Views of Pakenham from the Cardinia Shires Offices in 1983

The Shire of Pakenham Municipal Offices and Council Chambers, in Henty Way, were officially opened  by the Governor of Victoria, Sir Brian Murray on July 28th, 1983. We have a series of photographs that were taken before the Offices were built, on its commanding position on the hill,  that show what Pakenham was like in 1983. The group of photographs were labelled 'Photos of Pakenham outside our Office, before it was built'

This is looking east towards the Pakenham Consolidated School, (the white roofed building just left of centre) which was located between Main Street and McGregor Road and moved to Rundell way in 1997.

This is also looking east and adjoins the photo above.

Looking nearly south east, this photograph adjoins the one above. The house you can see on the left of the photograph (white house, silver roof) is on the corner of Rogers Street and McGregor and the McGregor Road Railway crossing.

Looking south - this photo adjoins the one above. 

Looking north towards St James' Anglican Church on the corner of Main Street and McGregor Road. 

Looking north again towards St Patrick's Catholic Church on the Highway.

Looking down the hill to Pakenham High School

Looking  north east to the Lily Pond

I believe the photograph above and the three below complete the view from the hill so they looking from east  (Cardinia Road) to south (HenryRoad) - or vice versa.

  

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Garfield North School. No. 3849

Dr Ron Smith has written a history of Garfield North Primary School. The book is called The school on the small plateau: the history of Garfield North State School, No. 3849. The book was officially launched on July 13, 2014 by past student, Alan Forte, whom some of you may know as he operates a veterinary surgery in Pakenham. Alan did all his primary schooling at Garfield North. His father and uncle, Ian and Terence Forte also attended the school as did some of his relatives from the Towt family. Ron Smith taught at the school in 1970 until the end of 1972. Ron then moved on to another local school, Catani.

There was at school at Garfield, the Cannibal Creek State School which had opened in 1886. The School was located on the Princes Highway, west of North Garfield Road. In 1887 the School, the Railway Station and the town changed their name to Garfield. In 1899, the School building was re-located to Garfield Road at the top of the hill, half way between the Princes Highway and the Railway Station. In 1910, the Garfield School No. 2724 moved to a new building on its present site near the Railway Station. The old school building was removed in 1914 to North Garfield where it became State School No.3489.

Mrs Agnes Towt  was very active in getting a school at North Garfield. She was a trained teacher and a mother of three children. A petition to the Education Department from the locals in 1910 came to nothing (the petition had been presented to the local MLA in December 1910, and an Inspector was sent to make  a report in April 1911 and did not recommend a school) so in June 1912 Mrs Towt wrote to the Education Department and another Inspector made a report in June 1912 and this time recommended that a school be provided. In the mean time, Mrs Towt found a suitable site for the school and organised the purchase from a local land owner. The section of this land that the school was situated on, was described by the Public Works Department as a 'small plateau', hence the title of the book.  In October 1913, the Public Works Department recommended that the old Garfield school building  be removed to North Garfield, however  this did not happen until July 1914 and the school finally opened on July 20 1914 with Miss Daisy Body as the first teacher  and 15 children enrolled.

 Due to declining numbers the school closed down on March 6, 1973. In April 1978 it opened as a outdoor Education centre.  The book is well illustrated with many interesting stories and anecdotes; there is a full list of students and teachers. You can borrow  a copy of this book, click here for availability. 

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Langwarrin, Carrum Downs and Skye aerials

Before the Council amalgamations of 1994, the Shire of Cranbourne used to cover Langwarrin, Skye and a part of Carrum Downs. Although they had been with the Shire of Cranbourne (and it's predecessor the Cranbourne Road Board)  since 1860 they did not become a part of  the newly created City of Casey as some other parts of Cranbourne Shire did; these areas went to the City of Frankston.  The original western boundary of Cranbourne Shire with the City of Frankston was basically Dandenong Frankston Road (or Western Port Highway) to Ballarto Road; Ballarto Road to McClelland Drive; McClelland Drive to  Golf Links Road; Golf Links Road  to Baxter-Tooradin Road at the six way intersection where the Baxter Primary school is  -  Baxter-Tooradin Road was the boundary between the Cranbourne Shire and Hastings Shire and this boundary went south of Pearcedale along the aptly named South Boundary Road to Western Port Bay.

This map of the Cranbourne Shire and various boundaries is from 

The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire by Niel Gunson

We have a collection of aerial photographs of this area, which we recently lent to Frankston Library and they have digitised the images and put them up on Flickr - you can access them by clicking on this link.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/39368267@N02/sets/72157633269098525

Here are a few of these aerials, from 1970, when most of these areas were still undeveloped.

