The proposal was included in the Plan for General Development created by the Metropolitan Town Planning Commission in 1929, when Parliament House was the tallest building in the area.

And would have seen a major redevelopment of East Melbourne to the north-east of the Hoddle Grid.

On Spring Street, the eastern boundary of the City proper, are located the Houses of Parliament, the Treasury Buildings in which are housed the Executive Council and other Ministerial Departments, the Hotel Windsor, the Princess Theatre, and other buildings which would be suitable for incorporation in a scheme of architectural treatment for this part of the City.

The eastern approaches to Collins and Bourke streets form very unsatisfactory intersections at Spring Street, and in view of the fact that there is a large amount of open space on the eastern side of Spring Street through which these approach roads pass, the opportunity has been taken of propounding a scheme of remodelling for the whole area. The old High School, at the corner of Victoria Parade, is being superseded by modern new buildings on other sites, the new high school for boys having been completed at South Yarra.

The black hatchings on the plan on opposite page indicate the existing Houses of Parliament, St. Patrick’s Cathedral and St. Peter’s Church in Gisborne Street, the Metropolitan Fire Brigade also in Gisborne Street, the Governmental administrative offices in the area north of the Treasury Gardens, all of which, in conjunction with the buildings in Spring Street, and the site of the old and superseded High School, form a substantial nucleus for a scheme of grouping for prominent buildings in this elevated situation.

It will be seen that by relocating the streets in this area and combining the several reserves, a considerable area admirably suited for the formation of a “Parliament Square” would be available.

Roads would be altered.

The suggested treatment is shown on the plan on previous page. Evelyn Street and Carpentaria Place have been abolished, McArthur Street has been diverted, and the western end of Albert Street has been abandoned. A new scheme of roadways has been planned to harmonise with the park treatment and to supply greatly improved access to the east-west city streets.

In order to facilitate traffic movements at the intersections of Lonsdale and Bourke streets with Spring Street, the corners have been rounded and a small central feature inserted. The sites of a few existing houses and other buildings of an inferior type fronting Victoria Parade have been included as a part of the scheme, but no substantial resumptions are involved excepting for the rounding of the corners referred to.

The street arrangement is designed to overcome the unsatisfactory layout in this area and to abolish dangerous intersections. Traffic on the streets in the vicinity and through the area could be more easily controlled, and larger volumes accommodated with less congestion.

To make way for a grand building at the top end of Lonsdale Street.

It is suggested that the principal building which might be erected in this setting should be in line with Lonsdale Street as shown on the plan, so that the vista along this street would be terminated by a building of suitable architecture, surrounded by open space so that it may be viewed from all angles.

Between the suggested building and Parliament House, a square capable of accommodating a considerable assemblage can be formed. The completion of the northern wing of Parliament House would materially improve the scheme.

The sites, shown in white, would be available for other public buildings, while the whole of the western or Spring Street frontage could be utilised in due time for other prominent buildings of approved architecture.

And connecting the existing gardens around the CBD.

The suggested treatment would effectively link the Carlton Gardens with the Treasury and Fitzroy Gardens, the continuity of garden treatment being broken only by buildings of architectural importance. The Commission is of the opinion that this scheme, if adopted, would greatly enhance the beauty of the City, would lend dignity to buildings and institutions erected in it, would improve the whole neighbourhood, and provide much safer and more satisfactory road facilities than now exist in this area. The aerial view shows the present conditions on the greater part of the area included in the proposed remodelling. It clearly illustrates how the gardens and parks could be made to form beautiful surroundings for buildings of suitable architectural character.

So what happened?

As you might expect, nothing came of the 1929 plans, but in 1954 the Melbourne Metropolitan Planning Scheme proposed a scaled back proposal – demolition of the top end of Bourke Street to form a Civic Square outside Parliament House, and a freeway beneath Spring Street.

The only part of that project to proceed was the Commonwealth Centre at 275 Spring Street completed in 1958, and the State Government Office at 1 Treasury Place completed in 1970.

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Google Maps

The story starts in the 1927, when the open paddocks between Mason, Mills and Hansen Streets and Blackshaws Road were subdivided for speculative development.

1929 Plan for General Development

The 2017 Hobsons Bay Heritage Study stating.

This estate was originally made up of two Lodged Plans, LP 12379, and LP 12834, which were subdivisions of Crown Portions C & D, Section 6. They were declared by solicitors, Bullen & Burt, lodged by the surveyor GT Little (later Little & Brosnan) in 1927, and the consent of Council was given in the same year. The official stamp was given in 1929 and there was even a ‘Little Street’ included in the plan named after the surveyor.

However the Metropolitan Town Planning Commission then became involved, and the street layout was redesigned.

1929 Plan for General Development

In what became a poster child for new subdivisions in the 1929 ‘Plan for General Development’.

Many subdividers and owners of land in the past have viewed with suspicion the efforts to induce them to adopt town planning principles. In some instances subdivisions which are intended to be town planning layouts are fantastic, and do not comply with requirements from a general development standpoint; in other cases they are extremely wasteful, and not in the interests of the city, the future residents, or the owners. These “so called” town planning schemes have retarded the general adoption by many owners of more scientific subdivision of land.

As examples of the above, the plans on page 261 are submitted. Scheme “A” the layout which was surveyed and forwarded to the Council for approval and seal in accordance with the usual practice, and the sealing was duly authorized. Prior to the subdivision of this area, the Commission had given considerable attention to the problem of road transportation in the western suburbs, and had adopted a general scheme of thoroughfares. This scheme was not known to the subdividers nor to the Council at the time this particular subdivision of the area was approved by the Council. As the approved subdivision seriously affected the Commission’s scheme, the subdividers were approached, and although they had incurred the considerable costs of subdivision and had received the approval of the Council as required by existing law, so satisfied were they with the proposal that they agreed to replan the area in accordance with the Commission’s general scheme.

Scheme “B” shows the amended subdivision, including two main roads, ‘”The Highway” and “Broadway”, each 84 feet in width. The general design of the subdivision is a marked advance on the old checker-board layout which was previously intended, and is an excellent example of the benefits to be gained by adequate control.

It should not, however, be necessary to amend plans on which large sums have been spent,and usually subdividers are loth to change their plans when expense has been entailed. Those who do are to be commended for their interest in the development of the metropolis on sound lines, and they are realising that it pays them to do so.

Some sources state that the estate was planned by Walter Burley Griffin’s Company, though the heritage study states that it is more likely the work of well-known planner, Saxil Tuxen.

In the years that followed little happened – this 1945 aerial photo shows empty paddocks.

Victorian Department of Lands and Survey photo map

And this MMBW plan from 1947 reinforces this – a sea of empty streets, with the nearest houses back at Newport station.

MMBW Plan No. 282

However the end of WW2 saw development take off, land along Blackshaws Road first to be sold from the mid-1950s.

The Age, 28 February 1955, page 8

Real estate agents promoting Newport West as “the district of the future”.

The Age, 11 October 1958, page 45

Land sales soon ramped up.

The Age, 18 July 1959, page 40

And supporting infrastructure followed soon after, including a Dutch speaking doctor who set up shop at The Circle, and a library branch in 1966.

MMBW Plan 9D

The shopping centre was finally built out by 1970.

The Age, 28 March 1970, page 48

Resulting in the suburb of 1950s weatherboard and 1960s brick veneer houses seen today.

Google Maps

Footnote

The 1945 aerial photos shows nine large circular tanks located at the north west corner of the estate, at the corner of May Street and Blackshaws Road. I’ve got no idea what they were for – any ideas?

