Lonsdale Street, Dandenong, April 1901

This shot was taken during the 1901 floods, looking south from the corner of Lonsdale Street and Foster Street. The magnificent double storey building further up the road was McConnells "Park View" boarding house. He was also in the employ of Victoria Railways, becoming the local Train Examiner and Pumping Station attendant,

On the left would have been Dandenong Park, with part of it's white fence visible in the distance. In these eary days flooding was common in the lower end of town, with natural water flow reminding locals that nature still controlled their day to day life.

John McConnell worked for the Victorian Railways and lived in Park View with his wife Edith, They had five children in total, with two sadly dying in infancy. McConnell died, aged 59, on 21st March 1920, the previous day, his coat had become entangled in the fly-wheel of the water pump engine he oversaw at the Dandenong Railways pumping station.

His injuries were so severe, that local doctors couldn't save him, he was moved at one to Nurse Ahern's private hospital, where Dr. Langley and Dr. A. E. Taylor tended to him. Agnes King (nee McConnell), one of his children, was one of the first on the scene, His wife, Edith passed away on August 5th 1936.

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