By Gary Vines, Melbourne's Living Museum of the West

in association with Olwen Ford, Graeme Butler & Francine Gilfedder

2007

1849 - 1859

An Overnewton homestead complex incorporating a picturesque example of Scots baronial design in the

two-storey section which was designed by Thomas M. Taylor and built in 1859, is of historical,

architectural and Social significance as a rare and unusual example of early squatters pastoral estate

reflecting an unusual origin. Several other aspects of the homestead are of importance, including the spiral

staircase in the western turret and the billiard room. The earliest part of the homestead dates from about

1849. The classification applies to the complex of stone buildings only. The homestead is also significant

for its association with pastoralist William Taylor

Original colonial bluestone homestead built c. 1849 with the two-storey medieval wing and gatehouse

added c.1859. Set back from the Bendigo road. Of the original pastoral complex, the homestead and

domestic outbuildings survive with the original 1849 and later 1860s additions comprising the stone, hipped

roof central section, with verandah and renewed verandah detail, flanked by large Baronial addition, altered

in the 1920s? Outbuildings are of stone and timber and there is also an old aviary. Plantings include:

agapanthus, olive hedge rows; C. sempervirens, C. macrocarpa and C. torulosa specimens and groups,

Canary Island pines, Araucaria sp. (bunya, hoop pine), sugar gums, an old melia, palms, and a mature

walnut tree. Large olives and Ficus macrophylla. Located on Overnewton Drive, once the private driveway,

but now realigned at the south-west. The original drive is marked by tree rows and the surviving gatehouse

on the Old Calder Highway.

HO

Overnewton

14 E2.

001

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 1 of 366

Built by Scotsman, William Taylor, who settled a 5260 hectare property and went on to play an important

role in the area and the local council. Overnewton is listed on the Historic Buildings Register, H 200, and

is classified by the National Trust. William Taylor arrived in Port Phillip in 1840 and had interests in two

other runs before purchasing Overnewton estate in 1849. He also bought land in New South Wales and was

active in public affairs, serving twice on the Legislative Assembly. By 1880 the Overnewton Estate

comprised 10,351 acres. The original homestead comprised a single-storied verandahed portion dating

from 1849, the year that William Taylor married Helen Fisken. The two-storey wing was added in 1859, in

Scottish Baronial style, following a visit home by Taylor. The additions contained several bedrooms for

Taylor's now large family with a curved staircase in the western turret. A flagged courtyard separates this

from the kitchen. On the far side of the house is the billiard room, prefabricated in Scotland, with oak

panelling and a wall-frieze featuring medallions of various literary figures. At the back of the house are the

butcher's shop, dairy, lamphouse, and boot-cleaning room as well as stables, coach houses, hay lofts and

shearing sheds. Much of the Overnewton Estate was purchased by the State Government for Closer

Settlement farms from about 1905 to 1921. David Milburn worked for a time as gardener at Overnewton,

before establishing himself as a local farmer.

Unique in the study area, comparable to large western district pastoral mansions, e.g. Ercildoune near

Ballarat.

Good

Sunday Press, 23 September 1979. M.Cantlon, 1976. Chris Laskowski, Overnewton 1849-1999, Keilor

Historical Society, 1999. Gary Vines, Pastoral Properties: Grazing on the Keilor-Werribee Plains, 1994,

p.35. National Trust records: Gatehouse, Overnewton. Recorded 24 October 1974.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 2 of 366

1868

The former Keilor Road bridge is of State historical and scientific significance as a rare and intact example

of nineteenth century Victorian engineering, constructed as a direct response to the transport demands of

the gold rushes. The bridge is also important as a rare surviving example of the work of Enoch Chambers

and as one of the earliest fabricated iron bridges in Victoria.

This wrought -iron, box girder, single-span bridge sits on bluestone abutments with decorative pillars and

wingwalls. An overhead stiffening arch was removed in 1963 and replaced with a steel -fabricated

rectangular portal, to provide greater clearance for trucks. The original arch, stored for many years at

Calder Park raceway, was recently restored and refitted. The main boxed girders encase arch beams which

spread the load, and appear to have included some pre-tensioning, as the bridge itself has a slight curvature.

The stonework includes ashlar and rock-faced coursed bluestone with pyramidal caps on the pillars at each

end. The road deck is of longitudinal planking, evidently having been replaced in the last few decades.

HO

Basket Bridge/Keilor Road Bridge

14 K7

Enoch Chambers

002

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 3 of 366

The Keilor Road bridge was constructed at a cost of £6000 and replaced an earlier wooden trestle bridge

that had fallen into such disrepair that it was considered dangerous to use. Bullock and Wagon drivers

would prefer to take the risk of crossing at the adjacent ford, than the greater risk of the old bridge. Samuel

Brees, the acting Colonial Engineer, had designed and supervised the building of the wooden bridge in

1854. The new bridge was again a colonial design, and was fabricated by the Melbourne engineer, Enoch

Chambers. It was opened on Saturday 21st November 1868 by the Chief Secretary of the Colony of

Victoria in an atmosphere of great festivity. Mr Robertson, Chairman of the Keilor Roads Board, made a

speech at the opening, concluding with the observation: 'I trust this bridge may last for many years and I am

sure it will last beyond the time of any here present...'. The old bridge was bypassed when a new CRB pre

tensioned concrete girder bridge was erected just downstream. This was itself bypassed in 1987 when the

Calder Freeway twin bridges were erected upstream.

The Keilor bridge spans the Maribyrnong River at the base of a steep escarpment. It is one of a small group

of unusual and early iron bridges constructed in Victoria. It compares with the original Maribyrnong

Railway bridge (replaced in 1924). The Mia Mia and Bung Bong bridges offer interesting comparison,

being bridges of similar scale and period, but using lattice trusses.

The bridge has been restored, and has been bypassed with the construction of a new concrete bridge on the

downstream side in 1963. The through traffic was again diverted from that bridge, and Keilor itself, with

the construction of the twin bridges for the Calder Freeway, this time upstream, in 1987.

Colin O'Connor, Spanning Two Centuries: Historic Bridges of Australia, 1985, p.69. The Heritage of

Australia: The Illustrated Register of the National Estate, 1981, p.3/35. Argus, 23 November 1868, copy

held in the State Library of Victoria. National Trust bridges database. St.Albans History Society, Around

and about St. Albans, 1991, pp.14-15.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 4 of 366

The significance of the Sunshine Harvester works is derived from several areas. First is the association with

H.V. McKay and the products manufactured by his company, particularly the Sunshine Harvester, which

became the prime machine for grain harvesting and revolutionized the wheat industry in Australia.

Secondly, the works was the largest agricultural implement factory in Australia and one of the largest

manufacturing industries of any kind. The factory buildings reflect the growth of the company and changes

and development in manufacturing methods. Thirdly, it is associated with the key 1907 'Harvester

Judgement' by Justice Higgins which established a 'fair and reasonable' national minimum wage. The

McKay workers were also key players in further industrial action in 1911 and 1946 where the metalwork

unions were involved in major strike action against the Company management. A remnant of the 1950s

administration block is the clock tower which symbolically stamped upon the Sunshine works the

imprimatur of the Canadian corporate giant Massey-Harris-Ferguson Ltd (later Massey Ferguson

(Australia) Ltd.), which absorbed the McKay company in 1955.

HO

H.V. McKay Sunshine Harvester Works

26 H11-12

003

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 5 of 366

1889 -

The first works on this site were Joseph Mellor's Braybrook Implement Works established 1889-90 using a

former annexe transported from the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition. The works was purchased by H.V.

McKay in 1904 who had been producing agricultural implements at Ballarat since 1884. Under McKay the

works were dramatically expanded, eventually covering 40 acres. The works were involved in important

technical developments including the Sunshine Harvester, Stump Jump Plough, HST Header-harvester and

other products. In 1930 the McKay firm merged with Massey Harris and was bought out by Massey

Ferguson in 1955. The clock tower and gates were part of a classified heritage complex (RHB No 667

Group Classification) which included a showroom, clock and bell tower, guardhouse, entrance and gates,

assembly floor structure north of the showroom, crane causeway, foundry and representative examples of

selected wooden and corrugated iron structures. Of this group, only the clock tower (modified) the gates

(relocated a short distance away) and the former Bulk Store survive. The National Trust citation identified

the complex thus: The McKay-Massey-Ferguson industrial complex at Sunshine is of major national

significance because of the site's close association with the key 1907 Harvester Judgement by Justice H B

Higgins, president of the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, which established a 'fair

and reasonable' national minimum wage. The site is also nationally important because of its symbolic link

with the nationalist myth of McKay as the inventor of the combine harvester. The name 'Sunshine' which he

gave to the harvester he designed is perpetuated in the name of the suburb. The Sunshine works are of

major State significance as the largest extant example of a dynamic industrial complex that has evolved

constantly from the establishment of the Braybrook Implement Company in 1889 to the closure of the site

by Massey-Ferguson in 1986. In their context the complex is remarkable both for its surviving industrial

structures from the 1920s, when production by H. V. McKay Pty Ltd reached its greatest extent, and for its

1950s administration block and clock tower which symbolically stamped upon the Sunshine works the

imprimatur of the Canadian corporate giant Massey-Harris-Ferguson Ltd (later Massey Ferguson

(Australia) Ltd.), which absorbed the McKay company in 1955.

Now mainly a redeveloped site with incomplete building remnants. The former Bulk Store survives,

recently repaired, to be incorporated into the new development. The complex was formerly an extensive

factory of saw-tooth roof timber and iron buildings bounded by Hampshire and Devonshire Roads and the

Bendigo Railway line with a mixture of steel-trussed timber and fabricated iron framing, the earliest dating

from c. 1908-10. The Devonshire Road facade had a small section of the homogeneous 1920s development,

including the Russell Street entrance gates and watch-house, along with the redeveloped show rooms,

offices and clock tower of the 1950s. All of these were of brick. Most of these have been demolished,

though the clock tower and gates still survive as physical reminders of those parts of the complex. The

lower part of the clock tower has been rendered. The head office opposite also dates from the 1920s with

the original 1909 office incorporated into the facade facing Harvester Road. See also citations for McKay

offices, Scott Motor Works and the Railway Footbridge.

Located opposite the intact surviving company offices, now Agco Australia Ltd., near the site of the

origins of the factory and so providing some physical link with the former works.

Only fragmentary remains of the former extensive works survive. The clock tower has been drastically

altered and has lost the original context of the adjoining office and showroom for which it was the

focussing landmark. The renovated bulk store is still separate from the retail and entertainment complex

which surrounds it. The gates have been relocated and the footbridge has been altered.

Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol.10, entry on H.V. McKay, by J. Lack. Melbourne's Living

Museum of the West, Massey Ferguson Site Study, 1986, 1987. M. Lewis, The Sunshine Harvester Works,

1987. D. McNeil & the McKay family, The McKays of Drummartin, 1984.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

Recommended for nomination to the Register of the National Estate.

J Ra

ymond Robinson

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 6 of 366

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 7 of 366

The Darling & Son Flour Mill survives substantially intact as a representative large capacity roller flour

mill of the early 20th century. The technology involved is similar to that adopted widely by flour millers

throughout Australia from the 1880s on and which was responsible for the demise of many small country

stone mills. Much of the plant is unchanged from its appearance and layout during construction, the primary

difference being the concrete grain silos and steel flour silos which flank the mill. The location of the mill

was probably a key to its success, being on the main rail line serving the north and west of the state, and

within easy reach of the docks and the later Grain Board silos. The mill is an important example of a

technology which, although still common, is to be seen in fewer locations as mills close and amalgamate.

The degree of originality and intactness adds further significance The John Darling & Son mill was one of

the earliest of the large-scale factories to be established at Sunshine and part of a major phase of

development encouraged by H.V. McKay and developed around the concept of the garden industrial suburb.

HO

Darling's Flour Mill

26 F10

004

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 8 of 366

1922

Built 1922 by John Darling, a flour miller who until then had concentrated his operations in Queensland.

At the commencement of flour milling operations at Sunshine on 10 July 1922, the John Darling & Son mill

was one of the largest in Australia, with a 50 sack capacity. It was described in February 1925 as 'possibly

the largest gristing mill in the Commonwealth'. The original mill building was built at a cost of £250,000.

It was fitted out with English machinery by Henry Simon & Co. Though specific production figures are not

available, the mill would clearly have constituted a serious new contender in the Victorian milling industry.

From early in its history, the mill was operating both night and day as the firm continued to make inroads

into the lucrative export trade. In the midst of success, however, the firm suffered a serious and

economically-damaging setback when the mill building was destroyed by fire in February 1926. The Argus

described this as 'one of the most serious in the history of Melbourne'. Almost immediately after the

discovery of the fire, it had enveloped practically the whole of the ground floors of the building. Within

half an hour the building was a mass of flame, and it was recognised that there was no possibility of saving

it. From above the mills the flames reached a height of more than 50 feet and could be clearly seen from all

the southern and eastern suburbs. No-one was killed or injured in the fire though two employees who had

been working on the top floor of the mill managed to escape by sliding down a spiral bagging chute which

led from the top floor to the railway siding alongside the mill. A large quantity of bagged wheat was also

saved, but the mill building itself and its machinery were both destroyed. The destruction of the mill

meant a revenue loss to the Sunshine railway station of £4,000 a month. More significantly, seventy men

lost their jobs with the closure. At the request of the Flour Mill Employees' Union, the Trades Hall Council

agreed to co-operate in affording relief to these men, since it was clear that the industry was unable to

absorb them. The proprietors themselves also faced significant losses; insurance claims totalled only

£85,000 (£22,000 for the mill, and £53,000 for the contents) of an estimated £200,000 damage. It was

The site comprises a five-storey brick mill with timber and galvanized iron grain store. Two banks of

concrete silos, an office and amenities building and other sheds and workshops. The mill building itself is a

large four storey T-shaped structure of load-bearing brick. It has a steep gable roof and clerestory vents

along the main west-facing wing and a hip-roofed central tower above. The building has steel windows

with a hopper upper sash and cast iron down pipes. To the north, the secondary wing has a corrugated iron

lined gable roof. On its north elevation, a canopy runs along over the rail siding. Internally, the two parts of

the T shape designate the two functions of the mill, the shorter axis containing the mill's cleaning and

packing operations while the longer axis contains the actual milling operations. Storage of grain and

finished flour is provided by large timber bins, which were installed in 1959, in sections almost the full

height of the building. The floor structure is of rolled steel joists with timber joists and two layers of

tongue and groove flooring. Some of the packaging machinery in the building dates from the 1920s or

before. Some has been brought to the site from older plants, including McAlpine's' Abbotsford Factory and

Maize Products of Maribyrnong Street, Footscray. The electrical store (former poultry shed and paint room)

is a rectangular 1920s structure with timber framed A-C sheet wall and roof lining. Six reinforced concrete

vertical silos were constructed in 1973, with attached road receival station added in 1978. The Maintenance

Depot was built in 1981 with a lattice truss portal frame clad with tray deck. Lined internally with

inflective foil. The twelve 1939 concrete vertical silos have a square stair and grain elevator tower with

steel window frames. Five vertical steel flour bins were built on the north-west side of the mill in 1969, and

two more added in the 1970s and 1984. These bins have now been removed from the site.

Approximations of the relative age of the milling machinery are as follows: The roller mills were originally

run on a line shaft drive powered by a single large motor. All of the very recent roller mills are individually

motorized, but seventeen of twenty-four roller mills are still on a shaft drive by a new motor. A number of

the roller mills are original to the 1920s; however, ten were brought from one of the company's Sydney

plants in the 1960s, and others are of more recent origins. The sifters date from the 1960s when they

replaced the original centrifugal sifters. Only about 10% of the purifiers are original; the rest date from the

1960s. The dust collectors date from the 1960s. 90% of the original chutes were replaced in the 1960s with

new timber chutes. The steel chutes are of more recent origins. Pneumatic conveyors were introduced for

the first and second breaks in the 1970s. The store shed was constructed 1926 as a steel and timber-framed

corrugated iron clad store. Internally, the building has steel plate flooring over original tongue and groove

flooring, and 1920s timber roof trusses. The toilet block in the far northeast comer of the site is a simple

rectangular brick structure dating from the 1920s. A locker room was added in 1971.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 9 of 366

announced the day after the fire, however, that the mill would be rebuilt. The announcement was made by

H.G. Darling, who said that 'plans would be drawn up immediately and the work begun so as to lose as little

time as possible. The reconstruction will take from 12 to 15 months, owing to the size of the building.' The

mill was completely fitted out in c.1927 by Henry Simon of England. Darling & Son played a major part in

war production supplying overseas armies and later moved into production of packaged flour and integrated

production of flour, stockfeeds and by-products following a takeover of McAlpine Flour. It was later

operated by Allied Mills, a subsidiary of Goodman Fielder Industries. In 1939 twelve reinforced concrete

vertical wheat silos with were constructed to the south east of the mill building. In 1969 three steel flour

bins were constructed to the north west of the mill building. Six larger concrete silos were built alongside

the twelve existing silos in 1973 and in 1970 and 1984 respectively two further steel flour bins were

constructed adjacent to the three on the north west wall of the mill. The former Workshop, later the

Packaging Plant, was possibly built c. 1960s. From 1966 the building was originally occupied by a fitters

shop, as well as some flour packaging. In the late 1970s the fitters shop was taken from the building and

packaging operations were expanded. From 1981 until the purchase of the mill by Goodman Fielder, Allied

Grocery Product's operations also occupied the space. Internal alterations were made in 1981 in

conjunction with this division.

The mill is located beside the main railway lines serving the Victorian and New South Wales wheat belt. It

is also near Ballarat Road. The silos, and former Victorian Railways electricity substation, help create a

monumental group. No other roller flour mill retains the level of intactness, although Bunge in Ballarat, and

the Bridgewater mill are of a similar period. Both of these have been extensively modified. The shell of the

1920s Kimpton No 3 mill also survives in Kensington.

Following closure, the building suffered considerable vandalism and decay. However, the roof and

windows have been repaired making the building once more secure and weatherproof. Further restoration is

proposed by the current occupant. High level of integrity remains. The only significant alterations are the

addition of a central concrete stairwell inside the original rope drive bay, and the installation in 1959 of the

large timber bins. Apart from this, the mill building is basically intact.

Footscray and Braybrook Publicity Committee, Forging Ahead, Footscray, 1947. C.G. Carlton (ed.),

Sunshine Cavalcade, Sunshine, 1951, p.53. W. Lewis Jones, Where Have all the Flour Mills Gone?,

Melbourne, 1984. Peggy and Lewis Jones, The Flour Mills of Victoria: An Historical Record, Melbourne,

1990. Footscray Advertiser, 17 July 1920. Allom Lovell & Associates, John Darling & Sons Flour Mill:

Assessment of Significance, 1990.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme as an

individual site.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 10 of 366

1928

As one of the largest bridges in Australia and the highest in Victoria, the Maribyrnong River Viaduct is of

State architectural (engineering) and historical significance. As an engineering solution to the peculiar

geography of Melbourne, it demonstrates both the changes in settlement and railway operations and the

difficulty imposed by the very deep valley of the Maribyrnong River in an otherwise flat terrain.

Lattice girder and trestle bridge of steel across the Maribyrnong River. The trestles stand on concrete bases

stepped up the valley floor and sides. Four main verticals form the trestles, braced with a series of diagonal

and horizontal angle iron. The vertical members are splayed inwards in section but are vertical in plan. The

deck is carried on a pair of Riveted "H" section beams while details such as the cross braced hand rails and

safety bays (for workers to stand when trains pass) provide some relief to the otherwise monumental scale.

This is the largest structure of its kind in the state and with the exception of the North Shore Bridge, the

tallest viaduct in Australia at 179 ft. high and 1240 ft. long. The bridge weighs 1650 tons and is the same

length as the Moorabool Viaduct. It stands in considerable isolation in a generally undeveloped part of the

Maribyrnong Valley. The twin Maribyrnong bridges of the Western Ring Road cross the river just upstream

and provide a vantage point for viewing the bridge.

HO

Quartermile Railway Trestle Bridge

27 A2

005

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 11 of 366

The Maribyrnong River bridge (also known as the Big Bridge, the Quartermile Bridge and the Trestle

Bridge) was constructed in 1928 as part of railway improvements intended to provide unobstructed lines for

goods trains and interstate passenger services, and so avoid the suburban route through Essendon and

Pascoe Vale to Sydney. One man lost his life during the building of the bridge. Just north is the Steele

Creek Culvert, a tall earth embankment and outside the Brimbank City area is the Moonee Ponds Creek

viaduct of similar design but somewhat smaller, at 1060 feet long and 115 feet high. The Bunbury Street

tunnel and railway bridge across the Maribyrnong to the West Melbourne goods yard was constructed at the

same time as part of improvements intended to reduce congestion on the suburban section of the north

eastern railway, and divert freight traffic more directly to the western railway marshalling yards. At first,

only goods trains used the newly opened line, but it was used for troop trains during the Second World

War. However, following standardisation of the Melbourne to Sydney railway, all trains to Albury and

Sydney have used this bypass route.

Located in a spectacular and relatively undeveloped and isolated setting, with new views afforded by the

recently completed Western Ring Road bridges.

The bridge is in good condition and appears original. The only alterations appear to be minor changes to the

hand rails.

Leo Harrigan, Victorian Railways to '62, c.1962, p.176. Victorian Railways report, 1928. Paynting & Grant.

St. Albans History Society, St. Albans: the First Hundred Years, 1987, p.55. Gary Vines, Western Region

Industrial Heritage Study, 1989.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

Recommended for nomination to the Register of the National Estate.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 12 of 366

The Black Powder Mill is of national significance as the only surviving component of a gunpowder

manufacturing facility on its original site. Three similar mills at ICI were demolished in 1997. The mill

reflects the significance of munitions production during World War Two and the technological processes

required for meeting Australia's defence needs.

Most of the World War Two black powder factory buildings have been demolished, although some

associated structures survive as a result of their use by community groups. Two red brick buildings stand in

the median strip of Station Road among the sugar gum plantation. The buildings are typical of World War

Two Commonwealth standard architectural forms, featuring corrugated iron roof pavilions, fitted with steel

windows and timber double entry doors. This site was once part of Albion defence land to the east;

connected to the remains of the factory by concrete roads and 'clean ways'. The Black Powder Mill features

a triangular form with massive concrete walls on two sides and the third side enclosed by a light timber

framed wall, clad with tongue-and-groove boards on the inside only. The roof is a pitched timber framed

skillion clad in bituminous paper. Beneath the main floor is a partial cellar, level with the intact electric

motors and gearbox driving the main edge runner mill on the concrete floor above, via the direct vertical

shaft. The edge-runner mill almost fills the main room, set slightly above ground level on the concrete

floors which are covered with spark-suppressing 'malthoid'. The mill itself comprises a large cast-iron bowl,

standing in a frame of cast and wrought iron. Two fabricated edge runner wheels are mounted in the frame,

with the drive turning the frame and gearing to the wheels themselves.

HO

BLACK POWDER Mill, Former Albion Explosives

Factor

y

25 F6

006

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 13 of 366

1934-40c

The Albion Explosives factory was established (on former pastoral land compulsorily acquired) to serve as

a wartime annexe under a Commonwealth scheme begun in August 1938. Initial construction was

undertaken for the Department of Defence/ Munitions Supply branch by ICIANZ, as Explosives Annexe

No. 5. Later the name was changed to Albion Explosives Factory. The Commonwealth Government

resumed the works after World War Two. Initially the factory comprised a T.N.T. section, nitro-glycerine

plant and cordite section and the first facilities in Australia for the production of nitric and sulphuric acid.

During and following World War Two, Albion was the major producer of Australia's T.N.T. and cordite.

Additional facilities were progressively added, including smokeless fuse powder (black powder), balistite

and carbamite. In 1943 the synthetic ammonia and ammonia oxidisation plant, the first in Australia, was

constructed by ICIANZ to ensure that Australia had an independent supply (organic ammonia from South

America having been disrupted). The ammonia plant was not commissioned until after the war and so was

used for supplying product s for ammonium nitrate fertiliser and methanol until about 1960. Following the

war, the factory was controlled from the Maribyrnong Explosives Factory, but continued to be upgraded,

with the doubling of the available land in 1949, principally to accommodate the new R.D.X (Research and

Development Explosives) plant, built north of Furlong Road in 1957. The Albion and Maribyrnong

Explosives Factories were amalgamated in 1976 and continued in operation until 1987, when most

production ceased at Albion, and explosives manufacture was centralised at Mulwala.

Very few explosives manufacturing facilities were ever built in Australia. Gunpowder was manufactured in

Bendigo in the nineteenth century, and a similar plant was operated at the Deer Park ICI factory from about

1937. This had three very similar black powder mills, which have now all been demolished. Some of the

equipment from the ICI plant has been retained, either at the Deer Park factory, or by a private collector in

Queensland.

Although in a dilapidated state, the black powder mill is generally intact, with its original machinery and

fittings and is restorable. The loading buildings on Station Road are in poor condition and have been altered

in minor form to accommodate community functions.

G. Vines and A. Ward, Albion Explosives Factory Heritage Study, 1988. Raworth and Ducros Albion

Explosives Factory Concept Plan: conservation analysis and review, 1997.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

Recommended for inclusion on the Register of the National Estate and the Victorian Heritage Register.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 14 of 366

Harrick's Homestead and associated buildings are of regional historical significance as a rare example of a

pioneer settler's cottage in the Melbourne metropolitan region. The earliest surviving part is a pole and

scantling framed hut, probably built in 1861-62, to which were added a rubble stone dairy (subsequently

demolished) and sundry agricultural outbuildings. After ownership of the land was achieved by Harrick in

1883, a substantial new timber and weatherboard addition of four rooms was made in front of the original

hut. The property remained in the Harrick family until 1929, and is of social significance as a symbol of the

closer settlement of the Keilor area, and the long serving membership by James Harrick of the Keilor Shire

Council (1898-1910).

HO

Harrick's house

15A7

007

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 15 of 366

1860-70s

The village of Keilor was gazetted as a township in 1850 and during the Victorian gold rushes many

thousands of diggers used the crossing place on the Saltwater River at Keilor on their way to the Central

Victorian diggings. The township grew in the 1850s and farmers came to Keilor to set up properties on the

alluvial flats and supply fresh produce to miners. A large number of the first settlers in the area were Irish

immigrants who had departed Ireland after the potato famine of 1846 or who later came to the colony to

strike it rich on the goldfields. The cottage was probably built in several stages between 1861 and 1886 by

James Harrick, pioneer Irish settler on the Salt Water River at Keilor. James Harrick was born at Erinhead,

County Longford, Ireland in 1828, son of Patrick Harrick and his wife Rose (nee Mulligan). Patrick

Harrick, variously described as a farmer and a forest ranger, was employed by the Irish landlord Henry

Dopping, JP, on his estate at Erinhead on the Lough Gowna, in the Townland of Culray, Parish of

Abbeylara. The Harrick's were a poor family without any financial prospects. James Harrick emigrated to

Australia on 5 June 1856, arriving at Melbourne on 1 September of the same year. He lived at Keilor

before he married Bridget Keirnan, another Irish immigrant, on 23 June 1861. James and Bridget Harrick

settled as tenant farmers on 28 acres (11.5 hectares) of land at Keilor (allotments 15 and 41, Parish of

Doutta Galla) in mid-1861 and evidently built the first pole and scantling framed hut on this agricultural

lease at that time. Other buildings included a rubble stone dairy against the south wall of the hut and

agricultural outbuildings and fences laid out around the simple hut. After the purchase of two leasehold

allotments in September 1883, Harrick arranged for the construction of a substantial timber and

weatherboard addition of four rooms in front of the original hut. A skillion verandah was built across the

frontage and a gable roofed sleep-out was constructed at the rear of the hut about the same time. James and

Bridget Harrick brought up ten children on their small farm. James Harrick took a great interest in local

affairs and showed concern for the welfare of the numerous Irish settlers in the district. In 1898 James

Harrick was elected to the Keilor Shire Council as a representative of the Doutta Galla riding and served as

a councillor until 1910. Bridget Harrick died on 13 November 1906 at the age of 65 years and was buried in

the Keilor Cemetery. James Harrick died at the age of 86 years on 10 October 1912 and was interred in

the Keilor cemetery. On his death, the property was left to his sons Thomas and Joseph Harrick. Thomas

Harrick operated the farm until his death in 1926. The Harrick family's ownership of the property ended in

1929 when it was purchased by John Quinn (Australia) Pty Ltd, of 375 Collins Street, Melbourne and

Harrick's Cottage is a single storey building of timber and weatherboard construction with a galvanised

corrugated iron sheet roof. It has six rooms plus a brick fireplace, two brick-lined wells. There are three

adjoining buildings and a separate shed with galvanised corrugated iron walls. The building is in poor

condition and needs maintenance work such as re-blocking and new gutters and down pipes. Harrick's

Cottage was built in a number of stages. The post and scantling hut, which forms the first stage of the

timber and weatherboard cottage complex, probably dates from the 1860s. The weatherboard clad hipped

roof cottage and skillion addition was built in about 1886. There is little doubt that the hut at the heart of

the complex is the original structure, as the connections with the adjoining portions clearly show them to be

later. The basic structure is of round, partially adzed and fully adzed rectangular posts, all earthfast. Some

of the wall top plates are also original, but without being able to dismantle the roof structure or to enter the

roof space it has been impossible to come to any definitive conclusion. The presence of a Ewbank patent

nail in the roof structure over the east door, and of a large Ewbank nail or spike in the main frame at the

north-west corner, visible from inside, is consistent with the putative date of the early 1860s. The balance of

the fabric is later, including intermediate studs (exposed in the west wall), rafters and purlins, weatherboard

cladding, boarded wall lining, boarded ceiling lining, and the brick fireplace and chimney. This is

evidenced by the machine-sawn timbers (undated but presumed later than the hand-worked), the wire nails

(post-1870s), Hoffman bricks in the fireplace (post-1870, and in this instance appearing very much later

still), and Braby "Sun" brand corrugated iron (not usually found in Australia before the 1880s). The butt

joined timber flooring is early in character, but it is more probable that the original surface was beaten

earth, paddled clay, lime-ash or similar, and that the boarding was a later addition. (Miles Lewis) The front

portion of the building presenting a Georgian cottage facade with 12 pane windows, appears to have been

extended on the wings by 1.4m. either side, as indicated by the break in the weatherboard. The garden

surrounding Harrick's Homestead comprises just a few remnant old trees including apple Malis sp. elm,

plum Prunus sp. and peppercorn Schinus molle . Boxthorn on the property is probably an escaped remnant

from former hedges around the paddocks.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 16 of 366

mortgaged to William John White. The mortgage was discharged on 21 March 1945. David William

Thomson leased the property and moved into the cottage after 1930. He lived there with his wife Elizabeth

and six children. The property is currently owned by the Commonwealth Department of Administrative

Services.

There are few 19th century timber dwellings within the City of Brimbank. This building is possibly the

oldest surviving timber structure in the municipality. It provides an interesting contrast to the more solid

and extensive Overnewton property on the other side of the river valley.

The condition of Harrick's homestead has been subject to considerable analysis and debate. Allan

Willingham has reported termite and borer infestation and long term wet-rot attack. Roof cladding appears

in reasonable condition although showing signs of rust. The major problems are to do with exposed fames

where weatherboard cladding has rotted away, particularly at some corners, and collapsed eave gutters and

downpipes, the latter contributing to the former.

