Needs Images of Hunters Store 1917 and Keeps Store 1953
Ruffey Creek forms the boundary between Templestowe and Lower Templestowe, and Templestowe's south and east boundaries are King Street and Blackburn Road. The original Templestowe village (1852) was in the vicinity of the creek between Finns Reserve and the Templestowe Hotel, Templestowe Lower.
Landholders included Edwin Unwin, proprietor of a Special Survey (1841) south of the village, and Charles Newman, who purchased a large grazing property around Mullum Mullum Creek's confluence with the Yarra River. His 'Pontville' homestead (1843) is heritage listed.
During a survey of the area in 1844 the landscape was described as moderately timbered with gum and oak. The timber provided a living for settlers when they cut it for firewood or charcoal burning. The cleared soil, mainly on sandstone and mudstone, was good for agriculture. Templestowe became a fruit growing area.
Early institutions were the Anglican and Presbyterian churches which opened schools in 1853 and 1854, and Finns Upper Yarra Hotel near Finns Reserve in Templestowe Lower. Delicensed in 1922 it was used as a residence until burnt down in 1967.
Local Government
The Templestowe District Road Board was created in 1856 when closer settlement caused the rutted tracks to be in need of maintenance. The Board's boundaries included Doncaster and Warrandyte to the east, and when it became a shire on 7 May 1875 the shire was named Bulleen, the name of the Parish (and later the name of a district to the west, associated with Heidelberg). The formation of the shire coincided with the replacement of the church schools with a State school in 1874. Doncaster was severed from the shire in 1890, and in 1892 Bulleen Shire was named Templestowe Shire.
Farms
Templestowe's closeness to metropolitan markets made it suitable for intensive farming, with a wide range of fruits and dairying on the river flats, particularly along the Yarra River to the north. In 1903 the Australian handbook described Templestowe:
A cooperative cool store was built by local growers in 1919 and was a landmark at the corner of Porter Street and Fitzsimons Lane for over 50 years. Orcharding reached its peak in the 1920s and 1930s. The rural landscape was not much disturbed by urbanisation until the 1950s, but during the 1960s orcharding retreated northwards. Petty's orchard, near the Yarra River, is preserved to demonstrate Templestowe's orcharding heritage. It has over 200 varieties of apple.
Urban Growth
The pace of urbanisation is evident from the opening of State schools: two primary schools between 1966 and 1971, a high school in 1961 and a technical school in 1971, all in Templestowe Lower. Templestowe's State primary schools are Serpell school and Templestowe Park (1977) which replaced the original school. Templestowe's landscape has been an attraction for generously proportioned – sometimes opulent – houses, replete with pools and tennis courts. In 1987 the median house price was 207% of the median for metropolitan Melbourne, slipping back slightly during the 1990s.
Templestowe is associated with Doncaster, their having become a united municipality in 1915 and going on to become one of metropolitan Melbourne's largest cities (in terms of population) in the 1980s.
Shopping is found at the Templestowe Village shopping centre and a few kilometres southwards at the regional Doncaster Shoppingtown. The shops are near the location of the first State primary school in Anderson Street (c1874) along with the mechanics' institute/memorial hall (1882, 1922), and the Uniting (former Presbyterian) church (1895, 1962). The recreation reserve is north-west, in Porter Street.
Templestowe has two State primary schools and a Catholic primary school. Secondary education is found in Templestowe Lower, Doncaster and Eltham. The north part of Templestowe includes large metropolitan parks adjoining the Yarra River: Westerfolds, Candlebark (with Petty's Orchard) and Tikalara.
Templestowe and Templestowe Lower's census populations have been:
AREA CENSUS DATE POPULATION
Templestowe and Templestowe Lower 1911 556
1947 780
Templestowe 2001 16,006
2006 16,248
2011 16,484
Further Reading
Winty Calder and others, Ruffey Creek reviewed, Centre for Environmental Studies, University of Melbourne, 1974
Sources:
Graham Keogh, The history of Doncaster and Templestowe, City of Doncaster and Templestowe, 1975
Hazel Poulter, Templestowe - a folk history, Jim Poulter, 1985
Templestowe Lower entry https://www.victorianplaces.com.au/templestowe
The old village to the west, lower down the hill became known as Lower Templestowe. The name that was later used for the new suburb that grew on the higher land to the west.
