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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Built it up

Construction work on the Laverton Rail Upgrade project on the Werribee line has been a recent theme – we see that work on the third platform was almost done.

Along with the new footbridge.

Another project was the construction of a new station on the Craigieburn line at Coolaroo.

Served by a similarly large footbridge.

Nothing ever changes on the Albury line

Another project of the period was the North East Rail Revitalisation Project, which was converting the deteriorating Seymour-Albury railway broad gauge track to standard gauge, providing two parallel tracks at a cost of $500 million.

While this work was underway, V/Line services had replaced by buses since 2008.

A new platform was also constructed on the standard gauge track at Broadmeadows.

And V/Line was also busy upgrading trains for the return of trains to Albury.

It was intended for V/Line trains to return in late 2010 but poor track quality delayed it until June 2011.

Unfortunately nothing has changed in the decade since – 2012 saw a promise to ‘fix’ the track, but reliability of V/Line services to Albury has stayed in the toilet , despite the addition of a third and even fourth train set to run the service.

May 2018 saw the launch of the $235 million North East Line Upgrade project – will this finally solve it?

But plenty of change towards Sunshine

Ten years ago the view along the line between the CBD and Sunshine was very different.

Freight sidings filled the area between North Melbourne and Moonee Ponds Creek.

South Kensington station used to have trees on the platform.

Suburban and V/Line trains needed to share four tracks to Footscray.

And two tracks through West Footscray.

There was plenty of grass beside Sunshine Road.

And a rickety timber footbridge across the tracks at Sunshine.

All are now gone, to make way for the new Regional Rail Link tracks that separated suburban and V/Line services from 2015.

Blink and you’ll miss it

January 2010 saw the first Southern Spirit rail cruise run through Melbourne, on a journey from Adelaide to Brisbane.

Barely squeezing into the platform at Southern Cross Station.

The last Southern Spirit rail cruise ran in May 2012, with the concept was relaunched in 2019 as the Great Southern.

Things that are gone

I swung past Essendon station.

Where traffic queued up at the Buckley Street level crossing – removed in 2018.

City Circle Trams used to be maroon.

Since 2012 they have been replaced by the W8 class tram rebuilds, with the final one withdrawn in 2018.

And buses in Geelong used to be green.

The Benders livery replaced the blue Geelong Transit System brand from the 1980s, but has since given way to Public Transport Victoria orange.

At Lara station I captured a 1950s-era A class locomotive hauling a V/Line train towards Geelong.

In 2013 they were withdrawn, only to be returned to service in 2014, then finally withdrawn in 2018.

Another V/Line antique was the compartment carriages used on a once daily return trip to Geelong.

The set remained in service until August 2010, when the delivery of additional VLocity trains enabled it to be retired.

And finally, I captured The Overland headed out of Geelong bound for Adelaide.

Government funding for the service expired in 2015 was was renewed for three years, followed by a one year renewal in 2018, which has yet to be renewed at the time that I write this.

And the start of a plague

In 2009 VicRoads commenced the trial of ‘High Productivity Freight Vehicles‘ at the Port of Melbourne.

These B-double trucks with quad axle trailers were up to 30 metres long and 77.5 tonnes in weight, transporting four TEU of containers compared to the three TEUs moved by standard B-doubles.

In the years since trucks have now taken over the streets of Melbourne’s inner west, while the Port Rail Shuttle project that was supposed to move containers onto rail has gone nowhere.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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New infrastructure

Work on the new platform at Laverton was well underway, with tracks laid but not connected.

At Footscray station the new footbridge was starting to look real.

But the rickety old timber bridge was still in place.

While at North Melbourne the new concourse had finally opened, with both Metcard and myki ticket readers provided.

Allowing the old northern exit to be closed off.

With Connex staff on hand to direct any confused passengers.

The extension of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre had also wrapped up.

The new Seafarers Bridge was open to pedestrians.

And the wharf sheds at the Duke’s and Orr’s dry dock were being restored for use as a bar.

Changes around Geelong

I visited the Barrabool Hills, where the Geelong Ring Road climbs away from the Barwon River.

Back then it was empty paddocks.

But now it’s full of houses, occupied by people who commute to Melbourne.

I also went past the Ford casting plant at North Shore, where engine blocks for Ford cars were produced.

The plant closed in 2016 following Ford’s withdrawal from Australian manufacturing, and is currently being demolished.

And scenes that are gone

Remember when trams stopped at each intersection along Swanston Street, and you needed to climb up from road level?

Design work for platform stops at City Square, Bourke Street and the State Library commenced in 2010, with the new stops completed in 2012.

Southern Cross Station used to be a lot emptier.

As was the Docklands skyline to the west.

The station is now filled with shops, while I’ve lost track of all the buildings built in Docklands.

Over at ‘E’ Gate I found a much more industrial scene, where loaded steel wagons were being shunted.

Followed by a steel train bound for Hastings.

But now the entire area is an empty paddock: the yard closed in 2015 to make room for the ‘E’ Gate development, but will instead be covered with flyovers for the West Gate ‘Tunnel’ project.

I also headed out to West Footscray station.

This entire scene is now gone following the Regional Rail Link project, with the current West Footscray station opened in 2013.

The view in the other direction is also gone.

Every single house on the north side of Buckley Street was compulsorily acquired to make room for the additional tracks, and the footbridge I was standing on demolished and not replaced.

And around the corner was the Rising Sun Hotel.