Alan, Willingham, 'Harrick's Cottage, A Cultural History and Assessment of Cultural Significance'. Report

to Department of Administrative Services, 1997. Registrar General's Office, Melbourne, Application 41138

CA 10, 11,12,13,14 and 41 Certificate of Title Vol. 3887, Fol. 77328. Miles Lewis, 'Harrick's Cottage,

Keilor', 19 August 1997.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 17 of 366

The house is one of the few remaining bluestone buildings in the municipality, and one of only four

farmhouses in Brimbank surviving from the 19th century. As the home of early Scottish migrant settlers,

the house has some significance in the history of migration. As the home of a long-serving Shire councillor,

it has some part in the story of local government. While bluestone houses were once common in this area

many did not survive the 1967 fires. The drystone walls are one of the best surviving examples of stone

fencing in the Brimbank municipality.

Altered bluestone and weatherboard farm house, stone outbuildings, dry stone walls, remnant

VEGETATION on edge of urban area The house, in Boundary Road, dates back to the late 19th century,

c. 1880. Its impressive chimneys, visible from the road, give some idea of its age. The property is on the

edge of an industrial area. Mature tree row along road reserve outside of property fence line; mainly Pinus

canariensis and Eucalyptus cladocalyx. Trees and the garden surrounding and obscuring the house include

Schinus molle var. areira and a variety of Eucalyptus spp. Plantings of sugar gums along Boundary Road

Are typical and were often undertaken as the result of a decision by the Shire Council. The extensive

drystone walls around and across the surrounding land are probably at least 120 years old. They are shown

on an Ordnance Survey map of 1933. Some of the walls are in good condition. Many of the walls appear to

follow the lines of the original portions into which the area of Section 5 (approximately one square mile)

was divided, prior to sale in 1854. The farmhouse gives an impression of reflecting two distinct periods -

one facing east to the city and the other facing south to Boundary Road.

HO

Foxly Lodge farm, stone fences

39 B7

008

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 18 of 366

1880c

Foxly Lodge is situated on Portion 5 of Section 5, within the parish of Derrimut, part of a substantial

(square mile) block of land comprising Portions 1,2,3,4,5 and 6, bounded by Boundary Road on the south,

Middle Road on the north, Mount Derrimut Road on the east and Robinson's Road (once known as

Thompson's Road) on the west. The settlement south of Boundary Road has traditionally been described as

Truganina. The land in Section 5 was first sold by the Crown in 1854. The first purchasers were: - Portion

Acreage Name of owner

1 - 101-1-24 R. Fitzgerald - Early settler, North Sunshine, died 1857;

2 104-0- 0 J. W. Felstead Sold to W. J. T. Clarke

3 101-1-24 J. Fitzgerald - Early settler, Deer Park area

4 104-0- 0 R. Fitzgerald Early settler, died 1857

5 101-1-24 S. Bottomley Also had land in Footscray area

6 104-0- 0 F. Thompson

By 1871 the pattern of ownership had changed Portion Acreage Name of owner

1 101-1-24 Mrs Fitzgerald, leased to Robert C. Morton of Mt. Derrimut

2 104-0- 0 Part of the vast estate of W.J.T. Clarke

3 101-1-24 + hut John Scott, farmer, died 1872. Land fenced. Lived on nearby farm.

4 104-0- 0 Mrs Fitzgerald, leased to Robert C. Morton of Mt. Derrimut

5 3 ac + house George McLagan, farmer 26 acres John Scott, farmer 49 acres John Scott, farmer

6 104-0- 0 George McLagan, farmer. Also owned 104 acres off Fitzgerald Rd. In 1876, all land fenced.

George McLagan was living on this site in Boundary Road in the 1860s-70s and owned 104 acres of land

close by, in Portion 6. Mrs Jane Scott, dairywoman, continued to own Portion 3 and most of Portion 5 until

about 1882, when she appears to have sold the land to George McLagan. By 1883 George McLagan owned

the entire 101 acres of Portion 5. He married in 1880 and built an additional house on his property in

Boundary Road. It is possible that this is the bluestone house that survives to this day. Previously George

McLagan had a stone house in Boundary Road on Section 5-6 (mentioned in the 1872 ratebooks). It is

likely that he lived with his mother, Janet McLagan, and that she continued to live in this older house after

George married Annie Watson. A plan of the parish of Derrimut in 1892, in the County of Bourke Atlas

shows the owners at that time. The McLagan farm, adjoining Boundary Road, was 205 acres by this time.

Hay was one of the main products.

George and Annie McLagan lived in Boundary Road until the time of the First World War. Annie died in

1916, aged 68 years, and George in 1917, aged 79 years. They are buried in Truganina Cemetery. George

was a Scotsman, born in Perthshire. He was a councillor of the Shire of Braybrook for 29 years (1879-1888

and 1897-1917) and President of the Shire in the early 1880s. The McLagans do not appear to have had any

children. George's mother, Mrs Janet McLagan, who also lived on the property, died in 1893, aged 88

years. The McLagan property was bought by William Robinson, who owned land on the west side of

Robinsons Road. There are many Robinsons in the Truganina district, some with the same first name.

Without the assistance of Albert Evans, it would be impossible to trace the different families. William (or

Bill) Robinson, who bought McLagan's property, was the son of early settlers, John and Margaret

Robinson, who arrived in 1852 and settled on Doherty's Creek about two kilometres south of Boundary

Road. William was the fourth of their twelve children. He married Margaret O'Meara and they had five

children, including twins, William and Joe, born in 1896. At the turn of the century the family were living

on a farm west of Robinson's Road. The children began attending the Truganina State School No. 192, three

and a half miles away. By 1918, William Robinson was the owner of the McLagan property and Robinsons

have continued owners until the present time, using the land for farming and grazing. The surrounding land

is still farmed today.

While bluestone houses were once common in this area many did not survive the 1967 fires. The ruins of

such houses may still be seen along Doherty's Road in the City of Wyndham. The Farragher family house

in the Shire of Melton is comparable to the McLagan/Robinson house, as is Robertson's homestead at the

north end of the City of Brimbank.

Good. The front of the house is substantially altered.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 19 of 366

Plans of the parish of Derrimut. ORDNANCE SURVEY MAP, 1933. Ratebooks of Braybrook Road

District and Braybrook Shire. VPRS 795, records relating to School No. 192. Outline history and map

prepared by Mr Albert Evans, who has mapped the local properties. and outlined the family history of the

local farmers. G. Vines, Built to Last, 1990.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 20 of 366

1912

The former Sunshine Mechanics Institute Library is significant to the City of Brimbank as one of the City's

few remaining early twentieth century civic buildings, and for its association with the civic and social

organisation of the growing industrial suburb of Sunshine (formerly Braybrook Junction). Moved from its

original site, and altered, the building served for many years as the municipal library. The simple timber

form reflects the functional character of much of Sunshine's early architecture. It is one of the earliest

known examples of the work of local architect, J. Raymond Robinson.

Sited at the rear of the Masonic Hall, this picturesque but modest weatherboard-clad, gable- ended hall was

used for the first public library in Sunshine. It has simulated half-timbering to the jettied gable, a gable

finial and near-original, vertical, boarded doors and multi-light windows. It is similar to many local

mechanics' halls and libraries across the State but is one of the earliest group of public buildings in this part

of the municipality.

HO

Former Sunshine Mechanics Institute Library

40 H1

J. Ra

ymond Robinson

009

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 21 of 366

The first Mechanics' Institute in the Brimbank area was the St.Albans Mechanics' Institute and hall,

established by local people in 1906. This became a popular community venue for many years. A typical

event was a Shakespeare night held in June 1907, but there were also concerts and dances. With the coming

of McKay's Harvester Works and the arrival of new settlers, a fierce battle developed between the

newcomers of Braybrook Junction, renamed 'Sunshine' in 1907, and the more established residents of the

Shire of Braybrook, regarding the location of a Mechanics' Institute. The Sunshine residents prevailed and a

Mechanics Institute Hall opened in 1908. It soon became a social, rather than an educational, facility, with

socials, dances, bazaars, and billiard tables. The first Sunshine library opened in a separate wooden

building in 1912, built adjacent to the Mechanics' Institute and run by the Institute. The architect was J.

Raymond Robinson. In 1920 Braybrook Shire Council negotiated with the Sunshine Mechanics Institute

trustees, to take over the liabilities of the Institute and purchase the land, hall, billiard room and library, on

condition that the Council erected new municipal buildings and a hall in memory of World War One

servicemen. J. Raymond Robinson designed the Memorial Hall, built in concrete around the older wooden

building, and this was completed in 1922. However this burned down in 1924 and a new town hall was built

in Hampshire Road and this remained for several decades. In the growing settlement of Sunshine, a hall was

one of the first public buildings to be constructed. For many years, dancing was a frequent activity at the

Sunshine Mechanics Institute Hall and its successor, the Sunshine Town Hall, the venue for the first Shire

Ball presentation of debutantes in 1934. Neither of these buildings survive. By the early 1920s, the library

was the responsibility of the Braybrook Shire Council and the old timber building was moved across the

road to Corio Street. The building was the main Sunshine library until a new library building was erected.

This opened in the late 1960s in McCracken Street and the former Corio Street library became a branch

library. In the 1970s, the branch library function ceased and the building was used as a library store.

Located opposite Pollard Gardens and adjacent to the former Masonic hall and a block from the group of

schools in Derby Road, together forming an educational precinct. The former Mechanics institute library is

unusual in the City, both for its age, its historical use and building form.

In good condition although somewhat altered. Currently owned by Brimbank City Council. The former use

is obscured a little externally by minor alterations to trim (e.g. barge boards) and internally by the removal

of some original fittings.

Footscray Independent, 20 October 1906, p.2. Footscray Advertiser, 29 June 1907, p.2; 2 October 1909.

See also research on the St.Albans Public Hall by Jack Sheridan, St.Albans History Society. Prue

McGoldrick, When the Whistle Blew, 1989, pp.57-8.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme. Restore

facade trim and repaint to original colours.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 22 of 366

1912 - 1950s -1970s

Of local historical and social significance for its close association with the origins of organised recreation in

Sunshine as a company town. The surviving elements of the second clubhouse and greens, reflect the

character of the early twentieth century Sunshine and the progressive expansion of the club in the post

World War Two period. The associated Sunshine Gardens have been separately identified as of State

significance (see Burness et al, H.V. McKay Memorial Gardens: Conservation Analysis and Management

Guidelines, 1994).

As built, the Sunshine Bowling Club was not so much of an intrusion into the Sunshine Gardens, although

it occupied a central portion of the land between the Gardens and the church. It was relatively open and

integrated into the landscaping. The original club rooms were weatherboard clad with low-pitched, gable

roofed, corrugated-iron roof. Located on the west side of the green, they incorporated a deep verandah with

bull nose profile and central gable, finished with timber fretwork and containing rows of bench seating. A

timber paling fence enclosed the greens on at least two sides. The perimeter of the green is now thickly

vegetated. The present layout owes much to the 1950s development with concrete edging and the cream

c.1970s brick club house on the north side. Some c.1950s buildings remain on the south side of the site

including the Kevin Lorenz Green building.

HO

Sunshine Bowling Club

26 G12

010

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 23 of 366

In the rapidly-growing settlement of Sunshine, a number of sporting associations started within five years of

the suburb's re-naming. These included the Sunshine Cricket Club, the Sunshine Tennis Club and the

Sunshine Bowling Club. H.V. McKay and the Harvester Works firm created the Sunshine Gardens, an

unusual example of an industrial enterprise providing public open space. H.V. McKay was involved in the

formation of the Sunshine Bowling Club in 1912, on land owned by him, in Anderson Road. Within a year,

the club had joined the Victorian Bowls Association and members were successfully competing with other

clubs. An official opening of the bowling green took place in 1918. Night bowls were played under

ordinary electric light globes set out 2.5 metres above the greens suspended on wires. Members of the

Bowling Club included H.V. McKay, club president in 1921-22, and several of the senior executives of the

McKay firm; the local doctor, Dr. Adamson; principal of the sunshine Technical school, George Baxter;

Revd. George Brodie and W.J. Andrew, Shire Secretary. The McKay firm provided maintenance of the

greens and clubhouse for over 30 years. A Sunshine Ladies' Bowling Club started in 1926. In March 1927

the club took up the offer of the McKay company to buy the land, with money raised through social

activities, debentures and a ball in the shire hall. Further improvements included floodlighting in 1949 and

in 1951 the club colours of navy blue and white were registered. Harold Gray, curator of the Sunshine

Gardens from about 1939, provided the direction for the keeping of the bowling green, although the labour

was usually provided by club members. In 1956 the bowling club wrote to Sunshine City Council about

extending the greens and offered the original pavilion to the Council for removal to a recreation area. The

Council accepted, with a view to moving the building to Council property at the Maidstone Tennis Club,

but there is no evidence the building is still intact. Additional land from the Gardens (under the control of

the City of Sunshine since 1953) was obtained by leasehold at £1 per annum. By 1957 the club had obtained

an additional 3 feet of land on the east and 14 feet on the west previously occupied by the old pavilion, with

the greens extended from 7 to 10 rinks, while more land to the north (85 ft. by 21.5 ft.) was granted for a

new clubhouse. A second extension to the east, and into the old tennis court, occurred after 1962. (Burness,

pp.18-20.)

The Sunshine Bowling Club is part of a recreation precinct developed around the original Sunshine

Gardens set up by McKay and so fragmenting the original gardens. It was one of the first organised

recreation facilities on the area. Other clubs, such as the St.Albans Bowling Club, began after World War

Two.

The site is in good condition, although alterations and replacement of the clubhouse have detracted from its

integrity.

Footscray Advertiser, 7 August 1909; 19 April 1913; 26 February 1916; 21 September 1918. Prue

McGoldrick, When the Whistle Blew, pp.92-3, 201. Jill Burness, H.V. McKay Memorial Gardens

Conservation Analysis and Management Guidelines, report to City of Sunshine and Sunshine & District

Historical Society, 1994.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme. Also to be

included in the McKay's Sunshine Estate Heritage Area. The Bowling Club is included in the Conservation

Analysis and Management Guidelines for the Sunshine Gardens.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 24 of 366

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 25 of 366

The H.V. McKay Memorial Gardens are of State significance as an early example of a privately- funded

garden attached to an industrial site and catering primarily for the recreation needs of workers, their

families and local residents; as an integral part of an industrial complex of national importance in the

history of Australian manufacturing; as part of the 'garden suburb' vision of H.V. McKay, pioneer

industrialist and developer of much of the infrastructure of the suburb of Sunshine; as a link with an earlier

era, with remaining elements including exotic trees, especially oaks, and some early path lay-out and

landscaping. The Gardens are also of regional significance as an oasis in the heart of a densely-developed

industrial and residential area and of local significance as the setting for the McKay Memorial Presbyterian

church. Note: This statement of significance is based on that prepared by the National Trust of Australia

(Victoria).

HO

H.V. McKay Memorial Gardens, Sunshine

26 G12

010

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 26 of 366

1910c

H.V. McKay created the Sunshine Gardens, an unusual example of a industrial enterprise providing public

open space. The Harvester Works firm employed curators for the Gardens over several decades, including a

resident curator. Only in 1954 did management of the Gardens pass from private to public ownership. In

that year the City of Sunshine acquired the Gardens and took on responsibility for their maintenance and

management. H.V. McKay commissioned S. G. Thompson to prepare the site for the Gardens, according to

a plan prepared by a Mr Horsfall. S.G. Thompson was curator for eighteen years, retiring in 1927. For part

of this time, William Lowman was listed as caretaker (Sands & McDougall, Melbourne Directory. 1922).

The Sunshine Tennis Club, which commenced in 1909, occupied a portion of the garden site to the south

east of the bowling green. This is shown on MMBW plan no. 218 (25/2/1930). The journal Land and

Transport published a major article on Sunshine in 1917, suggesting that: 'At Sunshine the principles of

town planning have been established for the past seven years. The article described the gardens which are

now known as the H.V. McKay Memorial Gardens: In addition to the street plantations and private

gardens, there is a public park, beautifully laid-out, with gravelled walks, shrubbery, flower-beds, and

grass plots, which are the delight of the rising generation of Sunshine. In this park an up-to date bandstand

is erected, a tennis court and pavilion is provided and a well-tended bowling green, lighted by electricity

for play in the cool of the summer nights. A series of picture postcards. published about 1915 and depicting

places in Sunshine, shows a conservatory - full of flowers, a rockery, palm trees, and women walking with

children and prams. A film, made by John Jackson in 1928, shows something of the layout of the gardens.

The gardens, although small, became well-known for their chrysanthemums, which feature in a film made

by the H.V. McKay Massey Harris company in the early 1950s. The film also shows the use of the gardens

made by employees of the Harvester Works, just across the railway line and reached by a footbridge. The

Gardens became smaller over the years, due to the encroachment of other uses, such as the Bowling Club

and the Presbyterian manse. The Gardens are now under the control of Brimbank City Council. A

management plan, prepared by Jill Burness in 1994 has made recommendations for the future of the

Gardens. The gate post of sculptured bluestone at the northern end of the garden was moved to Sunshine in

the 1920s and later relocated to the northern entrance to the Gardens. Originally there were two stone

gateposts and the gateway included two lions, which were said to have been lent to the Governor-General,

Lord Casey, for a special occasion on his property at Berwick. It is likely that the two lions are still at

Berwick. The second gatepost was stolen some years ago. The wrought-iron gates were installed in the

1920s.

Set in a triangular block between Anderson Road and the North East Railway line and bounded on the south

side by the closed section of Devonshire Road, which has been incorporated into the gardens themselves.

The HV McKay Memorial Gardens contain a collection of mainly exotic trees, shrubs and perennials, as

well as a small rose garden. Some of the larger, more mature and uncommon trees include a pair of

Cupressus glabra, a pair of Quercus robur and a pair of Lagunaria patersonii, a number of large Quercus

robur, Lagunaria patersonii and Cedrus deodara. There is also a large Magnolia grandiflora, Grevillea

robusta, Populus deltoides and a redwood. Among the older and more interesting shrubs is a large clump of

Strelitzia nicholii, Cordyline australis and Doryanthes sp. (Gymaea lily). A concrete base glasshouse,

dating from c.1920s-30s, was recently demolished. At the Anderson Road northern entrance (opposite King

Edward Avenue) there is an iron gate (c.1920s) with concrete posts and a much older ornamental bluestone

gate post. The gatepost is said to have been the work of Nathaniel McKay (father of H.V. McKay), a

stonemason who made the fence and posts for the Scots Church in Collins Street. The wrought-iron gates

were the work of Charlie Pippett, a blacksmith at H.V. McKay's Sunshine Harvester Works.

A key component of McKay's Sunshine Estate, exemplifying the concept of the Garden City. There are few

other examples in Victoria, or Australia, of public gardens given and maintained by an industrial firm.

Good

Sands & McDougall, Melbourne Directory, 1922. MMBW plan no. 218 (25/2/1930). Land and Transport ,

December 1917, pp.12-14. D. McNeil and the McKay family, The McKays of Drummartin & Sunshine,

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 27 of 366

1984, pp. 15, 33. Jill Burness, H.V. McKay Memorial Gardens: Conservation Analysis and Management

Guidelines, 1994. Sunshine Review, No.9, July 1950

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme

Recommended for nomination to the Victorian Heritage Register

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 28 of 366

1911

The Sunshine footbridge is of historical significance as a key component in the Sunshine Harvester Works

precinct, providing a physical, symbolic and visual link between the factory and offices on one side, and the

managers' and workers' houses and gardens on the other. It thus draws together the concepts of town

planning, for which McKay's activities in early Sunshine are notable, and the industrial enterprise of the

Sunshine Harvester Works.

The foot bridge was originally constructed in all timber, but this must have proved inadequate since the

main timber beams were replaced with rolled steel joists. The timber decking, risers and hand rails appear

to have been reused from the original bridge. As it stands today, the bridge is a combination of work from

several periods including the most recent (1997) extension. The main beams are 14" x 51/2" x 40lbs rolled

steel joists, providing spans of 28'3" and 27'3" with a smaller span at the east end of 15'10" and a

correspondingly lighter beam of 9" x 4" x 21 lbs. Diagonal braces gave the deck rigidity, while timber

planking was placed over the rolled steel joists. The hand rails and safety fences are of timber with closely

spaced pickets and the stair sections having woven galvanised wire mesh. The bridge spanned the four main

lines (Bendigo and Ballarat lines) and two siding tracks with the Harvester Works siding passing under the

narrow span. The main alteration since 1930 has been the inclusion of a new steel girder span on the east

side to cross the roadway. This has resulted in the replacement of the eastern steps.

HO

Pedestrian foot bridge over railway

26 70S

010

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 29 of 366

On the 5th March 1907, H.V. McKay wrote to the Victorian Railways to request they build a foot crossing

over the lines at Devonshire Road. This was eventually constructed in 1911, at a time when considerable

new housing, much of which was for McKay employees, was being erected in the Sunshine Estate west of

Anderson Road. It also followed shortly after the establishment of the Sunshine Gardens and construction

of the first Presbyterian church on the east side of Anderson Road. The original timber structure must have

proved unsatisfactory and in 1934 the main beams were replaced with steel. In 1997, the bridge was

extended to provide an additional span over the new road parallel to the railway.

This pedestrian footbridge, over the railway lines to Bendigo and Sydney, provides an important link

between the residential area that was once the main part of McKay's Sunshine Estate and the Harvester

factory itself. Built in an era when most of the local population were pedestrians, it is comparable with a

rather larger pedestrian bridge at Footscray.

Good

H.J. Burness, H.V. McKay Memorial Gardens Conservation Analysis and Management Plan, 1994, p. 7

Victorian Correspondence Books, item 7170, PRO Laverton (provided by Tom Rigg). VR Sunshine

Footbridge at Devonshire Road: Replacement of Timber Beams by rolled steel joists, Chief Engineer of

Ways and Works, 3/2/34 Plan R26089, PRO.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 30 of 366

The McKay-Massey-Ferguson office complex at Sunshine is of historical, social and architectural

significance at the State and national level for its association with H.V. McKay, the inventor of the

Sunshine Harvester and one of Australia's foremost industrial entrepreneurs. The name 'Sunshine', which he

gave to the harvester he designed, is perpetuated in the name of the suburb. The offices also represent (by

default of being the most substantial surviving element) the scale of the former works as a large dynamic

industrial complex that evolved constantly from the establishment of the Braybrook Implement Company in

1889 to the closure of the site by Massey-Ferguson in 1986.

HO

H V McKay offices / Massey-Ferguson (Aust) Ltd

26 H12

011 &

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 31 of 366

1909-1920s

The original office of the Sunshine Harvester Works, when it was established in Sunshine in 1904, was

evidently in the former Braybrook Implement works buildings on the north side of Devonshire Road within

the transferred exhibition building structures. Within a few years, the Works had so expanded that

additional specially-built office space was required and this was erected on the south side of Devonshire

Road, facing the railway line. Part of this 1909 structure, which housed the head office, and later the

printing department, still survives. A sequence of alterations and additions were carried out to the offices,

parallel with the expansion and increasing specialisation of the production areas to the north. A new

structure was erected to the north in 1911 for offices, with the central section becoming the 'Head Office'.

At the same time, buildings for the Engineers' Store (later becoming the Experimental Department) and

Duplicates Store were put up to the north-east on Devonshire Road. Small extensions were made to these in

1913 and 1920 and a garage added to the south of the Railway Place offices in 1918. 'Hampshire House' a

two-storey office building was erected on the corner of Devonshire Road and Hampshire Road in 1924 and

was used by the S.E.C. By 1927 the Devonshire Road and Railway Place (now Harvester Road) corner

appears to have been remodelled, the adjoining experimental section making way for new Head Offices,

with the distinctive curved corner feature of the present two-storey building. This building, which came to

be the most public face of the McKay firm, and later Massey-Ferguson, is almost certainly to the design of

J. Raymond Robinson, who was carrying out considerable work in Sunshine, including churches, civic

buildings and many houses, often built by the company or for its employees. Drawings for the new offices

of 4 June 1926 carry Robinson's name. (McKay Archives, Museum of Victoria). The next change occurred

in 1939-40, when the separate Duplicates Stores on Devonshire Road and Harvester Road (the latter being

the former printing shop) were remodelled into a larger 'Experimental Block' to the design of architect

Frederick Morseby. These buildings, later referred to as the engineering department, with drawing office

upstairs and the motor garage facing Railway Place/Harvester Road and later Head Office Engineering, are

the only manufacturing buildings of the Harvester Works for which an architect's name is known. (Herald ,

26 April 1939). The additions totalling 40,000 square feet (about 4,000 square metres) were designed to

provide enlarged space for design staff, as well as incorporating a large garage for finished tractors. The

engineer was Clive S. Steele and the builders were Swanston Brothers Pty Ltd. (Lewis:19). Around this

time, the Railway Place/Harvester Road frontage was landscaped and the original H.V. McKay timber slab

smithy was erected in front of the 1909 building, which had by then become the printing and photographic

department. The smithy survives, although dismantled and in storage at the Museum of Victoria. The

precinct remained substantially unaltered from then on, apart from minor changes in use, and the eventual

selling of Hampshire House to be incorporated into the Hampshire Road shops.

Two-storey stuccoed Edwardian era former McKay offices extending to the corner of Devonshire Road as a

major streetscape element within the Sunshine centre and as seen from the railway and beyond. Styled in

the Edwardian Baroque revival and finished in cement render, the building is set out in bays along the main

facades, with the distinctive curved corner surmounted by a multi-hipped roof clad with slate and terra

cotta. Raised pierced parapets add emphasis to bays in the elevation. Around the corner in Harvester Road

is another earlier building - McKay's offices, built in 1909, but now absorbed into the larger complex. The

McKay name was in large letters across the front but reputedly these were removed when Massey Ferguson

took over the works. South of this is the sheer wall of the garage, with its moulded cement stringcourse

(formerly with moulded cement lettering as well. The Devonshire Road frontage incorporates the

engineering department which provides fairly plain transition between the head office and Hampshire

House which continues as the Hampshire Road shop strip. The prominent concrete water tower which

surmounts the complex is a local landmark.

Located opposite the manufacturing works, the development of the separate office / design / research /

publication section demonstrates the expansion, diversification and specialisation of the factory. As the

main office of the largest manufacturer in Sunshine (and Melbourne's western suburbs) the site has few

The office complex is substantially intact to its 1940 extent with substantial components of 1909 and 1927.

Some external finish has been removed and the interiors have been degraded, but the original blackwood

panelled head office interiors are intact.

J. Raymond Robinson

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 32 of 366

parallels. However, in scale and purpose they compare to the GMH plant office at Fishermen's Bend.

Miles Lewis, The Sunshine Harvester Works, 1987. Composite site plans, photographs and other records in

the H.V. McKay Archives, Museum of Victoria. Melbourne's Living Museum of the West, Massey

Ferguson Site Study: Stage 2, 1987. Herald, 26 April 1939 in RVAI press cuttings, State Library of Victoria.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

Recommended for nomination to the Register of the National Estate. Recommended for inclusion on the

Victorian Heritage Register

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 33 of 366

1848

The Keilor Hotel is of State historical and archaeological significance as a rare and relatively intact mid

nineteenth century public house which served the early traffic to the Mt. Alexander goldfields. It is also of

significance for its association with the pioneering families of the district, the Dodds and Goudies. It is also

of architectural significance as a rare early bluestone hotel which, although modified, demonstrates the type

of coaching inn design common in the mid nineteenth century.

A verandahed bluestone hotel originally with hipped roof bays projecting at each end almost to the

property line and a straight profile, timber-framed verandah between. The main entrance was diagonally

across the corner at the western end, while windows were 12 paned sashes having single blocks of

bluestone as lintels. Originally having walls of bare coursed bluestone, parts have been subsequently

rendered, although internal walls and fireplaces have recently been stripped back to the stone. The details of

the facade have been altered, such as verandah posts and windows. Other more recent additions have been

made to the building, including a c.1920s wing that was remodelled in a 'heritage' style in the 1980s. A

stable block nearby appears to have been incorporated into other extensions.

HO

Keilor Hotel, former Galway Arms Hotel, & Red Lion

Hotel

13 J6

012

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 34 of 366

A Keilor Inn was in place as early as 1841, licensed to the Hunter brothers and located roughly opposite the

present Keilor Hotel. In 1848 James and Flora Mitchell had established the Galway Arms, which was

renamed the Keilor Hotel eleven years later. With the advent of the Gold Rushes, a plethora of refreshment

licences were granted for establishments along the Mt. Alexander Road in or near Keilor (10 applications

for hotel licences between 1851 and 54). The Galway Arms was taken over by James Smith who had

previously run the nearby Keilor Inn. Smith was also previously licensee of the Red Lion in Melbourne and

he renamed the Mitchells' hotel the Red Lion. (The Keilor Hotel is once again known by this name). Smith

advertised to travellers claiming to provide for their every need, as well as the needs of their horses. The

Mitchells' daughter Flora married James Smith in 1855 and became joint licensee with him. The hotel

passed to new owners Benjamin and Mary Ellis on 12 June 1860, when its name was again changed to the

Keilor Hotel, possibly to avoid confusion with the Galloway Arms of John Price, which was licensed at this

time. In 1862 Matthew Goudie began his association with the hotel, filling in for Benjamin Ellis during the

latter's absence. By December 1862 Goudie applied for the licence and in 1875 finally purchased it for

£1000. He remained there until his death in 1881, after which his family ran the business until 1907. The

Goudie family also had extensive farming interests in Keilor, and became closely related to the Dodd

family through marriage and business interests. The present licensee, Ray Dodd, is a direct descendant of

Matthew and Jane Goudie.

Located in the surviving historical streetscape of Keilor village on the former main highway (now

bypassed) and reflecting the role of Keilor as a stopping place to the goldfields. Few other gold rush period

hotels survive in the region, comparable structures being the Braybrook Hotel (City of Maribyrnong) and

the much-altered Border Inn, Bacchus Marsh.

In good condition, although various renovations have changed the substance and character of the original

building considerably.

Meredith Walker, Christine Johnston & Carmel Boyce, Melbourne Western Region Heritage Study:

Evidence of History, 1986, p.41. Hugh Anderson, Saltwater Trails, 1984. Keilor City Council, City of

Keilor, Centenary Souvenir 1863-1963, 1963. Joan Carstairs & Maureen Lane, Pubs, Punt and Pastures,

1988. Angela Evans & the Keilor Pioneer Research Collective, Keilor Pioneers: Dead Men Do Tell Tales,

1994, pp. 38-42.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme. Also

included in the Keilor Village Heritage Area.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 35 of 366

1890s

Of State significance as one of the most visible components of the remarkable Melbourne sewerage scheme,

most of which is out of sight, underground. The construction of the Outfall Sewer 1893, including this

bridge over Kororoit Creek, was an outstanding technical achievement and one of the largest public works

projects ever carried out in Australia up to that time. The grandiose character of the aqueduct reflects the

importance of the scheme and the quality of the civil engineering work of the period.

Five-span, brick-arched, open aqueduct on brick piers, set on axe-cut coursed basalt foundations. The

segmental arches feature radiating voisures of brick set against concrete? springing points. A string course

with dentil frieze runs along the upper part. A parapet features small capped pilasters.

