City of Darebin Heritage Study Volume 1 Draft Thematic

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DAREBIN HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 2As noted in Chapter 3 the Whittlesea railway through Northcote and Preston, opened in 1889,and the cable tram system to the Preston border at Dundas Street, also encouraged a littlesuburban development. Although Preston, like the rest of Melbourne, was swept up in theland boom of the 1880s, few of Preston’s boom subdivision were successful and many estatesremained as open paddocks for two or three decades more. Preston continued to be animportant agricultural district, particularly for dairying, market gardening and flower growing,supplying produce to Melbourne well into the twentieth century.Preston Shire Hall, later known as the Town Hall, was built in 1895 on a site that was centralto the two early settlement clusters and close to the Preston railway station. As the economyrecovered in the early twentieth century, commercial and residential development graduallybegan to fill in the gap between the two early clusters. Preston experienced much more rapidsuburban growth during the post First World War boom era of the 1920s. In this decadePreston experienced phenomenal growth, with the highest birth rate in Victoria in 1927 and alarge amount of migration, both from the inner suburbs of Melbourne and, to a lesser extent,from overseas, mainly Britain.Reservoir takes its name from the three service reservoirs that were built in the area in the midnineteenth and early twentieth century, as part of Melbourne’s Yan Yean water supply system.The area does not seem to have been referred to as Reservoir until the end of the 1920s. Beforethat it was considered part of Preston, and it shared the same development history as Preston— as a district of dairy farms, market gardens and flower gardens, supplying the Melbournemarket well into the twentieth century.Reservoir experienced two key periods of suburban expansion. The first was in the 1920s whenlike the rest of Preston, Reservoir shared in the post-First World War boom particularly in thecentral area along the axis of High Street that had access to the railway, which in 1921 waselectrified as far as Reservoir station as noted in Chapter 3. In that era small shopping stripstook shape along High Street and in the area surrounding Reservoir railway station. The firstsuburban development of weatherboard bungalows occurred along Edwardes Street and inadjoining streets to the north and south. However at that stage Reservoir still lacked thesecondary and extractive industries that characterised Preston.After a cessation in activity due to the 1930s depression and the Second World War,Reservoir’s second major period of urban expansion occurred began in the late 1940s, whenmost of the remaining farmland was converted into housing estates, including some largeHousing Commission of Victoria estates in the east and north. In this period an industrialprecinct was also commenced in the north west of Reservoir, and the Broadway shoppingcentre developed. In the northern part of Reservoir new residential development is still takingplace on land formerly used for psychiatric institutions.By the end of the inter-war period the two old hubs - South Preston at the junction of HighStreet and Plenty Road, and Preston at the corner of Wood and High Streets - were lost, asPreston’s main centre focused on the area bounded by Murray Road, Gower Street, PlentyRoad and the railway. This area included the civic centre and the growing High Streetshopping centre (Carroll & Rule, 1985:173). There was still little urban settlement north ofBroadhurst Avenue in Reservoir, where cows still roamed the paddocks, or to the east along theDarebin Creek valley.5.2 Creating early village settlementsAlphingtonAlphington village was a private village subdivision made by William Manning in 1854. Thevillage straddled Heidelberg Road, near the Darebin Creek crossing, and was a stopping placefor travellers. By the early 1860s, Alphington had a few shops, two hotels, including Freeman’sAlphington Hotel, and a Wesleyan Church. Apart from its main road location, AlphingtonVillage was isolated from the centre of Darebin’s development for many years. The only shop66
VOLUME 2: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORYremaining from the early village is King’s butcher shop, on the south side of Heidelberg Road,outside the City of Darebin (Lemon, 1983:48).Lower Northcote (Westgarth)Hoddle surveyed the village reserve for the Parish of Jika Jika to the west of the Merri Creek, sothat Pentridge village was in present day Coburg, outside Darebin. At the southern end ofDarebin, land in a bend of the Merri Creek was reserved for a future township. Here, in 1853,the Town of Northcote was laid out. Its northernmost street was named after WilliamWestgarth, a prominent Melbourne merchant. A small temporary bridge across the creek atHigh Street gave access to the town. However, few of the purchasers actually settled in thetownship, and by 1861 only 37 houses had been built (Lemon, 1983:41).One purchaser who did settle in the Town of Northcote was Collingwood builder JohnGrinrod, who built West Bend in McLachlan Street facing the Merri Creek. West Bend,although much altered, is believed to be the township’s oldest surviving residence. Grinwooddied relatively young, but his wife Ann lived in the house until her death in 1910. By this timethe house had been rebuilt in brick. John and Ann’s grand-daughter Dorothea married JohnCain, a Northcote resident who was Victoria’s premier in the 1940s and 50s. (Lemon,1983:41; Butler 1992). Their son John Cain also served as premier in the 1980s. Northcotethus had a very early connection with Labor politics, a theme that will be explored in Chapter6.John May of Fitzroy purchased an allotment in Cunningham Street but did not build hishouse, Mayville, there until about 1872. However, he took an early interest in Northcote,because in 1857 he was elected to a committee to decide on a site for an Anglican Church(Butler 1992). The committee chose a government reserve in the Township, and All SaintsChurch was opened in 1860. A bluestone police station was opened on the police reserve inWalker Street in 1861, although there had been temporary police quarters on the site since1854. The location of the Anglican Church and police station confirmed ‘Lower Northcote’ asthe official township, however most settlement was taking place at ‘Upper Northcote’ onRucker’s Hill. Lower Northcote is now known as Westgarth.Other surviving houses from early Lower Northcote include Ball’s house at 47 CunninghamStreet and William Dennis’ house at 34 Walker Street, both built in the 1860s, FrederickKelson’s 1873 house at 7 Walker Street, and Terracedale, William Brown’s house at 3McLachlan Street (Butler, 1992).Figure 3877 Cunningham St.Northcote, 1983Photographer: John T.Collins[State Library of Victoria,AN H98.250/1292,INjc012984]67
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CONTENTSVOLUME 1: THEMATIC ENVIRONM
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3.14.1: Building to suit Australian
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CRITERION E:VOLUME 2: THEMATIC ENVI
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City of Darebin Heritage Study Volume 1 Draft Thematic

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