Templestowe State School in Anderson Street replaced two Common Schools in 1874. One of these had been in Lower Templestowe at the corner of High Street and the other to the east past Williamsons Road.
In the 1870's William Hunter built a Blacksmith Shop at the corner of Anderson and James Streets, later it was taken over by Sylvester Mullens.
Next to the school the Mechanics Institute was built in the 1880's and opposite, the Methodists built a church. They had been holding church services in Hick's barn and the Mechanics Institute, but in the 1930's attendance dropped off so the building was sold and moved away.
Until 1896, Presbyterians services had been held in the Mechanics Institute but that year the Smith family built a wooden church on land donated by Mrs. Emma Smith in Atkinson Street.
Also at the beginning of the century, the Church Of England left their old building at the corner of High Street and Foote Street to construct a new church in Foote Street just east of Anderson Street.
Templestowe obtained a telephone exchange in 1912. It was installed in the Post Office and Bakery that stood around the comer in James Street. There were only four numbers. No 1 was the Post Office, 2 the Upper Yarra Hotel, 3 Mr. J. F. Sheridan and 4 the Templestowe Hotel.
In 1917, Hunter built a general store for his son at the comer of Anderson Street and James Street. Unfortunately his son died during the 1919 flu epidemic so a series of different people ran the store. First, Stan Johnston, Mrs. Beal's brother, took it over. He was followed by Forge, then Mckenzie, and Wilson, next Orgall, Leitch, Morley, Guiren and finally in 1953, Jack and Ethel Keep bought it.
In 1924 a branch of the Primary Producers Bank opened in a tiny one room building behind the War Memorial. (There was a rumour that Squizzy Taylor was on his way to rob this bank at the time of the murder in Bulleen.) During the devastating depression of 1930 the Primary Producers Bank collapsed and the branch became an agency for the E. S. and A. Bank.
After the 1914-18 war, residents wanted to honour the Templestowe men who had fought and died. There were two ideas for a memorial, a monument and a memorial hall. Mrs. Mary Hodgson suggested that both ideas be acted on. A monument was erected opposite the end of James Street and a brick hall was added to the old Mechanics Institute. The old timber building was turned around and now forms the supper room for the hall.
Hunters Store won the contract for the Post Office and with it came the telephone. A public phone was installed on the veranda where the store keeper provided a garden seat for people waiting for telephone calls. Friends or business people would be asked to ring at a certain time. When the phone was wanted the caller would ask for it to be switched through and when the store was closed it was left switched to the public box. There were annoying occasions when the store keeper forgot and had to be roused from his residence alongside the store. Trunk calls were booked inside at the Post Office counter, then the caller sat on the seat till the call came through. It was a familiar sight to see a group on the veranda in the evening discussing local news as they waited. When automatic telephones were introduced the phone was connected to the Heidelberg exchange. The phone number was JL1074.
The township soon developed its own character with the same sights and sounds each day. Early in the morning, a door of a small but would open as its occupant came out to empty a container into the street gutter then she returned and the door closed and the street became quiet again until an early worker walked through the township on his way to an orchard. Groups of children with school bags on their backs trudged up Anderson Street. Some had come two miles or more and, as school time approached, a few were seen hurrying. Soon the singsong chant of children's voices was heard from the school ground at assembly - "I honour the flag, I serve the King --" they recited facing the flag pole. Later, during the morning, the same voices drifted out the schoolhouse window with a different singsong chant, "Three threes are nine, three fours are twelve." At the corner of James Street, the ringing clang of the blacksmiths hammer attracted children on their way home from school, but during the day a group of men often gathered around one of the carts and motor trucks standing outside the forge as they discussed repairs needed or just simply talked. At times a cart rumbled down the street and very occasionally one of the new motor trucks from one of the more prosperous orchards attracted attention as it passed. From the bottom of Atkinson Street, Smith the butcher loaded his cart and drove along the streets hand delivering meat to houses.
Source: 1991 03 DTHS Newsletter
Hazel Poulter, Templestowe - a folk history, Jim Poulter, 1985
Templestowe Lower entry https://www.victorianplaces.com.au/templestowe
TEMPLESTOWE TOWNSHIP
During the first years of Templestowe a village developed near Thompsons Road, later, the school, the churches, the blacksmith's and the Mechanics Institute were built around Anderson Street area, forming the township of Templestowe.The old village to the west, lower down the hill became known as Lower Templestowe. The name that was later used for the new suburb that grew on the higher land to the west.