Carrum Downs 1970 - starting from the top - is Wedge Road - it goes across to the edge of the aerial - the Carrum Downs Recreation Reserve can be seen on the top left.  The road on the left side of the photo, running at right angles from Wedge, Road is Cadles Road - it has a bit of  a dog leg - this road is Brunnings Road and then Cadles Road continues down to Hall Road. The Road (just right of centre) that intersects Wedge Road and Hall Road and runs north south is McCormicks Road.

Langwarrin 1970 - this is the L-shaped  Langwarrin Flora and Fauna Reserve. This Reserve was originally the Langwarrin Military Reserve. The road to the left of the Reserve is McClelland Drive; the arch on the left is the railway line that runs to Baxter Railway Station which is  a junction station (which is why Baxter Railway Station was originally known as Mornington Junction Railway Station). The Baxter to Hastings line opened in September 1889 and reached Stony Point in December 1889. The other line used to run from Baxter to Mornington with stations at Mooroduc, Mornington Racecourse and Mornington. It also opened September 1889 and it closed June 1981.

Syke, Carrum Downs and Langwarrin 1970. The road running  from left to right (or west to east) at the top is Hall Road. The road running down the centre of the photograph (north to south) is McCormicks Road. It intersects with Ballarto Road, towards the bottom of the photo. The two roads running off Ballarto Road are McClelland Drive on the left and Potts Road on the right.

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Carrum Downs

Historically, the township of Carrum Downs was always split between the Shire of Frankston* and the Shire of Cranbourne (Frankston Dandenong Road being the boundary)  - however after the 1994 Council amalgamations all of Carrum Downs was consolidated into the City of Frankston. However, because Carrum Downs has spent 134 years as part of the Shire of Cranbourne and its predecessor the Cranbourne Road Board,  I feel it deserves a place in this blog.

Carrum Downs grew out of  a farming settlement that was sub-divided about 1908 - cattle, oats, onions and potatoes were some of the agricultural products to come out of the area.

Mornington and Dromana Standard August 22,  1908    http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70085197

The first school  in the area opened on March 22, 1909 in a house owned by Mrs Blades. The purpose built school opened on Frankston Dandenong Road on September 11, 1911. The head Teacher, Evelyn McIntire was in charge of  sixty students. Growth in the area was steady until 1960 when the school population rose to 100 and two more rooms were added**

Frankston and Somerville Standard  May 17, 1930  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article73516919

The Carrum Downs Memorial Hall was opened with a ball on Wednesday, May 21 1930 as  this article (above) attests. The School was on the Frankston side;  the hall was on the Cranbourne side as was the Recreation Reserve in Wedge Road and the Scout Hall. Early on the locals were obviously not happy with either Frankston or Cranbourne as in 1910 there was a movement to secede from both and go to Dandenong!

The Argus May 20 1910   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10857564

In the Shire of Cranbourne part of Carrum Downs was the Brotherhood of St Laurence settlement for unemployed people. The founder, Father Gerard Tucker (1885-1974) believed there needed to be an alternative to being unemployed and subsequent slum living conditions in the inner cities. The Carrum Downs settlement was established in 1935 with the object to provide men and their families simple shelter and a place to produce their own food. The settlement had  a community farm and  the country location enabled the children to live  a healthy life away from the bad influences of he inner city.  In 1946 had become  a home for aged people and it still operates in this way.

The Argus May 4,1935    http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12235566

These photographs of the Brotherhood of St Laurence settlement are form the State Library of Victoria.

Croquet lawn  and Cottages. State Library of Victoria Image H32492/1622

 I suspect that the croquet lawn was developed when the village became a place for elderly residents, rather than the unemployed.

Single cottages. State Library of Victoria Image H32492/1625

Cottage Hospital. State Library of Victoria Image H32492/1619

There is an interesting account of the Brotherhood of St Laurence settlement that was written as a submission for a 2004 "Inquiry into sustainable urban design for new communities on outer suburban areas" - click here
http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/committees/osisdv/Sustainable_Urban_Design_for_New_Communities/Submissions/OSISDC-Sub-22_BrotherhoodOfStLaurence.pdf

* The Shire of Frankston and Hastings was split into two in 1960. The Shire of Frankston became the City of Frankston in 1966. The Shire of Hastings was amalgamated into the Mornington Peninsula Shire in 1994.
** Vision and Realisation: a centenary history of State Education in Victoria.

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