HO

Main Outfall Sewer and bridge

40 G10

013

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 36 of 366

The Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works was established in 1890 to take control of Melbourne's water

and sewerage systems, such as they were at the time. Its first major undertaking was the creation of the

sewerage reticulation scheme which involved a network of underground sewers culminating in the Hobson's

Bay and North Yarra Mains which fed by gravity to the Spotswood Pumping Station, which raised the

sewage up a rising main to an outlet into the Outlet Sewer - an open gravity-operated channel leading to the

Metropolitan Farm at Werribee, where possibly the world's largest evaporative treatment plant was

established. Sewage flowed along the Outfall Sewer to the Metropolitan Farm, which provided facilities for

treating the effluent. The outlet sewer was a brick, bluestone and concrete-lined channel with earth

embankments and brick viaducts over the Kororoit Creek and Werribee River. The outlet channel was

replaced in 1996 by a new underground sewer.

The Outfall Sewer was the largest sewer in the whole metropolitan sewerage system. The grand chateau

like pumping station at Spotswood was the centre of the system. The crossing of Kororoit Creek presented a

major technical challenge. The resulting aqueduct has no comparable structure anywhere else in Australia

during this period, since Melbourne's sewerage scheme was the first of its kind in the continent. The

facilities for treating the effluent at the Metropolitan Farm, were an innovative method of sewage disposal

which still commands respect today.

Disused but in good condition and intact.

Tony Dingle & Carolyn Rasmussen, Vital Connections: Melbourne and its Board of Works 1891-1991,

Melbourne, 1991, pp.41-79.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

Recommended for nomination to the Victorian Heritage Register. Recommended for nomination to the

Register of the National Estate. May be suitable for conversion to pedestrian use.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 37 of 366

1850s

Of State significance, as one of a small number of all-iron portable buildings, having associations with the

provision of government control on the major goldfields route. The building demonstrates the

manufacturing methods of mid-nineteenth century building design, incorporating standard cast-iron

structural components with mass-produced, corrugated, galvanised iron cladding. Through its association

with the provision of policing on the gold route, the building also demonstrates the nature and limitations of

administering the rapidly expanding colony at the time of the gold rushes, and methods for dealing with the

shortages of both building materials and skilled labour.

Bow-roof profile, broad gauge corrugated iron-clad prefabricated, single -room building with cast iron

corner and girt frames and tie-rod roof framing. The walls are of corrugated iron panels and joinery which

are numbered internally obviously for re-assembly. The building is sited as part of a farm complex on north

of highway west off Oakbank Road. Remnants of broad gauge iron suggest another building, since

demolished, a short distance to the north-east. This was evidently timber-framed. Rubble stone-walled wool

shed to the north-east with timber-framed corrugated iron cladding (Lysaght iron brand 1953) . A

weatherboard dairy, next to the brick-lined in-ground water tank/well, stands near the current property

boundary on the freeway side, with basalt-paved yards and driveways extending towards the road. The now

demolished homestead of the complex originally stood within the freeway reservation.

HO

Corrugated iron, prefabricated, portable building -

former Keilor Plains

police station

3 B11

014

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 38 of 366

The history of this building is obscure although there is a strong likelihood that it was part of the original

Upper Keilor police station, established on the route to the recently established Sandhurst and Forrest Creek

Gold Diggings in about 1955. Correspondence in the Police Department files indicates that a prefabricated

iron cottage was sited on "Mr. Robinson's" (sic, possibly James Robertson) land on the Keilor Plains. The

correspondence concerns plans to move the building to a new site at Keilor Bridge and although there is

mention of tenders to move the building from William Sheffield of Keilor for the sum of £35, it is not clear

that this was awarded. Keilor remained a sleepy village serving a local farming community until the gold

rushes created a new demand for serving the masses of people travelling the Mt.Alexander Road. The

goldrushes not only created the need, but also generated the revenue necessary to fund improvements to

roads, communication and administration. A police station (partly in portable buildings) was located near

"Mr. Robinson's" (sic) on the Keilor Road west of the town, moving a couple of times before settling in the

Keilor Village. The first Crown Land sales in Keilor were held in 1849. A small lot was set aside for public

purposes (Lot 1 Section 7A located near the Maribyrnong bridge and later used for the Caroline Chisholm

shelter and finally sold to P. Donnelly in 1906) but the swampy nature of the ground brought criticism from

local constables and the Chief Commissioner of Police, Mr. Standish. When the Keilor Road station had

fallen into a dilapidated condition, Superintendent Dana authorised the Keilor-based Senior Constable

Gillman to get tenders for erecting a chimney and water closet on a new site in the township on the

riverside lot. The intention was to move the portable building and fit it up to the already constructed

chimney. Some difficulty was experienced in securing the funding and appropriate authority and alternative

tenders were sought, but by the end of March 1859 construction appears to have gone ahead, although

stabling for the horses was still a problem that had to be dealt with by renting accommodation for horses at

the Eldorado Hotel. New Stables were constructed by September 1859. At the same time, more substantial

and elaborate accommodation was being provided for the judicial side of the law and order equation, with

the Court House being constructed in 1859 on a small lot (1A Section 12) on the Main Road. The police

site proved the first assessment to be correct, for within months there was a need for repairs caused by the

damp. The poor condition of the buildings led to the decision to drain what was called the New Police

Reserve, next to the Court House, in the Keilor Village and some building had begun by May 1863. A

further tender in June that year was for re-erecting the old galvanised iron forage store, and another in July

for moving the one-cell iron lock-up (at a cost of £12/10/-). Senior Constable Bird had moved into the new

quarters by 26 September 1863. The remaining buildings from the old site were re-used, the 12' x 14' one

roomed iron house going to Anderson's Creek, the two-roomed iron and wood-lined cottage to the

Richmond store and the 24' x 14' stone and corrugated iron stables being pulled apart to provide materials

for temporary stabling at the New Police Reserve. All this work was for only a very short period of use, as

the police complex was closed in June 1873, with the portable buildings being removed, and the stone

house let for tender. It was probably at this point that the iron building was removed to one of the adjacent

farm sites, although no documentation has been found to establish when it came to this particular property.

On 24th December 1881, the Department of Public Works sold the Police Station and Land, and

(inadvertently?) also the adjoining Court House.

Located in a paddock with the later farming context obscured by demolition. One of a handful of portable,

prefabricated iron buildings remaining in Victoria. Compares with the portable iron houses at South

Melbourne and the larger store at 71 Little Malop Street, Geelong.

The hut is in relatively good condition, with only minor signs of corrosion, generally to the bottom of the

corrugated iron sheets.

David Moloney: Notes from Police Files, Victorian Public Records Office, copies held.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

Recommended for nomination to the Victorian Heritage Register. Recommended for nomination to the

Register of the National Estate.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 39 of 366

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 40 of 366

The Arundel bridge is significant at the State level as the earliest and probably the most visually prominent

and notable public work which survives to testify to the importance of the Closer Settlement Act in

influencing settlement in Victoria. The Arundel Road bridge is significant as an intact and good

representation of an all-timber, trestle bridge common at the beginning of this century. Very few examples

of this type of bridge now remain and its location close to the metropolitan area makes it particularly

unusual. It is also important for its associations with the Closer Settlement schemes of the early twentieth

century. It would appear that the bridge may have been the first major public work completed under the

Closer Settlement Act, 1904. The only other expenditure listed in the Board's 1905-7 Reports was the

contribution of £1,341 to the construction of levee banks on the Wyuna irrigation estate. A further

advantage of this site is its close proximity to a number of other bridges of varying ages and diverse forms

of construction, including a wrought iron girder bridge (1868) also over the Maribyrnong River. This

should make the area of considerable interest for bridge engineers.

HO

Trestle Bridge Arundel Road Bridge

14 H2

015

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 41 of 366

1906

Following the establishment of the closer settlement branch of the Lands Department under the Land Act of

1898, and later the Closer Settlement Board under the Closer Settlement Act of 1904, the State

Government was empowered to compulsorily acquire up to 500,000 pounds worth of private land per year.

On 29 May 1905 the Board purchased the 11,336 acre Overnewton Estate in Keilor from the executors of

the estate of William Taylor. The Overnewton Estate appears to have been the third or perhaps fourth estate

purchased and released under the Victorian Closer Settlement Act and was among the Closer Settlement

Board's larger estate purchases and subdivisions, especially in the early years. The first part of the

Overnewton Estate to be developed was the Arundel and Annandale portion of 907 acres (367 ha) This

portion, soon known simply as the Arundel Estate, was described by the Board as good agricultural,

dairying and grazing land. It was located on the opposite side of the river to Milburn's extensive orchards

(now the closest market gardens to the city of Melbourne). The estate was described as 'twenty two farm

allotments ... from 10 to 12 miles from Melbourne ... of first class agricultural land ... rich river flats ... and

water frontage to the Saltwater River'. The Board's advertisement also claimed 'good railway facilities and

good roads' (a claim hotly disputed in the first few years of settlement). Applications for allotments were

open until 22 November 1905. As access to the estate was via a ford that became impassable in wet

weather, the Shire of Keilor sought funding under provisions for infrastructure development through the

Closer Settlement Board. Provision was made for roadworks, but the Board responded that it could not

provide more the £300 towards a bridge across the river at Arundel, raising this to £400 following Council

representation that without a bridge the selections may not be successful. The council accepted William

Lord's tender of £520/15/- to build the bridge and then chose to use the superior ironbark instead of

messmate for the bridge piles adding £40 to the cost. Construction began in May 1906 but did not go

smoothly. The Council queried why messmate was not used for the beams as specified and that several

were 12" rather than the 14" required. As well, the deck spikes were only 3/8" (9.5mm) instead of 7/16"

(11mm). Arguments ensued for some time about what species of timber had actually been supplied and how

suitable it might be. This was not satisfactorily resolved, even when the Public Works Department engineer,

Carlo Catani, was invited to proffer his opinion. However, the dispute between the Council and contractor

had degenerated with work halted and legal action threatened. The matter took a new turn when, on Sunday,

9 September, the highest flood in 50 years washed away most of the half completed bridge. The Council

now decided to redesign the bridge, raising the level of the beams 14" and lengthening it from 180 ft to 245

ft (75m). After further delay and dispute a new contract was let to Ross Fraser and Patience, a firm with a

high reputation as bridge builders, at £581/5/-, subject to them using as much of the previous materials as

possible. Work began in early 1907. The bridge was ready for use in July and was officially opened on 13

September 1907. Major restoration work was carried out in 1977-8 and again in 1996-7.

Timber trestle bridge constructed from eucalypt tree poles consisting of nine timber beam spans on timber

trestle piers. The bridge slopes from the high bank on the north down to the Keilor side of the river where a

high earth embankment forms the approach on the flood plain. It has a total length of 72 m. and a roadway

width of 3.7 m. the greatest span is 30 ft. (9.1m.) Sawn timber handrails and decking have probably been

replaced over the years and longitudinal running planks have been laid. Additional piles on each end of the

piers were added to increase its stability. A new concrete bridge has been built immediately up-stream and

the trestle bridge no longer takes vehicle traffic. Although its condition had deteriorated, as expected in a

timber bridge of this age, the bridge remained open to traffic until the construction of a new bridge

alongside it in 1989. Some major maintenance work was carried out in 1977-78. The bridge has undergone

little change in its life, apart from the installation of longitudinal planks over the original transverse deck

planks and the addition of extra piles on each end of the piers in the river to improve its stability against

floods and as compensation for deterioration of the original piles. Since its closure, it has been left

unsecured and neglected and there has been substantial vandalism of its superstructure during 1991,

including the removal of planking and rails. Substantial interest in its preservation by local and State bodies

and the Council encouraged a structural appraisal to determine options and costs for its preservation, and

Council reconsidered its 4 June 1991 decision to demolish the bridge, instead finding funding for its

restoration in 1996-7.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 42 of 366

Located among the still-active market gardens on the Maribyrnong flood plain, and therefore in its original

context. The new concrete road bridge upstream detracts somewhat from the visual context. This is one of

very few all-timber trestle bridges in Melbourne, with few comparable examples at the metropolitan level.

In good condition. However, the bridge deteriorated following closure and subsequent vandalism of its

superstructure during 1991, including the removal of planking and rails. Local council and Government

funding led to its restoration in 1996-7. It is now used for pedestrian traffic.

National Trust (Vic) files: (Green) Record Sheet For Timber Bridges (Survey Sheet); classification &

citation files; Consultant Don Chambers - Field Survey and additional data, 1996. Colin O'Connor, Register

of Australian Historic Bridges, Institute of Engineers Australia, 1983. Colin O'Connor, Spanning Two

Centuries: Historic Bridges of Australia, 1985. Plan of the Parish of Tullamarine, Crown Lands Office,

1886 (State Library Map Collection) County of Bourke Atlas 1892. 'Report of the Land Purchase and

Management Board 1905', in Victorian Parliamentary Papers 1904 Vol 3 (i), p.3. 'Arundel Estate', in

Overnewton Roads File, Public Records Office VPRS 5714/1219. St. Albans, Around and about St. Albans,

1991, pp.14-15.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank planning scheme. Note: also

recommended in the City of Hume Heritage Study.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 43 of 366

1849 - 1859

A rendered bluestone gatehouse built in 1859, the crow-stepped gables showing Scottish influence. The

gatehouse marked the entrance to the Overnewton estate of William Taylor, one of Victoria's leading

pastoralists.

Built by the Scottish-born William Taylor, who settled a 5260 hectare property and went on to play an

important role in the area and the local council. Over the years, from 1859 to the break-up of the

Overnewton estate for closer settlement, Overnewton employees and their families occupied the gatehouse.

One early family who lived at the gatehouse was the Griffith family, of Irish origin, who later settled in

Bacchus Marsh.

Rendered bluestone gatehouse built c. 1859. A new community complex has been added affecting the

context, and a reproduction dry stone wall abuts the gatehouse. Planting in the vicinity includes sugar gums,

old pines with maritime pine (one Canary Island pine, dead).

Comparable in style to the main Overnewton House, but otherwise unique in the study area.

Good, although renovations have introduced modern elements and a modern drystone wall abuts in a

distracting fashion.

HO

Overnewton Gatehouse

14 F2

016

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 44 of 366

Sunday Press, 23 September 1979. Geoffrey Camm (compiler), Bacchus Marsh by Bacchus Marsh, 1986,

p.63. Chris Laskowski, Overnewton 1849-1999, Keilor Historical Society, 1999, p.11.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme

Recommended for nomination to the Victorian Heritage Register

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 45 of 366

1850 - 1875- 1883-4 1

Mt. Derrimut homestead and farm is of State significance for its historical associations with the Morton

brothers cattle stud - one of the first major grazing and breeding properties in Melbourne's West, renowned

for the quality of its breeding stock, and important for the role it played in the development and

improvement of cattle breeds for Australian conditions. It is also of regional significance as a rare example

of a nineteenth century grazing property with its surviving Italianate homestead and garden, and some

remaining outbuildings and stone walls. The role of the site as formerly the Melbourne University

agricultural field station is also to its significance, demonstrating a longevity and continuity of use in

connection with agriculture and animal husbandry in Victoria.

Homestead, bluestone outbuildings and dry stone walls on the renowned early cattle stud property of the

Morton Brothers, later part of Melbourne University's department of Agriculture. Single storey rendered

bluestone and brick, hipped corrugated iron roof. The Mt Derrimut farm complex is on a rise in otherwise

flat terrain. Permission for access required. The farm landscape includes hawthorn hedges and rubble stone

walls on both sides of the road and in paddocks as fence lines. Mt Derrimut is located on the east side of

Station Road south of Deer Park at Grid Ref. CU040146. The homestead and stable buildings are classified

by the National Trust. Notable garden planted in the 1880s.

HO

Mt. Derrimut Homestead & farm buildings

39 E3

017

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 46 of 366

An early cattle stud, Mt. Derrimut was established as a grazing property by the Morton Brothers in the early

1850s and became a famous Shorthorn cattle stud. The Mortons were successful in cattle breeding and won

several prizes at the Melbourne shows, becoming famous for the Derrimut Shorthorn cattle. Their first great

sale of Derrimut cattle was held at the end of 1867 and was in fact the largest auction of pedigree cattle of

world standing to be held in Australia. (Forster) In 1875 the Mortons sold the property and returned to

England. James Howatson bought the property, running sheep, and in 1883-4, built the present homestead,

which still stands, on lot 5 Section 21. Howatson also laid out substantial gardens and planted a grove of

trees on the lower slopes on the Deer Park side. He took an active role in local government, being a

member of the first Braybrook Roads Board and Shire President in 1889-90. In 1885, the Melbourne Hunt

Club leased land from William Clarke, in the vicinity of Mt. Derrimut, with the homestead providing a

venue for the entertainment of the members of the hunt. Howatson's 300-odd acres between Mt. Derrimut

and Fitzgerald Road were an island amidst Clarke's 1854 purchases. The nearby Barley Mow Hotel was

rebuilt, following a fire in 1886, as the Hunt Club Hotel (still standing) and the locality was renamed Deer

Park in recognition of the Hunt Club. The surviving shearing shed and part of a cattle barn are also

thought to be from Howatson's improvements, although these have both been converted to other purposes.

Howatson died in 1897. The property was maintained as a pastoral property under Howatson's trustees until

shortly before World War I. The property was leased to various tenants during this period, including a well

liked dairyman of the district named Harkness who apparently took pride in the property, caring for both

the buildings and gardens. Following Hesketh, subsequent lessees used the property for grazing and the

buildings fell into disrepair. A much reduced estate of 317 acres was sold to Beresford Cole, who 'set to

recapture the atmosphere of the old property and did much to restore the garden"' (Forster). In 1950, ICI

bought the property to provide more adequate buffer areas around its Deer Park explosives Factory and

magazine areas. It also established a shorthorn stud in 1954 but discontinued this six years later. The

company enlarged and remodelled the homestead for use as a centre for staff training and conferences with

extensive restoration works being conducted in 1961. The original 1853 Morton bluestone cottage was

demolished by ICIANZ in about 1953, although some of the bluestone outbuildings were recycled. (Forster)

In 1962, ICI leased the property and buildings to Melbourne University for use as an Agriculture Field

Station providing residential training for students, farm operations to support teaching and research and

experimental facilities for research on soils, plants and animals and animal engineering. For this, further

conversions were undertaken to create student accommodation, laboratories and class rooms. (Western

Times) This use of the site has now ended.

Located on the edge of the metropolitan urban area amid open fields and a landscape which retains its

original survey subdivision form (e.g. 640 acre blocks with some smaller paddocks) and other features

including dry stone walls and remnant native grasslands, the site provides a strong visual connection to the

original landscape of the area.

The surviving buildings were in good condition and well-maintained by the University of Melbourne, but

are now vacant and vandalised. The site has also lost much of its early building stock through progressive

upgrading of the site, particularly for the field station uses. As a result, the earliest phase is only represented

by the outbuildings.

Edith Popp, Glimpses of Early Sunshine, 1979, pp. 86-7. R.V. Billis & A.S. Kenyon, Pastoral Pioneers of

Port Phillip, 1932, reprint, 1974. Gary Vines, Pastoral Properties, 1993. Margaret Kiddle, Men of

Yesterday, 1961. Lynette Peel, Rural Industry in the Port Phillip Region, 1973. Western Times, 11 May

1983, p.4. H.C. Forster, historical research on Derrimut and surrounding area: manuscript notes, University

of Melbourne School of Agriculture, c.1962 - reproduced in ICI Circle article held by Melbourne's Living

Museum of the West.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

Recommended for nomination to the Historic Buildings Register. Recommended for nomination to the

Register of the National Estate. Garden restoration following research into the original landscape design.

Archaeological investigation of the site of the 1850s buildings.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 47 of 366

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 48 of 366

1850 - 1875- 1883-4 1

The Mt. Derrimut stone wall is of regional significance as the most substantial dry stone farm wall either in

the metropolitan area, or on the Keilor-Melton basalt plains. Although repaired in part, it is an original link

with the first phase of settlement of the basalt plains reflecting both the nature of the terrain encountered by

the pastoralist s who had to clear the fields of rock, and the ways they dealt with the shortage of timber. The

walls also reflect the (probably) Irish skilled labourers who built them in the middle of the last century.

Substantial dry stone wall averaging 1.5 metre high with a more than 2 metre high section flanking the main

entrance. This has been reconstructed several times and is only partly of skilled construction. The walls

taper gradually from the driveway, and also curve inwards by about 90 degrees towards the driveway. The

face of the wall has achieved a quite regular surface considering the very irregular form of the individual

boulders. The wall is therefore also uncoursed, and features a mix of roughly round weathered fields stone

(indicating the rock collected from the surface of the ground) and some larger angular blocks, probably dug

from the ground in areas which were cultivated. The coping stones are only slightly larger than the average

of those used in the wall

HO

Mt. Derrimut dry stone walls

39 E3

017

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 49 of 366

Drystone walls were a convenient form of fencing in the early days of settlement on Melbourne's western

plains. These walls mark the entrance to an early cattle Stud, Mt. Derrimut, established by the Morton

Brothers, Richard and Septimus Morton, who established a grazing property here at Mt. Derrimut in the

1850s. They developed it into a prominent short horn cattle stud, achieving considerable success in cattle

breeding and winning several prizes at the Melbourne shows They were especially famous for their

Derrimut Shorthorn cattle. Mt Derrimut Station was briefly rented by a dairyman named Harkness before

being taken over by James Howatson. Howatson's 300-odd acres between Mt. Derrimut and Fitzgerald

Road was an island amidst Clarke's 1854 purchases. In 1883 Howatson constructed the homestead at Mt.

Derrimut lot 5 Section 21, which was part of the Melbourne University's School of Agriculture Field

Station for many years.

These drystone walls are a rare surviving example, in the City of Brimbank, of the stone fences which were

such a distinctive feature of the district. Their relationship to the Mt Derrimut property, so important in the

early history of cattle-breeding in Victoria, is especially important.

Good

Edith Popp, Glimpses of Early Sunshine, 1979, pp. 86-87. R.V. Billis & A.S. Kenyon, Pastoral Pioneers of

Port Phillip, 1932, reprinted 1974. G. Vines, Pastoral Properties: Grazing on the Keilor-Werribee Plains,

1993. G. Vines, Built to Last, Melbourne, 1990.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 50 of 366

This Commonwealth Munitions Housing Estate is of national historical significance as part of a Federal

Government-initiated housing scheme for workers in the munitions industry in the Maribyrnong-Footscray

area, the largest concentration of defence production establishments in the whole of Australia, when World

War Two began.

It was one of the first major Commonwealth war housing schemes to be undertaken and was one of the few

large-scale housing schemes undertaken in Victoria during World War Two. This part of the estate included

the main recreational and community area, serving the whole estate of 234 houses. The estate is historically

significant as a demonstration of the co-ordinated State and Commonwealth wartime effort on the home

front, to build up defence production capabilities during the period of national emergency.

The estate is of architectural significance as an unusual example of planned suburban development,

reflecting the Garden City principles and therefore can be seen as a continuation of the historical precedent

established in McKay's Sunshine estates.

The precinct also has aesthetic significance for the distinctive styles of solid brick and concrete houses,

built in a variety of forms but still maintaining a visual cohesion, and set in part, on curving streets with

large garden allotments. Architecturally these houses are quite plain, but they are important for their

innovative use of concrete and evidence of a modern design aesthetic.

HO

HO19 Commonwealth Munitions Housing Estate

Herita

ge Area

41 A1

019

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 51 of 366

.

The Brimbank heritage area is part of a larger estate of concrete houses and brick semi-detached houses

built by the Commonwealth to house munitions workers, a total of 234 houses. The development extends

across Duke Street with a substantial number of houses (58%) in Braybrook, now part of the City of

Maribyrnong. Both areas were within the City of Sunshine prior to council amalgamations.

The Brimbank precinct (98 houses) comprises houses in Baker Street, Nixon Street, Yewers Street, Cobrey

Street, Duke Street, Devonshire Road and around Lowe Crescent. A characteristic design element of the

area was the use of concrete roads and the curving Lowe Crescent on a small irregular shaped square with

landscaping of contemporary date and also later periods. The concrete roads have recently been

reconstructed with new concrete kerbs and hot mix asphalt laid over the original road surfaces. (Some

original and renewed concrete roads survive in the City or Maribyrnong section of the estate).

The houses themselves are generally hipped roof with overhanging eaves. The Nixon Street, Baker Street,

Yewers Street and Lowe Crescent houses are concrete-walled, while the others are generally red brick, with

a series of long duplexes in Duke Street and Cobrey Street. The surviving houses that are contributory to

the precinct include the following:

ADDRESS, DATE, DESCRIPTION

1 Baker Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

3 Baker Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

7 Baker Street, 1942, Concrete detached house - clad with fake brick fibre cement panels

9 Baker Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

11 Baker Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

13 Baker Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

14 Baker Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

15 Baker Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

16 Baker Street, 1942, Concrete detached house - dual occupancy with 2000c rendered two storey

2 Cobrey Street, 1942, brick duplex

4 Cobrey Street, 1942, brick duplex

6 Cobrey Street, 1942, brick duplex

8 Cobrey Street, 1942, brick duplex

10 Cobrey Street, 1942, brick duplex

12 Cobrey Street, 1942, brick duplex

14 Cobrey Street, 1942, brick duplex

16 Cobrey Street, 1942, brick duplex

18 Cobrey Street, 1942, brick duplex

20 Cobrey Street, 1942, brick duplex

22 Cobrey Street, 1942, brick duplex

112 Devonshire Rd., 1942, Concrete detached house

114 Devonshire Rd., 1942, Concrete detached house

116 Devonshire Rd., 1942, Concrete detached house

118 Devonshire Rd., 1942, Concrete detached house

120 Devonshire Rd., 1942, Concrete detached house

122 Devonshire Rd., 1942, Concrete detached house

124 Devonshire Rd., 1942, brick duplex

126 Devonshire Rd., 1942, brick duplex

128 Devonshire Rd., 1942, brick duplex

130 Devonshire Rd., 1942, brick duplex

132 Devonshire Rd., 1942, brick duplex

134 Devonshire Rd., 1942, brick duplex

136 Devonshire Rd., 1942, brick duplex

138 Devonshire Rd., 1942, brick duplex

47 Duke Street, 1942, brick duplex

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 52 of 366

49 Duke Street, 1942, brick duplex

51 Duke Street, 1942, brick duplex

53 Duke Street, 1942, brick duplex

55 Duke Street, 1942, brick duplex

57 Duke Street, 1942, brick duplex

63 Duke Street, 1942, brick duplex

65 Duke Street, 1942, brick duplex

67 Duke Street, 1942, brick duplex

69 Duke Street, 1942, brick duplex

71 Duke Street, 1942, brick duplex

73 Duke Street, 1942, brick duplex

75 Duke Street, 1942, brick duplex, recently rendered

77 Duke Street, 1940s, brick detached house

1 Lowe Crescent, 1942, Concrete detached house brick veneer at rear - No 12 Baker Street.

3 Lowe Crescent, 1942, Concrete detached house

5 Lowe Crescent, 1942, Concrete detached house

7 Lowe Crescent, 1942, Concrete detached house

9 Lowe Crescent, 1942, Concrete detached house

11 Lowe Crescent, 1942, Concrete detached house

13 Lowe Crescent, 1942, brick duplex

15 Lowe Crescent, 1942, brick duplex

17 Lowe Crescent, 1942, brick duplex

19 Lowe Crescent, 1942, brick duplex

21 Lowe Crescent, 1942, brick duplex

23 Lowe Crescent, 1942, brick duplex

25 Lowe Crescent, 1942, brick duplex

27 Lowe Crescent, 1942, brick duplex

10 Monash Street, 1942, brick duplex

2 Nixon Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

4 Nixon Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

6 Nixon Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

8 Nixon Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

10 Nixon Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

12 Nixon Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

14 Nixon Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

16 Nixon Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

18 Nixon Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

20 Nixon Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

22 Nixon Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

24 Nixon Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

26 Nixon Street, 1942, brick duplex

28 Nixon Street, 1942, brick duplex

30 Nixon Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

32 Nixon Street, 1942, brick duplex

2 Yewers Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

3 Yewers Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

4 Yewers Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

5 Yewers Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

6 Yewers Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

7 Yewers Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

8 Yewers Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

10 Yewers Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

11 Yewers Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

12 Yewers Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

13 Yewers Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 53 of 366

1942

These houses were built in 1942 by the Commonwealth Government (with involvement from the State

government), to house workers employed in the munitions industry in the Maribyrnong-Footscray area, the

largest concentration of defence production establishments in the whole of Australia. The munitions

industry had been established in the Footscray-Maribyrnong area from the late nineteenth century with the

Colonial Ammunition Factory. It expanded following Federation, and during significant periods such as the

two World Wars.

By the 1940s there were several thousand workers employed in the Ammunition, Explosives and Ordnance

Factories, and other related industries. Particularly during World War Two, the need for mobilising a vast

civil workforce, concentrated in a small area, put extra pressures on local services, and particularly

housing. In an attempt to deal with this, the Commonwealth Government purchased land just outside of

Footscray for housing for munitions workers.

Altogether 235 houses were constructed, of which 42% (or 98 houses) are on the Brimbank side of Duke

Street. The design of the estate was in part contributed to by Melbourne University architecture students.

On 30 April 1941 Harold Holt, then Minister for Labour and National Service, wrote a Cabinet

memorandum referring to the issue of housing for munitions workers and urged consideration of the

problem by the full cabinet. He reported that the establishment of new munitions factories and the extension

of existing establishments had resulted in an abnormal influx of workers into certain areas. This influx had

brought in its train serious problems in connection with housing, transport and essential services to meet the

needs of the growing army of munitions workers (NAA, MP180/2/0, CM/4). He pointed out that there were

difficulties at Footscray, which needed to be faced, 'without delay'.

The housing problem there was causing 'much dissatisfaction' and a large proportion of the 18,000 workers

at the Government munitions factories in the vicinity were travelling considerable distances to their work.

He tabled a report which pointed out that one of the first provisions made by the United States in launching

its armaments program was the erection of suitable accommodation for munitions workers in expanding

armaments industries.

The United States experience in the previous war had shown that poor housing reduced the output of major

munitions plants and its government was therefore allocating $60 million for defence housing in World War

Two. In Australia the same foresight had not been shown. One of the recommendations in the report tabled

by Mr Holt was that consideration be given to a scheme to provide funds, 'if necessary out of Defence

moneys', for acquiring land and building 'up to 1,000 low-cost houses in the Footscray-Braybrook-Sunshine

Essendon area for letting to munitions workers, the houses to be controlled by the Department of the

14 Yewers Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

15 Yewers Street, 1942, Concrete detached house

16 Yewers Street, 1942, Concrete detached house - dual occupancy with c2000 brick veneer at rear

A number of places, which formerly contributed to the historical significance of the precinct, have been

demolished or extensively altered in the last decade or so. These include the following:

5, Baker Street, now modern semi detached brick veneers, 2000s

12 Baker Street. dual occupancy with rear of 1 Lowe Crescent rendered two storey brick veneer 2000c

59 Duke Street, vacant

61 Duke Street, vacant - new development

1 Yewers Street, mock colonial brick veneer units, 2000c

9 Yewers Street, 2 storey brown brick veneer, 1980s

There are also two blocks which appear to have been originally part of the proposed Commonwealth estate

but have houses of different period and style. These are not contributory to the precinct.