Victorian Department of Lands and Survey photo map

And an update

I dug up the plan of subdivision for the area once occupied by the mysterious tanks – it was lodged in February 1962, and B.P Australia of 131 Queen Street, Melbourne was the vendor.

So oil tanks it is!

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Let’s take a tour

The concrete houses on Leith Avenue are included on Heritage Overlay number HO020, and include twelve properties – eight houses at 1 to 15 Leith Avenue, and four houses at 51 – 57 Hampshire Road.

They are a short distance from the Sunshine grain silos.

A central reserve divides Leith Avenue.

The houses built to a common design.

Distinctive chimneys atop each one.

But each slightly different.

Four houses also front Hampshire Road.

Less notable than those on Leith Avenue.

But made of concrete all the same.

Six different house designs were used on the estate, with three of them surviving today.

Type 1 is block-fronted with a simple hipped roof. It has overhanging eaves at the centre of the facade, creating a window hood above the windows, resting on triangular timber brackets. Windows are paired six-over-one sashes in boxed (projecting) frames. These houses have decorative timber porches on the side elevation. Another distinctive feature of these houses is the narrow faceted cast-concrete chimneys.

Type 2 has a wide hipped-roof bay at the front with a recessed porch beneath it. The porch is lit by a windowlike opening on the facade. The windows of this type of house are set into moulded render surrounds.

There is one surviving house with a California Bungalow form (Type 3), on Hampshire Road. Its most distinctive feature is a half-timbered gable-roofed porch at the front. The porch is supported on three pairs of timber posts, which in turn rest on low rendered piers.

History of the estate

During the 1880s land boom, speculators carved up the land around the township then called ‘Braybrook Junction’.

From History of School 3113 Sunshine

But boom turned to bust, and the estate lay empty except for a handful of houses.

Enter industrialist H. V. McKay, and his Sunshine Harvester Works which moved to Braybrook Junction in 1906. Driven by either generosity or paternalism, McKay developed housing estates across Sunshine for his workers, the largest of which is now the suburb of Albion.

SLV photo H2016.33/103

But a smaller estate of twenty-six homes was built on Leith Avenue – nine either side of the central park, and two groups of four facing Hampshire Road.

Plan of subdivision vol 5042 fol 203

Set on a court constructed with concrete road, kerb and channel around an oblong central grassed median, construction commenced in 1924, financed by the State Savings Bank of Victoria, and designed by their chief architect Burridge Leith.

Concrete Cottages
Two Dozen for Sunshine

A scheme has recently been approved of by the State Savings Bank in regard to the building of concrete dwelling houses by a system of organisation, which will make the cost very little in excess of wood. The first of the cottages built in the State by this new system was erected in Brighton, and has proved a success, and arrangements have been made to erect about 26 such residences in Hampshire Road, Sunshine, for employees of the Harvester Works. The building of the houses is being financed by the State Savings Bank. The cost of the buildings will vary from about £650 to £800, and the bank accepts a 10 per cent deposit of the capital cost of land and building, the remainder, of course, being payable in weekly contributions over a term of years.

The use of concrete sped up the construction process.

House Built in a Day
Moulded Concrete Employed

Twenty-five houses are being built of “poured” concrete at Sunshine (Vic.) Some have been erected, the last establishing what is claimed as a world record for speedy construction; all the moulds were set and all the walls, interior and exterior “poured” and reinforced with steel in 28 hours.

This extremely rapid work, of course, means an immense saving in labour, costs, as the weekly bill for wages almost disappears. That a building produced in such an infinitesimal space of time can be practically everlasting seems to upset all previous notions of the value of slow and careful workmanship.

But in this case swift work means good work, as the rapid pouring of the concrete means that the whole of the walls will set together in one monolithic mass. This could not be achieved if the house were built up slowly in layers, causing joins in the walls and liability to cracking.

During the latter part of the winter a plant was constructed at Sunshine to conform to the new plans of the Monolyte houses designed by the chief architect of tho State Savings Bank and a start was made with the work, in connection with an extensive building contract on behalf of and under the supervision of the State Savings Bank. Houses are now being rapidly “poured” one after the other. The
usual time occupied by this system for the purpose of erecting the forms and work incidental thereto, including reinforcing, etc., is roughly five to six days, according to the size of the house to be built, while the pouring of the walls takes another six hours, thus making tho house ready for roofing within seven days.

On Monday of one week a start was made with a house of the series, and so well did tho team perform its work that tho whole of the forms were set up and the special steel reinforcing placed in position by Wednesday, thus occupying barely three days for this preliminary work. Pouring operations under the supervision of the inventor, Mr, S. B. Merchant, were commenced afterwards, and completed within four hours and ten minutes altogether, a most remarkably speedy and effective performance.

Thus with only 28 hours work (three and a half days) the whole walls, fireplaces and chimneys of a perfectly-constructed and reinforced house were completed, and the carpenters are soon busily proceeding with the erection of the roof. The moulds were again removed and re-erected ready for refilling with an other house, thus taking five days to strip from one job and rebuild another site requiring five hours or less to complete the second house within six days, and without any addition to the constant team employed on the works.

And was cheaper than timber.

Quick Concrete Houses

Sunshine is to be the scene of further pioneer work with poured concrete houses. A contract has been let by the Sunshine Harvester Company for the erection of a number of these structures in the harvester city.

Already one poured concrete house erected at Brighton has proved its stability as a liveable dwelling. The walls and roof were constructed in a week, and the Melbourne Savings Bank Commissioners, who viewed the work in progress were very favourably impressed by the achievement.

The houses now to be constructed at Sunshine will also he watched by the Savings Bank officials, who see in the system a possible means of rapid construction of artisans’ homes of a more durable quality than the timber houses now in favour. It is hoped that by rapid construction concrete houses can be turned out in large quantities at very little more than the present cost of wood construction and considerably cheaper than brick.

A concrete building completed within a fortnight is a distinctly advantageous asset over brick or timber dwelling that takes three to five months to construct. Every week gain means money in the owner’s pocket, as it saves interest and rent. The concrete dwelling also saves money every year in the matter of maintenance, as it does not require painting or structural repairs. This point appeals strongly to the Savings Bank Commissioners, who are mindful of the fact that they carry mortgages over many thousands of timber houses for periods of twenty-one years, and that those are all to some extent “wasting assets”.

At Sunshine cement and sand are available for concrete construction, but in the past the houses there were built of timber. Once the value of the concrete house is proved it is likely that Sunshine will gradually develop into a concrete city.

With the estate completed by 1926.

The Daily Mail Brisbane, 3 January 1926

A decade later in 1935, the estate was considered a stand out in the area.

Provision by the shire council of concrete footpaths in most of the streets of Sunshine should be an incentive for householders to keep in proper condition the narrow strip of space between the concrete and the kerb. Appeals have from time to time been made by council officers in the columns of the “Advocate,” but these have only been partially heeded.

A journey through the locality past the school fails to create much enthusiasm. One thoroughfare – Leith Avenue – presents a row of neat dwellings and footpaths well tended,:but further down Hampshire Road things are not so good except for one or two isolated places which show up to distinct advantage.

But a decade later it was looking a little worse for wear.

A sub-committee of the Braybrook Council is to consider if anything can be done to place the reserves in Leith Avenue, Sunshine, in order. Cr. Drayton, the mover of the motion, said that the condition of these reserves had been a bone of contention for years.

But where did the other half go?

As originally built, there were houses on both sides of Leith Avenue.

1945 Department of Lands and Survey photo map

Visible in the 1966 edition 1 Melway.

