A recent theme on my blog has been “zombie subdivisions” – suburbs that were created but never took off, resulting in empty streets in the middle of nowhere. It turns out Victorian planing policy has an official name for them – “old and inappropriate subdivisions” and a method of dealing with them – “restructure overlays”. […]
As a kid growing up in Geelong during the 1990s, driving up the Princes Freeway to Melbourne was a regular occurrence. Back then empty paddocks were a common sight, but today they are all gone except for one – a paddock between Kororoit Creek Road and the Laverton railway bridge. Exploring the paddock The bulk […]
As a young kid who spent his spare time flicking through the Melway street directory, there was a place on Phillip Island that always intrigued me – a suburb called ‘Summerlands’, and the mysterious “This area is subject to a Government acquisition program” note alongside. Melway Edition 22 Map 431 (1993) Paying a visit to […]
This is the tale of Rosedale Estate in Chartwell, a failed subdivision on the western plains of Melbourne, midway between Werribee and Rockbank. 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: […]
Melbourne is an ever growing city, but only 10 kilometres from the CBD lies a curious grid of abandoned roads, in the industrial backblocks of Sunshine North.