43 Duke Street, brick veneer, 1950s, Typical

45 Duke Street, brick veneer, 1950s, Typical

Melbourne University architecture students

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 54 of 366

Interior and the actual work carried out under the direction of the Victorian Housing Commission or the

War Service Homes Commission or both'. The report stressed that it seemed essential that 'early action

should be taken to improve the housing position in the Footscray area' and suggested that 'immediate steps

might be taken to erect, as a first instalment, 300 cottages'. It noted that the Footscray-Maribyrnong area

was highly industrialised and included some of Australia's largest munitions factories'. It saw the Footscray,

Braybrook, Sunshine and Essendon area as a safe building investment and commented that: ' These homes

are urgently required but ... it is not likely they will be erected without assistance from the Government'.

The report noted that there was 'any amount of suitable building land in Footscray, Braybrook, Sunshine

and Essendon'.

Within five months of Holt's memo to Cabinet, the Commonwealth Government was acquiring land for

their Munitions Workers Housing Scheme by compulsory acquisition, in the Sunshine-Braybrook area.

One of the blocks they acquired was an area of 18 acres 3 roods 23 perches, within Section 18, Parish of

Cut Paw Paw, purchased from I.G. Heap and K.G. Hooper ( NAA MP268/1/0, CL 15837, also

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, No.197, 2 October 1941) This was within the present City of

Brimbank, and was the area bounded by Monash Street, Cobrey Street, Duke Street, and Devonshire Road,

and extending just beyond Yewers Street.

The precinct includes Nixon Street, Yewers Street, Baker Street and Lowe Crescent, which were

constructed as part of the estate and which encircle a small recreation reserve. (Melways 41 A1) The roads

were originally constructed in concrete, but have been recently covered in asphalt. The total unimproved

value of the land was £10, 600. 19 shillings and this appears to have been the amount paid by the

Commonwealth to the owners. Another portion of the War Worker Housing area developed by the

Commonwealth was on the east side of Duke Street, bounded by Duke, Lily, Darnley and Myalla Streets, at

the top end of Devonshire Road. This section of the estate is outside the boundaries of the City of

Brimbank, but was once within the City of Sunshine. It is the largest part of the total scheme.

The War Workers Housing Scheme estate appears to have survived virtually intact, with only two houses

demolished and replaced by modern dwellings. A number of the houses are brick, most of them semi

detached residences or 'maisonettes', quite different in design from anything else in the municipality. The

design of the houses in pairs, was probably a cost-cutting measure, since the dividing wall extends only to

the ceiling and not the roof. The brick houses are mainly on the western side of Duke Street, the eastern

side of Cobrey Street and a section of the south side of Devonshire Road. Most of the remaining houses are

concrete, detached residences, especially in Yewers Street, Lowe Crescent, Baker Street and Nixon Street.

All the houses have tiled roofs. It appears that a total of 97 houses are remaining out of the original 98).

The houses are as follows:- 47-77 Duke Street, west side (16 houses) - brick 2-22 Cobrey Street, east side

(11 houses) - brick 112-138 Devonshire Road, south side (14 houses) - some brick, some concrete 2-32

Nixon Street, south side (16 houses) - some brick, some concrete 1-27 Lowe Crescent, north side (14

houses) - some concrete, some brick 2-16 Yewers Street, east side (8 houses) - concrete 1-7, 11-15

Yewers Street, west side (7 houses) - concrete 1-15 Baker Street west side (8 houses) - concrete 14-16

Baker Street (2 houses) - concrete 10 Monash Street (1 house) - brick

Don Webster, a Sunshine resident and a member of the Sunshine & District Historical Society, has recalled

coming to Sunshine and living in one of these houses. He refers to them in a 'Memories' section of the

Sunshine Primary School history: "During 1942/43 a housing estate of 250 houses was established in East

Sunshine to house the families of people involved in the defence industry. I was one of these children,

transferring from Ararat to commence Grade 5 in Sunshine at the start of the 1943 school year." A

photograph of the houses appears in the book, Sunshine Cavalcade, published in 1951. The caption reads:

'A sample of the 235 Commonwealth Government Houses constructed in the Devonshire Road Estate'. Don

Webster has recalled that the design of the houses on the estate was the work of architecture students at the

University of Melbourne. One of these, Bruce Robinson, son of H.E. Robinson, the Shire Engineer, later

became an architect.

The small reserve at the centre of the estate (adjoining Lowe Crescent) was an important recreational

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 55 of 366

resource for the children of the estate and also the venue for end-of-the year picnics and social gatherings.

The houses were let to the munitions workers, at a weekly rate of 27/6d for a three-bedroom house and 25/-

for a two bed-roomed house. The houses were not available for purchase until some time after the end of

World War Two.

The original sub-division of the area from Duke Street and Devonshire Road to Hampshire Road and

Ballarat Road goes back to a far earlier period, the early 1850s, when a group of developers bought two

square miles of land (Sections 18 and 19) in the Parish of Cut Paw Paw and subdivided it into small

allotments, naming the roads after English counties.

The original concrete roads were reconstructed in 2002.

The larger part of this same development occurs across Duke Street in the City of Maribyrnong. This area is

included in the Maribyrnong Planning scheme Heritage Overlay (HO5), and extends from Loy Street to

Myalla Street. There are a few comparable Commonwealth housing schemes in Melbourne, with the

Defence Houses at Maribyrnong being the most relevant. War Service Homes in various parts of Melbourne

also demonstrate similar (but different in detail) architectural styles.

In good condition and retaining much of the original character of the area due to high level of integrity and

the retention of some original fences and planting.

Lodged Plan 69426

Australian Archives (Defence Department,)

Sands & McDougall Melbourne Directories 1939,1946, 1948

National Archives of Australia, NAA, MP180/2/0, Cm/4; MP268/1/0, CL 15837

Sunshine Advocate, 18 November 1949 (reference to purchase of homes by residents)

Pauline Ashton & Joan Murray (eds.), History of School 3113 Sunshine. Melbourne, 1991.

C.G. Carlton (ed.) Sunshine Cavalcade, Melbourne, 1951, p. 36.

Don Webster, personal comment

The Commonwealth Munitions Housing Estate Heritage Area is recommended for inclusion in the Heritage

Overlay of the Brimbank City Council Planning Scheme. The Nixon Street-Lowe Crescent area around the

park forms the most consistent group of houses, which require careful retention of the original design fabric.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 56 of 366

The Leith Avenue precinct is of regional historic and architectural significance as an interesting example of

a planned building settlement, under the auspices of the Sunshine Harvester Works, though financed with

Victorian State Savings Bank backing. The precinct is of architectural significance for the early and rare

use of concrete in the construction of the houses, which was still quite an innovation in 1924, although

some concrete houses had been built in Sunshine by 1910. The spaciousness of the lay-out of Leith Avenue

suggests the influence of Garden City planning principles.

The precinct is of historical significance as one of the more recognisable examples of the planned urban

development that characterise much of early Sunshine's suburban expansion during the period under

McKay's influence in the early 20th century. It is also significant for its association with the State Bank of

Victoria as one of a number of interwar housing schemes. While much smaller than the Garden City Estate,

there are interesting parallels with it in relation to garden city design principles and the experimental

building methods such as the use of off-form and prefabricated concrete.

HO

HO20 Concrete Housing Estate Heritage Area

40 G2

020

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 57 of 366

1924

These houses were built in 1924 as part of a scheme financed by the State Savings Bank, and probably

initiated by H.V. McKay, who previously owned the land. In May 1924 the Sunshine Advocate reported on:

" 'Concrete cottages: Two Dozen for Sunshine'. A scheme has recently been approved of by the State

Savings Bank in regard to the building of concrete dwelling houses by a system of organisation, which will

make the cost very little in excess of wood. The first of the cottages in the State built by this new system

was erected in Brighton, and has proved a success, and arrangements have been made to erect about 26 such

residence in Hampshire Road, Sunshine, for employees of the Harvester Works. The building of the houses

is financed by the State Savings Bank. The cost of the buildings will vary from about £650 to £800, and the

bank accepts a 10 percent deposit of the capital cost of land and building, the remainder, of course, being

payable in weekly contributions over a term of years."

Previously the land was owned by H.V. McKay. He had bought a block of land, previously sub-divided in

1890, and re-subdivided it, introducing a new road, called Leith Avenue. He offered it to the War Service

Homes Commission in 1919, but, for some reason, the offer was not taken up. In the 1925 ratebooks 25

houses were listed under the heading 'McKay's Subdivision'. (The 26th house was either not then occupied

or completed). Eighteen of the houses were in Leith Avenue, with a wide open plantation down the middle

of the street. The remaining eight houses were in Hampshire Road, on either side of Leith Avenue. By 1926

all but one of the houses were built and occupied. The last house in the estate (no. 53) was built with brick

cladding.

The first occupants of the Leith Avenue houses which still remain today were:-

Feeney, Daniel, gardener No. 1 Leith Avenue

Wilson, Alex, fitter No. 3

Coursey, Herbert, plate moulder No. 5

Mayes, Donald, labourer No. 5

This small estate of concrete houses has an unusual form of street layout, featuring a court originally

constructed with both concrete and bluestone kerb and channel around an oblong central grassed median.

The road has been resurfaced with asphalt and the median currently has a part-buried bluestone cobbled

kerb. Houses on the south side are concrete-walled with tiled roofs. Others on the north side have been

demolished, partly for expansion of the adjacent secondary college, in the days when it was Sunshine

Technical School. There are eight surviving houses at 1 to 15 Leith Avenue and also four houses surviving

at 51 - 57 Hampshire Road. One of the Hampshire Road houses appears to be brick or brick faced. Three of

the surviving houses in Leith Ave feature notable faceted chimney shafts. 17 Leith Ave. was demolished

some years ago, probably at the same time as the houses on the north side of the street. The estate was

originally symmetrical,

ADDRESS, PLACE, DATE:

51 Hampshire Road, Concrete House, 1924

53 Hampshire Road, Concrete House, 1924

55 Hampshire Road, Brick clad House, 1924

57 Hampshire Road, Concrete House, 1924

1 Leith Avenue, Concrete House, 1924

3 Leith Avenue Concrete House, 1924

5 Leith Avenue Concrete House, 1924

7 Leith Avenue Concrete House, 1924

9 Leith Avenue Concrete House, 1924

11 Leith Avenue Concrete House, 1924

13 Leith Avenue Concrete House, 1924

15 Leith Avenue Concrete House, 1924

One house on the south side of Leith Avenue has been demolished and is now only a vacant lot.

17 Leith Avenue Vacant (house demolished)

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 58 of 366

Ryan, William, assembler No. 7

Martin, Emily, domestic duties No. 9

Budd, Francis, expert No. 11

Keiller, Hugh, clerk No. 13

Murphy, Annie, domestic duties No. 15

The first occupants of the Hampshire Road houses which still remain today were:-

Dodson, Arthur, engineer, No. 51 Hampshire Road

Hein, Matthias, messenger No. 53

McLellan, Lewis, clerk No. 57

No. 55 was not built on till later and the block is shown as vacant on the Board of Works map of 1930.

There was some turnover of residents over the next few years, probably because of the effects of the

Depression. However, a number of the above were listed in the 1931 Melbourne Directory.

All the thirteen houses on the north side have been demolished, mainly owing to the expansion of Sunshine

Technical School, in the 1970s-80s. Some of the houses in Hampshire Road have also gone, due to the

expanding needs of Sunshine Primary School. Other houses in the estate are at 51 to 57 Hampshire Road.

Some comparison might be made with the concrete houses in Sunbury which were also sponsored by H.V.

McKay, who lived his last years in Rupertswood, Sunbury.

Concrete housing became one of the standard forms of the Victorian Housing commission in the post WW

II period, but were still relatively rare in the 1920s. Few other examples are known from the City of

Brimbank in this period. A large housing scheme under the Victorian State Bank auspices in Garden City

Port Melbourne involved a number of concrete houses.

While more than half of the estate has been demolished (the entire north half and one of the south side) the

remaining houses are quite intact, and form a consistent streetscape.

Lodged Plan 11131

MMBW plan, 1930

Shire of Braybrook ratebooks

Sands & McDougall Melbourne Directories

National Archives of Australia, NAA, Series MP 327/1/0, VL19/1685)

David Hayward, The Reluctant Landlords?: A History Of Public Housing In Australia

The Concrete House Estate Heritage Area is recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the

Brimbank Planning Scheme.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 59 of 366

The ICI Residential Heritage Area is of State historical and architectural significance as a rare and

distinctive company township and for its association with the nineteenth century origins and twentieth

century expansion of the former Nobel (later ICIANZ, now ORICA) factory which became the major

private manufacturer of explosives and munitions in Australia.

The estate, initiated by Leathercloth Pty. Ltd., (a subsidiary of Nobel) is one of a number of company

sponsored housing schemes in the Brimbank municipality and reflects a pattern of development where

nationally important industries established in green-fields sites beyond the urban fringe and so needed to

provide accommodation and other facilities for workers. The inclusion of the recreation reserve in the

precinct and the adjacent separately listed Deer Park Hall, and Hunt Club Hotel (a former ICI training

centre) further demonstrate the company role in local planning and development.

The precinct is significant for its association with the largest explosives, chemicals and plastics

manufacturer in Australia, originally established here under the importer Jones Scott and Co in the 19th

century, and then becoming the Australian Lithofracteur Company (Krebs Patent), a rival to Nobel's

dynamite patent, and in production in Australia only a couple of years after Nobel's Ardeer factory was

opened. It later merged with the Nobel company and then became ICIANZ before the most recent change to

ORICA.

This important industry played a major role in mining through the development of progressively more

HO

HO21 ICI Residential Heritage Area

25 A-K 8-10

021

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 60 of 366

efficient and safer explosives. It also contributed to wartime production in ammunition, initiators and in

World War Two, the development of synthetic ammonia production and construction of the Defence

Explosives Annexe No 5 (later the Albion Explosives Factory). The Leathercloth plant was influential in

the development of synthetic materials for the motor industry including vinyl seat fabrics and hoods, and

has continued to play an important role in synthetic fabrics.

The houses in Station Road, Ballarat Road, Hume Street and Hyde Street reflect a sequence of development

in their distinctive styles and forms, reflecting the colonial origins of the company in their Indian Bungalow

forms as well as giving insight to the social and economic status of their proposed occupants with the larger

and more elaborate houses intended for factory managers. The inclusion of concrete houses in the estate

also points to the innovation in building in the later period, possibly as a response to war-time material

shortages.

The recreation reserve and contemporary (but altered) pavilion are significant in demonstrating the role of

the company in providing community services to their workers, and as evidence of the urban design and

landscape approaches to company housing in the period.

This heritage area includes the ICI housing scheme of the late 1920s-1930s in Ballarat Road, Station Road,

Hume Street and Hyde Streets. This housing scheme centred on a group of streets formed near the corner

of Ballarat Road and Station Road and comprised houses of three distinct styles.

These are:

Indian Bungalow style: at 76-58 Station Road, 10,12 Hyde St (altered), 52-56 Station Road: These include

wide timber verandahs following the roof line and returning a short distance down one side. Red brick

chimneys feature corbelled tops.

Cottage style: 14-24 Hyde St (altered), relatively small houses with asymmetrically facades, small

verandah/porch over the entrance and tapered chimneys. They appear to be concrete walled or roughcast.

Brick Californian Bungalow style: 789, 791, 793 (altered), 795 Ballarat Road. Red brick, with verandahs

across part of the front, featuring more complex roof forms with gable and hipped sections.

The principal alterations have been made to the verandahs, with one partly bricked in with an arched

colonnade. Others have had windows replaced or new openings made. The Ballarat Road houses include

one relatively unaltered (No. 789) which features stained shingles, wire fabric fence and some remnant

garden planting. The house at 797 Ballarat Road has had its facade completely reconstructed in cream

bricks in an unsympathetic style.

A corner site at Ballarat and Hume Street comprises a maternal and child health centre of later c.1960 date,

but evidently on land reserved for community use in the original subdivision.

The surviving houses that are contributory to the precinct include the following:

ADDRESS, PLACE,

DATE, Significance Level

785 Ballarat Road, ICI House,

1940, Contributory,

787 Ballarat Road, ICI House Brick rendered Californian, 1930, Contributory,

789 Ballarat Road, ICI House Brick Californian Bungalow, 1925c, Contributory,

791 Ballarat Road, ICI House Brick Californian Bungalow, 1925c, Contributory,

793 Ballarat Road, ICI House Brick Californian Bungalow, 1925c, Contributory,

795 Ballarat Road, ICI House Brick Californian Bungalow, 1925c, Contributory,

Hume Street, Deer Park cricket ground pavilion and recreation reserve, 1920s-, Contributory,

3 Hume Street, brick and rendered Bungalow,

1940s, Contributory,

5 Hume Street, red brick Bungalow,

1940s, Contributory,

7 Hume Street, brick Bungalow,

1940s, Contributory,

4 Hyde Street, Indian Bungalow style,

1920c, Contributory,

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 61 of 366

6 Hyde Street, Indian Bungalow style,

1920c., Contributory,

10 Hyde Street, Indian Bungalow style,

1920c., Contributory,

12 Hyde Street, Indian Bungalow style,

1920c., Contributory,

16 Hyde Street, Early core (rough-cast sheet) Bungalow, 1911c., Contributory,

20 Hyde Street, Early core (rough-cast sheet) Bungalow, 1911c., Contributory,

22 Hyde Street, Early core (rough-cast sheet) Bungalow, 1911c., Contributory,

24 Hyde Street, Early core (rough-cast sheet) Bungalow, 1911c., Contributory,

52 Station Road, altered Cottage style, concrete

1940s-, Contributory,

54 Station Road, altered Cottage style, concrete

1940s-, Contributory,

56 Station Road, altered Cottage style, concrete

1940s-, Contributory,

58 Station Road, Indian Bungalow style,

1920s-, Contributory,

60 Station Road, Indian Bungalow style,

1920s-, Contributory,

62 Station Road, Indian Bungalow style,

1920s-, Contributory,

64 Station Road, Indian Bungalow style,

1920s-, Contributory,

66 Station Road, Indian Bungalow style,

1920s-, Contributory,

68 Station Road, Indian Bungalow style,

1920s-, Contributory,

70 Station Road, Indian Bungalow style,

1920s-, Contributory,

72 Station Road, Indian Bungalow style,

1920s-, Contributory,

74 Station Road, Indian Bungalow style,

1920s-, Contributory,

76 Station Road, Indian Bungalow style,

1920s-, Contributory,

A number of places were identified in the original survey as of potential significance but were not deemed

to be contributory to the significance of the precinct. These are later houses which while continuing a

connection with the ICI factory and its employees, do not exhibit the same period or style of the

contributory buildings. The places are:

ADDRESS, PLACE,

DATE, Significance Level

1 Hume Street, house, brick veneer,

1960s, Typical

2 Hume Street, house, cream brick veneer,

1960s, Typical

9 Hume Street, brick veneer Bungalow style,

1950s, Typical

11 Hume Street, brick veneer Bungalow style,

1950s, Typical

799 Ballarat Road, Kindergarten, Cream brick modernist structure, 1960s, Typical

797 Ballarat Road, ICI House Brick Californian Bungalow, 1925c, Typical, heavily altered front

Several places associated with the Orica Factory or adjacent to the heritage precinct have also been

identified in the heritage study, but have not been included in the present precinct. These include:

ADDRESS, PLACE,

DATE, Significance Level, Site No.

Ballarat Road, Braybrook Shire Hall site,

1885, Individually listed archaeological, 127

Ballarat Road, ICI Explosives Laboratory,

1875, Individually listed State, 007

Ballarat Road, ICI Explosives complex (now ORICA), 1875, Individually listed State, 006

Station Road, ICI Leathercloth Factory,

1920, Individually listed State, 009

50 Station Road, Deer Park Hall,

1935, Individually listed Local, 083

775 Ballarat Road, Hunt Club Hotel,

1886/1920s?,Individually listed Local, 076

Ballarat Road, Former ICI Gatehouse,

1920s

761 Ballarat Road, former House ICI manager,

1925c

757 Ballarat Road, former House ICI manager,

1925c

Ballarat Road, former ICI - Federal Fertilisers, 1897

Ballarat Road, former I.C.I. Ammonia Plant., 1940 c.

A number of places, which formerly contributed to the historical significance of the precinct, have been

demolished in the last decade or so. These include the following:

ADDRESS, PLACE

DATE

8 Hyde Street, demolished former concrete house, 1920c.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 62 of 366

1880s - 1930s

Jones Scott & Co. was established in 1873 and became the Australian Lithofracteur Company (Krebs

Patent) in 1875, when land owned by Peter Wilkie in Deer Park was purchased. It became Australian

Explosives & Chemical Co. and later began making superphosphate under the name Federal Fertilisers. In

1897 Nobel Dynamite Trust Ltd purchased the works, eventually itself becoming part of the larger

conglomerate ICIANZ in 1928 which also absorbed a number of other munitions works, including the

Spotswood Fuse Factory and Kynoch's West Footscray ammunition works.

Major expansions occurred at the plant during the two world wars. ICI Leathercloth began operations at

Deer Park in 1928. During the Second World War, ICI was involved in considerable military explosives and

ammunition manufacture including the development of Australia's first synthetic ammonia plant (no longer

extant) and the construction and development of the Albion Explosives Factory, built opposite on Ballarat

Road. However, while the company was officially known as ICIANZ, then ICI Australia following World

War Two, and now ORICA, the factory was locally known as Nobel's.

In choosing the Deer Park site, the first managers were seeking a site isolated from population, yet

convenient for transport to Melbourne and with a reliable water supply. One of the drawbacks was the

limited local labour force, and for much of the factory's history, buses, charabancs, converted trucks and

special trains ferried workers from the Sunshine area and beyond. Some redress for the housing situation

was made by the company erecting houses itself in the twentieth century with the current housing

development. Still, by 1939 there were only 75 residents of Deer Park, which included several of the

outlying farms.

Several large houses were built for plant managers, in the 1920s on Ballarat Road near the former main

entrance. In the 1920s-30s, an estate of smaller dwellings was laid out near the Ballarat Road-Station Road

corner, comprising houses on the existing road frontages. Some time later, houses were built in Hyde Street,

parallel to Station Road, with the short connectors Witton Street and the angled Hume Street (presumably

named for the explorer commemorated at the cairn opposite). About the same time, the Deer Park Reserve

was also laid out on Ballarat Road by ICI, with Hume Street providing an additional access point. By 1845,

there were 10 timber houses on Station Road, 4 on Hyde Street and three brick houses in Hume Street and

seven brick houses on Ballarat Road immediately east of Station Road. By the early 1950s there were 44

houses in this estate.

14 Hyde Street, former Bungalow, now modern brick veneer, 1980s

18 Hyde Street, demolished former concrete house, 1980s

78 Station Road vacant site

The ICI precinct is rare in Melbourne for its combination of large scale industry and company sponsored

housing schemes. It follows on historically from the housing program H.V. McKay established for his

Sunshine Harvester Workers, while other manufacturers such as CSR erected limited houses for its

managers and foremen at its Yarraville Refinery.

Most of the original houses in the residential component of the precinct are intact, with recent evidence of

sympathetic restoration. Considerable demolition has occurred in the ICI/Orica manufacturing plants in

recent years and also extensive construction of modern buildings and plant.

Sands & McDougall Melbourne Directories

Shire of Braybrook Rate Books

Lodged plans 31437, 51854

ICI Archives Deer Park, including aerial photographs

Prue McGoldrick, When the Whistle Blew, 1989, pp.11, 63-64.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 63 of 366

That the area bounded by the Western Highway, Station Road, the old Tilburn Road alignment and the

Western Ring Road be included in the Brimbank City Council Heritage Overlay. It is also recommended

that a Conservation Management Plan is prepared, which could be used as an incorporated document in

conjunction with the heritage overlay. This document could also guide future conservation of the site in the

context of the operating factories, and so allow necessary exemptions for maintenance, repair and new

works that do not impact adversely on the significance of the place.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 64 of 366

This Sunshine commercial precinct is of local historical and social significance as a part of a suburb created

by Australia's leading industrialist, which set a milestone in the development of the industrial suburb under

the influence of the Garden City movement. Sunshine became a yardstick for planning and housing

reformers, with H.V. McKay being regarded as an expert on planned industrial housing. The McKay estate

is of historical significance as it marks a crucial phase in the development of Sunshine, reflecting a period

when McKay encouraged or directly provided services to the resident work force, such as recreation and

retail facilities, in order to develop a stable local economy.

The precinct is of architectural significance in representing the prevailing interwar style of relatively

unadorned parapeted single story shop fronts. The precinct includes community, civic and commercial

premises. While the building stock provides a representative sample of generally typical small shops of the

period, Sunshine does contain some more elaborate designs (such as the Derrimut Hotel), some of which

can be ascribed to J Raymond Robinson, who fulfilled the role of company architect for the McKay

Sunshine Harvester Works.

Characterised generally by low flat corrugated iron clad roofs cantilevered verandahs, the buildings are also

set on typical narrow frontage allotments, with small rear yards (now generally redeveloped for storage or

parking. The provision of commercial allotments close to the station was consistent with the garden suburb

character that was intended in the original town planning designs, and perpetuated in the perceptions of

Sunshine's character. In the early 20th century Sunshine's generous suburban estates were atypical of

HO

HO22 Sunshine Commercial Heritage Area

40 G-H 1

022

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 65 of 366

1912-25

working class housing of the period.

The original Sunshine estate north of Forrest Street was extended in about 1911 to other McKay land in

Portion D, Section 9, Parish of Maribyrnong, known as 'McKay's subdivision (Fraser Street)'. A further

McKay subdivision was the area known as 'Walden's Paddock', which included streets such as Durham

Road, Derby Road, Watt Street and Graham Street. The railway crossing between Hampshire Road on the

east, and City Place on the west was established early on, probably predating McKay's involvement in

planning for the community. This became the centre of the township, with shops on both sides, the Post

Office on the east and Police Station, Shire Offices and Hotel on the West. Most of the churches were on

the west side, with only the Catholic Church on the east, suggesting there may have been a social division

between the factory workers living closer to the factory and management somewhat removed.

By 1918, there were 48 houses in this 'Walden's paddock' sub-division but only a small group of shops near

the corner of City Place and Sun Crescent. Developed around the same period as the other major McKay

subdivision off Anderson Road, north of the Melbourne-Ballarat railway line, this precinct reflects the more

mixed development which was part of H.V. McKay's plan for Sunshine, with commercial development at

the east focused on Sun Crescent and Hampshire Road. Shops included McWirther's grocery at 111 which

survives with its distinctive upper logia framed with twisted concrete columns and Porter's fruiterer's at 113.

(note past changes to street numbering make some historical identifications problematic)

The Derby Street area includes land reserved for education purposes, with the nearby Hampshire Road

developing as a commercial precinct. The Derrimut Hotel, located at the prominent corner of Sun Crescent

and Durham Road, and facing the Railway station and level crossing at the opposite end of City Place, was

the focal point for the community on this side of Sunshine.

A further discussion of the history of McKay's land dealings and housing subdivisions is provided under the

King Edward Avenue precinct report (HO24).

A group of several small, mainly Edwardian shops, with low flat roofs of corrugated iron behind brick

parapets with mostly altered glazed shopfronts. These are centred around the City Place and Sun Crescent

corner, extending down to the Durham Road Corner. As planned, City Place provided the access to the level

crossing and railway station, linking the residential estate with the McKay factory. The shops therefore are

focussed on what was the busiest thoroughfare in Sunshine prior to the construction of the overpass.

2 City Place, Corner shop in prominent location, 1920s

5-9 Sun Crescent, Brick fronted shops

2-10 Sun Crescent, Brick fronted shops

4-14 City Place, Shop row related to Gross's Chemist shop on the Sun Crescent Corner., 1920s

111 Durham Road, Early shop in street, complements 113 1920s

113 Durham Road, Unusual styling for shop in area, 1925-30c

132, Durham Road, Derrimut Hotel, 1929, Metropolitan, 065

11-15, Sun Crescent, Sunshine Advocate office & shops, 1926 c., Local, 051

The 1960s ANZ Bank (former ES&A), at 115 Durham Road, is a later building within the precinct, which

is significant in its own right and typical of later developments in the area but has not been considered to

contribute to the significance of the precinct.

The nearby Sunshine Market is of interest in relation to this small precinct. The more extensive shopping

and commercial area on the east side of the railway line includes a number of contemporary buildings, but

Most shopfronts have been altered although the scale and form of the shops remains as originally planned

and constructed.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 66 of 366

has been more altered during later development in both the 1950s, and late 20th century, when the post

office was demolished and large internalised shopping centre constructed.

Sands & McDougall Melbourne Directories , 1914, 1918, 1922, 1930-31.

Lodged Plan 5587; 5661

Shire of Braybrook Ratebooks

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 67 of 366

The ICI Housing Estate Heritage area is of State historical significance as one of the last industry

sponsored housing developments in the City of Brimbank, related to the post Second World War expansion

of both the suburban areas and the ICI plastics and commercial explosives plants. The layout of the estate

again reflects the underlying Garden City ideals which influences so much of the town planning in the

region, and was probably its last manifestation until modern development. One of the most substantial

company housing schemes to be undertaken in Victoria, though not as extensive as H.V. McKay's housing

scheme at Sunshine, developed over a rather longer period of time.

HO

ICI Housing Estate Heritage Area

26 D-E 6-7

022x

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 68 of 366

This group of c.1950 houses built as part of the ICI housing estate, on curvilinear streets, is based on the

Garden City approach with streets named accordingly relating to other examples of the movement such as

'Welwyn Garden City', 'Slough Industrial Estates' and Millbank and Billingham. Other streets relate to

Nobel's parent company and original plant in Scotland (Irvine, Ardeer, Kynoch, Dumfries).

The original subdivision was bounded by Billingham Road to the north and west, Station Road on the East

and Kororoit Creek on the south, although the early development was confined to the area south of Sassella

Reserve, later expanding beyond Dumfries Street, Welwyn Parade and Millbank Drive, to the west and then

north.

By the time these areas were built, however, it appears ICI no longer was involved in the development. The

houses are generally weatherboard, terracotta –tiled roofed with alternating hipped and low gabled roof

forms and simple rectangular floor plans. They are built on generous blocks with substantial reserves

provided in the subdivision along the creek (only one side of Millbank Drive has been developed) and at

Sassella Reserve.

