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Surrey Hills History

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24.01.2022 This view clearly shows what remains of both the footbridge at Surrey Hills railway station and the "temporary" crossing towards Windsor Crescent. The picture w...as taken in the fourth quarter of 1971 so confirms there were six years between the partial and complete demolition of the footbridge. The "new" (and still extant) ramp is visible so it's possible to make some comparison between "then" and "now". My picture. See more

22.01.2022 Collecting a record of living with COVID-19 Such a beautiful day, part of which I've spent taking some photos to record life under COVID-19 in our area. If you wish to add to the visual record being kept as part of the local history collection, please send your photos and contact details to [email protected]

21.01.2022 A great Christmas present for a history buff! A recent post on the Surrey Hills, Mont Albert & Surrounds Discussion Page about the local history book - 'Surrey Hills in Celebration of the Centennial, 1883-1983' resulted in 10 people contacting me to purchase a copy of the book. So many of us have been walking more since the onset of COVID-19 and have observed the neighbourhood perhaps more closely than before. This amply illustrated book provides wonderful background to the development of our area and cameo histories of people, shops, houses, churches and so much more. The Neighbourhood Centre is open again. Why not pop in and get your copy? Only $16.50.

20.01.2022 Original owners of Dartnell's Corner and owners of 'Kirkland' - John and Jeanie Woodhead John Woodhead was born in 1831 in Pennistone, Yorkshire, England. He and his wife Jeanie were among the earliest settlers in this area. In the 1851 English census John is living with his parents; his father is described as a wool dyer and John is a wool sorter. It is not clear why he migrated, or what he did on arrival, but in 1869 he married Jeanie Williamson Kirkland. By 1871, John, li...sted as a carrier, has accumulated enough capital to buy 6 acres of land on SE corner of Warrington (Union) & Delany’s (Canterbury) Roads for which he pays 50.00. This is what is commonly referred to locally as Dartnell’s corner and upon which a simple timber cottage was initially built. John is one of those with sufficient means behind him to qualify as a voter in the Boroondara Shire elections. In the 1876 roll his occupation is given as woodcutter. By 1885, still described as a carter, John buys another 6 acres on SW corner of Delany’s (Canterbury) & Boundary (Warrigal) Roads for 1200.00. The following year he realises some of his assets. Described a ‘gentleman’, he is the vendor of a subdivision of 12 acres, some of which he obviously retained, as his estate encompasses a number of properties in this area when it was wound up after his death. Perhaps he needed some cash to finance the building of ‘Kirkland’, the stately 2 storey Victorian mansion built on the brow of the hill at 89 Union Road with fine views towards the city. John and Jeanie had 5 children. In c1890 John Woodhead donated land in The Avenue so that the Church of Christ could be built. Quite a success story but there’s another side to it! Both John and Jeanie Woodhead are buried in an unassuming grave in Box Hill Cemetery. Look out for a resumption of tours of Box Hill Cemetery to hear it!

16.01.2022 What's behind a house name? Not so long ago (July) in early lockdown I had a request from a friend's neighbour asking if their house in Empress Road had had a name? John had found a map of the subdivision of land on the State Library of Victoria catalogue and was surprised to see that part of Empress Road had originally been Wellington Road, as marked on the 1887 ‘Surrey Mont’ subdivision of the area. Whilst the 48 ‘splendid villa sites’ were offered for sale in October 1887,... it is likely that many remained unsold. The houses around John and Sally’s home were built c1916 and numbers 82 112 were on what was later referred to as the ‘War Services Homes Estate’. An added complication in the search for an original house name derived from the street name change whereby the whole street became Empress Road, (which occurred some time between 1931 and 1936). This in turn resulted in 1944 in a re-numbering of Empress Road. Thanks to Alan Holt’s meticulous register I was able to quickly verify that the first family to live in John and Sally's home was John Thomas Dean and his wife Annie Marson Dean (nee Heales), who moved to Surrey Hills from Burwood around 1927. Checking back through electoral rolls, I found that their home in Hartwell Road, Burwood was named ‘Pozières’ a name that they repeated when they arrived in Empress Road. John and Annie’s son John Charles Dean was killed at the Battle of Pozières, which took place between 23 July and 3 September 1916, part of the Battle of the Somme. The Australian official historian Charles Bean wrote that Pozières ridge "is more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth." During the course of 42 days the Australians made 19 attacks against the German positions. The final casualties totalled 23,000 men killed, wounded, or taken prisoner; 6,800 were killed or died of wounds. By the time the offensive was abandoned, the allied forces had advanced a mere 12 kilometres. Several months after the cessation of fighting at Pozières, Charles Bean returned to retrace the battle and collected the first relics for what would eventually become the Australian War Memorial. John and Sally have embraced honoring the sentiments of the first occupants of their home and have had a new house name plaque made. Not all early homes had house names but many built pre-1920's did, not only for sentimental reasons but as an aid to the postman. Many roads in this area were not numbered until the mid-1920's. Researching house histories is one of many services we provide to the community.