Map 40, Melway Edition 1

But today the entire north side is part of the neighbouring Sunshine Primary School and Sunshine Secondary College.

Google Earth 2020

Some of the blocks still exist on their own land title.

VicPlan data

And on the ground, the remains of driveways can be seen along Leith Avenue.

The reason? A Public Acquisition Overlay covers the land – PAO6 on the Brimbank Planning Scheme – favouring the Department of Education, for an ‘education centre’.

Brimbank Planning Scheme – map 12PAO

The adjoining Sunshine School 3113 was established in 1891, with the current brick building officially opened in 1931.

In 1913 the Sunshine Technical School opened next door, followed in 1938 by the Sunshine Girls Technical School, and expanded in 1941.

And the houses on the north side of Leith Avenue?

Charles Daniel Photograph, SLV H2016.33/102

They were progressively acquired by the State Government, including:

• 10 Leith Avenue in March 1975 for $9,750,
• 6 Leith Avenue in July 1976 for $28,000, and
• 59 Hampshire Road in August 1981 for $40,000.

And a Graham Street footnote

Remember Graham Street South? Turns out the block bounded by Graham Street and Derby Road was once covered by houses, but a Public Acquisition Overlay has seen it replaced by empty land.

Charles Daniel Photograph, SLV H2016.33/102

Properties acquired include:

• 137 Derby Road in July 1975 for $22,500,
• 139 Derby Road in February 1976 for $25,000,
• 141 Derby Road in March 1976 for $27,000,
• 143 Derby Road in September 1976 for $27,000,
• 63 Graham Street in August 1984 for $35,000, and
• 67 Graham Street in September 1976 for $29,000.

But this empty land will never see a school built on it – plans to build a new school were launched in 2006 but it was shelved in 2010. Finally in 2015 it was announced that Sunshine College would be upgraded at a cost of $10 million, but consolidated onto the West and North campuses, with the Ardeer and Senior campuses closed.

Sources

• Brimbank Heritage Design Guidelines: HO20 – Concrete Housing Estate, Sunshine
• Victorian Heritage Database: Concrete Housing Estate Precinct

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Google Street View, September 2016

With trees flanking the rows of parking.

Google Maps, July 2016

But as part of the 2017 expansion of the store, every tree in the car park was chopped down.

Google Street View, December 2017

And for what – parking bays running in a different direction.

Google Maps, October 2018

The sole improvement to the car park being the addition of a pedestrian crossing between Ballarat Road and the store entrance.

John Hedditch, former City of Brimbank mayor, had this to say on the outcome.

The Planning laws allow this to occur. Bunnings planted new little trees with a watering system and guess what they are still little trees. The planning laws are the problem. That Bunnings is a big local supplier of garden products and environmentally friendly ones at that and still does this is another matter altogether. Don’t worry it was made an issue at the time and we met with Bunnings to try and get a good environmental outcome. We failed. The picture speaks a thousand words.

Footnote

Sunshine was the first ‘big box’ Bunnings Warehouse store in Australia – opened in August 1994 by Jeff Kennett. I guess I’ll have to wait another 20 years for the tress in the car park to grow.

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Going back to the gold rush

A check of land titles in the area suggested that the roads once connected.

And when I turned to the Melway, I got another clue – ‘Historic Display – Cobbled Roadway’.

I looked it up on the Victorian Heritage Database – H7822-2334:

The site consists of a representative sample of the most intact section of a former alignment of Greigs Road. This section of road is 120m long and 4m wide, although the cartilage of the listing is 20.5m wide to match the width of the delisted section. The track includes a slightly raised embankment, approximately 0.2m above the surrounding floodplain, cobbled road surface and road edging.

And learnt that Greigs Road dated back to the gold rush.

Prior to the 1850s inland travel was generally along cart tracks but, following the gold rushes, the road to Mount Macedon and Ballarat was a busy thoroughfare of diggers passing on their way to the goldfields and was one of Victoria’s most important inland roads.

Swamp land around Rockbank made the route along Greigs Road the most practical early route to the Ballarat and later Blackwood (Ballan) diggings.

The route followed the Greigs Road alignment (at that time known as Exford Road) and across Strathtulloh property to Toolern Creek, then south to the Werribee River crossing at Exford. From here it went along Exford Road to rejoin the main road at Ballan.

This section of road was once part of the Greigs Road alignment but, following realignment of Greigs Road, is now part of the Meskos Road reserve.

With a 2013 report on Rockbank’s cultural heritage detailing the early years of European settlement.

William J T Clarke obtained a Special Survey of 140 square miles with a right to depasture stock on an equivalent area of Crown Land in 1852.

The initial survey’s were conducted by Wedge and Darke in about 1838, defining the country into a regular grid of 640 acre blocks (one mile by 1 mile), except where provision had to be made for natural features and existing travelling routes. Natural features are rare in this district, Kororoit Creek providing the only relief, and the previous route identified on the early plans as a track ‘from Upper Werriby (sic) and Pentland Hills to Melbourne’ ran roughly parallel to the existing highway, but about a kilometre to the north.

When the Crown Survey was undertaken, two roads were reserved to Ballarat, branching at Hopkins Rd. One became the present highway through Melton while the other went south along Greigs Road through Exford and on to the Bacchus Marsh. This Greigs Road route appears to have been the main route in the 1860s, and its exceptional width of about 60 m or three chains, was intended to accommodate droving livestock.

A major change to Rockbank occurred in the 1880s when the North Western Railway was constructed linking Sunshine to Ballarat through Melton and Bacchus Marsh. This meant the creation of a railway reserve, through the existing Crown Allotments and eventually forcing the realignment of the eastern end of Greigs Road to avoid an extra level crossing.

But when was Greigs Road realigned?

I thought the removal of a level crossing would be easy to find among railway records, but this time around I came up blank.

My copy of “Weekly Notice Extracts 1894-1994” by Alan Jungwirth and Keith Lambert came up blank, as did a check of Andrew Waugh’s history of signalling on the Ballarat line.

Was the realignment linked to the construction of the nearby interchange between the Western Freeway and Hopkins Road in 2001?

The intersection of Hopkins Road (Melton-Werribee Road) with the Western Freeway at Rockbank was improved using Black Spot Program funds in 1989 and 1991, but a long term solution to the congestion and crashes at this location is an elevated interchange. The $13.1 million interchange is proceeding. A sum of $3.30 million will be spent in 2001-02.

The interchange is expected to improve dramatically the safety for drivers travelling between the highway and Hopkins Road – the main route from Melton to Werribee.

The project incorporates a highway overbridge and a series of on and off ramps to cater for interruption-free traffic movements through the intersection. Under the proposal, Hopkins Road traffic will be carried on an overpass above the Western Freeway, linking to Neales Road West. A roundabout will be built where this elevated roadway intersects Government Road and on-off ramps installed to the freeway. Existing accesses to the Western Freeway from Deanside Drive, Sinclairs Road and Hopkins Road will be closed.

Seems that it didn’t – a check of the 1999 Melway shows Greigs Road already avoids the level crossing.

And going back further in time in the Melway doesn’t give me an answer – Map 357 didn’t appear until 1993, and the road was still in the current alignment.

Switching to the less detailed Map 255, the 1987 Melway shows Greigs Road as a sealed road avoiding the railway.

When the year before it was a unsealed road crossing the railway line.

Which matches this 1962 aerial photo.

Which suggests that Greigs Road was moved onto the new alignment in 1986, as part of the reconstruction of a dirt track as a sealed road .

And to the future

Right now Greigs Road passes empty grassland.

But will soon be part of the massive ‘Mt Atkinson’ estate being developed by Stockland.

