Obadiah Potter - 1814-1894

Obadiah Potter was born in Norfolk, England, in 1814. He arrived in Australia in 1849, on the ship General Palmer. He first started an orchard on the banks of the Yarra River, possibly the Abbotsford area, until 1856, when he purchased 66 acres of land at Dandenong and commenced fruit-growing. Records indicate he may have ran a hotel at Brighton for a brief period.

He held a seat on the Dandenong Road Board, when the Shire of Dandenong was proclaimed, he continued in the council, even serving as president for the 1878-1879 term.

Obadiah died in 1894, reaching his 80th year, having been unwell for some time before. He was buried in the Dandenong Cemetery.

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Town Hall, Lonsdale/Walker Streets, Dandenong, Late 1800s/Early 1900s.

Looking up Walker Street, on the right-hand side of the Town Hall. The clock faces were added to the tower in about 1934.

This photo, from the late 1800s/early 1900s, shows what the Town Hall looked like in its original form, before numerous alterations were made over the years.

Photo credit goes to City of Greater Dandenong.

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Lonsdale Street, Dandenong, before 1890.

The double storey building on the right side was the Shamrock Hotel, adorning the corner of Scott and Lonsdale streets. Later this corner would be home to the Club Hotel, later renamed the Pub Pub. Recently the large building on this corner is home the Chisholm 311.

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Dandenong Railway Station, late 1800s.

Until the coming of the railway, the Greater Dandenong area was virtually on the frontier of settlement. Construction started at the Sale end and reached Oakleigh in 1877. After some delay, the link was made with Melbourne and the line officially opened in 1879, midst great celebrations.

The Dandenong station was officially opened in 1881, some two years after completion of the line to Melbourne. It served as a vital link to Gippsland, replacing the need for livestock and produce to be taken by land and sea to Melbourne. Dandenong now acted as the terminus between country and City.

By the early 1880s, Springvale had a station, consisting of a platform and open shed. The first train to stop at Noble Park was about 1915. Electrification of the line between Oakleigh and Dandenong was completed in 1922. The line between Dandenong and Warragul was electrified by 1954 New stations were opened at Sandown in 1965 and Yarraman in 1976.

Lonsdale Street had traditionally acted as Dandenong’s front door, its only entry point to visitors, but with the success of the railway station (by 1889 it had become the third busiest in Victoria) Dandenong now had a side door, drawing a growing number of visitors to this new point of entry to the town and exposing the need for infrastructure to support the Foster Street region in its increase in pedestrian traffic.

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Royal Hotel, Lonsdale/Walker Streets, Dandenong, 1897

Located on the corner where Dunbar's hotel once stood,later it would be occupied by the AMP building, and presently it is home to the Dandenong Civic Centre. Over the years, since Dunbar built his first hotel, this corner has seen many changes. The hotel pictured was built by Mr Charles Henry Dawson.

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The following is an extract from the Weekly Times, Sat 20 Nov 1897, Page 17.
"The Royal Hotel. Dandenong, which is occupied and owned by Mr C. H. Dawson, is a fine two-storied brick building, situated at the corner of Walker and Lonsdale streets, having a frontage to both. It is within five minutes' walk of the railway station .and the visitor to Dandenong, on putting up at the Royal, will be surprised to find such a spacious hotel in a town of its size. The building contains 43 rooms. and covers an acre of ground. There is a fine large dining room, where meals are served in a tasty manner, and the commercial rooms and parlours are nicely furnished and cosy."

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Dawsons Royal Hotel. Dandenong, 1897.

Published in the Weekly Times - Sat 20 Nov 1897 - Page 17.

The Royal Hotel. Dandenong, which is occupied and owned by Mr. Charles Henry Dawson, is a fine two-storied brick building, situated at the corner of Walker and Lonsdale streets, having a frontage to both. It is within five minutes' walk of the railway station .and the visitor to Dandenong, on putting up at the Royal, will be surprised to find such a spacious hotel in a town of its size. The building contains 43 rooms. and covers an acre of ground. There is a fine large dining room, where meals are served in a tasty manner, and the commercial rooms and parlours are nicely furnished and cozy.

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Former Dandenong Town Hall between 1890s and 2000s

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Dandenong Coach Factory, Pultney Street, Dandenong, 1880s/1890s

The Greaves brothers were well known and respected in the local community, not just as industrious entrepreneurs, but as active people in helping shape the town that would follow.

