Casey Cardinia - Local Government Timeline

Here is a time line of local government in this area -

1842 -  The Town of Melbourne created - the first local government body in Victoria.

1860 - Cranbourne Road Board proclaimed June 19.  The first members of the Cranbourne Road Board were Dr James Smith Adams, Chairman, who owned Balla Balla Estate; James Bruce, owner of Sherwood Park; Richard Burgh Chomley, owner of Tongola at Lyndhurst; James Lecky, Cranbourne land-owner who also owned the Cardinia Creek property; Edward Malloy, owner of Mayune property; Alexander Patterson, owner of St Germains Estate; Christopher Bond Peed, owner of Springmount; Patrick Thompson, owner of Oaklands and John Wedge, owner of Johnswood at Lyndhurst. Population of the Road Board area was 857.

1861 - The town of Berwick and the town of Cranbourne proclaimed on February 25.

1862 - Berwick Road Board proclaimed September 29.  The first members of the Berwick Road Board were John Brisbane (Chairman), early Berwick landowner; Robert Bain, the owner of the Border Hotel (Berwick Inn) in Berwick; Francis Barr, a Berwick land owner; Michael Bourke, owner of the La Trobe Inn, later known as Bourke’s Hotel, at Pakenham; James Buchanan, owner of Ardblair, who later went on to be a Member of the Legislative Council; David Connor, licensee of the New Bunyip Hotel on the Bunyip River; John Pitman, Pakenham landowner; John Startup of Mount Ararat Station; John Troup, land owner at Narre Warren North and Gotlieb Wanke, a land owner at Harkaway. The Road Board met at the Border Hotel (Berwick Inn)

1865 - Shire of Berwick Council chambers built in High Street.

1868 - Shire of Cranbourne proclaimed  February 24. The Road Board members then became the first Councillors. They were James Lecky - Shire President; Edward Malloy, Alexander Patterson, William Norquay, Frederick Poole of Triuna, Lyndhurst; Edward John Tucker, owner of the Cranbourne Hotel; Thomas Keys, George Poole and Herbert Foley who owned Sherwood Park.

1868 - Shire of Berwick proclaimed, May 5. The Road Board members then became the first Councillors. They were James Wilson, Shire President; John Brisbane, David Connor, Joseph Smith, H. Smith,  John T. Dobson (who later became a member of the Ferntree Gully Council when the Scoresby Ward was annexed to the new Shire in 1889),  Francis Barr, Thomas Henty, owner of Pakenham Park at Pakenham and James Buchanan.

1873 - The 'agricultural area of Lang Lang' was annexed to the Shire of Cranbourne on July 4

1875 - Cranbourne Shire Offices opened March 6

1889 - The Scoresby Ward of the Shire of Berwick, including Scoresby, Fern Tree Gully,  Clematis, parts of Emerald and Avonsleigh was severed from Berwick and became the Shire of Fern Tree Gully on May 23.

1893 - Yannathan and Lang Lang East annexed from the Shire of Buln Buln  to the Shire of Cranbourne on January  23.

1902 - Shire of Berwick Offices move to Pakenham Mechanics’ Institute.

1912 - Shire of Berwick Offices open in Main Street Pakenham, corner of John Street.

1963 - Shire of Fern Tree Gully split and the Shire of Knox was formed on  November 16 (it became a City on July 4, 1969)  The remains of the Shire of Fern Tree Gully were renamed Shire of Sherbrooke and this was announced in the Victorian Government Gazette of  December 23, 1964.  

1973 - The City of Berwick and the Shire of Pakenham were formed on October 1,  when the Shire of Berwick split. The Shire of Pakenham continued to use the Main Street Offices and the City of Berwick used temporary buildings in Kays Avenue, Hallam until the Civic Centre opened in 1978.

1978 - Cranbourne Shire Offices officially opened in Sladen Street, April 22

1978 - Civic Centre at Narre Warren opened December 8. Demolished in 2018.

1979 - Cr Jeune Matthews first female Shire President of the Shire of Pakenham.

