Grenda’s Bus Company, 9 Foster Street, Dandenong, 1945.

In 1925 George Grenda started a milk carrying company. G. F. Grenda Milk Carrier collected milk in cans from farms around the Dandenong area and delivered it to metropolitan dairies. The family business continued to grow and was operating 12 trucks by 1945. George bought this property to house and operate the four bus routes, with the six buses (one pictured) he had bought. 

He purchased six small buses, four bus routes (from Shaves Bus Service in Dandenong), and the primary foundations of a bus depot (pictured in 1945) that collaboratively would become Grenda's Bus Services. Grenda was purchased by Ventura Bus Lines in 2013.

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Aerial shot of Sandown Park, 1945-2010s

The area to the north side of the railway line was owned by William C. Cullen, a Brighton publican who had used the area for horse races from December 1888. He was encouraged by horse racing enthusiasts to lay out a saddling paddock and grandstand enclosure as planting flower beds and trees.

He called it Oakleigh Park. In 1888 tenders were called by Richard Speight for the construction of a wooden grandstand called Springvale Racecourse but this has since been demolished. The total racecourse area was 134 acres with the remaining acreage left for grazing.

In 1891 the course was leased to Samuel Willis, David Boyd and Charles Heape, who ran the Victorian Trotting Club, for the cost of £20,000. This course was to be used as their meeting place after their lease at Elsternwick Park had expired. They renamed it Sandown Park, after the fashionable racecourse adjoining the railway station of Esher, about 15 miles south west of London, in Surrey England. They retained the lease of the course until 1932.

The Sandown course consisted of a racing course of almost 12 furlongs and a steeplechase course of almost two miles. The spectators watched from two stands tiered in ramps; one could hold 500 and the other 2000 people.

In the late 1920s, the Select Committee investigating Victoria’s races and racecourses decided that privately run clubs run for profits should be closed. Sandown Park had been managed by Michael Patrick Considine since 1895 and the children of the late Henry Skinner for a 20% profit. In April 1929, the owners thought they should try to sell the course but it was passed in at £65,000 and they decided to lease the site for grazing. Sandown closed in May 1931.

In 1934 the Springvale and District Coursing Club was encouraged by a few locals to organise some races. Roy Maidmont of the National Coursing Club organised the Sandown Greyhound Racing and Coursing Club, leasing the racecourse for £150 a year. They sought to obtain a licence to organise formal speed coursing but their plans were temporarily delayed when in 1942, the Government took over Sandown Park for army training and all coursing racing was stopped.

In 1944, the Sandown Coursing Club began to race at Sandown but, in 1947, their plans had to be shelved again when they had to seek another meeting venue. The course was advertised for sale but the Coursing Club was unable to raise sufficient funds. The Victorian Trotting and Racing Association in association with the Williamstown Racing Club (with whom they had amalgamated to form the Melbourne Racing Club) bought the course for £41,000.

In 1950 the course was cleared of all trees to make space for a motor racing track. In July 1957 a contract for £154,000 was let for the construction of the new track. In 1959 a total of £400,000 was spent on the construction and grassing of the race track drainage, fencing, water mains, levelling and filling, provision of running rails and on other improvements.

In 1962 the motor racing track was officially opened by Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss and Bob Stillwell. In 1963 the Melbourne Racing Club merged with the Victorian Amateur Turf Club (VATC) to facilitate the opening of new horse racing facilities. The racecourse was designed by Mr H. J Wagstaff, a track engineer, it had two straight runs and two turns at each end, 9 furlongs and four chains long. To lengthen this for different races there were legs or ‘chutes’ leading into the oval track. It was also about this time that a new grandstand was required to meet the increasing patronage of the course.

The new grandstand was cantilevered to provide an unrestricted view, bars, totalisator windows, dining rooms and most services undercover. In 1965, an overpass, opened by Cr F. Wachter of the Springvale Council, was constructed to facilitate access to the course. Its use was restricted to days of horse or motor racing. It was financed by the Victorian Amateur Turf Club and built by the Country Roads Board for £90,000. The site was designed to accommodate 12,000 cars with room for expansion and a train station was built on the railway side of the property to cater for rail travellers.