The surviving places that are contributory to the precinct include the following:

ADDRESS, PLACE, DESCRIPTION, DATE

1 Dumfries Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

3 Dumfries Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

5 Dumfries Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

7 Dumfries Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

9 Dumfries Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

11 Dumfries Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

13 Dumfries Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

15 Dumfries Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

17 Dumfries Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

19 Dumfries Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

21 Dumfries Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

23 Dumfries Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

25 Dumfries Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

27 Dumfries Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

29 Dumfries Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

31 Dumfries Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

33 Dumfries Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

1 Huddersfield Road, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

3 Huddersfield Road, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

5 Huddersfield Road, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

1 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

2 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

3 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

4 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

5 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

6 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

7 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

8 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

9 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

10 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

12 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

13 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

14 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

15 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

16 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

17 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 69 of 366

18 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

19 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

20 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

21 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

22 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

23 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

24 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

25 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

26 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

27 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

28 Irvine Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

1 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

2 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

3 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

5 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

6 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

7 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

8 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

9 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

10 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

11 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

12 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

13 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

14 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

15 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

16 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

17 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

18 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

19 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

20 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

21 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

22 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

23 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

24 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

25 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

26 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

27 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

28 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

29 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

30 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

31 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

32 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

33 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

34 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

35 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

36 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

27 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

38 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

39 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

41 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

43 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

45 Kynoch Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

2 Millbank Drive, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

4 Millbank Drive, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

6 Millbank Drive, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 70 of 366

8 Millbank Drive, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

12 Millbank Drive, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

14 Millbank Drive, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

16 Millbank Drive, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

18 Millbank Drive, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

20 Millbank Drive, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

22 Millbank Drive, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

24 Millbank Drive, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

26 Millbank Drive, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

28 Millbank Drive, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

30 Millbank Drive, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

32 Millbank Drive, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

34 Millbank Drive, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

1 Slough Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

3 Slough Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

5 Slough Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

6 Slough Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

7 Slough Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

8 Slough Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

9 Slough Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

10 Slough Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

11 Slough Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

12 Slough Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

13 Slough Street, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

119 Station Road, Sassella Park war memorial, Park with grandstand (1960s - 70s.), 1950c

Station Road, Vic Weaver Sugar Gum plantations, plantation in median, 1930s

1-17, 2-36, Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

2 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

3 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

4 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

5 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

6 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

7 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

8 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

9 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

10 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

11 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

12 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

13 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

14 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

15 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

16 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

17 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

18 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

20 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

22 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

24 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

26 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

28 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

30 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

32 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

34 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

36 Welwyn Parade, ICI House, Timber houses, 1950c

While not built at the same time as the ICI houses, some other community services were soon established,

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 71 of 366

1950c

By the 1950s, the former Nobel's explosives and ammunition factory had expanded under ICI Australasia to

become one of the country's largest explosives, plastics and chemicals complexes. Still disadvantaged by its

relative isolation and the shortage of nearby residential accommodation, the company purchased Crown

Portions 46, 47 and 48 for subdivision. These had been selected by B.G. Davies and R.C. Morton and had

been farmed since the 1870s. It is not known who was responsible in ICI for the design work, but it was

clearly influenced by the Garden City movement, which by the 1950s was an almost forgotten experiment

in town planning, but one known in the district from the previous influence of H.V. McKay. The explosives

factory at Deer Park provided some worker housing from its earliest days in the later part of the 19th

century and ICI Leathercloth built a row of houses in Station Road, Deer Park, in the 1920s-30s. In 1949-

1950, the I.C.I. company launched the most ambitious housing scheme it had ever undertaken in Australia.

After the Second World War, there was a serious shortage of housing yet local industries were expanding.

In 1950, I.C.I. had 2,452 employees in its various industries (McGoldrick, 1989: 184) There was an evident

need for more housing to be available in the vicinity of the factory complex. Towards the end of 1949, I.C.I.

announced plans for a large-scale company housing scheme at Deer Park, to cost £1.5 million. It was to be a

model estate on 188 acres, which were already surveyed and pegged. Some of this was an area, north of

Kororoit Creek, within the parish of Maribyrnong. The houses, on blocks measuring, on average, 55 feet by

144 feet, were to be sold to the workers at the cost price of £2,100. Purchase of the houses by ICI

employees was to be on a system of small deposits and time payment for the remainder. The houses were to

be of weatherboard, though moulded concrete houses were also envisaged. Each house was to have three

bedrooms. It was to be a model estate with shops and a recreation reserve. The first houses to be

constructed were nearest the factory in the subdivision, with land set aside for a large recreation reserve,

and a kindergarten. Irvine Street, Slough Street, Millbank Drive between Station Road and Welwyn Parade,

and the southern ends of Welwyn Parade and Kynoch Streets were initially built up with standard designs

of weatherboard housing. In the first year of the scheme, 50 houses were to be built. It was originally

envisaged that the scheme would provide for building of 600 houses. By July 1950, 100 houses were under

construction and 50 of these were almost complete. The houses were occupied immediately they were

finished, so great was the demand. By December 1950, it was reported that another 200 houses were being

built. It was anticipated that 150 of the first batch of 300 houses would be completed by the end of 1951.

However, it was already being suggested by I.C.I. that the second batch of 300 houses, originally planned,

might not be built for some time and the settlement might not extend as far as originally proposed.

Although the initial plan for 600 houses did not eventuate, the scheme was on the whole successful and

enabled I.C.I. to bring out numbers of migrant workers, especially from the United Kingdom, and to

increase the supply of labour for the firm. Subsequent development of the subdivision appears to have been

left to owner builders and spec builders, although there was a lag of about ten years before substantial

further construction was underway. The proposed heritage area includes the major portion of the ICI

housing estate, but not the entire estate. The estate also included homes in streets north of Sassella Reserve.

For the purposes of this study, the boundaries of this heritage precinct include the earliest homes in the

most cohesive group of streets.

including the Kindergarten and Anglican (now Uniting) Church. While not essential contributory elements

of the precinct, they relate to the later growth and development of the community.

ADDRESS,

PLACE,

DESCRIPTION,

DATE

1, Millbank Drive, Deer Park Kindergarten, Timber clad low-pitched roof, 1960c

44-8, Welwyn Parade, Deer Park Uniting Church & Kindergarten, Timber houses, 1960c

Other houses of the period are also present on the north side of Dumfries Street, (Numbers 2-26), 1 Blakley

Street, on Welwyn Parade (Numbers 19-31, 32-42) north of Salmond Street and along the west side of

Station Road between Dumfries Street and Billingham Road. These are outside of the proposed precinct

boundary. Also the Vic Weaver plantation in the Station Road median, was formerly part of the Albion

Explosives Factory and contributes to the wider landscape character of the precinct.

Almost all of the original houses from the first stage of the estate are still extant although many have

undergone cosmetic changes and some are more substantially altered. The most common alterations are

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 72 of 366

Many houses are altered in minor elements, such as enclosing verandahs and replacing windows, although

they generally retain original plan and form.

imitation brick fibro cement cladding, replaced windows, extended or enclosed verandahs, and additional

rooms at the rear.

ICI Archives Deer Park (including aerial photographs)

Sands & McDougall Melbourne Directories

Prue McGoldrick, When the Whistle Blew, 1989, p.184.

Sunshine Advocate, 12 August 1949; 7 October 1949 Newspaper article headed 'Workers to have model

estate', (source not identified) included in VPRS 795, No.1434 (Building Files), Public Record Office, with

correspondence dated 15 November 1949.

The Deer Park ICI Housing Estate Heritage Area is recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of

the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 73 of 366

This McKay housing subdivision is of national historical and social significance as a part of a suburb

created by Australia's leading industrialist and as a milestone in the development of the industrial suburb

under the influence of the Garden City movement. Sunshine became a yardstick for planning and housing

reformers, with H.V. McKay being regarded as an expert on planned industrial housing. The McKay estate

is of regional architectural significance as it marks a crucial phase in the development of Sunshine, housing

the resident work force which promoted further industrial development.

The group of houses in the precinct represent the type of houses built either by or for company employees

and managers during the period of H V McKay's dominance of Sunshine's economy and development. Most

of the remaining commercial premises, which formed the nucleus of the suburb west or the railway line,

have been included in a separate precinct centred on the corner of Sun Crescent and City Place. While a

number of original houses have been demolished, the remaining stock provides a representative sample of

homes that are generally typical of the period, with several distinctive architectural designs, some of which

can be ascribed to J Raymond Robinson, who might be considered the defacto company architect for the

McKay Sunshine Harvester Works.

Characterised generally by steep gabled corrugated iron clad roofs (with hipped roofs on some of the

earliest examples), weatherboard cladding and timber trimmed verandahs, the houses are also set on

generous allotments, often with deep setbacks. These elements contribute to the garden suburb character

that was intended in the original town planning designs, and perpetuated in the perceptions of Sunshine's

HO

HO23 McKay Housing Estate, Durham Road Heritage

Area

40 G-H 1

023

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 74 of 366

character. It should be remembered that in the early 20th century, Sunshine's generous suburban estates

were atypical of working class housing of the period.

A group of several substantial timber houses and small shops, from the development of McKay's estate,

mainly Edwardian, with cast-iron, bull-nose verandah, hipped and gabled roofs of corrugated iron. This was

evidently once an almost complete pre-1920s streetscape, but now with gaps. The commercial area on Sun

Crescent that supported the suburb is separately identified under HO22. Examples of characteristic

surviving buildings include: in Anderson Road, numbers 83-91, 97-99 and in Durham Road numbers 133,

150. In Derby Road are several Edwardian houses, with cast-iron, bull-nose verandah, hipped and gabled

roofs of corrugated iron. No. 140 has been redeveloped, as has much of the street frontage to the east. The

south side of Derby Road contains the prominent school zone, while the Masonic Lodge, Corio Street

Library and Church of Christ form another interesting group near the Hampshire Road - Corio Street

corner. Opposite is the Sunshine Picture Theatre and the remains of Crittall's window frame factory. The

Lions House of Sunshine is an unusual community building of the post-war period.

Of the houses on the south side of Fraser Street and west side of Anderson Road, nearly all are double

fronted with both bull nosed verandah types to symmetrical facades, and ‘L’ shaped plans with projecting

gable roofed front rooms and small half verandah, sometimes returning around the side. Some garden

plantings are contemporary and two houses retain woven wire front fences. An altered and extended corner

shop formed a central element in the group and physically separated the Fraser Street and Anderson Road

houses, but this was recently demolished. It appears that all the Fraser Street houses are original to the

development with the westernmost being somewhat later (c. 1930) and consequentially stylistically

different.

St Marks Church on the corner or Anderson Road and Sun Crescent, is a 1960s building on the site of an

earlier church. While it is not considered to be part of the precinct, the timber hall at the rear is

contemporary with the significant period of the precinct and is a contributory place.

Places considered to be contributory to the significance of the McKay Estate heritage precinct include the

following:

(The Site Number in the right hand column identifies places that are also individually listed in the

Brimbank Heritage Study)

ADDRESS, DESCRIPTION, DATE

Anderson Road former church hall St. Mark's, c1915.

70 Anderson Road, Weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15

72 Anderson Road, Weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15

82 Anderson Road, Weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15

83 Anderson Road, Weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15

84 Anderson Road, Weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15

85 Anderson Road, Weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15

86 Anderson Road, Weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15

87 Anderson Road, Weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15

88 Anderson Road, Weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15

89 Anderson Road, Weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15

90 Anderson Road, Weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15

91 Anderson Road, Weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15

92 Anderson Road, Weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15

96 Anderson Road, Weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15

97 Anderson Road, Weatherboard bungalow 1910-15

99 Anderson Road, Weatherboard bungalow 1910-15

1, Corio Street, Former Sunshine Mechanics Institute Library (existing HO9), 1912, Local, 065

3 Corio Street, Older type house in area, 1910c

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 75 of 366

5 Corio Street, Older type brick house in area, 1930c

7 Corio Street, Older type brick house in area, 1930c

110 Derby Road, Brick Shop in front of reclad California Bungalow style residence, 1910c

114 Derby Road, reclad California Bungalow style house, 1910c

116 Derby Road, Weatherboard California Bungalow style house, 1910c

124 Derby Road, Roughcast California Bungalow style house, 1910c

126 Derby Road, Weatherboard California Bungalow style house, 1910c

128 Derby Road, Weatherboard California Bungalow style house, 1910c

130 Derby Road, brick California Bungalow style house, poor condition, 1910c

132 Derby Road, brick California Bungalow style house, 1910c

142 Derby Road, Older type house in area, 1910c

144 Derby Road, Weatherboard California Bungalow style house, 1910c

146 Derby Road, Older type house in area, 1910c

127, Durham Road, Presbyterian Manse - Kirby House, 1914, City, 119 (not included in HO)

129 Durham Road, weatherboard house, 1920s

131 Durham Road, weatherboard house, 1920s

133 Durham Road, The house is weatherboard, with verandah and a terracotta-tiled roof., 1920s

135 Durham Road, weatherboard house, 1920s

137 Durham Road, weatherboard house, 1920s

139 Durham Road, weatherboard house, 1920s

140 Durham Road, weatherboard house, 1920s

143 Durham Road, weatherboard house, 1920s

146 Durham Road, weatherboard house, 1920s

147 Durham Road, weatherboard house, 1920s

148 Durham Road, weatherboard house, 1920s

149 Durham Road, weatherboard house, 1920s

150, Durham Road, William McKay house, 1920s, City, 120

154 Durham Road, weatherboard house, 1920s

156 Durham Road, weatherboard house, 1920s

158 Durham Road, weatherboard house, 1920s

1 Fraser Street, Weatherboard house with corrugated iron roof. front verandah, 1913

3 Fraser Street, Weatherboard house with corrugated iron roof. front verandah, 1918

5 Fraser Street, Partly intact, recent obtrusive garage constructed and raised rear extension., 1913

7 Fraser Street, Weatherboard house with corrugated iron roof. front verandah, 1913

9 Fraser Street, Weatherboard house with corrugated iron roof. front verandah, 1913

11 Fraser Street, Weatherboard house with corrugated iron roof. front verandah, 1913

13 Fraser Street, Weatherboard house with corrugated iron roof. front verandah, 1913

15 Fraser Street, Weatherboard house with corrugated iron roof. front verandah, 1911

17 Fraser Street, Weatherboard house with corrugated iron roof. front verandah, 1920s

19 Fraser Street, Weatherboard house with corrugated iron roof. front verandah, 1918 c.

23 Fraser Street, Weatherboard house with corrugated iron roof. front verandah, 1920s

20 Graham Street, weatherboard house, 1920s

22 Graham Street, weatherboard house, 1920s

24 Graham Street, weatherboard house, 1920s

26 Graham Street, weatherboard house, 1920s

28 Graham Street, weatherboard house, 1920s

30 Graham Street, weatherboard house, 1920s

32 Graham Street, weatherboard house, 1920s

42 Graham Street, concrete block house - unusual style Californian Bungalow, 1920s-30s

69 Graham Street, weatherboard house, 1920s-30s

71 Graham Street, weatherboard house, 1920s

73 Graham Street, weatherboard house, 1920s

75 Graham Street, weatherboard house, 1920s

81 Graham Street, weatherboard house, 1920s

85 Graham Street, weatherboard house, 1920s

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 76 of 366

1912-25

87 Graham Street, weatherboard house, 1920s

89 Graham Street, weatherboard house, 1920s

91 Graham Street, weatherboard house, 1920s

93 Graham Street, weatherboard house, 1920s

69, Hampshire Road, Sunshine State Primary School 3113, 1931, Local, 109 (not included in HO)

81, Hampshire Road, Church of Christ, 1936, City, 124 (not included in HO)

93, Hampshire Road, Masonic Lodge No. 226, 1926 c., City, 125 (not included in HO)

128, Hampshire Road, Sunshine Picture Theatre, 1925, altered 1936, City, 126 (not included in HO)

77 Hampshire Road, Brick corner shop with attached residence, 1915c

33, Sun Crescent, Robinson House, 1923, Metropolitan, 059 (not included in HO)

37 Sun Crescent, Unusual large house with attic room, gables, 1920s

41 Sun Crescent, 1940s

43 Sun Crescent, Large interwar style weatherboard house, brick verandah supports and fence, 1930-40

47 Sun Crescent, 1920s

1/1 Watt Street, Timber Californian Bungalow style house, Unit development at rear., 1920-30

1/2 Watt Street, Older type house in area, Unit development at rear., 1910c

3 Watt Street, Timber Californian Bungalow style house, 1910c

6 Watt Street, Older type house in area, recently burnt out - now only shell, 1910c

7 Watt Street, Timber Californian Bungalow style house, 1910c

10 Watt Street, Interwar style timber house now burnt out shell, 1910c (not included in HO)

11 Watt Street, Older type house in area, 1910c

13 Watt Street, Timber Californian Bungalow style house, 1910c

1/19 Watt Street, Timber Californian Bungalow style house, Unit development at rear, 1910-20 (not

included in HO)

A number of later buildings within the precinct, which are either significant in their own right or typical of

later developments in the area have not been considered to contribute to the significance of the precinct.

These are as follows:

ADDRESS, PLACE NAME,

DATE, SIGNIFICANCE LEVEL

21 Fraser Street, House,

1930c, Typical

25 Fraser Street, House,

1930c, Typical

45 Sun Crescent, House,

1940s, Typical

49 Sun Crescent, St. Mark's Anglican Church, 1959, Metropolitan, 058

8 Watt Street, Lions House of Sunshine, 1958-, Local,

074

There have also been a number of places demolished in the last decade or so, which were once contributory

to the significance of the precinct. These include the following:

ADDRESS,

PLACE NAME,

DATE

78 Anderson Road, modern brick veneer units , 1980s+

101 Anderson Road, house,

1910-15 demolished

105 Anderson Road, Shop, altered,

1914

Corio Street, Fence - Windmill brand iron, no longer evident

134 Derby Road, House,

1910c demolished

136 Derby Road, Corner Shop, altered,

1914

120 Derby Road, House,

original demolished 2000c

40 Graham Street, Brick veneer house,

original demolished 1970s

100 Hampshire Road, Crittall's Window Frame Factory, 1924, part demolished

122 Hampshire Road, Sunshine Timber Yard, 1922

Sun Crescent, Court house, police complex, 1950-, demolished

15 Watt Street, House,

1990s

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 77 of 366

An extension to the original Sunshine estate was in Portion D, Section 9, Parish of Maribyrnong, known as

'McKay's subdivision (Fraser Street)', which included Fraser Street and the south side of Anderson Road.

By 1911, this included a house and shop on the comer of Anderson Road and Fraser Street (No. 105, Lot

14) owned by Samuel Gardiner, which has recently been demolished. Amongst the first houses to be built,

and occupied by tenants, were: No. 87 (Lot 23), and No. 83 (Lot 25) initially owned by John McLean. A

further McKay subdivision was the area known as 'Walden's Paddock', which included streets such as

Durham Road, Derby Road, Watt Street and Graham Street.

By 1918, there were 48 houses in this 'Walden's paddock' sub-division and 69 in the whole precinct.

Developed around the same period as the other major McKay subdivision off Anderson Road, north of the

Melbourne-Ballarat railway line, this precinct reflects the more mixed development which was part of H.V.

McKay's plan for Sunshine, with commercial development at the east focussed on Sun Crescent and

Hampshire Road. By 1930 there were 29 residential properties along Durham Road between Hampshire

Road and Anderson Road. They included William McKay's house at 150, the home of the proprietor of the

Sunshine Picture Theatre, George Kirby, at 127 and the home of Headlie Taylor famous for the invention of

the Header Harvester at 129. Shops included McWirther's grocery at 111 which survives with its distinctive

upper logia framed with twisted concrete columns and Porter's fruiterer's at 113. (note past changes to street

numbering make some historical identifications problematic)

The Derby Street area includes land reserved for education purposes, with the nearby Hampshire Road

developing as a commercial precinct. By 1930 there were 19 residential properties along the north side of

Derby Road between Hampshire and Anderson. 136 was occupied by Henry Day, 138 by Henry Skewes,

140 by Samuel Michael, 142 William Hyett, 144 Patrick Curtain, and 146 Herbert J Gist. The occupants

were relatively stable with the same names occurring a decade later.

A further discussion of the history of McKay's land dealings and housing subdivisions is provided under the

King Edward Avenue precinct report (HO24).

The McKay housing estates are an integral part of the central Sunshine streetscape and the associated

commercial and (former) manufacturing area. Few other examples of such extensive company related

housing are known in Melbourne. The Deer Park ICI housing is probably the closest and most relevant

example, with other Western Suburbs firms who provided some level of company housing included CSR

Yarraville, ARC Albion, and William Angliss Footscray.

While a number of the houses have survived, the large blocks and proximity to central Sunshine and the

railway station have attracted flat development in the 1960s and 70s. Some blocks such as those between

Anderson Road and Watt Street, retain the majority of the original houses, while other areas, closer to the

shops, more houses have been demolished.

Sands & McDougall Melbourne Directories , 1914, 1918, 1922, 1930-31.

Lodged Plan 5587; 5661

Shire of Braybrook Ratebooks

The McKay Housing Estate, Durham Road Heritage Area is recommended to be included as a precinct in

the heritage overlay of the Brimbank Planning Scheme.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 78 of 366

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 79 of 366

The McKay housing subdivision is of national historical and social significance as the first stage of the

suburb created by Australia's leading industrialist and a milestone in the development of the industrial

suburb, under the influence of the Garden City movement. Sunshine became a yardstick for planning and

housing reformers, with H.V. McKay being regarded as an expert on planned industrial housing. The

McKay estate is of regional architectural significance as it marks a crucial phase in the development of

Sunshine, housing the resident work force which promoted further industrial development.

The estate is also of historical significance in relation to H. V. McKay's important role in the history of

industrial relations in Victoria and Australia, as the provision of housing for his workers was one of the

arguments made by McKay in defending the Basic Wages Case which lead to Justice Higgins' "Harvester

Judgement".

The group of houses along Forrest Street, Ridley Street, Sydney Street, King Edward Avenue, Anderson

Road, Talmage Street and Kororoit Street, represent the type of houses built either by or for company

employees, foremen and managers. The houses include major remnants of the large blocks allotted to senior

staff of the Sunshine Harvester Works. Most of the houses were set back on their blocks with side drives,

rather than rear service lanes, giving an air of spaciousness and permitting large gardens (of which some

remnants survive).

HO

HO24 McKay Housing Estate, King Edward Avenue

Herita

ge Area

26E-H10-12

024

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 80 of 366

..

The distinctive grid of streets with large blocks west of Anderson Road and north of Forrest Street and the

adjoining radial street layout from the octagonal 'square' of Selwyn Park is part of a subdivision sponsored

by the H.V. McKay Sunshine Harvester company early this century. Initially houses were erected in the

eastern part of the estate, with roads and other services only gradually developed. Street tree plantings were

a key part of the planning for the 'Garden Suburb'. The subdivision was laid out with large gardens, with

both deep and wide blocks as part of this garden suburb philosophy. While a number of the houses have

survived, the large blocks and their proximity to central Sunshine and the railway station, attracted flat

development in the 1960s and 70s. As a consequence, houses on the east end of Forrest Street and in

Anderson Road between Forrest Street and King Edward Avenue, have almost universally been replaced by

two storey elevated walk up brick flats. On the eastern side of Anderson Road are the H.V. McKay

Gardens, bowling club, Presbyterian Church and Chaplain Reserve.

The surviving houses that are contributory to the precinct include the following:

ADDRESS, PLACE DESCRIPTION DATE

18 Adelaide Street, house, weatherboard bungalow, 1920s-

19 Adelaide Street, house, weatherboard bungalow, 1920s-

20 Adelaide Street, house, weatherboard bungalow, 1920s-

21 Adelaide Street, house,

1920s-

27 Adelaide Street, house,

1920s-

31 Adelaide Street, house, weatherboard bungalow, 1920s-

35 Adelaide Street, house, weatherboard bungalow, 1920s-

42 Adelaide Street, house, roughcast and weatherboard bungalow, 1920s-

1 Burnewang Street, house, weatherboard,

1916

2 Burnewang Street, house, weatherboard,

1916

3 Burnewang Street, house, weatherboard,

1913

5 Burnewang Street, Jones house, weatherboard, 1911

9 Burnewang Street, house, weatherboard,

1911

11 Burnewang Street, Pippett house, weatherboard, 1913

13 Burnewang Street, house,

1916

2 Drummartin Street, House, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-20s

4 Drummartin Street, House, weatherboard bungalow (dual occupancy at rear), 1910-20s

6 Drummartin Street, House, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-20s

8 Drummartin Street, House, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-20s

13 Drummartin Street, house, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-20s

20 Forrest Street, J.L. Scott House, well preserved in area, 1911

32 Forrest Street, Bain House, well preserved in area, 1911

34 Forrest Street, House, well preserved in area, 1915-20c

36 Forrest Street, House, well preserved in area, 1912 c.

12 Hutchinson Street, house, weatherboard,

1910-20

16 Hutchinson Street, house, weatherboard,

1910-20

18 Hutchinson Street, house, weatherboard bungalow, 1920s-

9 Kamarooka Street, house, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-20

11 Kamarooka Street, house,

1910-20

13 Kamarooka Street, house,

1910-20

15 Kamarooka Street, house,

1910-20

17 Kamarooka Street, house,

1910-20

35 King Edward Avenue, House,

1915c

37 King Edward Avenue, House,

1915c

39 King Edward Avenue, House,

1915c

40 King Edward Avenue, House, Weatherboard bungalow, 1920s

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 81 of 366

41 King Edward Avenue, House, Weatherboard hipped roof, double fronted, 1915c

42 King Edward Avenue, House, Weatherboard bungalow, 1920s

44 King Edward Avenue, House & Canary Island date palms, 1920s

45 King Edward Avenue, Boorer House,

1914, (Individually listed in 2000 Heritage Study #060)

46 King Edward Avenue, House, Weatherboard bungalow, 1920s

49 King Edward Avenue, House, Weatherboard hipped roof, double fronted, 1915c

51 King Edward Avenue, House, Weatherboard bungalow, 1915c

53 King Edward Avenue, House, Weatherboard bungalow, 1915c

54 King Edward Avenue, House and shop, 1920s, (shop individually listed in 2000 Heritage Study #061)

56 King Edward Avenue, house, Weatherboard bungalow, 1920s

58 King Edward Avenue, house, Weatherboard bungalow, 1920s

60 King Edward Avenue, house, Weatherboard bungalow, 1920s

64 King Edward Avenue, house, Weatherboard bungalow, 1920s

66 King Edward Avenue, house, Weatherboard bungalow, 1920s

67 King Edward Avenue, house, Weatherboard bungalow, 1920s

69 King Edward Avenue, house, Weatherboard bungalow, 1920s

71 King Edward Avenue, house, Weatherboard bungalow, 1915c

1 Kororoit Street, house, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15

2 Kororoit Street, house, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15

5 Kororoit Street, house, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15

6 Kororoit Street, house, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15

7 Kororoit Street, house, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15

10 Kororoit Street, house, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15

11 Kororoit Street, house, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15

12 Kororoit Street, house, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15

14 Kororoit Street, house, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15

5 Ridley Street, house, 1909

7 Ridley Street, house, 1915-20c

9 Ridley Street, house, 1915-20c

11 Ridley Street, Concrete house, 1909

17 Ridley Street, Concrete house, 1909

19 Ridley Street, house, 1915-20c

21 Ridley Street, house, 1915-20c

22 Ridley Street, house, 1915-20c

23 Ridley Street, house, 1915-20c

26 Ridley Street, house, 1915-20c

29 Ridley Street, house, Weatherboard, new units at rear, 1915-20c

33 Ridley Street, house, Weatherboard bungalow, 1915-20c

34 Ridley Street, house, 1915-20c

35 Ridley Street, house, Weatherboard bungalow may be a later building?, 1915-20c

38 Ridley Street, house, 1915-20c

40 Ridley Street, house, Edwardian era house, connected with church?, 1910c

2 Sydney Street, House "Alston Moor", Weatherboard, 1910-20c

5 Sydney Street, House, Wide gable, 1914

7 Sydney Street, McGovern House, Weatherboard, 1911

10 Sydney Street, House "Warrawel", weatherboard , 1913

11 Sydney Street, House, weatherboard, 1910-20c

12 Sydney Street, House "Melton", weatherboard, 1913

13 Sydney Street, House "Graceville", 1910-20c

14 Sydney Street, Stark House, weatherboard, 1911

15 Sydney Street, House, weatherboard includes Canary Palm in front yard, 1910-20c

16 Sydney Street, Sunshine Baptist Church, 1916

(Individually listed in 2000 Study #069)

17 Sydney Street, House, weatherboard, 1910-20c

19 Sydney Street, House, brick shop on corner with weatherboard house with corrugated iron roof and

verandah, 1910-20c

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 82 of 366

22 Sydney Street, House, weatherboard house, corrugated iron roof, 1912c

23 Sydney Street, Whiting house, Large weatherboard house, slatted verandah, hipped and gabled, 1912c

25 Sydney Street, House, weatherboard, 1910-20

26 Sydney Street, House, A relatively elaborate timber Edwardian/Federation house, 1915c

31 Sydney Street, House, weatherboard bungalow, 1920s

33 Sydney Street, House, Brick bungalow, 1915-20c

35 Sydney Street, House, weatherboard bungalow, 1920s

36 Sydney Street, House, former weatherboard bungalow reclad in 1960s, 1910-20c

37 Sydney Street, House, weatherboard bungalow, 1915-20c

38 Sydney Street, House, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-20c

42 Sydney Street, House, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-20c

44 Sydney Street, House, re-roofed in 1960s, 1910-20c

46 Sydney Street, House, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-20c

48 Sydney Street, House, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-20c

50 Sydney Street, House, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-20c

52 Sydney Street, House, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-20c

54 Sydney Street, House, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-20c

56 Sydney Street, House, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-20c

58 Sydney Street, House, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-20c

60 Sydney Street, House, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-20c

62 Sydney Street, House, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-20c

64 Sydney Street, House, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-20c

66 Sydney Street, House, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-20c

68 Sydney Street, House, weatherboard bungalow, 1910-20c

A number of places were identified in the original survey as of potential significance but were not deemed

to be contributory to the significance of the precinct. These include several houses built in the mid

twentieth century often having associations with the Sunshine Harvester Works, but representing a different

phase in the history of the area. There were also a number of other places demolished during or following

the original 2000 Heritage Study. The places include the following:

ADDRESS, PLACE, DESCRIPTION, DATE, SIGNIFICANCE

1 Adelaide Street, House, weatherboard bungalow, 1950s, Typical

4 Adelaide Street, House, recently demolished former weatherboard bungalow, 1920s, demolished

6 Adelaide Street, House, Former weatherboard bungalow, converted to flats, recently with two story

addition built on shell of original house, 1920s, demolished or altered

13 Adelaide Street, House, reclad weatherboard bungalow, 1950s, Typical

16 Adelaide Street, House, cream brick waterfall front style, 1940s, Typical

25 Adelaide Street, Operation Snail house, weatherboard bungalow Operation Snail?, 1950s, Typical

33 Adelaide Street, House, 1940s, Typical

37 Adelaide Street, House, 1940s, Typical

Anderson Road, Sunshine Tennis Club, original shelter and courts demolished, 1909, demolished

137 Anderson Road, Dr Adamson's house, 1910c, demolished, (Individually listed in 2000 Heritage Study

#104) 10 Drummartin Street, house, weatherboard bungalow, 1940s, Typical

3 Hutchinson Street, house, weatherboard bungalow, 1940s, Typical

13 King Edward Avenue, House, 1940c, Typical

48 King Edward Avenue, House, Attractive clinker brick and rendered Bungalow, 1930s, Typical

50 King Edward Avenue, House, Weatherboard, 1940s, Typical

61 King Edward Avenue, House, Weatherboard bungalow, 1930s, Typical

62 King Edward Avenue, House, brick veneer, 1960s, Typical

63 King Edward Avenue, House, Weatherboard bungalow, 1930s, Typical

65 King Edward Avenue, House, Weatherboard bungalow, 1930s, Typical

68 King Edward Avenue, Operation Snail house, Operation Snail weatherboard house, 1950, Typical

86 King Edward Avenue, house, Weatherboard bungalow, 1940s, Typical

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 83 of 366

c1909- 1920s.