15.01.2022 It's people like Paul capturing images of change that others observe and forget that are 'history heroes'. Over the last 12 months, he, Patrick Michael Carter and Roderick Smith have added immensely to our pictorial knowledge of trains and rail change around Surrey Hills. Thank you all.

15.01.2022 Another great photo from Paul. We have one of the up platform just before it was demolished. I’ll dig it out and post it tomorrow.

14.01.2022 And here's another station-related historical photo from Paul Nicholson, who has such a treasure trove of black and white photos. It's amazing the quality of these, given as Paul says that he had a fairly rudimentary camera. Not sure if it was a 'Box Brownie' but these were such good cameras for kids to learn the basics on and they produced a wonderful stock of photos. Thanks Paul for your continuing feed of photos. I'll post another of the footbridge shortly.

12.01.2022 Step back in time to the 1970s ... Union Road and Surrey Mansions shortly before it ceased to be low-cost rooming accommodation and was 'renovated' for offices, loosing its distinctive tower and chimneys. Pre-1920, it was of course a hotel - known as McNeill's Family Hotel or simply Surrey Hotel. Great shot of the Ventura Bus - well remember riding these. Ventura was founded in December 1924 by Henry Cornwall. The name and company colours (dark blue, light blue and yellow) de...rived from Ventura County, California where Cornwall had spent time after serving in World War I. A former employee of Track & Kintrack, St Kilda, Harry decided to form his own bus company when his employer refused to run a bus service along dirt roads through what was then Melbourne's outer east. Cornwall began operating a bus route between Box Hill and Melbourne City Centre, and in 1930 began running buses between Box Hill and Mentone. The first depot was behind the petrol station on the corner of Station Street and Canterbury Road, in Box Hill South. (REF: Wikipedia) Thank to Paul Nicholson for another wonderful photo. See more

12.01.2022 Another contribution from Michael. Canterbury station looks positively rural. Do you know the date and source, Michael?

08.01.2022 Former St Joseph’s home offered for sale The erection of a sale board at 1 Kent Road, Surrey Hills has caused a flurry of comment from residents on a local soci...al media page and quite a number of emails to the SHPA from concerned residents. The sale by expressions of interest of 1 Kent Road and 24 Durham Road by Colliers International is by Expression of Interest which closes on Friday 27th November at 3pm. Is it perhaps significant that neither the sale board nor the ad on the internet mention that the property has heritage significance; indeed, as part of the Surrey Hills English Counties Residential Precinct it comes under Heritage Overlay (HO 670) in the Boroondara Planning Scheme. It is worth having a look at the internet ad to understand the extent of the holding and some of the interior features that have remained intact, despite the buildings having had a mix of uses since they were sold by the Catholic Church. See https://www.commercialrealestate.com.au//1-kent-road-24-du (One does have to wonder about the appropriateness of the choice of background lyrics ‘Welcome to the fire.’) A much longer article will be posted on the SHPA website later today. What to do: There are a number of possible future uses of the site. It behoves this Association and members of the public interested in the history of this area to lobby to ensure that whatever the outcome, that it is appropriate and respects the heritage values of the site. A couple of residents have suggested that this site could be considered by Council for purchase under retention of land for public use. The site does have an existing degree of protection under a local heritage overlay within Boroondara’s Planning Scheme. At the request of a number of residents, the SHPA has written to Phillip Storer, Chief Executive Officer of the City of Boroondara Council, to seek Council’s response to the listing of the property by Collier’s International and whether or not further heritage protection should be considered through its nomination for state listing by Heritage Victoria. This letter has been forwarded to Cr Jane Addis, who has been re-elected as the Councillor for the Maling Ward. Please consider making your views known.

05.01.2022 Bird's eye view of Surrey Hills station - pre-renovation. Another great photo from Paul Nicholson.

04.01.2022 Surrey Hills Station foot bridge - a follow up to Paul Nicholson's photo

04.01.2022 Way back in January Ewen sent in quite a number of photos related to Surrey Hills State School. Temporarily 'lost', but now found, I will post them over the next few days. A very strange ray of light in this one. A bit of a pity that photographers nearly always chose to line the children up in front of brick walls - we learn nothing about the school environment from them. If sending in school photos, bear in mind that school photos after 1955 are still under copyright.

04.01.2022 Great to see this photo of young Paul Nicholson as a scout. Surrey Hills had one of the first troops in Australia due to the efforts of Theodore Hendy. He was an architect (who by the way designed some of the original buildings of Surrey Hills State School); he met Baden Powell during a trip to South Africa. On return to Surrey Hills he established a troop in Balmoral Crescent.

03.01.2022 Another class photo from Surrey Hills State School from Ewen Slater. Does anyone know when school uniform became mandatory? Forty-six in the class!

01.01.2022 The rotunda in the Surrey Gardens, built 1912. (SHNCHC - SHP847)