Open House Melbourne

The last weekend of July is usually Open House Melbourne, so I did the rounds of places normally closed to the public.

First off, the underground Russell Place electrical substation.

Complete with mercury arc rectifiers.

Hamer Hall, which was mid renovation.

The former Land Titles Office on Queen Street.

Toured the back of house areas of the State Library of Victoria.

A rooftop garden at 278 Flinders Lane.

The Myer Mural Hall.

Melbourne’s first skyscraper – ICI House.

Up to the top of 50 Lonsdale Street.

And down into the Royal Melbourne Hospital steam tunnels.

Trains and trams

One morning I was on my way to work, and found something odd – a V/Line train being pushed by a suburban electric train!

The V/Line train had run out of fuel at Footscray, so to keep things moving in the lead up to morning peak, it was pushed out of the way by the first train behind.

I found another public transport oddity down at Appleton Dock – a tram sitting on the back of a truck.

The Bombardier-built Flexity tram had just arrived from Germany by sea, and was ready to head for Adelaide to run on the Glenelg line.

But an everyday sight back in 2011 was ticket machines onboard Melbourne trams.

Removed following the decommissioning of the Metcard ticketing system in December 2012, it was originally planned to replace them with Myki machines, but the idea was abandoned in 2011.

Another then-unremarkable view was this one from Wurundjeri Way looking back towards Southern Cross Station.

A pair of office towers now occupy the western roof of Southern Cross Station, the Regional Rail Link tracks now occupy the roadside, and the skyline behind is full of new apartment towers.

Abandonment

A forgettable building in the Melbourne CBD is 405 Bourke Street. Launched back in 2007 as ‘The Foundry’, by 2011 the shopping centre had been boarded up, the original developer having gone into liquidation.

But a decade later things have changed – a new 43 storey tall office development has been built on the site, cantilevered 10 metres over the heritage listed building.

Another unremarkable building was the last remaining part of the West Gate Bridge toll plaza – the abandoned VicRoads control room in Port Melbourne.

Located next door to the tensile membrane roofed service station.

The site had just been sold to a developer, with demolition commencing a few months later.

Warehouses now occupy the site.

Finally, another abandoned site I visited this month was the former Gilbertson’s Meatworks in Altona North.

Empty for years, the site was finally cleared in 2012, and rezoned for residential development – with ‘Haven’ by Stockland and ‘The Fabric’ by Mirvac both under construction today.

And new construction

In 2011 demolition was well underway at the former Myer store on Lonsdale Street.

The facade was still there.

But a wall of scaffolding was on the way up.

Ready to support the building.

While the guts were ripped out of the middle.

Emporium Melbourne was then built on the site, opening to shoppers in 2014.

Footnote

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

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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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Birth

A decade ago I was in the empty streets of an industrial estate south of Caroline Springs, where a new Bunnings Warehouse store was taking shape.

The iconic grand entrance was there.

But inside there wasn’t a floor.

Just rebar waiting a concrete pour.

By 2014 the streets of the industrial estate were starting to fill up.

Google Street View

And by 2020 Bunnings had disappeared behind a sea of tilt-slab concrete.

Google Street View

Death

While on Millers Road in Altona North was an unlucky Bunnings Warehouse store.

Locked up and ready to be demolished.

Replaced by a brand new $47 million, 17,000-square metre store next door.

And rebirth

Out on High Street in Epping I found a familiar green shed, but it was no longer a Bunnings Warehouse – but a furniture store.

Bunnings moved to a new site on Cooper Street in late 2015.

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While a competing property developer says “don’t pay a premium for facilities you may never use”.

You’ll find the water park at ‘Jubilee‘ estate – located on the very edge of Melbourne at Wyndham Vale.

Between Ballan Road and the Regional Rail Link tracks.

The $10 million water park features water slides, a splash zone for children, leisure pool and 25m lap pool.

While the cheaper ‘New Gardens‘ estate is in the dirtbowl between Rockbank and Melton.

They promote a ‘future train station’ on their masterplan.

But trains won’t be stopping there any time soon – so you’ll need to drive 3.5 kilometres down the road to the recently opened Cobblebank station instead.

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Caroline Springs

We start out at Caroline Springs station, located between town and the tip.

A massive car park the only neighbour.

And the only footpath out of there filled with a fleet of rubbish trucks.

But the land in between is about to be developed.

Into a ‘fulfilment centre’ for Amazon.

Amazon Australia will open a second Melbourne fulfilment centre (FC) in Ravenhall late next year, creating around 300 jobs on completion and more than doubling Amazon’s operational footprint in Victoria.

The new facility will be located at Dexus’ Horizon 3023 estate, a 127-hectare site which adjoins Caroline Springs train station and is close to the proposed Western Intermodal Freight Terminal. Dexus has commenced works on the site, supporting more than 200 construction jobs over the development and fit-out phase. The lease for the centre was facilitated by CBRE’s Industrial & Logistics business.