The excavators have moved in.

With more than 4000 houses to occupy the estate once completed in about 20 years time.

Complete with a new town centre that will relocate Greigs Road for a second time.

Melton and Melbourne – you’ll be connected by suburban sprawl soon enough!

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Cowies Hill is located between Sayers Road and Leakes Road, with Tarneit Road skirting the edge – but this isn’t an original feature.

Early years

Once upon a time the only feature atop Cowies Hill was a pair of Melbourne Water storage tanks.

Google Earth, March 2004

Surrounded empty paddocks.

Google Street View, December 2009

With Tarneit Road climbing straight up and over the hill.

Melway map 202 (1999)

Development commences

In 2000, Wyndham City Council received an application for the development of the land bordered by Sayers Road, Derrimut Road, Leakes Road and Davis Road, with the Cowies Hill Outline Development Plan prepared to guide the development and subdivision of this area.

Developer Peet purchased 65 hectares of land on Cowies Hill for $7.23 million in 2002, with the $83.4 million residential development ‘Tarneit Rise’ featuring 627 residential lots, a child-care centre site and a school site commenced in 2006, with views across the plains featuring strongly in promotional material from the developer.

Get in on the ground floor…

Can you see it? A safe place to bring up kids amongst new friends with every amenity. For those with a little imagination and a desire for a better life, The Rise, Tarneit could be the opportunity of a lifetime.

Rise above it all

Aspiring families now have the chance to own some of the best land in the fast-growing City of Wyndham. The Rise, Tarneit has the most elevated land in Wyndham with sweeping views of the surrounding hinterland. From the apex of The Rise, you can see the CBD skyline, Mount Macedon and the You Yangs.

Houses soon starting to creep north towards the hill.

Google Earth, February 2006

By 2009 the hill was surrounded.

Google Earth, December 2009

Tarneit Road still running due north.

Google Street View, February 2010

But a road deviation had appeared in the Melway.

Melway map 202 (unknown date)

Matching concept plans created by Peet for the ‘Tarneit Gardens‘ estate.

By 2012 the realignment of Tarneit Road around Cowies Hill was complete.

Google Earth, September 2012

Kulana Lane, Tableland Road and Thwaites Road taking over the old alignment.

Google Street View, April 2014

But the water tower was still visible.

Google Street View, February 2014

Until the last houses were built along the former Tarneit Road alignment in 2019.

Google Street View, August 2019

So when was the deviation completed?

I figured that finding the date for the realignment of a main road would be easy to find in the Government Gazette, but I came up blank.

The reason being the land was never rezoned – the old Tarneit Road alignment is still designated as ‘Road Zone Category 2’.

But I eventually found my answer.

Victoria Government Gazette
28 July 2011

Geographic Place Names Act 1998
Notice of Registration of Geographic Names

The Registrar of Geographic Names hereby gives notice of the registration of the undermentioned place names

CR32618
Thwaites Road
Tarneit
Wyndham City Council

Formerly known as part of Tarneit Road (between Leakes Road and Sayers Road).

Footnote on the water tanks

The water tanks atop Cowies Hill are connected to the Melbourne Water network by a 17-kilometre long pipeline from St Albans, with $30 million spent in 2015 to upgrade the main to supply up to 200 million litres of water a day. Cowies Hill is also where the Geelong and Melbourne water networks meet, following the completion of a 59 kilometre long pipeline to Lovely Banks in 2012.

And Tarneit Gardens Shopping Centre

In December 2011 Matthew Guy, Minister for Planning used Section 20(4) of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 to rezone six hectares of land on Tarneit Road at Cowies Hill from Residential 1 to Business 1 following a request for intervention by Peet Tarneit Gardens Syndicate Limited, developer of the site.

His reasoning at the time included:

Benefits of exemption

The main benefit of the exemption is that it will enable a prompt decision to be made on the adoption and approval of the amendment. The amendment will contribute to the fair and orderly development of land in accordance with section 4 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 by providing residents in Tarneit and Tarneit West with proximate access to local retail, commercial/office and community facilities. This will not only provide neighbouring residents with conveniently located retail and community services but the provision of office floor space will also provide for local business and employment opportunities.

Effects of Exemption on Third Parties

The effects of the exemption will be that third parties will not have the opportunity to make a formal submission to the planning authority and to have this considered by an independent panel.
Wyndham City Council has provided written support for the rezoning.

I have considered the potential effects of the Amendment on the Council. Consultation with Council officers occurred during the preparation of the Development Plan which has since been approved by Council. The Council will also retain responsibility for considering and approving any planning permits associated with the further development of the site.
Given the proposal’s high level of compatibility with State and Local planning policy, and the existing development plan approval it is likely that, even were submissions to be considered, the amendment would be approved generally in accordance with this approved amendment.

An Addendum to the Development Plan outlining the layout of a town centre at Tarneit Gardens has been approved by Council. A Masterplan for the site indicating the future location for the Neighbourhood Activity Centre was provided to adjoining land owners with their Contract of Sale.

Assessment as to whether benefits of exemptions outweigh effects on third parties

I have determined that any potential impact would not outweigh the benefits of expediting this amendment. The amendment will facilitate development in an area lacking access to retail services with the nearest retail provision currently over three kilometres from the site. Accordingly I consider that the benefits of exempting myself from sections 17, 18 and 19 of the Act outweigh any effects of the exemption on third parties.

The end result was Amendment C153, permitting a maximum combined leasable shop floor area of 8,000 m2 and office floor area of 4,000 m2 – one of many planning interventions Matthew Guy made for favoured property developers across Melbourne.

And the ‘Verdant Hill’ estate

Around the corner is the ‘Verdant Hill’ estate, which features neither trees or hills.

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Starting in the land boom of the 1880s, and continuing until the introduction of formal planning controls in the 1950s, speculative subdivision of land into small blocks, many less than 0.1 hectares (1/4 acre) was rampant across Victoria.

These estates lay empty until the 1970s, when improved road access and the outward expansion of Melbourne saw pressure to develop these empty blocks, which saw the State Government fund the restructuring of inappropriately subdivided areas, a process that continues today through a “Restructure Overlays” applied to the affected land.

Failed speculative estates turned industrial

The first zombie subdivisions I found was Solomon Heights in Sunshine North – subdivided for residential purposes but related rezoned as industrial.

A similar example is the ‘Burns Road Estate‘ in Altona – subdivided in the 1920s, but never developed.

Closer to home for me are two Geelong examples – ‘New Station Estate‘ on Broderick Road – since restructured as larger industrial allotments.

And ‘New Corio Estate‘ on Shell Parade – purchased by council to become a grassland reserve.

Land boom hits Whittlesea

Eden Park west of Whittlesea was develpped during the 1880s land boom.

The subdivision of Eden Park sits six kilometres to the west of Whittlesea and 40 kilometres to the north of Melbourne. It is located between the lines of a geometric grid that in 1888 was prepared by the Burwood Land Building and Investment. Co. Ltd. The development featured 1324 lots, ranging from one to four acres in size.

But was unsuitable for such intensive development.

By 1901 upwards of 100 persons of small means had acquired lots at Eden Park, some no doubt tempted by the subdivider’s persuasive description of the advantages of a rural retreat.

In time many owners sold or surrendered their holdings by adverse possession until about 30 families owned small farms, intersected by the estate’s avenues. In the late 1960s the estate was again actively promoted, and in 1980 there were 450 individual owners and 175 detached houses.

Resulting in the restructure of the estate as a rural living area.

