Construction of the Pakenham Library - November 1990 to April 1991

Here are some photographs of the construction of old Pakenham Library. Construction started in November 1990 and finished in April 1991. The library was officially opened by Pakenham Shire President, Cr Pam Wyley on Sunday May 19, 1991. The building was designed by Alan Robertson and Associates and it was constructed by Becon Constructions at a cost of $553,000. It was demolished around 2009 and the existing Library opened in July 2011. The Library site  is now occupied by the Palkenham Marketplace shopping centre which opened in December 2011.

The start of the project.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Concreting the slab foundations.

Horse riding prohibited!

The walls taking shape.

The bricks have arrived.

You can just see the sign on the right - Dr Bruce Cox Gardens. You can read more about Dr Cox and the gardens, here.

Just after completition

Information about the building.

Tweet

Start of the Fountain Gate Shopping Centre

These fourteen photos are labelled 'the start of the Fountain Gate  Shopping Centre' They were taken by a now unknown City of Berwick staff member and show, as the name suggests, the start of the construction of the Shopping Centre.  The Fountain Gate Shopping Centre was opened on March 11, 1980 by the Governor of Victoria, Sir Henry Winneke, so these photos were most likely taken early 1979.

This is the view looking back towards the Civic Centre, which was officially opened on December 8, 1978, also by Sir Henry Winneke. Sir Henry was the Governor of Victoria from June 1974 until March 1982.

Another view looking towards the Civic Centre

Another view to the Civic Centre - there is the double storey section and what looks a bit like a colonnade on the right is section that faces the carpark on the Library side, you can see it better in the photo, below.

Similar views as above.

This is taken from the verandah on the east side of the Civic Centre, looking north.

I believe this is a view to the houses in the Fountain Gate Housing Estate on the west side of the Centre, possibly Raven Court or Fountain Drive and Summerlea Road, looking over what would be the Max Pawsey Reserve.

I believe this is looking north towards the transmission line that runs parallel to Brundrett Road in Narre Warren North

A nice row of pine (or are they cypress?)  trees - is it the same one as in the shot above? In the aerial below from January 9 1978 there are a few hedges of pines or cypress, not sure which one this is.

This is aerial of the Civic Centre (centre of photo)  and the Fountain Gate Housing Estate (top left of photo)  was taken January 9, 1978. I've included it here to see if it will help me get some orientation on the photos, hasn't really helped but it might help you. It does however show the landscape before the shopping centre was constructed. The building on the right of the Civic Centre is the Brechin Homestead, built in 1937 and demolished around 1990. You can read about it here.

I feel that this is looking north towards Narre Warren North

I think this is looking west to the Fountain Gate Housing Estate and Tinks Road

This is what became Magid Drive looking towards the Princes Highway

Looking west and the one below is looking south west. The trucks are an International Loadstar and an International Acco - both would have been made at the International Harvester Factory at Dandenong.

Tweet

Narre Warren Library - 'turning the sod' 1992

These photographs were taken in February 1992  at the 'turning of the sod' for the new Narre Warren Library. The Library was opened November 21, 1992 and you can read more about the history of public library services in Narre Warren here. The Narre Warren Library has come a long way since 1992, in the 2011-2012 financial year the Narre Warren Library  had 766, 373 loans, nearly 27 per cent of the total loans for the Casey Cardinia Library Corporation and over 350,000 visits from our patrons.

This is Kirsty Lottkowitz, the Shire of Berwick Mayor, at the time, 'turning the sod'. As with many Government occasions, the 'official' function often happens after a building has been opened or, in this case, work has already started, because you can see in the photograph below, that Cr Lottkowitz and Neil Lucas, are standing in front of a  substantial hole. Mr Lucas, was the CEO of the City of Berwick. 

 These two shots show the excavation work for the Narre Warren Library, with Fountain Gate Shopping Centre in the background.

Finally, a view of the excavations looking towards the Civic Centre. If you are interested in construction photographs, then you may be interested in the post on the construction of the Endeavour Hills Leisure Centre which was opened in November 1990 (click here) or the construction of the City of Berwick Civic centre in 1978 (click here)

Tweet

Construction of the Endeavour Hills Leisure Centre

The Endeavour Hills Leisure Centre was officially opened on November 11, 1990 by the Mayor of the City of Berwick, Cr John Pandazopoulos. The building was designed by the Architectural firm of Millar Sainsbery and Mulcair and built by the Norman Lothian Corporation at a cost of around $4 million. Here are a series of construction shots, which also give some great views of the developing suburb of Endeavour Hills.

This is the commemorative brochure produced for the Opening and, below, is a plan of the Complex, taken from the brochure.

This is a panorama of the Endeavour Hills Library, Community Centre and Leisure Centre, most likely taken around 1990 when the Leisure Centre opened.

Tweet