Our archivist and life long resident of Manningham, Ken Smith, has researched the many changes which have occurred in the municipality during his lifetime. Ken has compiled the following article which will enable long time residents to reminisce on the past and be interesting and informative for later residents in our community.
A large portion of the City of Manningham is shown on old government charts as “F. W. Unwin’s Special Survey”, comprising an area of 5120 acres (8 square miles), and taking in all of Doncaster, Lower Templestowe, Bulleen and part of Templestowe, west of Church Road and south of Foote Street, between the Yarra River and the Koonung Creek.
This huge area was purchased in one block in March 1841 by a Sydney solicitor, Mr Frederic Wright Unwin, taking advantage of special regulations for the sale of crown land in the Port Phillip District of New South Wales (new Victoria). Mr Unwin paid 1 pound per acre, that is a total purchase price of 5,120 pounds.
The land was then leased for grazing and agricul- tural purposes. It was known as the Carleton Estate.
In the 1850’s, following the gold discoveries in Victoria, the estate was subdivided, and large parts of Doncaster and Lower Templestowe were sold to small farmers at prices averaging about 10 pounds an acre.
After clearing their land and selling the wood, some settlers started to plants crops and small orchards and vineyards, and being situated at not too greater distance from the city of Melbourne were able to estab- lish a viable livelyhood.
However, making a living from the land was hard work, especially for the first arrivals. The prosperous years leading up to the property boom of the late 1880’s saw some of the “gardeners” ie fruitgrowers selling their orchards to land speculators who intended to subdivide them into housing lots. It was believed then that a rail- way line would soon be built to Doncaster and urbani- sation would follow as in other areas like Box Hill, Surrey Hills and Heidelberg.
In 1890 Doncaster broke away from the Shire of Bulleen and became a separate entity, and did not reu- nite with the Shire of Templestowe, the former Shire of Bulleen renamed, until 1915, by which time almost all of Doncaster, Lower Templestowe and Templestowe had developed to become Victoria’s largest fruitgrowing district.
During the 1920’s another property boom resulted in several more orchards being subdivided for housing but, as was the case with the 1880’s boom, a financial depression prevented many houses being built.
After the second world war, the arrival of large numbers of refugees from Europe and increased migra- tion from the UK, large scale home building and fac- tory construction commenced. Returned servicemen married, built homes – the “Baby Boom”.
The Shire of Doncaster and Templestowe, being relatively close to the City was, like areas such as Waverley and East Bentleigh and East Burwood, poised for suburbanisation. Commencing about 1950, the orchards began to make way for housing estates. Macedon Square Shopping Centre was established in about 1957, with Village Avenue, off High Street Doncaster following soon after. A McPhersons Supa Valu Supermarket was built in Macedon Square in 1960.
With increasing land values and a change in the Council rating system, the orchardists increasingly released they could no longer continue to grow fruit on the land their forefathers had pioneered one hundred years earlier. They sold out, retired or moved to areas further out such as Pakenham, Bacchus Marsh or the Mornington Peninsular.
In 1965 land suitable for subdivision in Lowe Templestowe was worth 3,000 pounds per acre and the resulting ¼ acre lots were priced around 3,000 pounds per block.
By the early 1970’s the transformation of Bulleen, Doncaster and Lower Templestowe was complete, with only residual pockets remaining in Templestowe, East Doncaster and Donvale.
In the 1980’s another change occurred. Because of population pressure and urban sprawl, the Government started encouraging higher density living with smaller lot sizes and multiple buildings on suitable sites, especially in the vicinity of activity zones. Thus, houses on large blocks were purchased by developers as unit sites, a trend which has continued to the present time. With old houses on half-acre blocks now worth $3 Million, and quarter acres sites in strategic locations, for example near Westfield Doncaster Shoppingtown, worth even more. In 1978 a property in Tram Road, only 300 metres from Shoppingtown sold for $50,000.
So, during the last 180 years, the forest of stringybark, yellow box and redgum has given way to graziers and timber cutters, then the fruitgrowers with their vast expanse of springtime blossom and bountiful harvests, which in turn made way for the triple fronted brick veneers of the 1950 – 70’s, and now the manifestation of modern living, the apartment building as typified by the transformation of the entire length of Doncaster Road.
The largest industries now in the City of Manningham are construction and retail. Every post code now has its major shopping centre, catering for an ever increasing population, who, benefiting from increas- ing property values, can afford an affluent lifestyle with all the amenities of a first world country.
Today, the City of Manningham is one of the most sought after places in Melbourne in which to live.
Source: Ken Smith writing in 2022-09 DTHS Newsletter
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