1980 - Cr Jan Bateman, City of Berwick’s first female Mayor of the City of Berwick

1983 - Shire of Pakenham Offices opened July 28 in Henty Way

1988 - Cr Judy Elso, first female Shire President of the Shire of Cranbourne

1994 - City of Cranbourne created on April 22

1994 - The City of Casey and the Cardinia Shire officially came into being on the December 15 at 4.00pm.

The City of Casey was created from the western section of the short-lived City of Cranbourne (Cranbourne, Tooradin, Pearcedale, Devon Meadows, Hampton Park etc) and the entire City of Berwick.

The Cardinia Shire was created from the Shire of Pakenham, the eastern end of the City of Cranbourne (Koo-Wee-Rup, Lang Lang, Yannathan, Bayles, Catani etc) plus Emerald, Clematis and Avonsleigh which were annexed from the Shire of Sherbrooke.  Langwarrin and Carrum Downs went to the City of Frankston from the City of Cranbourne.

The City of Cranbourne, Shire of Pakenham and City of Berwick ceased to exist on December 15.

2014 - Cardinia Shire Offices opened on November 17 in Officer.

2014 - Cardinia and Casey  both turn 20 on December 15.

2017 - City of Casey Offices - Bunjil Place - opened October 28/29

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Opening of the Shire of Pakenham Offices on July 28, 1983

In the last post we looked at the some photographs that showed the view from the top of the hill before the Shire of Pakenham Municipal Offices and Council Chambers were built. In this post we will look at the opening  ceremony of the offices, which were officially opened  by the Governor of Victoria, Sir Brian Murray on July 28th, 1983. The picture below shows the Governor  with the Shire President, Cr Austin Bastow, at the opening ceremony. These buildings are still being used by the Cardinia Shire, even though they are moving to a  new building in Officer in a few months.

The official opening of the Shire of Pakenham Municipal Offices and Council Chambers by the Governor of Victoria, Sir Brian Murray with the Shire President, Cr Austin Bastow on July 28th, 1983.



The Governor, Sir Brian Murray, addressing the audience.

The same scene, as above, but from a different angle.  The woman seated directly behind the Governor is Mrs Bastow, wife of the Shire President; further along the row is Cr Bastow and Mrs Murray. 

Cr Bastow addressing the audience. 

The Governor, being greeted by the Shire President, on arrival.

The  Vice-Regal tour of the new building.

The Governor shaking hands Russell Broadbent; Mrs Broadbent is next to Russell. The then Federal member for McMillan, Barry Cunningham is on the right of the photograph.

Two views of the audience.



The photographs, above , were taken by a professional photographer (perhaps some-one from the Pakenham Gazette) and we also have some coloured 'snaps' taken at the same event.

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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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Roads, Rates and Rubbish - 1980s

Traditionally, Councils had their main focus on the three Rs - Roads, Rates and Rubbish. I have spoken before about the Shire of Pakenham slides which I have scanned - so here a representative lot showing the three Rs in the 1980s!

 The Pakenham Shire and the City of Berwick were formed on October 1st, 1973 when the Shire of Berwick split, with the Cardinia Creek being the boundary. The Pakenham Shire became the  Cardinia Shire officially on the December 15, 1994 at 4.00pm. The Cardinia Shire consists on the old Pakenham Shire, the rural eastern parts of the Cranbourne Shire and Emerald and surrounds, which came from the Sherbrooke Shire.

I believe this was taken in 1993. The population of Pakenham was 25,648 at the 2011 Census.

Amongst the slides were these two, above and below, obviously done for a presentation, explaining the Rates notice and how the Shire spends its money - in 1981 when the slides were created  the Council budget was just over $5 million and 38% was spent on roads, streets and bridges. The Council budget is now about $93 million.

Rubbish - being collected in the old fashioned manner, where 'garbos' physically picked the bins. For Health and Safety reasons this has now been stopped.  Truck owned P.H & E.P Young, Ballarto Road, Cardinia.

Roads - Shire of Pakenham digger. 

Finally - just to prove that rate payers received other services for their rates - here is the Pakenham Library, taken in June 1981.  The Council obviously wasted no rate payer money on aesthetically  pleasing features when they built this building, utilitarian is perhaps the kindest description we could use.  The Library was opened in 1979, in John Street when it was a dead end, before Safeways and the Target shops were built.  There is an aerial photograph of the building here.  This Library was replaced by the second John Street Library in 1991.