Back then it was abandoned, but it has since been reborn – the pub was converted to apartments in 2012, with the mural peeking out from behind.

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In with the new

Every month seems to involve new rail infrastructure, and this is no different.

At Laverton station on the Werribee line, a crane was hard at work lifting the new footbridge spans into place.

Cranes were also working at Coolaroo.

Where a new two platform station was being built on the Craigieburn line, between Broadmeadows and Roxburgh Park stations.

While the long awaited new footbridge at Footscray station was slowly being extended across the tracks.

Just in time to be partially demolished in 2013 to make way for Regional Rail Link.

The first of the new X’Trapolis trains had arrived into Melbourne, and were running around minus any branding.

The result of a 2007 contest between existing suppliers of Melbourne trains, Siemens and Alstom, the trains were a much needed response to cater for an explosion in rail patronage. The past decade has seen X’Trapolis trains now forming the core of the Melbourne train fleet, but have been ordered in numbers just big enough to keep the Alstom factory at Ballarat in business, putting it’s future in doubt.

In 2009 the rollout of Myki equipment on the V/Line platforms at Southern Cross Station kicked off.

With temporary fencing funnelling passengers through the future ticket gates.

But it took June 2013 (four more years!) until Myki was first accepted on V/Line commuter services, with paper tickets not killed off until February 2014.

Scenes that no longer exist

Non-air conditioned Hitachi trains were still in service.

The last one running in December 2013.

Furlong Road at Ginifer station still had a level crossing.

It wasn’t grade separated until 2017.

V/Line was still running two car VLocity trains, like this one passing through Middle Footscray.

The houses in the background were demolished in 2011 to make way for the Regional Rail Link project, and in June 2016 the last VLocity train was extended to three cars.

Here a V/Line train pulling into Melbourne Yard, with the Docklands skyline in the background.

In 2014 the area was rebuilt as part of the Regional Rail Link project, but without any platforms at North Melbourne, while the V/Line train itself was retired in August 2017.

I went past the freight yard at North Dynon freight yard.

Aurizon withdrew from the operation of interstate intermodal services in 2017, V/Line trains now pass by on their own Regional Rail Link tracks, and Sunbury trains will soon move into the Metro Tunnel portal now being constructed.

Plus further afield, I photographed a V/Line train from Warrnambool passes the new housing developments of Grovedale and Waurn Ponds.

The surrounding paddocks were rezoned as the Armstrong Creek Growth Area in 2010, with Waurn Ponds station opened on the site in 2014, but it took until this year for the first bus route through Armstrong Creek to commence operation.

I also followed a freight train bound for Mildura, passing through the abandoned station at Creswick.

And Clunes.

Both stations closed to passengers in 1993, but now see passenger trains again – Creswick from a new platform opened in 2010 following the restoration of passenger services to Maryborough, and Clunes from a platform restored in 2011.

And away from the railway tracks

Remember when the Western Ring Road had a grass median strip?

Opened back in the 1990s, it was widened in stages from 2009, with the final section completed in 2018. How long until the next ‘upgrade’?

Birrarung Marr used to be the home of a ferris wheel.

Billed as the “largest travelling ferris wheel in the southern hemisphere“, patronage plummeted following the opening of the Melbourne Star observation wheel in the back blocks of Docklands, with it being relocated to Geelong.

And goodbye to the art deco Lonsdale House.

Reconstructed in 1934 from two different sized Victorian-era buildings, it was demolished in 2009 as part of the Emporium shopping centre development – to make room for a loading dock.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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Remember flip phones? Telstra was flogging the crap out of them at Southern Cross Station in 2009.

Elsewhere on the concourse the suburban train displays were finally switched on, after three years of service from the ‘temporary’ screens alongside.

But at the north end work on the ‘Yardmaster’ building was racing along, thanks to the precast concrete construction.

Out in Ballarat the new railway station at Wendouree was almost complete.

While at Laverton work had started on a third platform and turnback siding for Altona Loop trains.

In March 2009 the tracks through platform 1 (now platform 2) were ripped up.

Allowed the trackbed to be cleared out.

But that didn’t stop V/Line trains from running to Geelong.

As they were routed via the remaining track on the other side.

Some smart planning there!

Down in Geelong grain trains were running again, following years of drought.

The tracks out of Geelong towards Moorabool have since been duplicated, making it easier for freight trains to access the port.

But no so lucky was the gravel traffic to North Shore – terminated in November 2009, and now moved by road.

I saw a few ‘out of place’ trains in my travels.

Midway between Geelong and Ballarat I found an ex-Adelaide H type tram sitting in a backyard.

Between Geelong and Melbourne I found an Indian Pacific liveried locomotive hauling The Overland through Lara.

And at South Dynon I found the Road Transferable Locomotive – a truck that could haul freight wagons along railway lines.

The biannual Avalon Airshow was held in March 2009, and V/Line was running plenty of extra trains to transport patrons from Melbourne to Lara, where a bus connection was provided to Avalon Airport.

Extra trains were transferred out of Bacchus Marsh on Friday night to help move the crowds.

One of the days was pissing down rain.

But the weather eventually came good, as I spent the weekend driving in the shadows of the You Yangs.

Capturing V/Line trains along the Geelong line.

Another unusual train I captured was a 707 Operations charter to Colac.

And a rebirth of the Southern Aurora train as the Bacardi Express – a travelling music festival taking bands along the East Coast of Australia.

The festival was held in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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