Peninsula Ambulance Service, Stud Road, Dandenong, 1964.

The old ambulance station, pictured here, was replaced by the new Ambulance Victoria Dandenong station in about 2020. The new building being built to the right of this one, on Stud Road. The site of this building on the corner is now the car park, after it was demolished.

Peninsula Ambulance Service, Stud Road, Dandenong, 1964.

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Shepley Oval, Pultney Street, Dandenong, 1950s

This simple looking oval would be transformed into Dandenong's premier sporting venue. The creek behind still ran close to its original path, before being realigned. The old McCrae street bridge can be seen up the back.

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Dandenong Hospital, David Street, Dandenong, 1968.

This was the construction of one of the three new buildings which would form the core of the larger/new hospital.

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Corner of Walker and Langhorne Streets, Dandenong, between 1866-1878.

Ellis's store is the brick building standing proudly on the corner, with modifications this building became the Wessex and operated into the 1950's and 1960's before being replace with the present 5 floor building. McLennan Real Estate presently occupies the corner shop at ground level.

Along side an be seen Jones's New Dandenong Bakery, although not much is known about Jones or his bakery, the site, with a new building which still stands today, would later become home to Mags, and ironmonger. Presently this site is home to the Dandenong Laundry & Dry Cleaners.

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Funeral Procession by Garnar Undertakers, Lonsdale Street, Dandenong, undated.

Garnars Undertakers – a prominent Dandenong funeral business in Walker St, Dandenong - was owned and operated by James William Garner (1851-1913) and featured a mortuary in Crump Lane.
Garnar himself would often lead the funeral processions through town.

After his death in 1913, James Garner’s eldest son, William, and his grandson Len, took over the business, changing its name to W.J. Garnar & Son. William Garner was known for leading funeral possessions (on foot) along Lonsdale Street (as pictured).

In the 1930s, a severe flood hit the streets of Dandenong – and when Garnar opened his flood effected mortuary he discovered that two coffins, one empty and one occupied, had been swept away. They were later recovered from the creek in Mordialloc.
Although the family name was spelled ‘Garner’, James altered it to ‘Garnar’ in order to distinguish himself from other people associated with the ‘Garner’ spelling. The W.J. Garnar & Son business was sold to Le Pine Funerals in 1950. Garnar Lane in Dandenong is named after the family.

Image and information courtesy of:
Greater Dandenong City Council
http://www.facebook.com/greaterdandenong

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Produce Market, Corner Cleeland and Clow Streets, Dandenong, 1974.

Produce Market, Corner Cleeland and Clow Streets, Dandenong, 1974.

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Lonsdale Street, Dandenong, March, 1959

Up the left you can see the old Maples store, Long after Maples left there was a fire in the store, Due to extensive damage it was demolished and became a small park between Lonsdale street and Palm Plaza/McCrae street.

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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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Train Station, Foster Street, Dandenong, 1970s

Looking across some of the old station buildings towards the Southern Aurora hotel, This wonderful colour photo gives an eye catching glimpse into the area. Looking a little run down at this point.

A few new hotels appeared in more modern times. The Southern Hotel-Motel was built in the 1960s,next to the Dandenong Railway station,at an estimated cost of half-a million dollars. Strategically placed to capture the passing trade, it was later remembered for its nightclub atmosphere. In the mid 1990s,just before the new railway station was built, it was demolished, except for the drive-in Foster Street Bottle Shop.

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Town Hall, Lonsdale Street, Dandenong, undated.

There were poets in Dandenong in the very early times, and from an old “Journal” the following writing was taken. The author was at one time likely the licensee of Dunn’s Hotel, as the name fits in with several incidents connected with the friendly intercourse between the police and the publicans, when food, etc., was scarce, and in a neighbourly fashion they borrowed from each other.

"A township sweet and beautiful,
With homes pretty and neat;
Gardens decked with flowers rare,
And clean in every street.

With hills each side where we look,
Close by ranges rising high;
A running brook, so clear, so clear,
Continuously running by.

Where a forest large and wild once stood,
Where the black man lived for years;
Where the kangaroo so oft’ was killed,
With the long and pointed spears.

Where corrobboree so oft’ was held.
Around the blazing pile;
Where, when in battle stealthy crept,
The warriors in single file.

The white man camped long, long ago,
And Dunbar with the natives laid
A consultation with the then great men,
When he taught them good from bad.

Where children were kidnapped from homes,
But now all these have gone;
And reminding us of the days of yore,
Stands the township — Dandenong!"

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