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Cr Jeune Matthews

I wish to commemorate the passing of Cr Jeune Matthews, who was a Councillor from 1972 until 1988, originally for the Shire of Berwick and from 1973 for the Shire of Pakenham, which was created when the Shire of Berwick split (the area west of the Cardinia Creek was renamed the City of Berwick). In 1979,  Cr Matthews had the distinction of being the female Shire President of the Shire of Pakenham, and its predecessor, the Shire of Berwick. This was a remarkable achievement given that local government in this area began with the formation of the Cranbourne Road Board in 1860 and the Berwick Road Board in 1862, the precursors of Shires of Cranbourne and Berwick, both of which were established in 1868.  The City of Berwick’s first female Shire President/Mayor was Cr Jan Bateman in 1980 and for the Shire of Cranbourne it was Cr Judy Elso, in 1988.

Juene (nee Johnston) and her late husband, Cyril, farmed at Garfield and had five children. She died on December 7, 2012 aged 83.

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B.J Wallis Gardens and the Lily Pond at Pakenham

Near the Cardinia Shire Offices, in Henty Way, at Pakenham are the B.J. Wallis Gardens, created from an old quarry, and the Lily pond, which is off Duncan Drive. The B.J. Wallis Gardens were officially opened on May 30th 1993 by the Shire President, Cr Bill Ronald.

The old quarry before the gardens were complete. The Lily pond is on the right, towards the top of the photograph.

The gardens were named in honour of the Shire Secretary, Barry John Wallis. Mr Wallis was Shire Secretary of the Shire of Berwick from 1966 until 1973 and the Shire of Pakenham from 1973 until 1982. A report in the Pakenham Gazette of June 2nd, 1993 which covered the opening of the Gardens mentioned that Barry Wallis grew up in Pakenham and regularly visited the quarry as a child and that during the construction of the Shire Offices (officially opened July 28th 1983) he recognised the potential of the quarry to become a landscaped garden. The Gardens now include a rotunda and a series of walking tracks.

The B.J Wallis Gardens, shortly after completion.

The gardens were created around a quarry, originally owned by Thomas Henty of Pakenham Park. Thomas was the grandchild of Thomas and Frances Henty, who with their children James, Charles, William, Edward, Stephen, John, Francis and Jane had arrived in various Australian colonies from 1829 to 1832.

Thomas Henty was born in Launceston in 1836 to James and his wife Charlotte (nee Carter). Thomas purchased the property Pakenham Park from Dr James Bathe in 1865. Henty was a member of the Berwick Shire Council from 1866, and Shire President on two occasions from 1869-1872 and 1873-74, and from 1884 to 1887 he was a member of the Legislative Council. He married Lucy Pinnock in 1869 and they had eight sons and two daughters. The first regular Church of England services in Pakenham were held at Pakenham Park and Thomas Henty purchased six acres of land in 1871 for the ‘old’ Church of England, on the corner of Main Street and McGregor Road. He also laid the foundation stone for the building on December 7th 1883. He named the Church St James, in honour of his father. The first service at the Church was held in May 1884.

After Thomas Henty died in 1887 the land was taken over by his son, James Reginald Henty, who retained the homestead block until he died in 1929. James Henty enlisted in the Boer War, was a Berwick Shire Coucillor and Shire President 1913-1914. A boulder, near the Shire Offices, marks the place were his ashes were scattered. After Henty died the land was purchased in 1932 by Frank and Evelyn Duncan, after whom Duncan Road is named.

A view of the Rotunda and Quarry walls, taken shortly after completion.

Henty’s quarry supplied stone used for the construction of the Melbourne to Sale railway line. The Oakleigh to Bunyip section opened October 1877. During the construction of the line a canvas town developed on Henty’s hill, with a population estimated at 400. The men worked on the line and worked in the quarry.

The Lily Pond was also part of Henty land and was originally of eight acres (around 3.2 hectres). It is pictured below in 1929.