Created by bureaucratic bungling

Cemetery Estate in Hastings – approved for housing in 1960 with 230-plus lots sold. The Long Island Point gas fractionation facility was then built next door, rendering the unsuitable for residential development. Six households and 100+ privately owned allotments remain today.

And victims of dodgy developers

Midway between Werribee and Rockbank is Chartwell Estate – a subdivision created in the 1950s and marketed to new English migrants, and since restructured in the 1980s to facilitate limited residential development.

Swallowed by suburbia

The township of Kalkallo is located on the northern edge of Melbourne, on the Hume Highway just north of Craigieburn, and predates current planning rules.

The Kalkallo township was established in the pre-1851 squatting era and is an excellent examples of early rural town settlement. The township was subdivided into small allotments without regard for the provision of services or the effects of inadequate effluent disposal. As a result many of the allotments are incapable of adequately supporting a dwelling.

So as Melbourne has crept towards the township, a restructure overlay has been placed over it, to ensure that sympathetic development occurs.

Fire hazards

In the hills east of Melbourne, the Yarra Ranges Council is worried about the bushfire risk.

The objectives of the Restructure Plans under the Restructure Overlay are to:

• Ensure that existing old and inappropriate subdivisions are restructured in a manner that reduces development densities, that provides development opportunities consistent with the capacity of the site and the area to absorb such development without adverse impact on the environment and landscape of the area and without creating undue social and utility servicing pressures.
• Ensure that the restructure of old and inappropriate subdivisions assists in achieving environmental and landscape objectives for the area generally and that development of these lots is environmentally sensitive in its siting, design and construction.
• Ensure that adequate and proper servicing arrangements are made whilst recognising that there are often environmental impacts and high costs associated with infrastructure and utility service provisions.
• Recognise that restructure lots generally have poor accessibility and are often in isolated locations removed from community and other service facilities.
• Recognise that restructure areas are often located in high fire hazard areas and that any new development must be sited and designed to minimise fire hazard.

The end result – a total of 134 separate restructure overlays.

Holiday homes by the beach

I discovered Summerlands Estate of Phillip Island and the mysterious “This area is subject to a Government acquisition program” note alongside as a child. Developed from the 1920s in the middle of the penguin habitat, environmental concerns saw the “Summerland Estate Buy-Back Programme” launched in 1985, that saw the entire suburb wiped off the map by 2010.

The nearby ‘Scenic Estate’ was a similar situation – again redeveloped as a nature park.

The same concerns apply along the Victorian coast.

Old and Inappropriate Subdivisions along the coast is an issue that planning has been attempting to deal with for some time. Most subdivisions occurred prior to formal planning laws being introduced. Issues being grappled with include: potential coastal erosion; climate change impacts; and development thresholds.

Point Roadknight near Anglesea is an uncontentious example.

The Anglesea Neighbourhood Character Study (2003) identified two areas in Point Roadknight where the lots are substantially smaller in width and site area to the general pattern of allotments in the area.

Lots in the area adjoining Great Ocean Road are approximately 9.3m wide and have an area of 523m². Lots fronting Eighth and Eleventh Avenues are approximately 9.3m wide and have an area of 417m². This compares with the predominant lot size of 1000-1500m² in the surrounding areas. These lots result from past inappropriate subdivision, and in the majority of cases are owned in groups of two or three, with an existing dwelling constructed across the boundaries of the lots.

The Study flagged that if the lots in these land parcels were to each be developed individually for a dwelling, or re-subdivided to facilitate this outcome, it would result in an adverse impact on the character of the surrounding area. A recent example of the type of development being discouraged is at 59 Eighth Avenue, where the boundaries of two lots (each 417m²) were realigned to facilitate the construction of two dwellings, resulting in a crowded development that is uncharacteristic of the area.

Since restructured.

Landowners fight back

Attempts to restructure land in South Gippsland saw landowners fight back – Toora being one example.

But the Wellington Shire Council’s handling of Ninety Mile Beach subdivisions went to the Victorian Ombudsman:

The story of the development of Ninety Mile Beach is a sorry tale indeed. Thousands of people, mostly migrants, lured by developers with the promise of their own slice of paradise on Victoria’s own Gold Coast. The brochures promise a well-planned resort, with shopping centres and amenities, illustrated by pictures of glamorous women in bathing costumes on the golden sands.

Then as the years wear on the promises unravel. Much of the land cannot be developed, at least in its present form. Some of it is beach dunes. Some of it is flood-prone. Much of it is inaccessible. Successive environmental studies confirm what should have been seen at the outset, that it should never have been sold off in the first place. The original developers have disappeared.

In the meantime, some owners have continued to pay rates and other charges on their now worthless slices of paradise. Others have refused to pay. Yet others have sold their land back to the council for the nominal sums reflecting the land’s current value, later accusing the council of profiteering. In recent years the anger and frustration of many current and former landowners seems to have escalated, and to date has resulted in 67 complaints to my office.

Since then it has been recommended that blocks on coastal dunes and in flood-prone areas should be acquired by the State Government, while those in ‘urban settlement nodes’ can be developed, but only if the original individual lots are combined with three others to form a single block.

Impacts on agriculture

In Melbourne’s outer east Cardinia Shire Council has seen inappropriate subdivisions encroach on agricultural land.

In the area south of the Princes Highway, there are also many areas that were subdivided into 20 acre parcels as part of the draining of the Koo Wee Rup Swamp. These areas often contain high quality productive soils and many are within the Koo-wee-rup Flood Protection District, therefore they are subject to regular flooding. Many of the lots are also held in contiguous ownership and are being farmed as one farming unit.

It is considered that the development of housing on lots at the density of the original subdivision will compromise the long term agricultural productivity of the land and would substantially alter the character of the area. The Restructure overlay has been put in place to restrict the number of dwellings being constructed on lots that are in contiguous ownership.

The Mount Alexander Shire Council has similar concerns in the Victorian gold fields, where farmland around Ravenswood, Muckleford and Maldon is at risk of being developed for residential uses.

The lots in these areas mainly comprise old Crown Allotments which are significantly smaller than the minimum lot size allowed under the Farming Zone (40 hectares) and which if developed with dwellings could lead to the entrenchment of these areas as rural living areas.

This is not supported because it would remove land from productive agricultural use and in many cases will also be incompatible with the environmental values of the areas. In addition, some of the areas are relatively remote from townships and services.

Conditional on access

In the Shire of Murrindindi restructure plans, development of one allotment is conditional on access being approved to the Maroondah Highway.

While another restructure allotment is reserved to provide access to a neighbouring parcel that is landlocked.

And protecting townships in the middle of nowhere

In the south-west the Colac Otway Shire has restructured subdivisions in Cressy, Gerangamete, Pirron Yallock and Irrewillipe.

The Surf Coast Shire has restructured the outskirts of Deans Marsh.

South Gippsland Shire restructured historically envisaged railway and port settlements, and State Government land settlement schemes from the late 19th century.

As well as former coalmining townships.

And the Pyrenees Shire in western Victoria have put in place restructure overlays on the townships of Avoca, Wattle Creek, Beaufort and Snake Valley, amongst others.

And the most bizarre example

Sandstone Island is a 20 hectare island located one kilometre southeast of Hastings, which was bizzarly subdivided into 142 suburban-sized allotments during the 1960s.

Sandstone Island is rural freehold land held in single ownership and is isolated and constrained by its geographical location and lack of infrastructure. The Island is bordered by steep, grassy coastal bluffs. The Island contains an existing dwelling and shed and there is no provision for tourism or commercial uses.

So the restructuring of them into a single allotment was an obvious solution.

The legal bits

The Victoria Planning Provisions detail what a “Restructure Overlay” is.

