Aerial View, Dandenong, late 1920s/early 1930s.

This early view, from sometime after 1915, shows how much smaller Dandenong was over 100 years ago. Looking from below the railway line towards the town centre. What landmarks can you recognise? 

-Below is an excerpt from Reminiscences of Early Dandenong by G.F.R., 1932.

Who named the town? The honour is generally ascribed to Captain Lonsdale, who, in an official report on the district, in 1837, spelt the name “Dan-y-nong.” The original surveyors spelt it “Tangenong” when they made the first survey in the 1840’s. Captain Lonsdale wrote that it was always most difficult to catch the sound of native names as spoken by aborigines, who rapidly ran over “d” and “t,” making it difficult to catch either consonant, but he thought that “Dandenong” sounded, more euphonious, so there we have it. The native name was, as nearly “Dandenong” as the authorities could make it, so the name was bestowed upon the creek, district and township.

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Noble Park Public Hall, during construction, 1925.

In 1913 Alan (Frank) Buckley and Charles Luxford were the registered proprietors of the land on which the Noble Park Public Hall now stands. Local residents set about raising some money and a small timber hall was erected. A trust, comprising Messrs Luxford, Maroney and Bunn, was set up, decreeing that the area should be used as a public hall.

In 1919 after Luxfords' death the two remaining trustees transferred the old hall and grounds to five trustees, Messrs Isaac, Beatty, Smith, Simpson and Luxford. Registered under the provisions of the Religious, Successory and Charitable Trusts Act, the salient points stressed and guaranteed by this action were that “the hall shall be used for public, educational, charitable and recreation purposes, subject to the provisions and management of the trust, thereby keeping it in the hands of the Noble Park Community for future generations.

In 1924, the trustees borrowed $4400 from the local council, the Shire of Dandenong, to erect a new brick hall. The title of the land was handed over to the council as security for repayment of the loan. The present Noble Park Public Hall was erected in 1925 and is a testament to the craftsmanship of the local builders, Wanke and Brown. Regular repayments occurred until the Great Depression that led into World War 2 and when revenue almost dried up the council took over running the hall for the next three decades.

In 1957 a packed meeting of residents was held in the hall and the legal position was clearly explained so that there was no doubt where the title belonged, and who should control the future of the hall. The debt was cleared with the Shire Council in October 1957 and five new trustees were elected, Mr Tom Copas, Mr G Luxford, Mr T Kirkpatrick, Cr. E Jenkins and Mr A.J. Paddy O’Donoghue.

During its time under Council control, the hall had become somewhat dilapidated, becoming in desperate need of proper care and renovations. To this end, the trustees set themselves the arduous task of taking care of the halls' as it had been the home of most local organisations at one time or another, with some local groups even having their beginnings stem from meetings that had been held in the hall.

In the late seventies, after many fundraising stalls by the Ladies' Auxilliary, trustees Messrs. John Bush, Paddy O'Donoghue, Bob Bell, Ray Fullerton and Mrs Pat Kampl, called a public meeting of residents interested in developing the complex. The meeting was held on June 24th, 1979, where it was resolved unanimously to establish a hall co-operative. Interested residents were asked to take out shares. It was soon realised that the $30,000 co-operative loan wouldn't be sufficient to fund the building program so the trustees themselves signed a personal guarantee to cover the extra $10,000.

Considerable delays in obtaining building permits caused the project to be held up for approximately eight months, finally in March, 1980, earthworks began. Under the watchful eye of Trustee, John Bush, the foundations were laid in May of that year and work progressed rapidly. Due to Paddy O'Donoghue's sudden death, in his memory upon completion, the trustees decided to name the new hall the "A.J. "Paddy" O'Donoghue Hall, as a tribute to his 47 years tireless devotion to the Noble Park Public Hall.

