Public Reserves

The East Doncaster And George Street Reserves - The story of the land and the people who lived on it.

Along both sides of George Street from Victoria Street to Blackburn Road is an area of 320 acres. In 1853, a syndicate of three men paid £959/18/6 for this land. Doncaster had no name at that time and Victoria Street was an unnamed road that went only as far as "Friedensruh”, Thiele’s new farm.

The syndicate was formed by three German pioneers: John Friederich Straube, Johann Gottlieb Hilbrig, and John Walther. The partners divided the land amongst themselves. Straube's land was on the west to a line just past the present Dehnert Street. Hilbrig owned the next block. East of that was another block owned by Straube. This reached to about the position of the pavilion at the reserve. Walther had the land at the east but only north of the road now called George Street. The remaining block on the south-east corner was sold to Andrew Kaiser. Frederich Straube and John Walther were the first owners of the land that was to become the East Doncaster and George Street Reserves.

The Naming of Reserves

The orchards and farms are fast being cut up in our city. Among the streets and houses, some open land remains in the form of Parks and Reserves.

A reserve and an orchard are both basically-open land. The orchardist uses his land. He cultivates it, grows his crops, and harvests the fruit. The orchardist lives on his land and becomes part of it, and the land becomes part of him. When the orchardist leaves his land, the land is still identified with him. If the land becomes a reserve, the reserve becomes known by the name of the orchardist who is identified with the land.

Irvine Green writing in 1977 02 DTHS Newsletter