H.V. McKay initially provided housing accommodation for senior employees because of the scarcity of

accommodation following the relocation of the factory from Ballarat to Braybrook Junction. However,

following an overseas trip in 1906 he was taken with the industrial village concept and determined to

reproduce it 'on a modest scale' in a feudal experiment on a self contained basis. Between 1907 and 1926

eight subdivisions were created, totalling nearly 700 allotments. It appears that McKay arranged for the

subdivision of some of his landholdings with the express purposes of promoting the garden industrial

suburb as part of his progressive ideas of town planning. An auction on 4 October 1924 sold 220

allotments, each with a frontage of 50 feet. As well as releasing the land, McKay offered to macadamise

roads, lay water mains and extend electricity at his own expense, and he may have had a hand in some of

the buildings through finance and construction by the company.

The typical McKay home in the early years was a four to six room weather board with iron roof. Houses

built in Sunshine in the 1920s-30s usually had tiled roofs. The sale of McKay's estate triggered a land boom

and set the scene for the development of Sunshine as a fully residential area. The area west of the railway

line was one of the first to be subdivided by McKay. Several of the houses were taken up by members of

the family and senior management. They included Sam McKay, Hannah McKay, George Bult and H.V.

McKay's own house (unfortunately demolished).

The building of the suburb of Sunshine around the vast Sunshine Harvester works has been seen as one of

Hugh Victor McKay's great achievements. His town planning ideas and practice were a significant

development within a national context and have been widely discussed. In order to appreciate the

importance of the remaining fabric of McKay's Sunshine, it is necessary to understand some of the ideas

behind the Sunshine housing development and also the scale and momentum of this major centrally

organised housing scheme. McKay was influenced by examples overseas, according to the Footscray

Advertiser: “During his tour of the old land, Mr McKay paid particular attention to the old methods to

better the conditions under which workmen live and though it would not be possible for him to successfully

imitate the gigantic schemes of Messrs Lever Bros, or Mr Cadbury, he proposes, so it is said, to give those

of his employees who desire it, an opportunity to acquire a comfortable home for themselves” (Footscray

Advertiser, 27 October 1906).

The scheme involved the injection of a considerable amount of capital. First, McKay had to purchase land.

By 1906, he had bought 400 acres. The Footscray Advertiser reported: This is to be divided into fairly

large blocks onto which desirable workmen's residences will be erected. Land and buildings are then to be

disposed of to employees on an extended system of repayments, which will enable the purchasers to secure

a house under extremely favourable conditions. (Footscray Advertiser, 27 October 1906).

McKay continued to purchase land in the neighbourhood, for example, several lots within the Durham

estate. The scheme was therefore an ongoing enterprise, not something achieved within two or three years.

Ultimately, it brought in substantial returns. A local councillor, George Pennell, once commented that

McKay was making a profit out of land acquisition and sale, (Footscray Advertiser, 19 November 1910).

McKay had decided ideas about providing adequate size blocks of land. He was also very concerned to

attract staff and workers to a sparsely-populated neighbourhood and therefore to provide a range of

facilities. Even in 1906 he was reported to be proposing to set aside land for a recreation reserve and to be

considering the provision of technical education. The first main phase of building activity seems to have

been in 1909. The Footscray Independent reported on the progress of Sunshine and noted that "...the

3 Kororoit Street, House, weatherboard bungalow, built by Norm Carland 1938, (John Williams family

home) Typical

4 Kororoit Street, House, Brick veneer - former weatherboard bungalow, 1910-15, demolished 1999

10 Ridley Street, House demolished?, Brick veneer flats replaced former weatherboard bungalow, 2000c,

demolished

20 Sydney Street, House, Edwardian era, high cypress hedge fence original, 1911, demolished

29 Sydney Street, House, Modern brick veneer, 1970s, Typical

24 Talmage Street, D.B. Ferguson house, demolished 1998, formerly a large altered weatherboard

Edwardian some trees, planting includes grevillea, silky oak, pepper tree., 1900-10c, demolished

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 84 of 366

McKays of Sunshine were making an impression on that township. Sunshine is now going ahead. The west

side of the Bendigo line is now dotted with handsome new residences. The most palatial of course being

that occupied by Mr Hugh V. McKay. Others are quickly springing up ...The streets are planted with

avenues of native trees and the foliage is beginning to make a show in the landscape” (Footscray

Independent, 20 February 1909).

The rival newspaper, the Footscray Advertiser noted: "Most of the homes in the new settlement are now

occupied. They are quite in keeping with the progressive spirit of the place, being substantial, neatly

finished, and comfortable" (Footscray Advertiser, 24 July 1909). In August that year a new tennis court and

pavilion, provided by H. V. McKay, was officially opened and a report commented that: "New families

continue to arrive. This week saw some half-dozen fresh ones" (Footscray Advertiser, 7 August 1909).

"Builders and contractors are likely to have a busy spring and summer here this year. Almost every day

tenders are out for houses for employees of the Sunshine Harvester works. Fresh business houses, are being

opened and altogether signs of rapidly increasing population are visible on every hand." (Footscray

Independent , 21 August 1909)

Two months later, the Independent reported: "Land selling is going on at a great rate. All the blocks at the

new settlement are now sold and arrangements are being made for a new subdivision. Each block in a short

space of time will have a new house on it. New residents are putting in an appearance almost daily and the

place is rapidly being changed from a quiet country township to a busy suburb". (Footscray Independent, 16

October 1909).

The new settlement initially comprised portions B.C and D of Section 9, parish of Maribyrnong, south of

Ballarat Road and west of the Bendigo railway line. This was described in the Braybrook Shire ratebooks

as the 'Sunshine Estate'. The streets of the subdivision had names of contemporary significance - King

Edward and Forrest (after Sir John Forrest); the names of the cities which had connections with the McKay

firm (Adelaide, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, but not Hobart); names which had associations with the McKay

family's years in Northern Victoria - Drummartin, Burnewang; names of local significance - Kororoit,

Derrimut. The street name 'Ridley' was probably in honour of the inventor of the first 'stripper' which was

so important in the development of Australian agriculture. 'Talmage' was in honour of the American

evangelist, Dr. Talmage, whose sermon, during a visit to Ballarat, gave H.V. McKay the inspiration for the

name of his harvester - 'Sunshine'. The first homes to be built were in Talmage Street, for H.V. McKay

himself and for his brother, George, and in King Edward Avenue for George Bult and Alick Lawson (Sands

& McDougall Melbourne Directory, 1908). None of these homes survive.

The building activity of 1909 resulted in the construction of houses in Forrest Street, Anderson Street,

Ridley Street, and King Edward Avenue. Many of these houses were on large blocks and these are the ones

that were demolished for flats in the 1970s. No. 137 Anderson Road, initially occupied by James H. Reid

(Lot 7), and later by Dr. Adamson, was demolished very recently. Surviving houses include:

No. 11 King Edward Avenue, Ralph McKay (nephew of H. V. McKay) (Lot 73);

No. 5 Ridley Street, initially occupied by Charles Bunnett (Lot 48) Concrete house;

No. 11 Ridley Street, initially occupied by Daniel J. Gates (Lot 45) Concrete house;

No. 17 Ridley Street, initially occupied by Ernest Smith (Lot 42) Concrete house.

McKay's provision of land for some of his employees could be seen as relevant to the arguments presented

in the Harvester Judgement case, which established the principle of the basic wage. H.B. Higgins, president

of the Federal Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, had to decide what was a 'fair and reasonable wage',

following an application from H.V. McKay to be exempt from excise duties.

The area of five acres, bounded by Burnewang, Sydney, Drummartin and Adelaide streets was re

subdivided in 1914. A number of the allotments were sold by 1916, including 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26. In the

1916 ratebook the letter 'A' is added to the allotment number, possibly to distinguish it from the allotments

on the first Sunshine Estate sub-division. The sequence of sale and occupancy shows very clearly H.V.

McKay's determination to ensure a pattern of orderly settlement. "The house -buying schemes are financed

and directed by the Sunshine Harvester firm, who have exercised great foresight in securing the land and

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 85 of 366

sub-dividing it into allotments as required. The element of boom and speculation has been kept out

entirely. Each section is opened when necessary, and until the last subdivision is covered with its allotted

number of houses, a new section is not opened. This regulates the supply to the demand, which is constant,

and there are never any houses vacant." (Land and Transport, December 1917:12).

The element of control is evident in the financing arrangements for purchasers of allotments. The Land and

Transport article noted: "No investor runs any risk of inferior buildings being erected alongside his site, as

the estate is being developed and controlled on thorough business methods. The building allotments are

obtainable on a small deposit, and as soon as the payments are complete purchasers are provided with

financial facilities for immediate building. ... The land is surveyed into blocks and sold out section by

section, so that every stage in building is complete and perfect economy rules construction costs and

housing comfort. The estate manager takes care that there is no casual or scattered construction of houses in

open paddocks." (Land and Transport, December 1917:14).

Many of the roads were private roads. For example Adelaide Street was not declared a public highway

until 1930. Electric light was supplied from the plant at the harvester works and nearly all the houses' were

'Installed with the light'. Nearly 2,000 people were living in Sunshine by this time.

The McKay housing estates are an integral part of the central Sunshine streetscape and the associated

commercial and (former) manufacturing area. Few other examples of such extensive company related

housing is known in Melbourne. The Deer Park ICI housing is probably the closest and most relevant

example, with other Western Suburbs firms who provided some level of company housing including CSR

Yarraville, ARC in Albion, and William Angliss in Footscray.

While a number of the houses have survived, the large blocks and proximity to central Sunshine and the

railway station have attracted flat development in the 1960s and 70s. As a consequence houses on the east

end of Forrest Street and in Anderson Street between Forrest Street and King Edward Avenue, have almost

universally been replaced by two storey elevated walk up brick flats. West of Adelaide Street, however, the

original building pattern was more scattered with many gaps left between the McKay period houses, some

not built on until after the hiatus caused by the 1930s depression or even after World War Two.

Braybrook Shire ratebooks

Sands & McDougall Melbourne Directories

Lodged plans

P. McGoldrick, When the Whistle Blew, 1989, pp.75-76.

Sunshine Advocate, 20 September 1924

R. Freestone, Model Communities: The Garden City Movement in Australia., Melbourne, 1989, pp.143-5.

John Lack, A History of Footscray, Melbourne, 1991, pp.167-8, 174-5

The McKay Housing Estate, King Edward Avenue Heritage Area is recommended to be included as a

precinct in the heritage overlay of the Brimbank Planning Scheme.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 86 of 366

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 87 of 366

The Railway Station Estate - Wright & Edwards Heritage Area is of regional historical and architectural

significance as a sub-division first developed in the speculative boom of the 1880s. This related to the

industrialisation of the area and the creation of a new suburb - the township of Braybrook Junction. The few

remaining houses of the early 1890s are amongst the oldest in the district and are a remarkable survival

from the era of the 1890s Depression, when many newly-built houses were moved.

The subdivision is significant for its unusual (for the City of Brimbank) late nineteenth century plan with a

simple grid of streets, divided into narrow allotments and with rear service laneways. The pattern was

unrelieved by any provision for recreation, community facilities or other services. The earliest sold

allotments were either intended to be for narrow terrace-type houses, or were subdivided. Allotments first

sold in the 1920s were larger, perhaps in response to the impact McKay's subdivisions was having on

aspirations of new residents. The houses tend to be simple double fronted plan, asymmetric with a

projecting gable, weatherboard clad with corrugated iron roofs.

This subdivision is also significant for its diversity and the range of housing from different periods,

especially the years immediately following the establishment of H.V. McKay's Sunshine Harvester Works

at Braybrook Junction. The area provides an interesting comparison with H.V. McKay's housing estate,

since many of his Ballarat workers moved or built homes here in the early years of the 20th century. The

neighbourhood's population more than doubled in ten years, with further expansion in the 1920s -30s and

during and after World War Two.

HO

HO25 Railway Station Estate - Wright & Edwards

Herita

ge Area

40 G-H 2-3

025

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 88 of 366

All the original allotments in this rectangular grid subdivision were 40 foot frontages. Several of the

original 'lanes', between the blocks, can still be seen. In some cases, two houses were built on one allotment.

The best examples of this re-subdivision process can be seen in the row of 1890s houses in Benjamin

Street. This row of five single-fronted detached brick Victorian houses has simple parapet ornament,

corrugated iron verandahs and iron lace (some original). This parapeted row house type in the form of

detached brick cottages is unique in Sunshine. Six houses were built on three of the original subdivision

blocks (two to a block). These blocks were originally 40 foot frontage, with a 120 foot depth. One of the

houses (the second from the east end of the group) has subsequently been demolished. The facades have

had details altered, some with windows replaced, others having the cast iron ornament removed or altered,

probably representing attempts to undo renovations of the mid twentieth century.

At least eleven houses survive from the early 1890s subdivision, including the five single-fronted houses in

Benjamin Street (Numbers 25, 29, 31, 33, 35); one single-fronted house in Morris Street (No. 179); the

house of Edmund Parsons at 114 Morris Street; houses at 46 Chapman Street; 51 Stanford Street, 77 Couch

Street (altered) and 79 Couch Street.

Adjacent areas of early twentieth century development are included in the Heritage Area as they

complement the nineteenth century houses. Most houses built in the McKay period are of timber, with iron

roofs. Some houses in the area are said to have been moved here from Ballarat, when H.V. McKay's

workers followed him to Braybrook Junction.

The surviving houses that are contributory to the precinct include the following:

ADDRESS, PLACE,

DESCRIPTION, DATE

2 Benjamin Street, Edwardian era house, bull-nose verandah, 1915c

4 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920c

8 Benjamin Street, House, altered Edwardian era house, 1915c

10 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920c

12 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920c

14 Benjamin Street, House "Blampina", weatherboard house, 1920c

15 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920c

18 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920c

19 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920c

21 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920c

23 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

25 Benjamin Street, House, Victorian Brick Row House, 1890-91c, Individually listed Regional

significance in 2000 study #133

29 Benjamin Street, House, Victorian Brick Row House, 1890-91c, Individually listed Regional

significance in 2000 study #134

31 Benjamin Street, House, Victorian Brick Row House, 1890-91c Individually listed Regional significance

in 2000 study #135

33 Benjamin Street, House, Victorian Brick Row House, 1890-91c Individually listed Regional significance

in 2000 study #136

35 Benjamin Street, House, Victorian Brick Row House, 1890-91c Individually listed Regional significance

in 2000 study #137

38 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

45 Benjamin Street, House, well preserved weatherboard, recent work on block, and fencing, suggest likely

redevelopment, 1920s

46 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1930c

47 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

48 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

49 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

50 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

51 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 89 of 366

52 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

53 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

54 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

55 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

56 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

57 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920-30

58 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

59 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1930s

61 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

62 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

63 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

64 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

66 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

67 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

68 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

70 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

71 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

72 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

73 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

75 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

76 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

77 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

78 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1930c

79 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

81 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

82 Benjamin Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

6 Hampshire Road, house, Weatherboard , 1911c, Individually listed in 2000 study #105

30 Hampshire Road, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

32 Hampshire Road, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

33 Hampshire Road, House, weatherboard Bungalow consistent with precinct style, 1949

36 Hampshire Road, Altered Brick corner shop with weatherboard house behind, 1898

40 Hampshire Road, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

41 Hampshire Road, House, weatherboard house, 1930s

42 Hampshire Road, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

43 Hampshire Road, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

47 Hampshire Road, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

49 Hampshire Road, House, weatherboard house, 1910-20

94 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

95 Morris Street, House, Cast iron verandah, 1915c

97 Morris Street, House, 1915c

99 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

100 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

101 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

103 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

105 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

106 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

110 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

113 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

114 Morris Street, Parsons house, weatherboard, 1890s, Individually listed Local significance in 2000 study

#113 115 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

117 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

119 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

120 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

121 Morris Street, House, weatherboard Californian bungalow style, (in disrepair 2005) diamond pattern

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 90 of 366

lead light, rough cast and, 1920s

122 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

123 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

124 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

125 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

127 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

129 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

135 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

136 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

137 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

138 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

140 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

141 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

142 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1930s

143 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, single house appears to cover two blocks shown subdivided

in cadastre, 1920s

144 Morris Street, House, Unusual weatherboard and block fronted Edwardian era house, recent carport

added at side, 1915c.

145 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, single house appears to cover two blocks shown subdivided

in cadastre, 1920s

154 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920-30s

156 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

158 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

159 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

161 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

162 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

163 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

164 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

165 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

167 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

168 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

169 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

171 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

173 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, 1920s

175 Morris Street, House, weatherboard house, altered windows, recent addition of disabled ramp, 1920s

179 Morris Street, House, Single fronted ashlar fronted timber cottage, convex verandah, appears

subdivided from corner block, 1890s

51 Stanford Street, House, hipped roofed, weatherboard house, 1900c

A number of later buildings within the precinct, which are either significant in their own right or typical of

later developments in the area have not been considered to contribute to the significance of the precinct.

These are as follows:

ADDRESS, PLACE,

DATE Significance Level

1 Benjamin St, House, cement sheet,

1940’s, Typical

5 Benjamin Street, House, (reclad cement sheet)

1940s Typical

7 Benjamin Street, House, cement sheet

1940s Typical

9 Benjamin Street, House, cement sheet, demolition permit issued 2004 1940s demolished now 2 units

11 Benjamin Street, House, cement sheet

1940s Typical

20 Benjamin Street, House,

1940c Typical

22 Benjamin Street, House,

1940c Typical

65 Benjamin Street, House, altered weatherboard house

1920s-40s Typical

69 Benjamin Street, House,

1940s Typical

44 Hampshire Road, Richards Dairy,

1935-40c Local

46 Hampshire Road, House,

1955c Local

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 91 of 366

1890-1 to 1930s

This heritage area comprises the Braybrook Railway Station Estate subdivision, which was being promoted

in 1890-1891. The vendors of the estate were Johnson, Johnson and Mills, merchants, who had purchased

133 acres of land from Joseph Solomon in the late 1880s. Solomon had leased the land to local farmers.

The estate included the extensive railway and engineering works of Wright and Edwards, who had extended

their operations from the inner city and had become a public company. The chairman of the Board of

Directors was Sir Benjamin Benjamin, a leading player in the company's establishment. His name and the

names of other directors of the company were given to the streets of the subdivision.

Following the establishment of the Braybrook Implement Company, Wright and Edwards Wagon works

and other industries at Braybrook Junction in the late 1880s, the suburb was promoted as a suitable workers

residential area. Although the new suburb of Braybrook Junction included subdivisions on both sides of the

railway line, the larger settlement was in this area of the Railway Station Estate.

Approximately 40 houses were built in this area by 1892. Most of the community facilities serving the new

settlement were in the vicinity - several shops, the first school, and a hall (privately owned). The post

office, fire station, state school, and (from 1895) church, were on the adjacent Post Office Estate, between

Morris Street and Derby Road. The first school was a private school, begun in the front room of a shop

building in Morris Street. When the Education Department consented to establish a school, it rented

premises, first the building in Morris Street, then the public hall in Hampshire Road, at the corner of Morris

Street. Although most of the original structures have gone, some of the institutions begun in this period still

continue on different sites within the locality - the State School, St. Mark's Anglican church and the post

office. In the 1890s depression, when several banks, building societies and builders went into liquidation,

many home buyers lost their mortgages and a number of houses in the vicinity were removed. The Wright

and Edwards company went into liquidation early in 1891, though the carriage works continued to operate

for some time, in order to complete some government contracts. The factory buildings were dismantled and

moved in 1897.

The once fast-growing settlement soon became depopulated, though the school, church, post office and a

few houses did remain. The number of occupied houses went down to 20 by 1897. The hall, once on the

southern corner of Morris Street and Hampshire Road, was moved to Bacchus Marsh in 1897. The oldest

surviving houses of this period are probably the row of five single-fronted brick houses, on the south side

of Benjamin Street, a relic of the 1880s-early 1890s Melbourne boom. Such houses were unusual in the

outer suburbs and there are no comparable sets of houses in the local area. They were built about 1890-91,

as a set of six and are listed in the Braybrook Shire ratebook of 1891-2, where they are listed as occupying

lots 12,13 and 14 of Section 11, Portion E, Parish of Cut Paw Paw.

The area was undergoing a revival by 1911-12, due to the relocation and expansion of H.V. McKay's

Sunshine Harvester Works from Ballarat and the growth of the surrounding settlement, renamed Sunshine

in 1907. Many of McKay's employees bought land in the area and built homes. There were 24 houses in

Morris Street by 1914 and 17 houses in Benjamin Street. The whole area contained within the Railway

Station Estate precinct had a total of 60 houses by 1916 and 200 houses by 1930. The Board of Works map,

produced that year, shows that Morris and Benjamin Streets were well supplied with houses, while Couch

Street, in particular, was still sparsely settled. This was one of the few areas within the suburb now

renamed 'Sunshine' where residents were not buying their house or land from H.V. McKay. However, the

McKays did buy some lots in this area. For example, Sam McKay bought the house at 51 Stanford Street

and adjoining lots in Morris Street. He had sold these by 1914.

The Depression of the 1930s had a severe effect on the area and a number of houses were vacant for a time.

Building activity slowed down to some extent and only a few more houses had been built when World War

Two began in 1939. During World War Two, the Commonwealth Government took over some of the

There has also been one place demolished, which was once contributory to the significance of the precinct.

150 Morris Street, former weatherboard house, demolished c2000

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 92 of 366

vacant lots, by compulsory purchase, to build housing for munitions workers. Even though the Government

had initiated a large war workers housing estate in Sunshine-Braybrook in 1943, there was still a shortage

of housing for the vast numbers of people working in defence industries. The lots acquired by the

Government had a total value of £2645 and included: Benjamin Street (lots E1-6): 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 Chapman

Street (lots D-10-11) 19, 21 Couch Street (lots D 31-35) 14,16,18, 20, 22; (lots D41-42) 4-6; (lots C5-6) 9,

11 Wright Street (lots C34-42) 62, 64, 66, 68, 70, 72, 74, 76, 78.

With the expansion of Sunshine's population in the 1950s -60s, the remaining vacant lots in this area were

built on. Some of the older houses have been demolished and replaced with units, especially in the area of

Morris Street and Benjamin Street, where the blocks are slightly longer (120 feet) than in Couch or

Chapman Streets.

While most houses were not built in this estate until the post WW I period, the estate contains a unique

group of nineteenth century detached brick row houses, not found elsewhere in the City of Brimbank, and

the nearest occurring examples to be found in West Footscray (City of Maribyrnong).

While some houses are altered, the group retains sufficient integrity to identify the original character.

Recent renovations have both some conserved original features, but also resulted in loss of details.

E. Popp, Glimpses of Early Sunshine, 1979, pp.74-75.

Sands & McDougall Melbourne Directory, 1890-1951.

Shire of Braybrook Rate Books

Michael Cannon, The Land Boomers, Melbourne, 1974

Commonwealth Gazette, No. 127, 29 June 1944 in National Archives of Australia, MP 268/1

The Railway Station Estate - Wright & Edwards Heritage Area is recommended to be included as a precinct

in the Heritage Overlay of the Brimbank Planning Scheme.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 93 of 366

This Albion War Service Homes Estate is historically and architecturally significant to the Melbourne

metropolitan area and the City of Brimbank for its combination of a uniform architectural house style

(although generally altered in detail) and an uncommon garden city-inspired plan which was atypical for

both war service and privately developed estates at that time. This was one of several soldier settlement

estates set up in Australia after World War One, possibly one of the earliest. It is of particular interest

because of the initiative taken by H.V. McKay in offering to sell his land to the War Service Homes

Commission and as the first example of Commonwealth intervention in the provision of housing in the

Sunshine area.

The simple gabled, weatherboard bungalow style houses are architecturally significant for their consistent

form and design details, with characteristic wide eaves, steep pitched roofs and timber details such as eave

and verandah brackets. While the houses are clearly designed and built to standard plans, the small

variations, orientation to the allotments and subtly varied details indicate the attempts to create variety and

avoid monotony in the designs.

The layout of the estate is distinctive and unusual with its small corner and central roundabout reserve,

planted with a large palm, and the large reserves enclosed by back fences of the houses in a manner

reminiscent of Walter Burley Griffin's pioneering town planning at Eaglemont and Avondale Heights.

.

HO

HO26 War Service Homes Heritage Area

26E- F 10-11

026

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 94 of 366

The estate is composed of gabled roof simple Bungalow style weatherboard houses, of a very consistent

form, with the majority of the houses still intact, although some with minor alterations. Most are well

preserved with some intrusions (new flats). The houses are formed around an unusual Garden City

Movement-inspired Y-shape street pattern, some houses backing onto oblong, five-sided `Recreation

Reserves' as common open spaces, as well as the circle at the intersection of Coolamon and Bazentin

Streets.

Apart from the internal commons there are some basalt-pitched drains and a lane, and small grassed

reserves at the Kamarooka and Hamel Streets corner. The original plan has 4 small reserves of this type at

the angles made by Sydney St to the Bazentin and Hamel Streets corners. The War Service Homes estate

plan is reflected in the larger street pattern, which radiated from the eight-sided Selwyn Park, in a faceted

street layout reminiscent of estates on the Mornington Peninsula created around the 1920s by Saxil Tuxen.

Other war service estates were typically on a grid plan although, like this one, the houses shared

architectural origins. The surviving contributory houses in the estate are as follows:

ADDRESS, DESCRIPTIOM,

DATE

48 Adelaide Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

50 Adelaide Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

52 Adelaide Street, weatherboard war service home reclad, 1920s-

54 Adelaide Street, weatherboard war service home altered with lily pilly in garden, 1920s-

56 Adelaide Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

58 Adelaide Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

60 Adelaide Street, weatherboard war service home altered, 1920s-

1 Bazentin Street, weatherboard war service home reclad, 1920s-

2 Bazentin Street, weatherboard war service home reclad, 1920s-

3 Bazentin Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

4 Bazentin Street, weatherboard war service home (has Metrosideros sp.), , 1920s-

5 Bazentin Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

6 Bazentin Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

7 Bazentin Street, oiled unpainted weatherboard appears to be a reclad war service home, 1920s-?

8 Bazentin Street, weatherboard war service home (well-preserved), 1920s-

9 Bazentin Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

10 Bazentin Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

1 Coolamon Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

2 Coolamon Street, weatherboard war service home altered, 1920s-

3 Coolamon Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

4 Coolamon Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

5 Coolamon Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

7 Coolamon Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

8 Coolamon Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

9 Coolamon Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

10 Coolamon Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

11 Coolamon Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

12 Coolamon Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

13 Coolamon Street, weatherboard war service home reclad with false brick cement panels, 1920s-

14 Coolamon Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

16 Coolamon Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

1 Gunnedah Street, weatherboard war service home (1A = 1960s flats at rear of 2 Bazentin St.), 1920s-

3 Gunnedah Street, weatherboard war service home altered, 1920s-

5 Gunnedah Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

9 Gunnedah Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

11 Gunnedah Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

13 Gunnedah Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 95 of 366

1920-21

The War Service Homes Commission was responsible for the 'Soldier Settlement' estate at Albion. After

World War One, 64 homes were built by the Commission. Following the War Service Homes Act of 1918,

financial assistance in the form of an advance or loan towards purchase of a home was made available to ex

servicemen who had served in the 1914-1918 War. It was based on a system of time payment and was also

available to female dependents of ex-servicemen. The scheme was not intended to provide homes for

occupation purely on a tenancy basis (Commonwealth Year Book, 1965: 371, 385).

H.V. McKay was a member of the Defence Department's Business Board during the last two years of

World War One, so it is likely that he developed the contacts which may have paved the way for a Soldier

Settlement scheme in Sunshine. He was made a Commander of the British Empire in 1918 (CBE) and was

undoubtedly a figure of national importance at this time. Correspondence in the National Archives of

Australia documents some of the processes by which McKay sold land to the Commonwealth for War

Service Homes at Sunshine.

The War Service Homes estate at Albion originally comprised an area of land bounded by Kamarooka,

Sydney, Gunnedah and Adelaide Streets. The land was part of the Sunshine Estate sub-divided by H.V.

McKay, set out in Lodged Plan 5368 and on a straight grid plan, with blocks measuring 60 feet by 150 feet.

However, in 1919, H.V. McKay approached the War Service Homes Commission and offered to sell 47

allotments 'lying to the west of Sydney Street between Kamarooka and Gunnedah Streets' for a total sum of

£2350. A memo to the Commonwealth Surveyor General, dated 8 August 1919, from the Deputy

Commissioner of War Service Homes, notes: 'I shall be glad if you will kindly treat this matter as urgent'.

After discussions between the War Service Homes Commission and the Property Department of the

Sunshine Harvester Works, the Commonwealth accepted H.V. McKay's offer on 9 September 1919.

15 Gunnedah Street, weatherboard war service home altered, 1920s-

17 Gunnedah Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

4 Hamel Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

5 Hamel Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

6 Hamel Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

7 Hamel Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

8 Hamel Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

9 Hamel Street, weatherboard war service home, 1920s-

2 Kamarooka Street, weatherboard war service home altered, 1910-20

4 Kamarooka Street, weatherboard war service home altered, 1910-20

6 Kamarooka Street, weatherboard war service home, 1910-20

8 Kamarooka Street, weatherboard war service home, 1910-20

10 Kamarooka Street, weatherboard war service home, 1910-20

14 Kamarooka Street, weatherboard war service home, 1910-20

16 Kamarooka Street, weatherboard war service home altered, 1910-20

18 Kamarooka Street, weatherboard war service home, 1910-20

41 Sydney Street, weatherboard war service home, 1910-20c

43 Sydney Street, weatherboard war service home, 1910-20c

The houses that have been demolished, replaced or so extensively been altered that they are no longer

contributory are as follows:

44-6 Adelaide Street, redeveloped block, 2000

6 Coolamon Street, brick veneer – possibly reclad original?, 1960s

7 Gunnedah Street, modern brick veneer, 1960s

1 Hamel Street, modern unit development C2000), 2000

2 Hamel Street, modern unit development C2000), 2000

3 Hamel Street, modern brick veneer, 1990s

12 Kamarooka Street, new brick veneer, 1960s

39 Sydney Street, brick veneer units replacing former weatherboard bungalow

45/45A Sydney Street - redeveloped, now two brick units.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 96 of 366

The land was purchased by the Commonwealth for £2350 and re-sub-divided, according to a design

developed by the Town Planner for the Commonwealth Government or the War Service Homes

Commission. The Town Planner's design involved a new layout of the land, including deviation of portion

of Coolamon Street. As part of the agreement, H.V. McKay was to make roads, plant trees, and provide

water mains and connections for electric light. The agreement was signed on 3 October 1919. The Crown

Solicitor who prepared the document was H.G. Whitlam (NAA MP 327/1/0, VL19/1685).

Construction got under way in 1920. (Footscray Advertiser, 12 October 1920, reference to building at

Albion).

The plan of the settlement was developed by a Commonwealth town planner, identity as yet unknown. The

houses were listed as in construction in the early 1920s. The Melbourne Directory for 1922 mentions

'houses being built' (10 in Adelaide, 24 in Coolamon, 9 in Gunnedah, 3 in Sydney). The first houses to be

built were on the north side of Kamarooka Street.