Restructure Overlays are shown on the planning scheme map as RO with a number.

Purpose

• To implement the Municipal Planning Strategy and the Planning Policy Framework.
• To identify old and inappropriate subdivisions which are to be restructured.
• To preserve and enhance the amenity of the area and reduce the environmental impacts of dwellings and other development.

Subdivision

• A permit is required to subdivide land.
• A subdivision must be in accordance with a restructure plan for the land listed in the schedule to this overlay.
• Each lot must be provided with reticulated sewerage if available. If reticulated sewerage is not available, the application must be accompanied by a land assessment report which demonstrates that each lot is capable of treating and retaining all waste water.

Decision guidelines

Before deciding on an application, in addition to the decision guidelines in Clause 65, the responsible
authority must consider, as appropriate:

• The objectives of the restructure plan for the area.
• Appropriate measures to cope with any environmental hazard or constraint affecting the land, including slope, drainage, salinity and erosion.
• The protection and enhancement of the natural environment and the character of the area including the retention of vegetation and fauna habitats and the need to revegetate along waterways, gullies, ridge lines and property boundaries.
• The availability of utility services, including sewerage, water, drainage, electricity, gas and telecommunications.
• The relationship of the intended use and development to the existing or likely use and development of adjoining and nearby land.
• The effect on surrounding uses, especially agricultural uses and nearby public land.

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Exploring the paddock

The bulk of the land is open grasslands, but back in 2010 one landowner had fenced off their little portion.

And by 2019 they were planning to build a warehouse on the site.

Other landowners were trying to sell their slice.

One vendor selling multiple blocks.

But the strangest were these two blocks of land located on a non-existent road – ‘Danglow Avenue’.

Doing some digging

When I headed over to Google Maps, a grid of tiny blocks of land appeared.

With the state government Land Channel maps showing the same.

Including a larger block of land zoned for public parkland.

So why was the estate never developed, unlike the industrial complexes that now surround it?

And the answer

Hobsons Bay City Council has a page on what is called the ‘Burns Road Industrial Estate‘.

The Burns Road Industrial Estate is located between the State Baseball Softball Centre, Harcourt Road and Merton Street in Altona. It has 505 lots owned by over 170 property owners. The estate was subdivided in the 1920s. No roads, drains or other services have ever physically been created. The estate has remained undeveloped for almost 100 years due to a range of complex issues, including lot size and configuration, native vegetation, and the complexities of the multiple ownerships.

Including a detailed history of the estate.

1929: The Burns Road Estate was subdivided for the purpose of residential development, with the site set aside as a reserve to be used for private recreation to serve the residential lots. Although the site was identified for the purposes of public open space, it was not vested into Council’s name as part of the original subdivision.

Mid 1950s: The Estate was zoned ‘Rural’ (east of Henty Avenue) and Explosive Buffer Zone (west of Henty Avenue). The Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works also placed an Interim Development Order (IDO) on the Estate and detached houses were permitted provided the site was five acres (two hectares). Industrial development was prohibited.

1960s: The Explosive Buffer Zone was replaced with the Rural Zone. From the late 1960s to the mid 1970s the minimum land requirements to construct a detached house were reduced to 3.5 acres (1.4 hectares) and industry and light industry were allowed subject to a planning permit.

1976: The land was rezoned to Reserved Light Industrial where light industry and detached houses were allowed (no conditions were attached).

1986: The Minister for Planning and Environment applied an IDO over and around the Altona Petrochemical Complex. This was followed by Amendment 404 to the Altona Planning Scheme.

1988: The new Altona Planning Scheme was introduced and detached housing was prohibited. The land at 18‐71 Harcourt Road, Altona was included as Public Open Space.

1993: Employee Population Density Controls were introduced to the Altona Planning Scheme to protect the State’s petrochemical industry and minimise the risk to personal safety from a major petrochemical accident.

1997: Given the long and complex history with the Estate, the Council engaged Ratio Consultants to prepare the Burns Road Industrial Estate Structure Plan. The Structure Plan, which was not adopted, recommended:
– A restructure of the subdivision to a minimum lot size of two hectares (which was based on the 1997 development market for industrial lots);
– Minimum road pavement of 10.2 metres for all internal roads and 20 metres for periphery roads; and
– Implementation facilitated by establishing a unit trust, whereby landowners register their lots with the trust which then offers the land.

2000: The New Format Planning Scheme was introduced and the Estate was zoned SUZ4 which specifies a minimum lot size of two hectares for development of this land and contains the Employee Population Density Controls.

2002: The Council began preparing the Industrial Land Management Strategy (ILMS) which was introduced into the planning scheme as a reference document via Amendment C33.

2008: Amendment C33 was approved by the Minister for Planning. The Estate forms part of Precinct 1 – Burns Road, Altona, which is identified as ‘Core Industrial’ in the ILMS reference document. A key strategic action/objective for this Precinct is to support its role as Core Industrial.

2011‐12: The Council undertook a policy neutral review of the Municipal Strategic Statement as part of Amendment C63. The Panel Report for Amendment C63 recommended that the
Council add under Further Strategic work in Clause 21.07 Economic Development, ‘review the planning framework for the Burns Road Estate area in Altona to determine the appropriate policy zoning, and overlays to address long standing use and development issues’

2013: Council adopted this recommendation and resolved to undertake a feasibility study for the Estate.

The most recent review was triggered by a group of irate landowners.

A group of up to 200 landholders, spearheaded by Laverton North business owner Michael Sergi, believe the council has not helped them make something of their investment.

Mr Sergi said the council had been “stealing rates” and had “failed the people of Altona”.

“In 1997, the council commissioned Ratio planning and development consultants to produce a structure plan for the Burns Road industrial estate,” he said.

“The report recommended a ‘unit trust’ scheme where individual lots would be pooled to form a minimum two hectares for development.

“The report was presented to landowners in July 2004 and promptly shelved. Why has Hobsons Bay not acted on the report of the consultants it has contracted?”

As the Weekly exclusively reported last September, Mr Sergi hopes to form a consortium and build a truck wash on the 40-hectare estate, which was rezoned light industrial in 1954.

To date, he has spent more than $1 million battling the council without progressing his plans.

In 2014 a consultant was engaged to negotiate a settlement between landowners, leading to the creation of the Burns Road Landowners Group in 2017.

Membership of the group had risen to 46 by August 2018, representing 230 of the 505 lots in the estate, while at the same time a group of five landowners rationalised their nearly 100 lots into less and more logical parcels.

100 years after the initial subdivision of the estate, it appears that development might finally be going ahead!

Further reading

• Zoning issues at the Burns Road Industrial Estate
• More at the Hobsons Bay City Council website

And a Princes Freeway footnote

A short distance on the other side of Kororoit Creek Road is another seemingly empty paddock.

Located in the triangle between the Princes Freeway and a car storage yard.

 
That’s the Laverton North Grasslands – 40 hectares of land reserved in the 1980s to preserve one of the few remaining grasslands in western Melbourne.

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Melway Edition 22 Map 431 (1993)

Paying a visit to Summerlands

It took me until 2011 to finally visit Summerlands in person.

The views were fantastic.

But all I found was a ghost town.

Gravel tracks leading into the scrub.

And a handful of abandoned houses.

Ready to be demolished.

So what happened?

Google Maps satellite imagery (2016)

A history of Summerlands

Subdivision of Summerlands commenced in the 1920s with 12 large allotments created, along with features such as a roundabout and cypress trees that were still visible decades later. Between 1927 and 1931, 227 new blocks were created, and from 1929 to 1940 there was a nine-hole golf course on what is now the Penguin Parade car park.

