The Origin of Manningham

Several years ago when the municipalities of Melbourne were re structured, new names were assigned to most of the city amalgamations.

At the time, in our district the public were consulted about the new name for the city of Doncaster and Templestowe. Many ideas were put forward, some people in our historical society favoured "Bulleen", as historically the original parish was the Parish of Bulleen.

However, after lengthy debate, the Commissioners of the day decided on The City of Manningham to replace the City of Doncaster and Templestowe. As Manningham Road is a major arterial road running through the city, this was felt to be an appropriate choice. The Commissioners thought that to use any existing name of a suburb or section of the city might alienate the people in the other sections, so that Manningham would be a less controversial choice.

The Commissioners who took over temporarily from the elected Councillors consulted the Historical Society regarding the origin of the name "Manningham".

It was discovered that there had been a lady named Manningheim residing near Manningham Road in the 1890’s who had paid rates for a year or two and it was presumed that the road may have been named after her.

No further information was uncovered except that in England, in the City of Bradford in Yorkshire, there is a suburb named Manningham.

Recently Jan and Laurie Petty presented us with a copy of the Last Will and Testament of George Petty drawn up in 1854 in England. George and his family resided in Manningham, in the Parish of Bradford, County of York.

In 1845, Tom Petty was born in Yorkshire, grandson of the above George. His father, Thomas was a cotton mill owner in Bradford, but in the 1850’s, due to an industrial depression, business was bad and Thomas decided to sail for Australia to find land and build a life for his family. He came alone, leaving behind his family until he met with some success in Australia.

Thomas came to Doncaster in 1855 and purchased 47 acres on Koonung Creek to begin farming. In October 1858 his wife and family arrived in Melbourne to join him in Doncaster.

Young Tom took eagerly to orcharding in Doncaster helping his father and eventually became one of the areas most successful fruit growers, owning over 21 orchards in the district.

Tom Petty also was a respected community member being elected to the Shire of Bulleen in the 1870’s and was Shire President in 1877.

It seems quite logical that during his 12 years as a member of the Shire Council, Tom Petty may have had input into the naming of the roads in the district and decided to name Manningham Road after the part of Bradford where he was born and always regarded with affection.

Up to date we have no positive proof of this, but it seems a probable and interesting theory of the origin of Manningham Road.

Source: 2003-09 DTHS Newsletter