Templestowe State School in Anderson Street replaced two Common Schools in 1874. One of these had been in Lower Templestowe at the corner of High Street and the other to the east past Williamsons Road.
In the 1870's William Hunter built a Blacksmith Shop at the corner of Anderson and James Streets, later it was taken over by Sylvester Mullens.
Next to the school the Mechanics Institute was built in the 1880's and opposite, the Methodists built a church. They had been holding church services in Hick's barn and the Mechanics Institute, but in the 1930's attendance dropped off so the building was sold and moved away.
Until 1896, Presbyterians services had been held in the Mechanics Institute but that year the Smith family built a wooden church on land donated by Mrs. Emma Smith in Atkinson Street.
Also at the beginning of the century, the Church Of England left their old building at the corner of High Street and Foote Street to construct a new church in Foote Street just east of Anderson Street.
Templestowe obtained a telephone exchange in 1912. It was installed in the Post Office and Bakery that stood around the comer in James Street. There were only four numbers. No 1 was the Post Office, 2 the Upper Yarra Hotel, 3 Mr. J. F. Sheridan and 4 the Templestowe Hotel.
In 1917, Hunter built a general store for his son at the comer of Anderson Street and James Street. Unfortunately his son died during the 1919 flu epidemic so a series of different people ran the store. First, Stan Johnston, Mrs. Beal's brother, took it over. He was followed by Forge, then Mckenzie, and Wilson, next Orgall, Leitch, Morley, Guiren and finally in 1953, Jack and Ethel Keep bought it.
In 1924 a branch of the Primary Producers Bank opened in a tiny one room building behind the War Memorial. (There was a rumour that Squizzy Taylor was on his way to rob this bank at the time of the murder in Bulleen.) During the devastating depression of 1930 the Primary Producers Bank collapsed and the branch became an agency for the E. S. and A. Bank.
After the 1914-18 war, residents wanted to honour the Templestowe men who had fought and died. There were two ideas for a memorial, a monument and a memorial hall. Mrs. Mary Hodgson suggested that both ideas be acted on. A monument was erected opposite the end of James Street and a brick hall was added to the old Mechanics Institute. The old timber building was turned around and now forms the supper room for the hall.
Hunters Store won the contract for the Post Office and with it came the telephone. A public phone was installed on the veranda where the store keeper provided a garden seat for people waiting for telephone calls. Friends or business people would be asked to ring at a certain time. When the phone was wanted the caller would ask for it to be switched through and when the store was closed it was left switched to the public box. There were annoying occasions when the store keeper forgot and had to be roused from his residence alongside the store. Trunk calls were booked inside at the Post Office counter, then the caller sat on the seat till the call came through. It was a familiar sight to see a group on the veranda in the evening discussing local news as they waited. When automatic telephones were introduced the phone was connected to the Heidelberg exchange. The phone number was JL1074.
The township soon developed its own character with the same sights and sounds each day. Early in the morning, a door of a small but would open as its occupant came out to empty a container into the street gutter then she returned and the door closed and the street became quiet again until an early worker walked through the township on his way to an orchard. Groups of children with school bags on their backs trudged up Anderson Street. Some had come two miles or more and, as school time approached, a few were seen hurrying. Soon the singsong chant of children's voices was heard from the school ground at assembly - "I honour the flag, I serve the King --" they recited facing the flag pole. Later, during the morning, the same voices drifted out the schoolhouse window with a different singsong chant, "Three threes are nine, three fours are twelve." At the corner of James Street, the ringing clang of the blacksmiths hammer attracted children on their way home from school, but during the day a group of men often gathered around one of the carts and motor trucks standing outside the forge as they discussed repairs needed or just simply talked. At times a cart rumbled down the street and very occasionally one of the new motor trucks from one of the more prosperous orchards attracted attention as it passed. From the bottom of Atkinson Street, Smith the butcher loaded his cart and drove along the streets hand delivering meat to houses.
Source: 1991 03 DTHS Newsletter
No comments:
Post a Comment