The new fulfilment centre will be 37,000 square metres – almost double the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground – with capacity to house up to six million items ranging from health, household and personal care products, consumer electronics, books, clothing and pantry food and drink staples, to larger items like flat screen TVs, cartons of soft drink or nappies, and gardening equipment.

Minister for Economic Development Tim Pallas said today that attracting investment from significant global companies such as Amazon, is critical to drive our economic recovery.

“Amazon’s investment in a second fulfilment centre will bring hundreds of jobs to the western suburbs of Melbourne, providing local employment opportunities in suburban growth areas,” he said.

“We welcome this investment as a clear indicator of confidence in the state.”

AKA a big tin shed.

Tarneit

Tarneit is another railway station on the edge of Melbourne.

New housing estates sprawling across the plains.

Served by a sea of car parking.

But the Truganina Precinct Structure Plan has designated the area around the railway station as a future town centre.

But what is the first commercial development in the new town centre?

Bunnings will be the first of many retailers that will be making up ‘Tarneit Park Hub’ – the shopping precinct of our planned Town centre at Westbrook.

Bunnings Warehouse has responded to the growth of Melbourne’s western corridor, committing to a new 16,500sqm warehouse in Tarneit Park Hub.

Ranfurlie Asset Management, the retail and commercial division of the Dennis Family, is developing Tarneit Park Hub, which will total 46,000sqm when complete.

“We are excited to have secured Bunnings. It cements Tarneit Park Hub as a key retail and lifestyle asset for the region,” stated Mark Wilson, CEO of Ranfurlie Asset Management.

“Tarneit Park Hub answers the demand from the community for greater amenity, with great access, proximity to public transport and adjoining Tarneit Central it sets an excellent foundation to further enhance the precinct and build on what is already a thriving centre.” concluded Mr Wilson

Tom Perkins of Leedwell Property said that “Bunnings is a great anchor for Tarneit Park Hub. The ability to generate foot-fall seven days a week and its brand recognition in a community is unparalleled. We have recently completed leasing on a number of new developments anchored by a Bunnings and they have proven to attract quality, national retailers around them.”

Yes, another tin shed!

Imagine how bad these development would be without structure plans?

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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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Tracking them through time

The Benjamin Street, south of Sunshine railway station, the row of single-fronted brick cottages appears on this 1934 Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW) sewage plan.

MMBW plan 3955, Municipality of Braybrook

Six houses in the row.

MMBW plan 3955, Municipality of Braybrook

Move forward to 1945, and there are still a few empty blocks.

1945 Department of Lands and Survey photo map

And today – the streets are now full, but there are only four houses left in the row.

Google Maps 2020

How they came to be

The Brimbank Post-Contact Heritage Study gives the history of the streets south of Sunshine station.

The Railway Station Estate – Wright & Edwards Heritage Area is of regional historical and architectural significance as a subdivision first developed in the speculative boom of the 1880s. This related to the industrialisation of the area and the creation of a new suburb – the township of Braybrook Junction. The few remaining houses of the early 1890s are amongst the oldest in the district and are a remarkable survival from the era of the 1890s Depression, when many newly-built houses were moved.

The subdivision is significant for its unusual (for the City of Brimbank) late nineteenth century plan with a simple grid of streets, divided into narrow allotments and with rear service laneways. The pattern was unrelieved by any provision for recreation, community facilities or other services. The earliest sold allotments were either intended to be for narrow terrace-type houses, or were subdivided. All the original allotments in this rectangular grid subdivision were 40 foot frontages. Several of the original ‘lanes’, between the blocks, can still be seen.

And the row of houses in Benjamin Street.

Five single-fronted brick houses on the south side of Benjamin Street (Numbers 25, 29, 31, 33, 35) are a relic of the 1880s to early 1890s Melbourne boom. Such houses were unusual in the outer suburbs and there are no comparable sets of houses in the local area.

They were built about 1890-1891, as a set of six and are listed in the Braybrook Shire ratebook of 1891-2, where they are recorded as occupying lots 12, 13 and 14 of Section 11, Portion E, Parish of Cut Paw Paw. They appear under the names of various occupiers, but with one owner, W.C. Taylor. It is possible that he built the houses as a speculative venture. By building six houses (with 20 foot frontage) on three lots, the builder was no doubt attempting to maximise his profits.

These houses were part of the Braybrook Railway Station Estate subdivision, which was being promoted in 1890-1891. The vendors of the estate were Johnson, Johnson and Mills, merchants, who had purchased 133 acres of land from Joseph Solomon in the late 1880s. Solomon had leased the land to local farmers.

The facades have since had details altered, some with windows replaced, others having the cast iron ornament removed or altered, probably representing attempts to undo renovations of the mid twentieth century. One of the houses (the second from the east end of the group) has subsequently been demolished.

And the orphan

No wonder I didn’t notice 25 Benjamin Street – it might be heritage listed but blink and you’d miss it.

Sources

Brimbank Post-Contact Heritage Study: Volume 3: Place Reports – Heritage Areas and Individual Places.

Footnote

To be pedantic, terraced houses share a common wall – the houses in Sunshine are only row houses, since they have a narrow walkway between each property.

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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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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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