Photo from the Phillip Island and District Historical Society collection

In 1950s, a further 437 blocks were created, and the final subdivisions were carried out in 1958 and 1961 on land closer to The Nobbies. Much of the land was sold to speculators rather than those interested in building on it, and by 1974 only 11 percent of the 986 blocks of land had been cleared or built on.

Phillip Island Nature Parks photo

By the 1970s it was recognised that residential development of the estate would threaten the adjacent penguin colony, but it was not until 1985 that the Victorian Government launched the “Summerland Estate Buy-Back Programme” to purchase all 774 allotments on the Summerland Peninsula and add them to the Phillip Island Nature Park, with a projected end date of 2000. This decision meant that land owners could not build on their land, improve their properties, or sell them to anyone but the Government.

In the years that followed a total of 732 properties were been voluntarily sold by their owners, at a cost to the government of around a million dollars a year.

Phillip Island Nature Parks photo

With the final push made in 2007, when the decision was made to compulsorily acquire the final 42 properties – 20 empty blocks and 22 with houses, held by 34 private owners – over the next three years, at a cost of $15 million.

Bass Coast Planning Scheme – Public Acquisition Overlay at Summerlands Estate as of 23 May 2007

A tour of the last remaining houses

In February 2008 the Google Street View car did the rounds of Summerlands Estate, capturing the last remaining houses.

Classic 1950s fibro beach houses.

1970s brick.

Or looking to have been built just before the 1985 land buyback.

Some were out in the middle of an empty plain.

Others nestled between the tea trees.

Or hidden away completely.

Some looking to be only used at holiday time.

Others looking like they were occupied year round.

With neat front gardens.

But some had already been demolished.

And the end

In 2007-08 five property purchases were settled and agreement to purchase one property was reached, along with six negotiated purchase offers and one offer for compulsory acquisition. In 2008-09 fourteen properties were purchased taking the total number to 25, leaving 17 properties still to be acquired, a process completed in June 2010.

Land Victoria showing Summerlands Estate land still under separate titles as of 13 June 2011

At the time of my 2011 visit, the Summerlands Estate was being returned to nature.

The roads had been closed to vehicles.

Few houses remained.

Excavators at work clearing them away.

Leaving behind a front fence.

Gardens.

An empty block where houses once stood.

Building rubble.

Ready for new tree plantings.

Introduced trees has been ringbarked.

Slowly killing them.

Before their eventual removal.

Power lines were also being removed.

Replaced by new underground wires.

And farewell

I drove past the house on the hill in 2011.

By 2013 the only trace left was a plot of freshly planted trees.

I wonder how it looks a decade on.

Further reading

• Govt forces penguin reserve land buyback (ABC News, 2007)
• When Phillip Island penguins won, and land owners lost (ABC News, 2018)
• To Save Tiny Penguins, This Suburb Was Wiped Off the Map (New York Times, 2019)
• Summerlands Rehabilitation Project (Phillip Island Nature Parks, 2015)
• Department of Sustainability and Environment. “Annual Report 2008 – Report of Operations”
• Department of Sustainability and Environment. “Annual Report 2009 – Report of Operations”

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Google Maps

Early years

The neat grid of streets stand out against the flat grasslands, 7 km south of Rockbank and 10 km north of Werribee.

Land Victoria

All with British names:

• Downing Street,
• Mayfair Avenue,
• Eaton Court,
• Oxford Street,
• Shelly Court,
• Wandsworth Street,
• McMillan Parade,
• Finchley Court,
• The Mall,
• Sheridan Close,
• Stratford Road

Volume 2 – The Environmental Thematic History from the Shire of Melton Heritage Study by David Moloney explains how the estate came to be:

Rosedale Estate, Chartwell (commonly known as the ‘Chartwell Estate’) was a 1957 subdivision of 491 township sized allotments situated on the eastern corner of Boundary Road and Downing Street (Crown Allotment 5, Section 4, Parish of Pywheitjorrk).

The English mansion Chartwell, best known for its twentieth century ownership by Sir Winston Churchill, overlooks ‘The Weald of Kent’: a rolling green woodland. If the name Chartwell was meant to inspire images of such British landscapes, the Melton South Chartwell – isolated, flat, dry, and totally devoid of trees – was a grand fraud. The Estate’s street names – The Mall, Oxford Street, Downing Street, Mayfair Avenue, Eaton Court, Wandsworth Street, Stratford Street, Macmillan Parade, and Finchley Court – seem to be intended to inspire rich images of England. Most are famous English streets or places; others, including Macmillan Parade (probably named after Harold Macmillan, the English Prime Minister who assumed office in 1957), had more contemporary associations.

The original subdividers, an English couple, went bankrupt before selling the entire estate, which was then taken over by a real estate company. The estate was marketed to new English migrants in western suburbs migrant hostels, many of whom purchased their allotment ‘site unseen’ on the basis of the estate’s proximity to Melbourne, and affordability.

An example of these advertisements is this from 1964.

The Age, 3 November 1964

With land still on sale a decade later.

The Age, 8 December 1973

The land being zoned residential as late as 1985.

1985 Planning Scheme

Development pains

The 491 lot estate could have housed 1500 people, but the land wasn’t suitable for development:

The original approval of the estate in 1957 had apparently been an oversight on the part of a Council which at that time had little experience with legal processes for residential subdivision. The estate did not have water and, more significantly, sewerage; the high rock bedrock of the district would not accommodate 491 septic tanks.

Following the introduction of the Melbourne Metropolitan Interim Development Order (Extension Area No. 1) in 1971, the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works refused 18 applications for detached houses in the Rosedale Estate, with the Town Planning Appeals Tribunal hearing three appeals.

In 1976 the subject of development was revisited by Earle and Partners, as part of their Melton-Sunbury Peripheral Towns Study for the Melton-Sunbury Interim Co-ordinating Committee:

We recommend that no public effort be made to improve the services of water or sewerage to Chartwell and that any further building be subject to satisfactory sewerage, drainage and water being provided on the site.

It is expected that this will require a degree of site amalgamation and could result in a total population of 300-400 people.

Existing residents were against further development:

The Board received a letter signed by ten residents on November 16, 1977 stating that they considered that ‘any further development would create unbearable living conditions for those already living on the estate’. The letter noted the problem of roads being ‘impassable for long periods during wet weather’, and the general lack of facilities. The residents were particularly concerned about the lack of sewerage and drainage and believe that a health hazard will result if further development occurs.

But in 1977 the Board’s Planning Committee resolved that the area had been accepted for ultimate development, and that to achieve that it would be necessary to provide water supply and sewerage facilities.

This decision was reverted in 1981, when the Board and the Council commenced a joint study into the future of the estate, with a view to restructuring it and ultimately issuing permits for detached houses on the restructured lots. Provision of a water supply was investigated.

Possible sources of water for a reticulated town supply have been investigated. The first was by connection to the Board’s main at Cowies Hill. Preliminary estimates indicated that such a service would cost in the vicinity of $1,000,000. A second alternative was the provision of a main extending from Rockbank. Cost estimates in respect of this service are likely to be in excess of $500,000.

The alternative to a reticulated water supply would be the provision of water storage tanks to each house. Chartwell has the lowest rainfall in the Melbourne region with an average annual rainfall of 400-500 mm. Assuming a roof area of 150 spare metres the maximum amount of water that could be collected in one year is 75,000 litres (16,500 gallons). Not allowing for leakage and evaporation, this would permit 205 litres to be used per day. For a house occupied by 4 persons this represents 51 litres (11 gallons) per person per day. The State Rivers and Water Supply Commission have advised that each person in a household requires 113 litre (25 gallons) per day minimum. In the metropolitan area the average per capita consumption is 160 litres per day (35 gallons).

