Street names of Cranbourne

This is a map of the original Cranbourne township allotments which includes the original owners. The streets names represent two different sources of names - some are named after local land owners and some are named after Government officials. I have made an ‘educated guess’ as to the source of the street names which I believe are derived from Government officials but as the first Cranbourne township lots were surveyed in 1856 and the first land sales took place in March 1857 and this period coincides with the time that these officials were influential then I believe that they are the most likely source for the names.


Bakewell Street and Lyall Street
John Bakewell and William Lyall were part of the influential partnership of Mickle, Bakewell and Lyall who arrived in the area in 1851. John Mickle (1814-1885) and John Bakewell (1807-1888) were business partners in Melbourne from 1847 and they were soon joined by William Lyall (1821-1888) who had married Mickle’s sister, Margaret. In 1851 they acquired the Yallock Run (based on the Yallock Creek, south of Koo-Wee-Rup). In 1852 they acquired the Tooradin run and in 1854 they acquired the Great Swamp run and at one stage they occupied nearly all the land from Cranbourne to Lang Lang.

After Government land sales in 1856 the trio subdivided their jointly owned land. Bakewell’s portion included Tooradin, Tobin Yallock, the Bluff and Warrook on the Yallock Creek. Mickle received the Upper Yallock blocks which he renamed Monomeith. Lyall received the Yallock pre-emptive right and the remaining land. William and Annabella Lyall built Harewood house in the 1850s and the property remained in the Lyall family until 1967. John Bakewell died in England in 1888.

Barkly Street
Sir Henry Barkly (1815-1898) was Governor of Victoria from 1856 to 1863. The western end of Barkly Street is now called Brunt Street and the eastern end is Lecky Street. It is separated by the Cranbourne Secondary College site.

Brunt Street
Brunt is named for the Brunt family. William Brunt and his wife, Mary Jane (nee Espie), lived at Spring Villa, where the Settlement Hotel is now located. William was a Cranbourne Shire Councillor from 1904 to 1923.

Cameron Street
In March 1851, Alexander Cameron (1815-1881) took up the lease of the Mayune Run and a few years later at the Government land sales he purchased 592 acres, the Mayfield Pre-emptive Right, on the corner of what is now Cameron Street and the South Gippsland Highway (where the Life style retirement Village is now located). The Cranbourne Road Board was proclaimed in June 1860 and Cameron was elected in 1863 and served until 1867. He was married to Margaret (nee Donaldson, 1822-1895) and they had seven children.

Childers Street
Hugh Culling Eardley Childers (1827-1896) and his wife, Emily (nee Walker) arrived in Australia in1850. His first Government appointment was an Inspector of Denominational Schools in 1851. He was a member of the Legislative Council and appointed Auditor General. He was the first vice chancellor of the University of Melbourne and helped found the Melbourne Public Library (both established in 1856). He returned to England a few years later where he became a member of the House of Commons and was also a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Society.

Clarendon Street
George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon (1800-1870) was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1847 to 1852 and the British Foreign Secretary on three occasions from 1853 to 1870. He negotiated a favourable outcome for Britain at the end of the Crimean War in 1856 at the Congress of Paris Peace talks. The Crimean War, which was a war between Britain, France, Turkey and Sardinia against Russia took place largely on the Crimean Peninsula in Russia. The war was commemorated in many towns in Australia by street names such as Alma, Inkerman and Balaclava which were places of battle etc during the war.

Codrington Street
Sir William John Codrington (1804-1884) was Commander in Chief of the British Forces in the Crimean War from 1853 to 1856. Alternatively, but I feel less likely, Codrington Street could be named for the British Admiral, Sir Edward Codrington (1770-1851) who was Captain of the HMS Orion at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) and also served in other Wars.

Lecky Street
Lecky Street is named after local land owner, James Lecky (1802-1884). He purchased Gin Gin Bean on the Cardinia Creek in 1846. Lecky was a Cranbourne Road Board and Shire Council Member from 1860-1881 and Shire President on many occasions. He and his wife Elizabeth (nee Woods, 1803-1891) and their six children arrived in Victoria in 1841.

Lyons Street
Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons (1790-1858), Ist Baronet Lyons, commanded the Black Sea fleet during the Crimean War.

Russell Street
Lord John Russell (1792-1878) was Home Secretary under Lord Melbourne when he was the British Prime Minister on various occasions between 1834 and 1841. Russell was also the British Prime Minister from 1846 to 1852 and from 1865 to 1866. Lord Melbourne is the source of the name Melbourne and Russell Street in the city is also named after Lord Russell.

Sladen Street
Sir Charles Sladen (1816-1884) was a member of the Legislative Council and Treasurer of Victoria and Premier for 67 days in 1868.

Stawell Street
Sir William Foster Stawell (1815-1889) was appointed Victorian Attorney General in 1851 and became Chief Justice of Victoria in 1857.

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