These photographs were taken in 1929.
The original inscription on the photograph above is The dam at Pakenham.
The original inscription on the photograph below is Seddon gathering lilies, Pakenham Park dam.

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Pakenham in the 1980s and early 1990s.

We have many treasures in our Archive including these interesting photographs of Pakenham, taken in the 1980s to early 1990s. They are interesting because they show Pakenham when it was changing from a country town to the outer suburb of Melbourne which it is today. Our family has a connection with Pakenham over the past fifty years - we all went to Pakenham Consolidated School in the 1960s and early 1970s, we went to the Presbyterian, later Uniting, Church and did our shopping at Pakenham so I do remember Pakenham when it was a country town and have seen the development over the past twenty five years. If, like me, you knew Pakenham as a country town then these photographs will bring back memories and if you have a more recent connection to Pakenham, then these photographs will show you a part of Pakenham's 'modern' history.

Main Street in Pakenham, taken November 1985, looking south to Henty Street, the Safeways complex and the railway line. Click on the photograph to enlarge it. The roundabout is the intersection of Main Street and John Street. On the right is the old Methodist Church. This was built in 1914, though the Pakenham Methodist Home Mission Station had previously catered to the Methodist of the district from 1885. The Church was demolished around 1986-1987. Next to the Church, on the right, are the Erica Place units, apparently the first set of units built in Pakenham. They were constructed around 1982. Heading east down Main Street on the left side of John Street was N.N. Webster Real Estate Agents, pictured immediately below, taken around the same time as the aerial photograph. Continuing down Main Street we come to the Old Pakenham Post Office, with its distictive terra cotta roof, which is also pictured below.

Noel Webster's grandfather had arrived in Pakenham in 1892, and had a butchers shop in the Main Street. Noel purchased the Real Estate business from H. Hogan in 1947. According to this advertisement from the Back to Pakenham Souvenir booklet of March 1951, H. Hogan commenced his business in 1900.

The Pakenham Post Office was built in 1924 in 'Georgian revival' style. This Post Office actually began as the Pakenham East Post Office, as the original town of Pakenham was centred on the Princes Highway and Toomuc Creek and the town that developed around the Railway Station from 1877 was known as Pakenham East. It was still referred to as Pakenham East well into the 1960s. The Railway Station also contained the first Pakenham East Post Office. This Post Office building was demolished in the late 1990s.

As we wander further east down the Main Street we come to Robinsons SSW supermarket, later taken over by Safeways. This wasn't Robinson's first store, they were originally closer to John Street, and the business was also an advertiser in the Back to Pakenham Souvenir booklet of March 1951.

This aerial was also taken November 1985, looking north up Main Street. Click on photograph to enlarge it. If we turn left at the roundabout at John Street you can see the old premises of the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society (pictured below). On the northern right hand side of this intersection is the original Shire Offices, which were extended and partly concealed in a new structure in 1962. The Railway line is on left as is Safeways and the vacant land is the site of what is now Coles and Target.

The headquarters of the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society. Sadly, no amount of creative photography could make this building look attractive. The Historical Society commenced in 1962 as the Historical Society of the Berwick Shire. They moved from this building to space at the Pakenham Library (built 1991) and are now in the re-furbished and re-located Old Shire Offices on the corner of Main Street and the Princes Highway. The original Shire Offices were built in 1912 on the corner of Main Street and John Street and remained virtually intact in spite of their modernisation in 1962. The building was moved it's current location in 2004.

A general overview of the Pakenham Shopping centre area, taken around 1985. If you click on this photograph to enlarge it you will get a good view of the old Shire Offices, referred to above. In the foreground is Henty Street.

In the left foreground of this November 1985 aerial are the current Shire Offices. Behind it is the Pakenham Secondary College. Secondary education, up to Form 4 or Year 10, had been provided in Pakenham until 1966 at the Pakenham Consolidated School. When Pakenham High School was established in 1967 it continued to use the Consolidated School for accommodation, until its own premises were opened in February 1970.

The official opening of the Shire of Pakenham Municipal Offices and Council Chambers by the Governor of Victoria, Sir Brian Murray with the Shire President, Cr Austin Bastow on July 28th, 1983.

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