 1880s the Melbourne Omnibus Company ran a horse busfrom Melbourne as far as Clifton Hill, but only after Northcote residents agreed to subsidisethe Company. The Company also provided a horse-drawn bus as far as Separation Streetbefore it opened its Clifton Hill cable tram service. In the 1920s, a few private companiescommenced motor bus services to transport people across Darebin, as most of the rail and tramservices were on a north south-axis. Buses were particularly important for bringing people tothe High Street shopping centre. Smith’s buses ran between Fairfield station and High Street.Another bus route connected Ivanhoe with High Street Northcote along Darebin Road. After38
VOLUME 2: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORYthe demise of the High Street cable tram in 1940 double-decker buses were substituted. Whenit was found they would not fit under the railway bridge (now just outside Darebin), the roadunder the bridge had to be lowered (Lemon, 1983:80, 99, 191, 228-30).In 1952 Laurie Dyson took over a small local bus company and ran services between RegentStation and Janefield via Plenty Road. Since then, the L.C. Dysons Bus Services has expandedto provide a network of services for the northern suburbs, including school buses, charter andtouring services. In 2003, Dyson’s took over another of the local companies, the Bell Street BusCompany. For many years the Dyson Bus depot was in Plenty Road on the site of Doolan’s oldforge (www.dysonsbus.com.au; information supplied by Paul Michell, Darebin Libraries;www.busaustralia.com/fleetlists/bellstreet).3.4 Developing bridge technologyDarebin is bounded on two sides by streams, and until municipal boundaries were changed inthe 1990s, by the Yarra River, therefore bridges became vital components of the transportsystems. Early stream crossings were fords. Although Heidelberg Road and the bridge over theDarebin Creek were constructed in the 1840s, only a causeway was provided across the MerriCreek until a laminated girder bridge on stone piers was built in 1854. That bridge was washedaway in the 1864 flood. It was rebuilt, as the present single stone arch bridge, in 1867-8. In1936, the Country Roads board widened the bridge to carry increased traffic, using areinforced concrete arch, but with the stonework on the spandrel to match the original (Butler,1982: vol.1 f.147).Figure 16Merri Creek Bridge overHeidelberg Road(image date unknown)[DHE, ID 64]Until the construction of the St George’s Road bridge in 1886, the only bridge actually givingdirect access into Darebin from Melbourne was the bridge across the Merri Creek at HighStreet. The first bridge at this spot had been a small temporary one, built in 1850. This wasreplaced in 1857 by a three span timber and stone bridge, possibly similar to the first one onHeidelberg Road (Lemon, 1983:41, 47). Being on a main road, the bridge was supplied by theCentral Road Board. By 1870, this bridge was in dilapidated state and the Jika Shire replaced itwith the present two arch bridge of brick and Malmsbury stone. In 1889, it was widened totake the cable trams, as noted above (Lemon, 1983:59).At the western side of Darebin, an interesting bridge carries Bell Street cross the Merri Creek.This bridge shows three eras of technology. A timber footbridge was built by prisoners fromthe nearby Pentridge stockade in 1853, but was destroyed by a flood in 1863. A wooden andstone road bridge was built in 1858. This was probably a laminated timber arch on bluestoneabutments. By 1877 it was in a dilapidated condition and Coburg Council openednegotiations with Jika Shire for a replacement, but Jika was reluctant to contribute much of thecost. Coburg Council built the new bridge in 1880. It was a wrought iron girder bridge,possibly using the same bluestone abutments. In 1947-50 the CRB widened the bridge usingsecond-hand lattice girders from the demolished Cremorne Railway Bridge, which had been39
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City of Darebin Heritage Study Volume 1 Draft Thematic

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