The Hall suffered a blow several years later when a fire broke out in the upstairs area causing several thousand dollars in damages. This combined with another decade or so of required maintenance eventually saw the lease of the hall and complex pass back to the Council in order to get the much needed work and renovations done.

With everyone moved out of the complex by the end of 2004, demolition of the A J O’Donoghue hall occurred over the holiday period and the building then became a construction site for the next 16 months. The official opening of the Paddy O’Donoghue Centre on May 13th 2006 and was a memorable occasion that was well attended, ensuring that the Public Hall and Complex would continue to be a mainstay of Noble Park for generations to come.

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Peace Memorial Bridge, Princes Hwy, Dandenong, in 1925.

The old stone bridge was replaced in 1919 by this simple bridge, with concrete deck, known as the ‘Peace Memorial Bridge’. Once described as ‘one of the best bridges in Victoria. With the park facing wall removed, the bridge still carries a portion of the Princes Highway over the Dandenong Creek on the railway side. 

Over the years ‘the rapids of Dandenong’, so described once by the poet Adam Lindsay Gordon, have swept away more than one bridge in the area. The first bridge over Dandenong Creek was constructed in 1840. A flood swept this away ten years later and it was replaced.

The stone bridge, built in 1866, probably by Robert Huckson, lasted 52 years. Part of it was granite, quarried locally from the vicinity of Wedge and Power Streets. The integrity was undermined by repeated floods, rendering the bridge unsafe for use.

Some of the stones that can be seen in this picture are actually remnants from it's predecessor, as they had scattered a lot of them along the creek to build it up after the erosion damage that had been caused by previous flooding.
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Dandenong High School, Princes Hwy, Dandenong, in 1920.

At the end of the First World War, the citizens of Dandenong began agitating for the establishment of a higher elementary school. The closest secondary schools to Dandenong were Warragul or Melbourne and boarding was an expensive option for those wishing to educate their children past primary levels. Rev. H. A. Buntine was elected Chairman of an advisory council in 1918 to present a case to the government.

Dandenong High School opened on the 10 March 1919, in temporary premises with one hundred and four students. The junior students were housed in the Dandenong fire station, while the seniors took classes in the Temperance Hall and Church of Christ. The first headmaster was P. C. W. Langford who had served in the 4th Light Horse during the War. This was the first of the school’s many associations with the military.

At the time, there were only eight high schools in the metropolitan region. Dandenong High School was built to service a wide area of rural and semi-rural areas. In 1949, students were drawn from Berwick, Beaconsfield, Nar Nar Goon, Pakenham, Cheltenham, Oakleigh, Catani, Kooweerup and Cranbourne.

In 1920, the new building on Princes Highway was opened, with the foundation stone laid by Hon. W. Hutchinson, Minister of Public Instruction in 1919. The school was built on a 7. 5 acre site called Bushy Park Estate, which was purchased with a £1000 grant from the Dandenong Shire Council.

Already the number of enrollments exceeded the allocated pace, which has continued to be a problem throughout the school’s history. The school has changed shape several times with regular additions of temporary classrooms and grounds to cope with the rapid population growth of the young suburb. In 1921, the school inspector reported that ponies were tethered in the grounds, reflecting it’s rural constituency and that there were 18 boarders in 1930.

In 1924, the school started planting trees on the grounds - 8 palms and 24 cypresses along the street frontage. The same year, the inspector reported that the fence to separate the boys and girls grounds had been erected. In 1930, entrance gates were built as well as four new classrooms, a Sloyd (woodworking) room and a concrete drive. Sustenance workers were leveling draining and painting in the school grounds in 1936.

By the Second World War, the school was filled to overflowing, with classes, school socials and even the girls gymnasium displays held in the Armytage Own Scout Hall across the Highway. During the War, the school had resorted to using five military hospital huts which were erected in Hemmings Park across the Highway to service the American Army Hospital, which also used the Scout Hall. The girls’ domestic arts classes often baked scones and cakes to take to the servicemen recuperating in the huts. Enrolments in 1949 reached 609 with 268 boys and 341 girls.