By 1921, 64 homes were built and, with their occupants, were listed in the Braybrook Shire ratebook for

that year. An aerial photograph, dated as 1921 by one of the original residents (in 1976) indicates that all

the houses were built within a short time of the sub-division. Like the Lodged Plan No. 12397, the

photograph shows the recreation reserves in between the various blocks of housing and the radial road

pattern on the east side of the subdivision. The allotments on the War Service Homes estate were rather

smaller in size than those on McKay's original sub-division, having a frontage of 50 feet and varying in

length, an average of 105 feet. The 64 houses comprised: 9 on the south side of Gunnedah Street, 9 on the

north side of Kamarooka Street, 9 on the north side of Coolamon Street, 9 on the south side of Coolamon

Street, 8 on the eastern side of Adelaide Street, 3 facing Sydney Street, 4 on the north side of Bazentin

Street, 5 on the south side of Bazentin Street, 4 on the east side of Hamel Street, 4 on the west side of

Hamel Street, Total 64.

Initially, the streets later known as Hamel and Bazentin Streets were known as Ferguson Street (probably

named after McKay employee DB Ferguson). This was changed by 1926 to the names of two First World

War battlefields. Kamarooka Street gets its name from a locality near McKay's home town of Drummartin,

while Coolamon and Gunnedah may also be related to McKay's family - both being New South Wales

towns.

About 1930, the estate was sewered, in common with much of the Sunshine area. The subdivision was

shown in a MMBW detail plan of c1930. A substantial percentage of the original houses have survived.

The houses were originally clad in dark creosoted weatherboard, all examples having been subsequently

painted. The first residents on the estate were active in campaigning for better amenities, including a new

school. Meetings were held on Sunday mornings on the circular reserve in the middle of the estate.

During the 1920s the War Service residents of the Albion locality were represented in local affairs by the

Soldiers & Sailors Taxpayers Association, in the absence of a local progress association. Amongst the early

residents were: Dr Cyril Tonkin, on the corner of Coolamon and Kamarooka Street, who assisted Dr John

Adamson; John Willaton, engineer, whose son, John, later became Town Clerk of the City of Sunshine;

Benjamin Challen, dentist, who lived at 9 Bazentin Street and had his surgery in Hampshire Road,

Sunshine. His son, Michael, now Bishop Michael Challen, became Director of the Brotherhood of St

Lawrence.

Located adjacent to the earlier McKay subdivision and near the St.Albans railway. Typical in form and

concept to other Soldier Settlement schemes, but unusual in the adoption of garden suburb planning.

(see description) Some new brick flats but houses generally have only superficial changes which could be

reversed. Most houses have overpainting of the originally stained weatherboards.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 97 of 366

National Archives of Australia, NAA, Series MP 327/1/0, VL19/1685)

Shire of Braybrook Ratebooks

Lodged Plans 5368, 12397

Sands & McDougall Melbourne Directories

A. Hastewell (ed.), Albion Primary School Golden Jubilee:1976 (contains reminiscences about the Soldier

Settlement)

The War Service Homes Heritage Area is recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the

Brimbank Planning Scheme.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 98 of 366

1863

The former Keilor police station is of Regional historical significance for its associations with the

establishment of government and law on the developing colonial roads as a direct consequence of the

Victorian gold rushes. The building is of architectural significance as a representative building of its type,

reflecting the standards of workmanship and vernacular construction techniques using the local bluestone.

Double-gabled bluestone former police station now converted to a private residence with a large rear

extension. The building is obscured behind a high fence and mature garden planting. The police station has

a slate roof with a Victorian style metal-roofed verandah on timber posts.

The two storey brick and timber building connected to the bluestone building at the rear is a modern

addition which is not of heritage fabric.

The former police station is located on the main Bendigo Road in the Keilor Village and next to the former

courthouse.

HO

Keilor police station, former

14 H6

027

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 99 of 366

Keilor remained a sleepy village serving a local farming community until the gold rushes created a new

demand for serving the masses of people travelling the Mt. Alexander Road. The goldrushes not only

created the need, but also generated the revenue necessary to fund improvements to roads, communication

and administration.

A police station (partly in portable buildings) was located near “Mr. Robinson’s” (sic, possibly James

Robertson) on the Keilor Road west of the town, moving a couple of times before settling in the Keilor

Village.

The first Crown Land sales in Keilor were held in 1849. A small lot was set aside for public purposes (Lot

1 Section 7A located near the Maribyrnong bridge and later used for the Caroline Chisholm shelter and

finally sold to P. Donnelly in 1906) but the swampy nature of the ground brought criticism from local

constables and the Chief Commissioner of Police, Mr. Standish.

When the Keilor Road station had fallen into a dilapidated condition, Superintendent Dana authorised the

Keilor-based Senior Constable Gillman to get tenders for erecting a chimney and water closet on a new site

in the township on the riverside lot. The intention was to move the portable building and fit it up to the

already-constructed chimney. Some difficulty was experienced in securing the funding and appropriate

authority and alternative tenders were sought, but by the end of March 1859 construction appears to have

gone ahead, although stabling for the horses was still a problem that had to be dealt with by renting

accommodation for horses at the Eldorado Hotel. New stables were constructed by September 1859. At the

same time, more substantial and elaborate accommodation was being provided for the judicial side of the

law and order equation, with the Court House being constructed in 1859 on a small lot (1A Section 12) on

the Main Road.

The police site proved the first assessment to be correct, for within months there was a need for repairs

caused by the damp. The poor condition of the buildings led to the decision to drain what was called the

New Police Reserve, next to the Court House, and some building had begun by May 1863. A further tender

in June that year was for re-erecting the old galvanised iron forage store, and another in July for moving the

one-cell iron lock-up (at a cost of £12/10/-).

Senior Constable Bird had moved into the new quarters by 26 September 1863. The remaining buildings

from the old site were re-used, the 12’ x 14’ one-roomed iron house going to Anderson’s Creek, the two

roomed iron and wood lined cottage to the Richmond store and the 24’ x 14’ stone and corrugated iron

stables being pulled apart to provide materials for temporary stabling at the New Police Reserve.

All this work was for only a very short period of use, as the police complex was closed in June 1873, with

the portable buildings being removed, and the stone house let for tender (Victoria Police Gazette 14

October 1873 p.260).

On 24th December 1881, the Department of Public Works sold the police station and land, and

(inadvertently?) also the adjoining court house.

Located adjacent to the restored former courthouse with which the police station was once closely

associated. Few other colonial era buildings are known in the City of Brimbank. The place is enhanced by

the proximity of the contemporary Keilor court house (HO49) and the surviving portable iron building from

the earlier Keilor Plains police station (HO14) also located in the Keilor area.

In good condition, but evidently altered with the inclusion of modern amenities, and extensively renovated

or restored interiors.

A modern extension has been constructed at the rear.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 100 of 366

David Moloney, Notes from Police Files, Public Records Office, Laverton (copies held); Victoria Police

Gazette, 14 October 1873 p.260.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme and the

Keilor Village Heritage Area.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 101 of 366

1919

Of State historical and architectural significance, the Victorian Railways Substation represents a period in

railway development in Victoria which was marked by large scale developments and an expression of

grandeur in building design. The electrification of the system played an important role in provision of

relatively economic suburban train services and was itself a measure of the optimistic embracing of new

technology as the country moved into the twentieth century. When completed, this first stage of the rail

network's electrification, as symbolised by this building, was among the longest electrified railways on the

world. The building is also of significance to Sunshine for its brief association with the McKay harvester

works as a supplier of power.

A monumental building of Renaissance design. Red brick walls are detailed in cement render to arched

window heads, cornices and stylized keystones to small rectangular ground floor windows. Some of the

latter are bricked in. The structure sits on a concrete plinth. Windows are steel -framed with small panes. A

curved pediment with brick parapet above crowns twin windows over the large entrance door to the

machine bay, matched with similar treatment at the opposite end. The machinery hall is a huge space open

to the full height of the building, but now missing all equipment. Adjoining are the switch rooms divided

into three floors, with a recessed, iron-railed balcony on the first floor. Now a Maltese Cultural Centre.

Peppercorn trees mark the former fenced area and the alignment of the railway sidings leading into the

truck doors.

HO

Albion VR, D.C. sub station

26 F10

028

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 102 of 366

Built to provide electricity for the St.Albans railway line, the substation is to a standard design also used at

Glenroy, Newmarket, North Fitzroy and Newport. Others of similar design but completely rendered, can

also be seen at Caulfield, Mentone, Seaford, and East Camberwell. The station also supplied power to the

Sunshine Harvester Works.

The building compares with similar examples in Newport, Kensington and North Fitzroy (also modified

forms at Glenroy, Caulfield and elsewhere), all part of the grand plan for electrification of the suburban rail

network. It is also close to the Darling Flour Mill complex, the former McKay house site in Talmage Street

and the H.V. McKay Memorial Church and McKay gardens opposite, as well as forming a major built

element in the area. It relates to the now redeveloped site of the McKay Sunshine Harvester Works, to

which it may have supplied converted current for a time.

Recently refurbished for use by the Maltese community. Windows have been reglazed and joinery repaired.

While the transformers and other fittings have long been removed, the exterior is in very original condition.

Australian Railways Historical Society, Electrification of the suburban railways. Melbourne's Living

Museum of the West, Massey Ferguson Site Study, 1986. Andrew Ward, Railways Substation Study, Public

Transport Commission and Heritage Victoria. G. Butler, Jolimont railway workshops conservation analysis

for the Historic Buildings Council of Victoria.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

Recommended for nomination to the Victorian Heritage Register. Recommended for nomination to the

Register of the National Estate.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 103 of 366

1939

Of State architectural significance for its dramatic streamlined modern style in an unusual application and

for the distinctive use of reinforced concrete in building and fencing. Significant also for its association

with the local meat processing industry and reflecting the importance of that industry to Melbourne's

western suburbs. The very unusual architecture warrants a high level of significance for this building.

After many years of agitation the State Government decided in 1938 to move the pig and calf market from

Flemington Rd. (where the Royal Melbourne Hospital was later built) to a more suitable location. The

presence of several large meatworks in Melbourne's western suburbs clearly had an influence on the choice

of site. The Western and Metropolitan Market Trust was established by Act of Parliament and construction

commenced. The new market was claimed to be one of the most modern structures of its kind in the world.

Steel windows (painted green), unpainted concrete Moderne style elevation; new development adjoining,

reinforced concrete structure with saw tooth roof and covered cattle pens. The front of the building is

notable for its applied raised lettering and design features, such as the vertical feature above the pedestrian

entrance formed from a stack of horizontal fins which are echoed in the corners of the building. Concrete

loading ramps at the front give additional emphasis to the symmetrical facade. The interior was open-sided

with a series of steel galvanised pipe pens, and some remains of former timber pens. However, modern

alterations have seen much of the structure behind the facade altered or replaced.

HO

Pig and Calf Market (WMMT)

40 K5

029

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 104 of 366

A rare example of a specialised stock market and one of the few remaining structures relating to the local

meat processing industry within Melbourne's western suburbs. Among these are the former premises of the

Melbourne Meat Preserving Company at Maribyrnong and Ralphs' Meatworks at Brooklyn. Surviving

stockyards include a section of the vast Newmarket saleyards at Kensington. The Dandenong saleyards

have recently closed.

While the facade is relatively intact, the main roofed area has recently undergone substantial alterations.

C.G. Carlton (ed.), Sunshine Cavalcade, Sunshine, 1951, p.78. Melbourne's Western Region Heritage

Study: Evidence of History, 1986, p.85. Footscray Mail, 10 May 1989, p.3.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

Recommended for nomination to the Victorian Heritage Register.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 105 of 366

The factory complex at Huntsman Chemicals is of State historical significance for its association with the

beginnings of sophisticated industrial, pharmaceutical, and chemical manufacture in Australia, and in

particular in connection with the manufacture of Aspirin. It also has important associations with war-time

manufacture of medicines.

The office block is of State architectural significance as a superb and rare example of American Colonial

Revival architecture as applied to an industrial complex, which demonstrates the development of highly

capitalised multinational companies in Australia. The canteen wing behind is also of significance as a

continuation of the same architectural theme and evidence of the amenities offered by the firm.

HO

Monsanto Chemicals, Huntsman Chemical. Co.

40 K6

030

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 106 of 366

1941-

Monsanto was formed in the USA in 1901, by John Francis Queeny, a manufacturing chemist working in

St. Louis, Missouri. He began manufacturing saccharin for the soft drink trade, naming his company after

his wife, Olga Monsanto Queeny. It took four years and the addition of caffeine to the companies product

range for the company to turn a profit.

The need to replace imports during World War One led the company to move into manufacture of aspirin,

vanilla, heavy acids and phenol. The phenol production gave the company a basic chemical building block

which took it into a wide range of other chemical products. In 1920, the company took its first step to

overseas manufacture through its acquisition of a phenol plant in the United Kingdom, at the same time

becoming a public company with international subsidiaries.

In 1928, the Nicholas Company joined with Monsanto Limited of the United Kingdom to form the Southern

Chemical Company which established a manufacturing plant in South Melbourne to produce acetyl

salicylic acid for "Aspro" powders and tablets.

Following the purchase of a 70 acre block of vacant land in Somerville Road in 1940, a new plant, referred

to as their West Footscray, Melbourne plant (actually this Brooklyn plant) was established and the company

name changed to Monsanto Chemicals (Australia) Ltd. This plant was built partly to ensure that Australia

was self sufficient in aspirin for both civilian and military use.

At the request of the Australian Government the Company also moved into production of life-saving sulpha

drugs. Employment rose to 200 and in 1943 Monsanto entered the plastics industry through the purchase of

Excelite Resins Pty Ltd.

By the 1950s, Monsanto was involved in a wide range of product manufacture including pharmaceuticals,

herbicides, fungicides, rubber, chemicals and plastics. Expansion at the West Footscray plant has occurred

in the 1940s, 1950s and 1961. The firm was the first major manufacturer to be located in the western end of

Somerville Road, which up to that time was open paddocks and quarries.

This extensive chemical processing plant has a main office block which is a notable Georgian domestic

revival (or "American Colonial Revival") styled building, similar to Commonwealth munitions factory

office design. It is in brick with tiled hipped roof and projecting pedimented portico, featuring four huge

Doric columns standing on a stepped paved plinth. The columns rise through two floors (the full height of

the buildings) with the section of facade behind them slightly projecting.

Window treatment is unusual with tall narrow multi-paned windows in pairs to the top floor and mullioned

windows at the ground floor. All have segmental brick arches and white contrasting keystones. An oculus

vent in the pediment follows with the same contrasting stone key. The main doorway features a fanlight set

in a small cut-away pediment, supported on classical columns and framing panelled double timber doors. A

single-storey block of similar design forms an "L" shaped wing behind, providing accommodation for the

laboratories at one stage, now the training centre and canteen. This building has identical window treatment

to the main building and many other stylistic similarities, although the eave brackets are less prominent, and

some details such as rusticated quoins are absent. The short section of the L is a later (c1960s) addition in a

simple Modernist Style. The interiors of both these buildings are very plain, having been renovated in the

1970s or 80s.

Another main building on the site from the original phase includes the large brick processing building,

originally used for Aspirin manufacturing. This has large steel-framed windows, steel trusses and

corrugated iron roof and is currently used as a workshop, store and office. Between these two is the steel

framed, corrugated iron-clad boiler house, and large cylindrical concrete water tower. Many other buildings

and external plant cover the site, most of which are of relatively recent construction. However, the above

mentioned buildings demonstrate the historical core of the works.

The office block and canteen are in excellent condition and well maintained. Other buildings on the site

have obviously undergone substantial modification to accommodate changes in manufacturing processes.

The majority of buildings are of quite recent origin, with the modern chemical processing plant taking the

form of freestanding cracking towers and complex pipework. A small later addition to the canteen block is

not considered significant.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 107 of 366

The Brooklyn area is a very industrialised precinct relating to the more concentrated petrochemical industry

further south at Altona (PRA, APC, etc,). The modern plant reflects the same design philosophy as those

chemical works.

The office building is unusual in a twentieth century plant as it shows such a high level of architectural

refinement. It compares with the administrative offices at the former Ordnance Factory and Explosives

Factory, both at Maribyrnong.

Western Region Heritage Study, Evidence of History, p.99.

Monsanto Chemicals Ltd. publicity brochure.

Footscray and Braybrook Publicity Committee,

Forging Ahead, Footscray, 1947.

C.G. Carlton (ed.), Sunshine Cavalcade, Sunshine, 1951.

Footscray's First Hundred Years, Footscray, 1959.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

Recommended for nomination to the Victorian Heritage Register. Recommended for nomination to the

Register of the National Estate.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 108 of 366

1920s

DEMOLISHED

previously: This gatehouse is historically significant, at a State level, being built at a time (1928) when the

recently-formed ICIANZ company was consolidating and expanding its operations at Deer Park. The Deer

Park site was the location of the first plant for the manufacture of high explosives in Australia and has been,

for its entire history, the most important, if not the only, commercial manufacturer of high explosives in

Australia. It was the pioneer of the industry. Gatehouses were essential in an industrial complex where

security and safety considerations were so important.

Brick, hipped-roof building with terra cotta tiles

HO

ICI Gatehouse

25 H9

031x

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 109 of 366

Jones Scott & Co. was established in 1873 and became the Australian Lithofracteur Company (Krebs

Patent) in 1875 when land owned by Peter Wilkie, at what is now Deer Park, was purchased. It became

Australian Explosives & Chemical Co. and later began making superphosphate. In 1897, Nobel Dynamite

Trust Ltd purchased the works, which were part of ICIANZ from 1928. Nitro-glycerine explosives have

been manufactured since the 1870s with major expansion during the world wars. This gate house is

situated between Gate No.1 and Gate No. 2, in Ballarat Road, Deer Park, and is within the oldest part of the

explosives factory complex. It is near the original main gate. The gatehouse was built in 1928, possibly as

part of a phase of expansion following the formation of ICIANZ.

Many of the industrial complexes of Melbourne's western region have gatehouses, guarding their entrances

and screening all who apply to enter. The structures vary from small sentry-box, shed-like buildings, to

substantial structures such as this gatehouse and the main gatehouse at the Explosives Factory,

Maribyrnong. This gatehouse is one of six gatehouses servicing entrance gates to the large factory complex

at Deer Park.

Good

Edith Popp, Glimpses of Early Sunshine, 1979. Footscray's First Hundred Years, Footscray, 1959. Joe

Ralph, former Site Services Manager, ICI Deer Park, personal comment. Williamstown Chronicle, 1875.

Shire of Braybrook rate books. G.J.R. Linge, Industrial Awakening, Canberra, 1989, pp. 251, 257. ICI

papers. Gary Vines, Western Region Industrial Heritage Study, 1989.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

Recommended for nomination to the Victorian Heritage Register.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 110 of 366

The Deer Park explosives factories complex comprises buildings, structures and landscape features relating

to a number of phases of manufacture. It includes remains of the nineteenth century dynamite factory and

the former Office and laboratory located in the north east of the site near Kororoit Creek; the initiator and

ammunition sections on Tilburn Road; the Leathercloth Factory on Station Road; and remnants of the

Federal Fertiliser Factory and Black powder works at the (now discontinued) Fitzgerald Road.

The Deer Park explosives factories complex is of historical, technical, social and aesthetic significance at

the state level.

The Deer Park factory complex is of historical significance as the location of the first plant for the

manufacture of high explosives in Australia and has been, for its entire history, the most important, if not

only, commercial manufacturer of high explosives in Australia. It commenced operation under the importer

Jones Scott and Co, and then the Australian Lithofracteur Company (Krebs Patent), a rival to Nobel's

dynamite patent. The factory was producing nitro-glycerine based explosives in Australia only a couple of

years after Nobel's Ardeer factory began operating in Scotland.

The explosives factories complex is of historical significance for the association with the Australian

Lithofracteur Company, Australian Explosives and Chemicals, the Nobel company and later ICIANZ,

which grew to become one of the largest explosives, chemical and plastics manufacturers in Australia. It

was the pioneer of the industry and retained its dominance through monopolistic practices, taking over most

HO

Deer Park Explosives factories complex (former Nobel

& ICI now ORICA)

25 G9

032

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 111 of 366

of its competitors in the Australasian region. Substantial parts of the early buildings remain which indicate

past and present processes of manufacturing, the necessary safety measures required and the integrated

nature of the explosives and chemical industry.

The factory complex is of historical significance for the major role it played in Victoria's manufacturing

and mining industries through the development of progressively more efficient and safer explosives. It also

contributed to wartime production in ammunition, initiators and the development of synthetic ammonia

production and construction of the Defence Explosives Annexe No 5 (later the Albion Explosives Factory)

during World War Two.

The factory complex is also of technical significance for the unusual and specialised design of many of the

buildings and structures, both in the layout of the works and the individual design of buildings. Blast

protection and safety measures such as mounds around the buildings, 'cleanways' and buffer zones between

production areas were employed extensively. A characteristic of many production buildings was the

elimination of cavities where explosive compounds could lodge. The combination of concrete barriers and

light-weight construction was designed to direct explosion debris away from operators or other buildings.

The narrow gauge tramway, which ran through the explosives section, is a rare survivor of nineteenth

century materials-handling methods.

The Leathercloth Factory is of significance for its architectural and technical values. The Leathercloth

Factory was influential in the development of synthetic materials for the motor industry including vinyl seat

fabrics and hoods, and has continued to play an important role in synthetic fabrics. The Leathercloth factory

was a pioneering enterprise in Australia. No other comparable buildings relating to the same industry from

this period survives in the state. Activities in other buildings within the ICI complex at Deer Park produced

some of the raw materials used in Leathercloth production. The Leathercloth Factory buildings are also

associated with an innovative workers' housing estate with company residences built for the Leathercloth

works manager and foremen in Ballarat Road and Station Road (these are included in separate citation).

The building, used variously as office, laboratory, and manager's residence, has important links with

significant phases and leading personnel in the factory's history. In its early years (up to the early 1920s), it

accommodated a resident manager, an essential requirement of such a dangerous industry. The building

took on a new role as 'part of factory offices' in 1926-27, after the construction of a new manager's

residence in Ballarat Road, and as a laboratory in later years. It is significant as one of the oldest buildings

on the site, with evidence of its former uses, such as the brick reinforcing buttresses added during its use as

a laboratory.

The former Federal Fertilizer works, of which some components remain, reflects the process of

diversification in the chemical industry where the waste product of one process, in this case dilute acid, can

be turned into a commercial product, superphosphate fertilizer. The now demolished main building was

interesting as an example of the solution found to the problem of providing large areas of dry storage for

phosphates. The timber buildings dominated the Fitzgerald Road approach to the site and were part of the

earliest surviving group of structures relating to the important explosives and chemical companies

connected with the site. Remaining structures such as the concrete ammonia store and ancillary workshops

remain to demonstrate the former layout of the fertiliser section.

The factory complex is also important for its association as a sponsor of unusual workers housing schemes.

The housing estates, initiated by Leathercloth Pty. Ltd. in the 1920s and ICIANZ in the 1950s, demonstrate

both the patriarchal nature of the ICI company specifically and much of the region's industry generally, and

the basic social and economic difficulties of running such an enterprise in a then relatively isolated location.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 112 of 366

1875, 1920s, 1940s

Jones Scott & Co was established in 1873 and became the Australian Lithofracteur Company (Krebs

Patent) in 1875, when land owned by Peter Wilkie in Deer Park was purchased. Manufacture of explosives

commenced at Deer Park shortly after. The Deer Park works became the Australian Explosives & Chemical

Co. and later began making superphosphate under the name Federal Fertilizers. In 1897 Nobel Dynamite

Trust Ltd purchased the works, eventually itself becoming part of the larger conglomerate ICIANZ in 1928,

which also absorbed a number of other munitions works including the Spotswood Fuse Factory and

Kynoch's West Footscray ammunition works. Nitro-glycerine explosives have been manufactured at the

Deer Park site since the 1870s with the original 'Lithofracteur', literally 'Rock Breaker', being a thinly

disguised copy of Nobel's Dynamite. It is significant that the Deer Park plant was manufacturing a nitro

glycerine-based explosive only a few years after Alfred Nobel had established the first Dynamite factory at

Ardeer in Scotland. Ardeer and many streets in the area get their names from places associated with the

parent companies.

Major expansions occurred at the plant during the two world wars. During the Second World War, ICI was

involved in considerable military explosives and ammunition manufacture including the development of

Australia's first synthetic ammonia plant (no longer extant) and the construction and development of the

Albion Explosives Factory built opposite on Ballarat Road. Because of early accidents, the works gained

the local name of 'the blow-ups'. It was also noted for the large number of female employees, particularly

during the war years.

This is a large and dispersed complex of buildings for explosives and chemical production. The earliest

buildings were on the south bank of Kororoit Creek in Portion 6, section 22, Parish of Derrimut. The

offices of hand-made brick and bluestone and an 1880s boiler house are located near the original main

entrance, now Gate 2 off Ballarat Road near the Western Ring Road. The Nitro-glycerine and Detonator

sections comprise about 50 buildings with earth and concrete blast mounds, cleanways and a tramway

network dating from 1910 on, with expansions in the two wars and the 1950s. The black powder area was

added c.1933.

The production buildings are generally constructed using timber frames with timber cladding on the inside

only, to prevent any cavities collecting explosives. Blast mounds, built of earth, concrete or cement-filled

sand bags, were used around buildings containing dangerous products or processes. Such buildings were

also kept small with large buffer zones between them according to safety regulations set out by the UK and

Commonwealth Ordnance Committees. Many post 1930 buildings employed laminated timber arched

beams. Larger production buildings such as the Leathercloth factory, have brick walls and steel and timber

sawtooth roofs.

The former laboratory is situated on the south bank of Kororoit Creek, within Portion 6, Section 22, Parish

of Derrimut, near the original main entrance, now Gate 2. The construction is of hand-made brick and

bluestone. It incorporates segmental arched openings for the doorways and some original joinery such as

double hung sash windows, panel doors and eave brackets. Diaper brickwork is evident in relief around the

doors and possible in polychrome effects, although this is painted over. The building has been modified

internally and has brick buttresses constructed on the outside of some walls, evidently to reinforce them.

The 1930s explosives factory office near the original bridged entrance road, retains its outward appearance

and some original Art Deco detailing such as the company logo over the entrance doorway and timber and

plaster mouldings. The contemporary gatehouse on the original entrance road was demolished some years

ago, although the roadway, gates and some of the landscaping remain in this area.

The Leathercloth Factory in the south west portion of the site comprises a large complex of mainly red

brick buildings with a main saw tooth roof process building and associated chemical plant. While the main

factory is of a prosaic design, some associated buildings, particularly the Station Road offices show some

flair in a wide verandahed homestead style capped with small onion domed vents. Red brick factory and

office complex with corrugated iron roofing and ornamental metal roof vents, ogee roof forms.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 113 of 366

The Federal Fertilizer Company was established around the turn of the century as a subsidiary of Australian

Explosives and Chemical Co. Fertilizer manufacture began in order to use the dilute acid produced as a by

product of nitro-glycerine and gelignite manufacture.

In 1928 Leathercloth Pty Ltd. was registered in Melbourne with a paid-up capital of 400,000 pounds. The

factory was designed for the manufacture of nitrocellulose-coated fabrics, the fore-runner of today's vinyl.

ICI Ltd. in England and E.I. DuPont in the USA, previously in competition, were the initiators of the

industry in Australia, having exported Rexine and Fabrikoid products for use in automobile trimming for a

decade beforehand. The site was chosen to take advantage of nitrocellulose, a product of the ICI explosives

plant. Nitrocellulose was produced from a reaction of cellulose fibre (guncotton) and nitric acid and was

one of the first multi-use synthetic materials, having application to explosives, aircraft fabric dope and

waterproof cloth. The manufacture of 'Leathercloth', a trade brand of ICI Ltd, at Deer Park, was facilitated

by the existence of import tariffs and an unusual co-operation between two rival giants in the synthetics

industry. DuPont and ICI combined to provide capital and expertise for the plant, although it eventually

became Australian-operated under the local subsidiary ICI Australia. The establishment of the plant in

Melbourne's western suburbs is a reflection of the needs of automobile manufacturers in Geelong and Port

Melbourne for a new material for the cars which were coming from their factories in ever-increasing

numbers. The establishment of the Leathercloth factory represented a major investment in the Deer Park

area. The factory was more recently used for manufacture of plastic film.

The black powder manufacturing area was constructed on land east of Fitzgerald Road in the 1930s and

expanded in WWII to provide fuze powder for bomb assemblies. For a time it was the only operable

gunpowder plant in Australia. ICI was involved in establishing the Commonwealth Munitions Annexe No 5

(later Albion Explosives Factory) across Ballarat Road during the War, and this included construction of an

additional black powder factory, of which only the incorporating mill survives. Some of the ICI buildings

and evidence of the cleanways remain, and some of the machinery has been recovered by a private

collector, although the Western Ring Road was constructed through this part of the site.

Also during WWII, ICI constructed the first synthetic ammonia plant in Australia, near Fitzgerald Road.

This was considered of critical importance to munitions production after imported ammonia had become

unavailable. Little survives of this plant.

There were several cottages built in the 1870s for employees within the factory complex, but these were

later dismantled or demolished. The laboratory building is extensively altered but retains the basic form of

the nineteenth century building. This is the oldest surviving residence used by the Deer Park factory for its

staff and employees.

The Deer Park munitions site is unique in Australia as the only private enterprise, large-scale, integrated

munitions and explosives factory. Its location and arrangement of small dispersed production buildings

reflects the standard practice in munitions factories that can also be seen at the comparable Commonwealth

Explosives Factory at Maribyrnong.

Demolition of part of this site occurred in 1997. There is a need to re-inspect. Much of the surviving

explosives manufacturing plant is confined to incorporation, mixing and packaging buildings which form a

group of small interconnected structures with concrete "cleanways" and narrow gauge tramlines. The nitro

glycerine plant and the c.1910 boilerhouse have, however, been demolished.

E. Popp, Glimpses of Early Sunshine, Melbourne, 1978.

Footscray's First Hundred Years, Footscray, 1959.

Ambrose Pratt, Edward Leeson, National Handbook of Australia's Industry, 1934, p. 261

Joe Ralph, former Site Services Manager, ICI Deer Park: personal comment.

David Meale ICI pers. com.;

D.P. Mellor "The Role of Science and Industry" (Australia in the war of 1939-1945) 1958;

Williamstown Chronicle, 1875.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 114 of 366

Shire of Braybrook rate books.

G.J.R. Linge, Industrial Awakening, Canberra, 1989, pp. 251, 257.

J. E. Kolm, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering Technology in Australia 1788-

1988, Chapter 9 - The Chemical Industry - Australian Contributions to Chemical Technology

ICI papers formerly held at Deer Park Factory - transferred to ICI Australia Library c 2004.

Gary Vines, Western Region Industrial Heritage Study, 1989..

Victorian Parliamentary Papers, Reports of the Inspector of Explosives; 1879-1899;1883, Report of the

Royal Commission on Tariffs, pp.899-902, evidence of T. Tolley Jones.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme. Also

included in the Deer Park Heritage Area. Because of the complexity of this site it is also recommended that

a detailed Conservation Plan be prepared in order that ORICA may better manage the heritage of the site.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 115 of 366

1875

This 19th century building is of State significance, since it is one of the main surviving structures associated

with Australia's leading explosives factory in the 19th century and the most important, if not the only,

commercial manufacturer of explosives in Australia. The initial product, 'Lithofracteur', was extensively

used in the mining and quarrying industry. As the manager's residence in its early years (up to the early

1920s), the building has important links with leading personnel in the factory's history. A resident manager

was essential in such a dangerous industry. The building took on a new role as 'part of factory offices' in

1926-27, after the construction of a new manager's residence in Ballarat Road, and as a laboratory in later

years.

