High Street Cranbourne, 1984.

These photographs are from the National Archives of Australia - they show High Street in Cranbourne, corner of Sladen Street,  and were taken in 1984, presumably in April 1984 by the record number. I don't know what the occasion was but there are 7,352 photos in the series, taken all around Australia, so there must have been some purpose behind them. Look at the price of Super at the Shell Service Station - 47.9 cents per litre!.

High Street, Cranbourne 1984. Shell service station on the left, with Skewes SSW supermarket, next to it. 

National Archives of Australia B583, 4/1984 31147686

High Street, Cranbourne 1984. Kelly's Hotel is just right of centre.

National Archives of Australia B583, 4/1984 31147687

High Street, Cranbourne 1984. Not often you see  a tractor in High Street today.

National Archives of Australia B583, 4/1984 31147688

High Street, Cranbourne 1984

National Archives of Australia B583, 4/1984 31147689

High Street, Cranbourne 1984

National Archives of Australia B583, 4/1984 31147690

Tweet

Shire of Cranbourne Bi-Centenary Parade March 1988

These photos are of the Shire of Cranbourne Bi-Centenary Parade, along High Street in Cranbourne, held March 1988. Groups from all around the Shire had a float. The Bi-Centenary was held to commemorate the 200 years of European settlement in Australia with the arrival of Governor Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet at Botany Bay in January 1788. In 1988,  Cranbourne was not quite the country town that it once was, but less populated and busy than it is today - certainly you could hardly imagine that they would shut down High Street today for a parade. Here's a look at Cranbourne's population* over the past 40 years -  in 1976 it was just over 5,000; 1986 the population was around 14,000; 1996 around 24, 000; 2006 around 37, 000 and 2016  around 67,000 - so you can see that in 1988 it was relatively small community.  I was given these photos and the person who gave them to me can't remember who took them, so if they are yours let me know -  and we can credit you as the photographer. 

This is Cr Bill Thwaites, presiding over the official part of the day

Taken outside McEwans (remember them?) at Cranbourne Park Shopping Centre which opened in 1979.

A Highland band

Another Highland Band

Cranbourne Municipal - can't read the rest of the sign - perhaps the Municipal bicycle band!

A bullock team

Melbourne  Hunt Club

Marching girls

More Marching girls

Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp Historical Society float

Girl Guides

Boy Scouts

Cranbourne Rotaract Club

Pony Club

Vehicles of all types - cars

Vehicles of all types - decorated caravan

Vehicles of  all types - horse and carriage

Vehicles of all types - motor cars

Vehicles of all types - New Holland Harvesters - built right here in Cranbourne at 

the Sperry New Holland plant

Vehicles of all types - the Muffin Truck man, and again, below - just to show some of  the shop fronts.

Vehicles of all types - Fire engines

Vehicles of all types - this is labelled 'Jack Rogers' 

  

 *These figures include all of Cranbourne including what is called today Cranbourne North, Cranbourne East and Cranbourne South. The population figures (apart form the 2016 population) come from Victorian Places.

Tweet

High Street Cranbourne in the 1960s.

Cranbourne has grown in the past fifty years from a country town to an outer suburb of Melbourne. In this blog post we will look at some photographs of High Street in the 1960s, when Cranbourne was still a county town. If you have any information about any of the buildings featured in the photographs, then I would love to know.

This is an aerial shot of Cranbourne taken February 3, 1964. (Click on the photograph to enlarge it). On the bottom right is the Cranbourne Racecourse, above the sandpits. The South Gippsland Highway travels past the Racecourse, and up through town, the last major cross-road is Clarendon Street. To the right of the Highway, bordering Clarendon Street, are the three empty blocks where Cranbourne High School was built in 1976. As you can see there is very little development in High Street, the Shopping Centre opened in 1978. On the left of the highway is the subdivision bordered by Clarendon Street and Fairbairn Road and includes Campbell Street, Cranbourne Drive, Cochrane Street and Taylor Street, Lurline Street and Lorna Street.

This is a hairdressing salon, with a big advertisement for Turf cigarettes. Take off the tension with Turf filter tips, it says. These type of prominent cigarette advertisements are as much a thing of the past as vacant blocks of land in High Street are.

In the foreground is a 1960 FB Holden, I am reliably informed. Across the street is a BP garage.

This is taken just a bit further up the street than the previous photograph. The car is thought to be a 1961 EK Holden.

Finally, Kelly's Motor Club Hotel. This building is still a land mark in High Street. A hotel has been on this site since the Mornington Hotel was established in 1860s. The Kelly family operated the Cranbourne Hotel, which was located where the Shopping Centre now is, from around 1917 and at one stage operated both the Cranbourne and the Mornington Hotels. This building was erected about 1926.

Tweet