The new VATC Sandown Racecourse was opened by the Victorian Premier, Mr Henry Bolte on 19 June 1965. The Sandown Racecourse has a close association with the Sandown Cup, originally known as the Williamstown Cup, which was first run in 1888 and staged in Williamstown until 1936. Flemington became its host from 1940 to 1950 and Caulfield from 1951 to 1964. In 1965, when the new Sandown
track was opened the race was renamed the Sandown Cup.

In March 1999 the VATC proposed to re-vamp the Sandown Cup, including a name change to Sandown Classic and the introduction of weight-for-age conditions (replacing handicap conditions). In 1997, an Equine Quarantine Centre was used for the first time and, in 1999, the racecourse was renovated and reopened on the 10 October.

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Shell (Subway Service Station), Cheltenham Road, Dandenong. Photo taken around 1947

The old Shell service station of W. Schoon and Son, known as the Subway Service Station, located on the left-hand side, heading towards the railway underpass, opposite Foster street, as you head towards the old Stock Market, on Cheltenham road. Formerly the underpass was the Hammond road underpass.

The Dandenong shell of Schoon, had one of the early wash mobile services, a relic of the early days of carwash services offered in the local area. Behind the Service Station was the old Sawmill (timber yard), which stood strong for many years, under various owners. Shell now operates at a site opposite the Dandenong Station on Cheltenham road.

The Sawmills (timber yards) have all moved from the CBD to larger premises on the outskirts of Dandenong, and in some cases have completely left. With public safety regulations being enforced, petrol stations were continually moved further away from residential and commercial premises, meaning an end to small proprietors who couldn't afford to move.

Photo supplied by Lyn Schoon‎

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Second Showgrounds, Cleeland Street, Dandenong, 1940s

Second Showgrounds, Cleeland Street, Dandenong, 1950s/1960s, 

With the market at the bottom and Clow street running up the right side.

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Dandenong Hospital, Cleeland Street, Dandenong, around 1942.

Not long after it was completed. (This is the best image presently available to us) In 1939 the decision was made to purchase land on Cleeland street for the purpose of constructing the Dandenong and District Hospital, before this a number of Private hospitals operated in Dandenong including the Murray House Private Hospital located on the corner of Scott and Thomas streets. On the corner of Wilson and Langhorne streets, near St James Anglican Church, Merlin private hospital operated.

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Aerial, Sandown Park, 1945-2010s

Worth noting the completely different track layouts of the original (pre 1931) and current (post 1965) Sandown racecourses. The former remained in place in 1945 unused to make a comparison. The original didn't go all the way to Dandenong Road with the Springvale Cemetery railway passing through this area crossing Dandenong Road over a small bridge approximately where the 7-Eleven petrol station now stands. Corrigan's (Corrigan) Road ended at present-day Racecourse Road which is now a dead end residential street (access blocked off in the 1980s)

It would be interesting if there are any pictures of the electrified sidings at the original Sandown station. You can see the original island platform was alongside the DOWN track only with a pair of sidings on the northern side existing in 1909.
http://signaldiagramsandphotos.com/mywebpages/vr/Metropolitan/743'09.htm

Photo and information supplied by: Andrew Scanlon

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Dandenong Hospital around 1942, Not long after it was completed.

In 1939, as World War II broke out and Dandenong was beset by fires and other upheavals, a committee took a unanimous decision that was backed by local doctors. Their mandate was to buy five acres in Cleeland Street for a hospital.

The land, part of the Ross estate, cost £300 and many people said the site was ideal. And so the Dandenong and District Hospital was set up, a place to go if one needed healing.

Before the Dandenong and District Hospital was built, Alf Oldham and Ian Hart were two of the doctors who had run the Murray House Private Hospital at the corner of Scott and Thomas streets.

On the corner of Wilson and Langhorne streets, near St James Anglican Church another private hospital operated from Merlin House, which still stands today.

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Late 1940's/Early 1950's, Lonsdale Street Dandenong,

Showing a passage of time when Ford still graced the corner for all your fuel needs .

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Town Hall, Lonsdale Street in Dandenong around 1945

Lonsdale Street in Dandenong around 1945, The classic Grendas bus, Bicycles and the original McEwans building (formerly Crumps store) in the background.

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Town Hall/Lonsdale Street, Dandenong, 1915-1940s

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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