The former office, laboratory and residence is situated on the south bank of Kororoit Creek, within Portion

6, Section 22, Parish of Derrimut, near the original main entrance, now Gate 2. The construction is of hand

made brick and bluestone. It incorporates segmental arched openings for the doorways and some original

joinery such as double hung sash windows, panel doors and eave brackets. Diaper brickwork is evident in

relief around the doors and possible in polychrome effects, although this is painted over. The building ahs

been modified internally.

HO

ICI Explosives Laboratory

25 H9

032x

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 116 of 366

Jones Scott & Co was established in 1873 and became the Australian Lithofracteur Company (Krebs

Patent) in 1875, when land owned by Peter Wilkie in Deer Park was purchased. The Lithofracteur factory

which commenced production here in 1876 was the only factory in Australia making this type of explosives

during the 1870s-1880s. The Inspector of Explosives commented in 1878 that the works were 'at a

considerable distance from any dwellings, except those occupied by the manager and some employees'.

The explosives factory itself was described in 1882 as 'a novelty in the southern hemisphere ... requiring

very careful management from first to last'. (Thomas Tolley Jones, giving evidence to the Royal

Commission on Tariffs, 1882) The resident manager or superintendent usually lived at the works during the

week. Those who may have lived here ranged from Thomas Tolley Jones, one of the founders of the

original firm of Jones, Scott & Co., to George Palmer, resident superintendent in 1888, and Charles Tilburn,

manager in the early 20th century. The firm became the Australian Explosives & Chemical Co. and later

began making superphosphate. In 1897 Nobel Dynamite Trust Ltd purchased the works. It was taken over

by ICIANZ in 1928. Nitro-glycerine explosives have been manufactured since the 1870s with major

expansion during the world wars. Because of early accidents the works gained the local name of 'the blow

ups'. This is the oldest surviving residence built by the Deer Park factory for its staff and employees. There

were several cottages built in the 1870s for employees within the factory complex, but these were later

dismantled or demolished. The manager's residence on Ballarat Road, built in the early 1920s, is part of the

tradition of resident managers and staff and part of the tradition of company-built housing, further

developed by I.C.I. in the 1930s and 1950s.

The explosives and chemical factory at what is now Deer Park was the only such factory in Australia for

many decades (1870s-1910), so there is no comparable explosives factory building of this age anywhere

else in the country. The nearest equivalent would be the buildings erected for the Explosives Factory at

Maribyrnong from 1910 onwards. The very substantial two-storey administration building at Maribyrnong

still exists, but houses built for staff have been demolished. There are a number of laboratories within the

present ORICA complex.

The laboratory building is extensively altered but retains the basic form of the nineteenth century building,

with some original windows, eave brackets and wall finishes. This is the oldest surviving residence built by

the Deer Park factory for its staff and employees. There were several cottages built in the 1870s for

employees within the factory complex, but these were later dismantled or demolished.

Footscray's First Hundred Years, Footscray, 1959.

Joe Ralph, former Site Services Manager, ICI Deer Park, personal comment.

Williamstown Chronicle, 1875.

Shire of Braybrook rate books.

G.J.R. Linge, Industrial Awakening, Canberra, 1989, pp. 251, 257.

ICI papers. (former factory archive)

Gary Vines, Western Region Industrial Heritage Study, 1989..

Victorian Parliamentary Papers, Reports of the Inspector of Explosives; 1879-1899;1883, Report of the

Royal Commission on Tariffs, pp.899-902, evidence of T. Tolley Jones.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

Recommended for nomination to the Victorian Heritage Register.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 117 of 366

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 118 of 366

1920

Nitrocellulose, produced from a reaction of cellulose fibre (guncotton) and nitric acid was one of the first

multi-use synthetic materials, having application to explosives, aircraft fabric dope and waterproof cloth.

The manufacture of 'Leathercloth', a trade brand of ICI Ltd, at Deer Park, was facilitated by the existence of

import tariffs and an unusual co-operation between two rival giants in the synthetics industry. DuPont and

ICI combined to provide capital and expertise for the plant, although it eventually became Australian

operated under the local subsidiary ICI Australia. The establishment of the plant in Melbourne's western

suburbs is a reflection of the needs of automobile manufacturers in Geelong and Port Melbourne for a new

material for the cars which were coming from their factories in ever-increasing numbers.

The Leathercloth factory in the south west portion of the site comprises a large complex of mainly red brick

buildings with a main saw tooth roof process building and associated chemical plant. While the main

factory is of a prosaic design, some associated buildings, particularly the Station Road offices show some

flair in a wide verandahed homestead style capped with small onion domed vents. Red brick factory and

office complex with corrugated iron roofing and ornamental metal roof vents, ogee roof forms.

HO

ICI Leathercloth Factory

26 E7

033x

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 119 of 366

In 1928 Leathercloth Pty Ltd. was registered in Melbourne with a paid-up capital of 400,000 pounds. The

factory was designed for the manufacture of nitrocellulose-coated fabrics, the fore-runner of today's vinyl.

ICI Ltd. in England and E.I. DuPont in the USA, previously in competition, were the initiators of the

industry in Australia, having exported Rexine and Fabrikoid products for use in automobile trimming for a

decade beforehand. The site was chosen to take advantage of nitrocellulose, a product of the ICI explosives

plant. The establishment of the Leathercloth factory represented a major investment in the Deer Park area.

The factory was more recently used for manufacture of plastic film.

The Leathercloth factory was a pioneering enterprise in Australia, with no other comparable building of this

date relating to the same industry. Activities in other buildings within the ICI complex at Deer Park

produced some of the raw materials used in Leathercloth production. The Leathercloth factory buildings

are associated with a number of houses in the Deer Park area, residences built for the Leathercloth works

manager and foremen in Ballarat road and Station Road.

Good

Footscray's First Hundred Years, Footscray, 1959. National Handbook of Australia's Industry, p. 261. G.

Vines & A. Ward, Western Region Industrial Heritage Study, Melbourne, 1989.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

Recommended for nomination to the Victorian Heritage Register.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 120 of 366

1924

Of State significance as a memorial to the first overland crossing of European settlers from the settled area

of New South Wales to the Port Phillip District, and therefore demonstrating the first steps in the process of

discovery and surveying of Victoria. It is one of a number of stone cairns and monuments erected in 1924

as part of the centenary of the explorations of Hume and Hovell. This example reflects the vernacular

construction of the district in roughly shaped bluestone, as well as the predominant local stone.

Rubble stone cairn formed with a wide square base standing about 1.5 metres high with tapering sides and

uncoursed rubble quarried bluestone blocks. A long block of roughly-cut bluestone about 1.5 metres long is

erected on the base, set in concrete which also forms the sloping top to the base. This brings the total height

of the monument to about 3 metres. A bronze plaque is set in the large block engraved with the legend:

'Hume and Hovell passed this spot about December 19th 1824. Erected by the Ratepayers of the Shire of

Braybrook 1924'. The monument is located on the north west corner of Station Road and Ballarat Road

intersection, and has been moved twice to allow for road widening. It is now on the Deer Park State school

land, although not enclosed by their fence, and skewed to 45 degrees across the corner.

HO

Hume and Hovell Cairn

25 E8

034

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 121 of 366

Governor Brisbane is credited with conceiving the idea of exploring the land route from Sydney to Port

Phillip - an area which had only been properly explored and mapped by sea in the previous two decades.

This was a response to the demands for opening up new lands for settlement and the fact of unauthorised

'squatting' already having spread well beyond the settled counties. On 17th October 1824, Hamilton Hume

and William Hovell set off from the Goulburn area with a party of six other men. They took a route which

is followed roughly by the Hume Highway today, intending to make for Westernport. Although

miscalculating their position and reaching Corio Bay, they established a route for subsequent graziers and

their stock to follow a decade later. In commemoration of the centenary of their journey, a number of

monuments of local design were erected by local committees at points along their route and supposed

stopping places, based on published accounts and the explorers' journals and reports. This one represents

their passage in the general vicinity on 19th December 1824. The presence of fresh water at Kororoit Creek,

probably very much appreciated at that time of year, was noted in the expedition's records. The monument

has been moved at least once, to accommodate widening of the road. Its positioning on the corner of two

roads, near the railway, was probably an attempt to provide the greatest public visibility within the

constraints of remaining true to their original route.

One of several cairns of bluestone, located along Hume and Hovell's route across the Keilor Werribee

Plains. Each is a unique style, a result of local committee input. Others are at St.Albans, Oaklands Junction

and Werribee. The location of the cairn, near the Deer Park School, which itself has a considerable history,

provides a micro-focus for the vanished heritage of Deer Park.

In good condition, although the moves have caused some disruption to the original form, for example, the

rather heavy mortar courses in the stone work.

St.Albans History Society, St.Albans: The First Hundred Years, 1987. St.Albans History Society, Around

and about St.Albans, 1991 Edith Popp, Glimpses of Early Sunshine, 1979, pp. 14-15

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 122 of 366

1884

Milburn's weir is significant to the State of Victoria because of its historical association with the beginnings

of irrigation for agriculture in the state. While representing the later development of irrigation, it is

connected directly with David Milburn, who is described as 'Victoria's First Irrigator', having been

originally constructed by him to supply water to his third generation of pumping equipment. As such the

weir provides a physical link with the beginnings of irrigation and market gardening in the Keilor area.

A stone and concrete weir, with some remains of timber structure, rising to a height of approximately three

metres and spanning the Maribyrnong River about 100 metres upstream of the Arundel Road Bridge. The

downstream face comprises part mass concrete and part roughly-shaped bluestone blocks or natural

boulders set in concrete. The structure slopes at about 40 degrees. The upstream side is generally hidden

beneath the water level but has a steep face and incorporates some timber structure. Excess water is allowed

to spill directly over the weir. The reservoir backing up behind the weir extends for approximately 200

metres, flooding a horseshoe bend which comes to within a few metres of Arundel road. On the tip of the

bank, beside the road and almost opposite the 1880s house of John Milburn (David Milburn's son), is a

small corrugated iron clad pumping house, containing a modern electrically-driven centrifugal pump. This

may be close to the location of the original pumping apparatus as from this rise, channels can deliver

irrigation water to a considerable area of market gardens by gravity alone.

HO

Milburn's Weir

14 H2

035

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 123 of 366

The first irrigation scheme in Victoria was created by David Milburn on his farm on Arundel Road. The

existing weir near the Arundel Road Bridge appears to be a reconstruction (probably the most recent of

several) of Milburn's original wooden dam, from which he pumped water to flood-irrigate his fruit and

vegetable crops. The weir and ford north of Keilor was originally known as Bertram's, after the family

which owned the adjacent property of Ellengowan. This was later bought by William Taylor of

Overnewton. David Milburn worked as a gardener in Sproatly, Yorkshire, prior to migrating to Victoria in

the 1850s. He spent some time on the goldfields but then came to Keilor and worked for William Taylor at

Overnewton as a gardener. In 1857 he leased seven acres of land increasing this in subsequent years to over

150 acres of freehold. He was apparently a gifted gardener and successful in growing fruit and vegetables

which he sold from the side of the road, gaining him the name "Davey the Basket-man". His wife Susan

worked alongside him producing butter for sale and running a local grocery store. The farm, known as

Grange Farm, was located on the east side of Arundel Road on lots H & L, Section 16. David Milburn was

farming at Grange Farm, Keilor in 1857, when he adapted hand powered pumps to lift water from the river,

later replacing these with horse-powered chain lifts, followed by windmills and eventually three hydraulic

rams. Water was raised between 20 and 50 feet. He was one of the first in the district to grow apricots

commercially and became the largest grower in the district in the 1880s, winning second prize for the

Colony's best kept orchard. He described how he carried out the work at the First Irrigation Conference,

convened by Alfred Deakin in March 1890: I started by getting my living from 7 acres of land leased in

1857, with 2 acres of orchard; used water by hand pump. Afterwards bought 45 1/2 acres of land; planted 3

acres of orchard; and used pump worked by horse-power. In 1870, bought 70 acres of land adjoining;

planted more fruit trees , erected chain water-lifter, worked by horse-power, which gave 100 gallons per

minute at 34 feet delivery; this with fair results. Had a windmill erected, having four different pumps, all in

a small way, for when horse, or man, or wind stopped, the water stopped. In 1884, having a few hundred

pounds to spare, I thought of going in for a centrifugal pump and engine, but I was recommended to try two

hydraulic rams, and erect a weir across the Saltwater River to work them; but what with the rams not

working well and the weir being washed down three times, I did not get good results for first 2 years. In

1887 had a third ram put down. When plenty of water is running over the weir, the three rams will deliver,

at a height of 50 feet, 150 gallons per minute, at 30 feet high, 220 gallons per minute. These are a great

improvement on the former pumps (saving horse and manual labour), as they work all day and night with

very little attention. This was Victoria's first irrigation scheme and led to other local farmers adopting

pump irrigation including the Goudies, Dodds, Cahills and Borrells. The weir was reconstructed several

times, eventually taking its present rock and concrete form around the Second World War. Water is still

pumped from above the weir by the Milburn family, with a corrugated iron shed beside Arundel Road

holding one of the electrically driven pump. David Milburn was a local Justice of the Peace, shire

councillor for over 35 years and Shire President twice. He sat on the Christ Church building committee

(Collector for Bulla) in 1875, was on the local School Board of Advice and he and his wife raised 10

children, including five sons: Alfred, John, David, Frank and Herbert. He was well known for the lavish

weddings put on for his daughters. David Milburn died in 1918 and is buried at Keilor Cemetery. His farm

was subsequently run by his younger sons as 'Milburn Brothers'. David's son John later built Hazelwood to

the north for himself. Another son, Frank Milburn, became shire president. Until recently, part of the

original property was still owned and farmed by David Milburn's descendants.

Located nearby the John Milburn house, and just upstream of the historic Arundel timber trestle bridge.

Few other privately-built weirs on large watercourses are known. This is possibly unique in the

Metropolitan area.

Although reconstructed several times, the weir retains its original configuration.

Angela Evans and the Keilor Pioneer Research Collective, Keilor Pioneers: Dead Men DO Tell Tales,

1994, pp. 274-6. Rural Water Commission Werribee Irrigation Scheme: notes. Gary Vines, Farm & Dairy,

1993, pp.14-16. 'Victoria's First Irrigator', Aqua, vol. 10, 1959 p.189; May 1962, pp. 153-4. Dorothy

Milburn, personal comment. Chris Laskowski, personal comment.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 124 of 366

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

Recommended for nomination to the Victorian Heritage Register. Recommended for nomination to the

Register of the National Estate.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 125 of 366

The former Anderson farmhouse is of local architectural, historical and social significance as one of the last

farm houses in the St.Albans - Keilor area, as one of the few surviving farms which were created in the

break up of the Taylor Estate under the Closer Settlement Scheme and as an example of a way of life

(agricultural small holdings) now rare in the municipality. The house is also associated with one of the

leading farming families in the district for many years, the Andersons, and represents a major change in

land use from the sparsely settled and extensive pastoral estate of William Taylor to the mixed farms that

were developed as a result of Government policy in the early years of the 20th century. In its simple timber

Federation form, the main building reflects both the typical architectural style of the period, and the modest

means of the farmers who took up blocks under the Closer Settlement Scheme.

A Federation weatherboard farmhouse with return verandah featuring turned timber posts but no other

decoration, and straightforward timber fretwork window hoods. Main hipped roof has gabled wings to the

south and east, with the gables infilled with 'half timbering' of stucco and battens. Eaves have exposed

rafter ends, windows are double-hung timber sashes with sidelights to south-facing windows, and paired

sashes with six-paned upper light on the east. A skillion addition to the rear accommodates the kitchen. The

property originally had a variety of outbuildings and farm sheds, some of which remain. Until recently (mid-

1998) the property had mature cypress trees at the front which were remnants of a more extensive garden

destroyed when Taylor's Road was duplicated. Sugar Gums at the rear represent the most common

windbreak and farm plantation trees of the area.

HO

Anderson Farm House

14 A8

036

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 126 of 366

1910c

The land on which the house stands was surveyed in the 1839-40 as Section XIV Parish of Maribyrnong. It

was originally purchased by William Taylor in 1849-50, along with many other blocks in the vicinity to

form Taylor's vast 14,000 acre 'Overnewton' pastoral estate. In the early twentieth century, much of

Overnewton was purchased by the Closer Settlement Board under the provisions of the Closer Settlement

Act 1904 for the establishment into 60 small farms. Within a few years of this change, the number of people

listed as farmers in the St.Albans area almost tripled. The area was re-surveyed, and Section XIV became

allotments 27 and 28, Section B. Lot 27 of slightly over 260 acres, was selected by P. Anderson (Lands File

28/12). He finally obtained title on 20 February 1948. The small size of the blocks limited the economic

viability of many of the farms. This appears to have been addressed through the progressive amalgamation

of farms, or leasing of additional land. The Anderson family farmed this property for many decades, from

about 1910, when Peter Anderson took up the farm selection. He may have subsequently leased or

purchased additional land in the area. He had previously lived in the Campbellfield - Broadmeadows area.

Four of his children, Frederick, Ethel, Myrtle and Evelyn attended the St.Albans Primary School, from

1910. His son Horace was a pupil from 1913 and Keith from 1918. The children worked on the family farm.

By the 1930s-40s another generation of Andersons (children of Frederick Anderson, farmer, Keith

Anderson, farmer, and Horace Anderson, farmer) were attending the St.Albans Primary School. The

Anderson family were Presbyterian and were connected with the St.Albans Presbyterian church. Members

of the Anderson family continued to live in the house until recent times.

Located on a now major road backing on to new suburban development. The front yard has gone for road

widening so the site appears truncated.

The house appears in good condition, with the front and sides being intact and original. The rear of the

house has been altered and added to and some internal alteration may have been carried out. Outbuildings

and farm buildings have been lost and the garden has been severely reduced following widening of Taylors

Road. A row of large Monterey Cypress trees, once a windbreak in front of the house, was cut down in

1997.

Sands & McDougall Melbourne Directories. St. Albans History Society, Settlement - Struggle - Success,

The Development of the Suburb Reflected through its School Register: St.Albans Primary School No 2969,

St. Albans, 1989. St.Albans History Society, St.Albans: The First Hundred Years, St. Albans, 1987.

Statistical Register of Victoria. County of Bourke Atlas, 1919. Ordnance Survey Victoria, 1933, Melbourne

Sheet.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 127 of 366

1928

A large and visually impressive railway embankment of local significance, particularly for its historical

association with the linking of railway lines, and in connection with the Maribyrnong River and Moonee

Ponds Creek bridges also on this line. As part of an engineering solution to the peculiar geography of

Melbourne it demonstrates both the changes in settlement and railway operations and the difficulty imposed

by the very deep valleys of the Maribyrnong River and its tributary, Steele Creek, in an otherwise flat

terrain. This is one of the highest railway embankments in the metropolitan area.

The high earth embankment and concrete culvert was constructed in 1928 as part of Broadmeadows-Albion

goods line and as part of larger improvements to freight and interstate railway connections. the

Broadmeadows Albion Line provided a link to the goods yards at Tottenham, West Melbourne, North

Melbourne and Spencer Street, and connections to the Docks, eliminating the route through Moonee Ponds

which was shared with the suburban trains. Other parts of the same improvements included a bypass of

Footscray Station, a tunnel under Bunbury Street and a new bridge across the Maribyrnong joining directly

to the West Melbourne Rail yards

Earth embankment approximately 30 metres high straddling Steele Creek, carrying two standard gauge

railway lines on crushed rock ballast. The batter of the embankment is greater than 50 degrees. A concrete

ovoid culvert takes Steele Creek under the embankment.

HO

Steele Ck. rail embankment

15 F7

037

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 128 of 366

One of the highest railway embankments in the Melbourne area. Part of the system of structures crossing

the deep valleys of the Maribyrnong River and its tributaries, the most notable structure being the

Quartermile Railway Trestle Bridge.

Good

Leo Harrigan, Victorian Railways to '62, c.1962, p.176. Victorian Railways report, 1928. Paynting & Grant.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

Recommended for nomination to the Victorian Heritage Register.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 129 of 366

1924

Of State significance as a memorial to the first overland crossing of European settlers from the settled area

of New South Wales to the Port Phillip District, and therefore demonstrating the first steps in the process of

discovery and surveying of Victoria. It is one of a number of stone cairns and monuments erected in 1924

as part of the centenary of the explorations of Hume and Hovell. This example reflects the vernacular

construction of the district in roughly-shaped bluestone, the predominant local stone.

A circular stone cairn of roughly-coursed bluestone blocks, possibly originally used or intended for use as

road pitchers, set in cement mortar, with the letters 'H H' picked out in white quartz pebbles on opposite

sides. The cairn stands about 2.5 metres high and tapers from a base of approximately 1.5 metres diameter

to 60 cm. at the top which is crowned by a domed cap with white exposed aggregate, possibly the local

light-coloured silcrete. A bronze plaque is set into the side facing the main road bearing the inscription:

'Hume & Hovell passed here Dec. 19th 1824. Erected by Residents of St. Albans and Sydenham, December

19th 1924'. A memorial seat is close by, donated by St Albans History Society, for the rededication of the

monument, 18 March 1994.

HO

Hume and Hovell Cairn

13 J9

038

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 130 of 366

Governor Brisbane is credited with conceiving the idea of exploring the land route from Sydney to Port

Phillip - an area which had only been properly explored and mapped by sea in the previous two decades.

This was a response to the demands for opening up new lands for settlement and the fact of unauthorised

'squatting' already having spread well beyond the settled counties. On 17 October 1824, Hamilton Hume

and William Hoddle set off from the Goulburn area with a party of six other men. They took a route which

is followed roughly by the Hume Highway today intending to make for Western Port. Although

miscalculating their position and reaching Corio Bay, they established a route for subsequent graziers and

their stock to follow a decade later. In commemoration of the centenary of their journey, a number of

monuments of local design were erected by local committees at supposed stopping places along the party's

route, based on published accounts and the explorers' journals and reports. This one represents their

overnight stop somewhere in the general vicinity on 19 December 1824. It is likely that either the waterhole

of the nearby creek, or the slight hill to the immediate south of this spot, were the factors influencing the

choice of camp. The monument has been moved at least once, to accommodate widening of the road. Its

positioning on the corner of two roads, near the railway, was probably an attempt to provide greatest public

visibility within the constraints of remaining true to their original route. In 1997, the monument was

relocated 100 metres to the south-east to allow for the widening of Taylor's Road and the construction of a

roundabout at the intersection.

One of several cairns of bluestone, located along Hume and Hovell's route across the Keilor-Werribee

Plains. Each is a unique structure, a result of local committee input. Others are at Deer Park, Werribee and

Oaklands Junction. This cairn was originally located on the north-west corner of Sydenham and Taylors

Roads, but now sits between East Esplanade and the railway line south of Taylors Road, about 100 metres

from its original location.

In good condition, although the moves have caused some disruption to the original form, for example, the

rather heavy mortar courses in the stone work.

St.Albans History Society, Around and about St. Albans, 1991, pp.10-11.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 131 of 366

The Sunshine Signal Box is of State significance as a rare surviving example of a large tappet and lever

hipped roof Metropolitan signal box, in relatively original condition. With an 80 lever frame, it is one of the

largest surviving examples of its type, comparing with the 79 lever Frankston Signal Box. The Sunshine

box is also historically significant for its connection with the expansion of Sunshine and the Sunshine

Harvester Works in the early decades of this century. It is one of the few substantial structures relating to

that period.

A large, elevated, two-storey signal box with timber frame construction, including an open, diagonally

braced level of exposed support timbers. Above these, the walls are clad in weatherboard with just three

double-hung sash windows on the east and west sides, one having been obliterated by air ducts. The upper

storey has a continuous strip of tall windows along the east side with an iron railed balcony extending along

the east and north sides. External timber stairs are on the south side with timber railed walkways extending

to the track side. The box originally contained an 80 lever 'tappet' type interlocking frame of Victorian

Railways Standard Design which controlled signals and points in the station area and extending about one

kilometre in each direction through a system of mechanically-operated steel rods and wires. This has been

replaced by computer-controlled signalling and switching. The building is also to a standard Victorian

Railways design, with signal boxes of this type being typically 14 foot wide internally with hip roof and

wide eaves. Some boxes, including Sunshine, were 14 foot 6 inches wide internally. The internal length of

the Sunshine box is 48 foot 6 inches and the operating floor is 12 foot 9 inches above the rail. Other boxes

HO

Sunshine Railway Signal Box

40 H1

039

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 132 of 366

1914

The first railway through the Sunshine area was constructed in 1858, when the Victorian Government

began construction of a new double-track railway from Footscray to the Victorian Goldfields and Bendigo.

Earlier stations were established briefly, north of Ballarat Road (Albion Darlington), and at Maidstone, but

it was not until 1883-4, when construction of the line to Melton and Bacchus Marsh was undertaken

(eventually reaching Ballarat) that Braybrook Junction was created and a more permanent station was built.

This eventuated in 1884 following a deputation of Braybrook residents. Also in 1884, a signal box was

erected at the immediate down (north) end of the platform on the up (east) side. This was a relatively small

two-storey structure, probably with a wheel to operate the level crossing gates which were immediately to

the north. In 1885 the station was opened to passengers, and construction began on a connecting line from

Braybrook Junction to Newport, to provide more immediate rail freight access to the Williamstown Docks

and on to the Geelong Line. Station buildings and gatekeepers' buildings were added in 1886-8, and

suburban train services were commenced in October 1888, and extended to St.Albans in November 1888.

The Wright & Edwards carriage factory had a siding connected in 1889 and the Braybrook Implement

Works also had a siding at this time, so that the signalling and switching had become quite complex,

although most siding operations were probably still carried out by manual hand levers at the points

themselves. In 1896 a new signal box and booking office were erected on the Down end of Up platform

and in 1907 Braybrook Junction was renamed Sunshine. New sidings were constructed to H.V. McKay's

Sunshine Harvester Works in 1911 and the footbridge was erected for the lines in 1913. By this time, the

rail traffic through Sunshine was substantial and complex, with main lines to Ballarat and Bendigo,

connecting to Spencer Street and Newport, and sidings for several local industries, including the Harvester

Works, and Albion Quarries, which had many train movements each day. So in 1914 a new signal box was

constructed in conjunction with extensive alterations and extensions to the station yards. The new signal

box came into use on 15 February 1914. Further expansion of railway activity in the area came with the

establishment of new industries and sidings, such as ARC, the Albion Substation, Darling Flour Mill, and

the Albion Broadmeadows Goods Line (in 1927) which diverted Albury and Sydney traffic through

Sunshine and Footscray. The Ballarat Road and Hampshire Road overpasses were constructed in 1961 in

preparation for the Standard Gauge line. This was constructed through Sunshine in 1961 and a platform at

the station provided in 1964. The last major change to the signalling arrangements came in 1995-96 when

the mechanical interlocking frame was abolished and replaced by solid state interlocking apparatus in the

existing signal box. At this stage the levers were removed, although the frames themselves were left in

place.

of the same type include Frankston, Fairfield and Ringwood, although Ringwood is lower and so is fully

enclosed at the ground.

Located close to the Sunshine Station and under the road overpass. The Sunshine box compares with the

few other early 20th century large hipped-roof Metropolitan signal boxes including the burnt -out 1910

Flinders Street C. Box (originally 180 lever frame), the Frankston 79 lever box of 1911, and the Ringwood

68 lever box of 1926-8. Other examples include the North Geelong A box of 1922 and the now-demolished

36 lever Footscray box of 1901.

In good condition and externally intact although the levers have been removed and modern electronic

equipment fitted.

Leo Harrigan, Victorian Railways to 62, Melbourne, c. 1962. Tom Rigg, Sunshine Signal Box, published by

the author, 1998. Andrew Ward: personal comments.

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

Recommended for nomination to the Victorian Heritage Register.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 133 of 366

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 134 of 366

1859 c.

One of the most intact and least-modified early bluestone railway bridges in the region and part of the first

major Government railway line. The distinctive stone work demonstrates the engineering and stonemasonry

skills of the period while its setting allows the visual impact to be fully appreciated, but unfortunately, only

from the south side.

Rusticated rock-faced bluestone single arch rail bridge with raised keystone and drafted string courses at the

footings, the springing of the arch and the base of the parapet. Pilasters frame the semi-circular arch.

Curved wing walls have recent concrete extensions and the original cobbled creek bed has been concreted

in part. The bridge has been reinforced with sections of rail attached with tension bolts through the

stonework. Additional tracks constructed in the 1960s are carried on a higher embankment with a concrete

lined tunnel immediately to the north.

HO

Black Arch rail bridge

40 K3

040

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 135 of 366

Built as part of the first major Government-built railway line in the colony of Victoria which was pushed

out to Castlemaine in 1859 and later to Bendigo (then known as Sandhurst). The stone arch was built to

carry the rail over Stoney Creek and the Duke Street extension which appears to have run along the

cobblestone-lined creek bed for a short distance. The Geelong line was built two years earlier by a private

company. The construction of the Melbourne, Mount Alexander and Murray River Railway, also known as

the Melbourne to Sandhurst line, involved the employment of hundreds of workers. The contract was

awarded to Cornish & Co. at a cost of £3,356,937. It was the greatest public work in Victoria up to that

time. The firm paid a deposit of £40,000 and started work near Footscray on 7 June 1858. The first stretch

of line, Footscray to Sunbury, going through the Brimbank area, was 21 miles. This included the

construction of this substantial bluestone railway bridge over Stony Creek, at present-day Sunshine, and

also bluestone railway culverts in the St.Albans/Sydenham area. The contractors, Cornish and Bruce,

brought out stone masons from England to work on the I.K. Brunel, one of Britain's leading railway

engineers, was the Inspecting Officer supervising the contracts in England, so many aspects of the line's

design, operation and construction were influenced by British practice and Brunel's individual railway

philosophy, for example, wide tracks, generous earthworks, solid masonry, gentle grades. It was also very

costly. The firm made rapid progress and completed work on a single track by 13 January 1859. On this

day of great celebration, the Governor of Victoria, Sir Henry Barklay, travelled on a special train going first

to Williamstown, then through Footscray at 30 miles an hour and on to Sunbury. The Sunbury line was

open for passenger traffic on 10 February 1859, with three trains from Melbourne to Sunbury a day and

four trains from Sunbury to Melbourne. Workers completed a second line of rail to Sunbury and a goods

service began on 11 July 1859. In October 1862 the line to Castlemaine and Bendigo was finished and

officially opened.

Elaborate bluestone masonry distinguishes this bridge and compares with other work on the line, including

culverts at Sydenham and St. Albans.

Good, although rail lines used as bracing are intrusive. Some graffiti.

St.Albans History Society, Around and about St. Albans, 1991. Leo J. Harrigan, Victorian Railways to '62,

Melbourne, n.d.[c.1963].

Recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the City of Brimbank Planning Scheme.

Recommended for nomination to the Victorian Heritage Register.

print version

05-Oct-16

Page 136 of 366

1858

These stone culverts are significant as part of the first Government-built railway line in the colony, the

greatest public work in Victoria up to that time. The stone arches, built to carry the rail over local creeks,

demonstrates the craftsmanship of stonemasons brought out from England to work on this major

undertaking.