Dandenong Stock Market

The Dandenong Market was originally located on the corner of Lonsdale and McCrae Streets and opened in 1866. It moved to its present location on Clow Street around 1926 and in 1958 the stockyards moved to Cheltenham Road. The Dandenong Stock Market was the last municipal owned and operated facility in Victoria, and closed on December 22, 1998. The stock market site is now Metro Village 3175, a housing estate.

The Market isn't part of the City of Casey or Shire of Cardinia, but the history of our area is historically linked to Dandenong as it was a service town to the surrounding area. For instance, Dandenong had a large public hospital with specialists. It was also where the local children went to High School (read more about the Dandenong High School here). Dandenong was also the major shopping area for people from the surrounding area and in the 1970s, when I was at Koo-Wee-Rup High School, a trip to the Dandenong market to buy clothes and other goods was a ritual for many. Plus, Dandenong also had a Lindsay's store (which became Target) near Vanity Court. I remember both my sisters had a skirt from Lindsays - one had a bias cut, checked 'maxi' skirt and the other a short, checked, almost sun-ray pleated skirt. We were a family of home dress makers so it was quite unusual to buy clothes.

Farmers from the surrounding area also took their produce to the Dandenong market. When my father was fifteen, in 1948, his family purchased a Austin A40 ute from Brenchley's Garage at Garfield. Dad taught himself to drive and although he was underage, he used to drive his parents from Cora Lynn to the Dandenong market where they sold their eggs, chooks and calves (all carried on the back of the ute). Apparently not having a license was no obstacle to driving in those days.

These photographs are of the Dandenong Stock Market at its Cheltenham Road location, and were taken by the City of Berwick on October 27, 1992. They are labelled as 'University site suggested by Dandenong', so I assume it was once considered a possible site for the Monash University campus that was built in Berwick.