These uneven numbers continued until the building of Dandenong Girls High School in 1957. In 1950 the sports grounds were improved. In 1952, prefabricated classrooms were erected at the back of the main building to yet again ease the pressure on classrooms. In 1952, additional land was purchased for the construction of a new domestic and manual arts block which was finished in 1953.

In 1954, Springvale High School and Dandenong Technical School were opened, easing pressure on the school buildings. Nevertheless in 1957 most of the ex-army huts at the scout hall site were moved across the highway and converted to a gymnasium and in the same year, fourteen new classrooms were built on the site. The population of Dandenong district continued to grow as did the school.

In 1961 the Dandenong sports ground was acquired. In 1964, a house was purchased in High Street as a caretaker’s residence. The school began agitating for a new wing which was completed in 1967 and the old building was extensively refurbished. In 1968, the assembly hall was completed, becoming a focus of social functions for the school & wider community.

The school opened with more enrolments than the building could cope with and this pattern continued throughout its history. In 1951 enrolments numbered 745 with significantly larger numbers of girls than boys and a large proportion of students from country districts, as far away as Cheltenham and Kooweerup.

Over one half of the school came from country districts until 1960 when Doveton High School was opened. After the 60s the mix of the school changed to mostly metropolitan students. In 1962 Dandenong High School was the third largest high school in Victoria with enrollments numbering 1,140 and for the first time equal numbers of girls and boys

The school has had several well known ex-students. Kitty Bloomfield was the first woman to get a Victorian pilots licence in 1929. Frederick Alan Bishop was the first Australian in the armed forces killed overseas in 1939. Max Oldmeadow, a Federal Member and principal of Chandler High School is also a former pupil. Barry Jones, quizmaster, Labor Party Federal President and a Commonwealth Government Minister, was a teacher there.

The school has been recognised as having an excellent academic reputation from its beginning, and has been actively supported in the Dandenong and district community. The high standard of the school’s curriculum was reflected in the rapid development of the school’s accreditation. In 1938, the school was approved to conduct internal examinations for the Intermediate Certificate. Rapidly followed by the Leaving Certificate in 1939, and Matriculation in 1940.

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Lonsdale Street, Dandenong, in 1920.

Interestingly there is a sole Palm Tree reserve in the centre, The Town Hall stands proud to the left, From a time when all the shops still had verandas and some country charm, with a population between 3,000 and 4,000 it very much was still a village/town.

Well before the streets of Dandenong became synonymous with the sounds of bellowing cattle, cracking whips and barking dogs the district was alive with an enviable mixture of natural resources. Red gums and She oaks, flowing water, rich soil for agriculture and great potential for dairy farming, added to its proximity to Melbourne, helped define the tiny township’s support role in helping to build booming Melbourne.

Although first settled in the 1840’s it wasn’t until the 1850’s that the signs of organized industry began to emerge as dray load after dray load of felled red gums made their way to Melbourne with much needed timber to establish wharves, timber street pavers and railway lines.

Supporting this industry was a small labour force and, along with a handful of bold settlers, they laid the foundations of the bustling town that continues over 160 years later to draw people, business and industry into it boarders.

Dandenong’s proximity to Gippsland also meant that it soon became known as “The Gateway to Gippsland” as it was perfectly placed with road, and later, railway links to Gippsland’s own network of, once considered, inexhaustible natural resources.

In 1865, when Dandenong had a population of 250, the then Minister for Lands described Dandenong as “The most picturesque little town he had ever seen”. In 1868 the first cattle market opened. The shanty town was now a market town and Dandenong had found its thumping heart.

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Police Paddock & Residence, Back in 1925

This photo from 1925 shows the former Police Paddocks residence, The residence is long gone and images of it are hard to find, There is evidence on the ground still of the former buildings, which were demolished in 1956, but nothing substantial remains to mark this part of local history. At over 120 years old they were a loss even then.