Back in the late 1800s they were operating the Dandenong Coach Factory, with Hemmings Wheelright having been the predecessor. Hemmings served the local community from early days supplying cart wheels and preforming minor repairs.

Having allowed Hemmings street to be built free of charge through his property, Hemmings gained himself a place in Dandenongs' history with the naming of Hemmings Street, in honour of his many contributions to Dandenong.

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Dandenong Railway Station, About 1890

Until the coming of the railway,the Greater Dandenong area was virtually on the frontier of settlement. Construction started at the Sale end and reached Oakleigh in 1877. After some delay,the link was made with Melbourne and the line officially opened in 1879,amidst great celebrations.

By the early 1880s,Springvale had a station, consisting of a platform and open shed. The first train to stop at Noble Park was about 1915. Electrification of the line between Oakleigh and Dandenong was completed in 1922. The line between Dandenong and Warragul was electrified by 1954. New stations were opened at Sandown in 1965 and Yarraman in 1976.

The railway was a factor in attracting people and industries to settle in the area. Workers could commute to the City. Farmers and market gardeners could send their produce to Melbourne by train. Railway access was convenient for firms such as Kelly and Lewis,which had its own railway siding,and for the Dandenong Market. General Motors Holden gained its own railway station.

When the railway age began,it tended to deflect government spending away from expenditure on roads. In more recent times, the reverse has applied and Government policy has focused on the building of freeways. The City of Greater Dandenong has examples of both these aspects of progress.

Apart from the railway itself, the oldest structures representing the railway age were probably the station and signal box at Springvale which was removed we grade separation happened at Springvale Road in the early 2010s. The substantial station complex at Dandenong,on the other hand,symbolizes a modern attempt to affirm Dandenong’s role as a dynamic regional centre.

Image Courtesy of D.D.H.S.

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Railway Station - 1890

Dandenong Railway Station - 1890
 

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Albion Hotel, 329-333 Lonsdale Street, Dandenong, between 1889-1891

The Albion Hotel stands on the site of Alexander Bowman’s store, which he started in 1852, possibly Dandenong’s first store. Bowman owned every street corner but one of Lonsdale Street in the very early days, and was said to have ‘owned half the township at one period’.

James Clarke bought the store erected by A. W. Bowman, and converted it into a hotel, which he named the “Mornington Arms.” Clarke took advantage of a rumor about the establishment of a permanent market to invest in this hotel, and it turned out to be a very profitable move. At first the house was merely a “beer shop.” However, Clarke did not live long to enjoy his prosperity, as, coming home from Melbourne one night, he was thrown from a cart and killed.

Alfred Pope (son of David Pope), conducted the house for a time, but was succeeded by Charles Dobson, who transferred from the “Shamrock Hotel" on the corner of Scott and Lonsdale Street. Charles Dobson purchased it in 1882 and re-named it the ‘Albion’ alter the hostelry in Bourke street, Melbourne, from whence the coaches left for Dandenong and Gippsland.

Peter McQuade was the proprietor in 1889 and the McQuades replaced the early one-storey timber building with the present two-storey building in 1891. Peter James McQuade was born in Ireland, and when he first arrived here, he farmed at Flemington before taking up land at Springvale, where he worked for fifteen years. He ran the Bridge Hotel 185-195 Lonsdale Street in 1887, and from 1889 owned and ran the Albion Hotel.

The hotel had been in the possession of varying members of the McQuade family continuously from 1889 until at least 1993 (Present ownership not known to us). The magnificent verandah as seen in this photo has been removed but the façade has remained largely unaltered, with an extension into a small retail premises next door.

The hotel has a near intact upper level, with timber sash double hung windows, but the ground level façade has been altered. Here the former face brick wall has been rendered and the original five openings (windows, doors) have been revised but the paneled Victorian-era timber door, with its top light, resembles the original.

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Gladstone House, corner Langhorne and Foster Streets, Dandenong, in 1896..

ladstone House hydropathic hospital on the corner of Langhorne and Foster streets Dandenong opened in 1896, working on the theory of no medicine or operations.

Elizabeth Mary Orgill (nee Gladstone) operated Gladstone House until 1911, along with another hydropathic hospital (Birthwood) on Cheltenham road. She was the daughter of William Gladstone (Nephew of William Ewart Gladstone, UK prime minister in 1874).

Gladstone Road in Dandenong is named after her family, who owned and occupied a farming paddock in the area on former Police Paddock ground, the Police reserve having earlier been reduced back to Stud Road.

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