It appears then that a severe shortage of water is indicated if reliance were to be placed on roof fed tank supplies. It would not be possible to maintain gardens and the use of water for laundry purposes would be severely restricted. In addition to the inconvenience caused by continual water rationing and the necessity to have water delivered by truck at high cost in times of drought, the lack of means with which to fight fires is an especially serious concern due to the estate’s isolation and restricted access.

A heavier use of the roads would exacerbate this poor condition due to the lack of drainage and the heavy impermeable soils which can cause roads to become impassable in this area.

Sewage being a sticking point.

In the absence of reticulated sewerage for the disposal of sewerage and household sullage, the usual system used is the septic tank. The heavy soils and poor drainage of this area therefore suggest that the disposal of effluent by soil absorption should desirably be carried out on much larger residential sites.

As was the lack of other ‘urban’ facilities.

It also appears that other facilities normally associated with a residential development are lacking in this area. No shops exist at Chartwell, the closest being located at Rockbank. The shopping facilities available at Rockbank are very limited, being only a general store, and residents in the area are required to travel to Melton, Werribee or Sunshine to satisfy most of their shopping needs.

No school exists at Chartwell so children living in the area are taken by bus to schools at Werribee. Whilst the Education Department has reserved a site within the Rosedale Estate for a school, the maximum development potential of the subdivision is well below that required to support a full primary school.

Public open space in the estate has not been developed.

The final decision being:

The Board therefore submitted that development at Chartwell would not be in accordance with the orderly and proper planning of the area or the western sector of Melbourne generally.

It intended that if development were to be permitted at Chartwell, a corresponding pressure and demand for the provision of water, sewerage and drainage services, upgrading of access, provision of educational facilities and other community services to the township would follow. The high capital cost of servicing Chartwell compared with its relatively low development potential under existing policies would be likely to lead to increased pressure for further urban zoning to justify such a large expenditure on them.

The Board therefore submitted that it would be preferable to prevent any development which may dissipate resources from the designated growth centres for the time being.

But despite this, by 1981 14 houses have been erected on 18 lots, of the total 464 residential allotments.

In 1982 one landowner took the Shire of Melton to the Victorian Ombudsman to appeal their rejection of a building permit.

“My wife and I are owners of a residential block of land at Rosedale Estate Chartwell which is in the Rockbank Riding of the Shire of Melton. We purchased the land ten years ago with the idea of building our own home on that land when next I was posted to the Melbourne area (I am a member of the RAAF). We came back to Melbourne in January of this year eager to build on our land only to find that the Melton Shire Council will not issue building permits and any attempt by us to secure a permit would be opposed by the MMBW. For the past ten years we have paid our rates and it seems we will be expected to carry on paying rates even though we are refused building permits.

If the Melton Shire Council cannot be forced to provide facilities and issue building permits could they be forced to buy the land from us thus enabling us to build elsewhere.”

The council reiterating the history of the estate.

“The Rosedale Estate, at Chartwell, was subdivided about 20 years ago. The Council of the day apparently did not require the subdivider to construct the streets. There seems to have been an arrangement whereby the subdivider was to provide water supply from underground sources, but the water proved to be unsuitable, both as to quality and quantity. Fourteen houses have been erected on the subdivision, and the owners are dependent on rainwater for their supply. Over the years some gravelling and minor maintenance of the streets has been provided to give the residents access to their properties. Electricity and telephone services are available, but the Estate is otherwise unserviced. Several years ago the Council tried to interest the then residents in a “self help” water supply scheme, but found that the majority were unwilling to participate in a scheme which would improve conditions for themselves and allow others to build there.

And the reasons for refusal.

The Council, as a planning authority in its own right, has granted permits for the erection of houses on various lots in the Estate, but similar applications to the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works, as the regional planning authority have met with refusals. One or two house permits have been obtained on appeal, but other applicants have not pursued the matter following refusal.

The Council is certainly in sympathy with owners who wish to build on their land, but now feels that the Estate should be treated as an “old and inappropriate” subdivision. A joint study into the future of the Estate has been commenced with the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works, in the hope that various parcels of lots can be consolidated into a very much smaller number of larger “rural residential” allotments. The study is only in its initial stages but, when it is sufficiently advanced, all property owners affected will be consulted to ascertain their views and perhaps suggest a range of alternative futures for the area.

To develop the Estate as it stands, to a normal residential standard, would require the expenditure of millions of dollars on the construction of the private streets, drains, sewers, and the provision of water supply. Much of this would be a direct cost to the owners of the properties. It would be many years, if ever, before the development of the Estate had a sufficient priority in the eyes of the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission to qualify for Government assistance in the provision of water supply and sewerage.

In his letter, the complainant referred to payment of rates and the possibility of the Council buying his land. The land cannot be exempted from rating, and the Council has no need of the land for any municipal purpose. In the event of a restructuring scheme proceeding, as outlined earlier in this letter, there would presumably be an opportunity of selling the land to whichever authority may have the responsibility for implementing such a scheme or, alternatively of purchasing additional adjoining land to create a larger allotment.

The issue was finally resolved in 1992, following the implementation of the Chartwell Restructure Allotment Plan. The 491 lots were reduced to 62, the bulk being around 0.6 hectares in size, the exception being 14 already occupied by dwellings.

Chartwell Restructure Allotment Plan

In the years since, the number of houses on the estate has risen to 16.

And the future

In 2008 plans for the Outer Metropolitan Ring Road were made public, to connect the Hume Freeway at Kalkallo in the north, to the Princes Freeway south-west of Werribee.

But one problem for the residents of Chartwell – the freeway alignment went straight through the middle of the estate.

VicRoads Public Acquisition Overlay, via Land Victoria

The City of Melton made a submission to the ‘Delivering Melbourne’s Newest Sustainable Communities’ study.

The Chartwell Estate on Boundary Road is a small closer settlement of around 15-20 houses. The proposed alignment has a major impact upon this settlement, and would effectively see its complete destruction. This is likely to have significant social implications. Whilst Council appreciates that there are significant engineering constraints associated with the alignment of the OMR, the impact of this outcome should not be underestimated, and Council would urge VicRoads to explore whether there are alignment options which might see the OMR avoid Chartwell.

But the final route of the freeway was still pushed through the estate.

OMR Transport Corridor Design Sheet 4

A note on Public Acquisition Overlays

You might have noticed something a little odd about the Public Acquisition Overlays marked in yellow on this map – PAO3, PAO5 and PAO7.

VicRoads Public Acquisition Overlay, via Land Victoria

Turns out Public Acquisition Overlay numbers are only unique to the planning scheme that they belong to, and not unique across the state. In the case of Chartwell, the estate sits on the border of two:

The top half is the Melton Planning Scheme:

• PAO3: Outer Metropolitan Ring / E6 Transport Corridor
• PAO5: Western Grassland Reserves

While the bottom half the Wyndham Planning Scheme:

• PAO5: Outer Metropolitan Ring / E6 Transport Corridor
• PAO7: Western Grassland Reserves

Clear as mud?

And a note on the Western Grassland Reserve

The Western Grassland Reserve was established in 2009 to protect remnant grasslands, and offset urban sprawl, but only 9% of land has been acquired so far. So what’ll be finished first – freeway or grassland?

Sources

• Volume 2 – The Environmental Thematic History, the Shire of Melton Heritage Study, David Moloney
• Victorian Ombudsman, Quarterly Report, 30 September 1981

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