Site of the first Native Police Headquarters (1839), Westernport Aboriginal Protectorate Station (1840-42) and the third Native Police Headquarters (1843-1853), it also functioned as the Police Stud Depot until 1931 and a farm until around1959.

Now perhaps only one third to one quarter of the size of the original Police Reserve surveyed in 1851 for the Native Police Corps. Prior to this first survey, the land was used for three Aboriginal/European institutions. The 1837 Corps of Native Police under Superintendent Christiaan Ludolph Johannes de Villiers, the Westernport Aboriginal Protectorate under Assistant Protector William Thomas, and the 1842 Corps of Native Police under Commandant Henry Edmund Pulteney Dana.

History documents the joint Aboriginal/European institutional use of the site from the early contact period until 1852 when Commandant Henry Dana died. Shortly before his death in November 1852, Henry Dana was appointed Commandant of the Mounted Patrol, a European force consisting of two Divisions (one of which was commanded by his brother William) raised for the protection of the roads from the goldfields to Melbourne. The Native Police Corps had ceased to exist as an institution, though there were still Aboriginal troopers who served. After the disintegration of this Corps, the site was taken over by the Mounted Division of the Victorian Police and used as their stud depot until the 1930s.

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Dandenong Market, On a Market Day (Tuesday) 1924.

This was before the Market moved to it's present location. The growth and prosperity of Dandenong were closely linked to the success of the markets from the earliest days. The markets originally operated from a site at the corner of Lonsdale and McCrae Streets.

Originally they provided a direct outlet for livestock including beef and dairy cattle, poultry and horses, for fresh market garden and dairy products, and for a wide variety of household, craft and industrial goods and services

The Produce and Goods market, which we know today as the Dandenong Market, moved to its present location on Clow Street around 1926. A sketch plan of the Dandenong Market 1869 showed that there was a produce market at this date. The Produce Market was set between the cattle yards, calf pens, and pig yards with Lonsdale street on one side and McCrae St on the other. Most of the stallholders came from Melbourne suburbs to take advantage of the lucrative trade in bringing city goods to the country market.

Stallholders displayed their wares and the general market day on Tuesdays changed Dandenong from a sleepy town. The streets around the market were cluttered with motor cars, horses and drays, and the pavements and shops were crowded with people busy buying all their weekly requirements.

In 1964 an extra market day proposal was met with antagonism from local retailers. Forty years earlier, shops had been statically placed near the market, but now the market was considered as both old-fashioned and as competition.

The Clow Street site, in the early 1960s was still the location of both the Produce Market and the Showgrounds. For some years the Agricultural Society had been anxious to move to larger grounds. Greaves Reserve, on the other side of Bennett Street from the new livestock market had been allocated for this purpose. The shift was completed by 1967.

The Clow Street site was subsequently redeveloped as a civic centre with municipal offices and council chambers opening officially on 10 February 1968.

--
Information courtesy of Jenny Ferguson's Thesis, Thank you Jenny

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Butter Factory, Stud Rd, Dandenong - 1920

From 1920, the Dandenong Butter Factory was operating in Stud Road, ‘one of the more picturesque industrial buildings'. Tragically the old butter factory was demolished in 1972. Extensions were made to the factory in the early 1930's, lending to increased demand.

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Lonsdale Street looking towards Town Hall, Early 1920's

Lonsdale Street looking towards Town Hall, Early 1920's

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Lonsdale Street, Dandenong, Between 1922 and 1929

Lonsdale Street, Dandenong, Between 1922 and 1929
Found: http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/252981

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Lonsdale street, Dandenong in 1925

Lonsdale street, Dandenong in 1925, looking from near the Clow street intersection towards the Town Hall.

Image supplied by  Patrick Stacey‎

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Douglas St Noble Park.circa 1925

Douglas St Noble Park.circa 1925

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