Grand Junction Estate and Matthew's Hill Precinct
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GRAND JUNCTION ESTATE & MATTHEW’S HILL PRECINCT GRAND JUNCTION ESTATE AND MATTHEW’S HILL PRECINCT 1 CONTEXT PTY LTD Locality History Two important factors influenced the development of Sunshine from a rural area in the mid-1800s to the industrial centre it had become by the 1950s. The first was the railway boom of the 1880s, when it became one of the main junctions in Victoria. The second was the establishment of the Sunshine Harvester Works in 1906-1907 by Hugh Victor McKay, giving the township its current name. In the 1880s Melbourne was booming, being one of the fastest growing cities in the world. The boom had a major impact on the development of the Brimbank area. The metropolis was expanding westward as new suburbs were developed along the newly established railway lines. As well as residential development, new and relocated factories flourished in the Brimbank area (Ford & Vines 2000:56). The wealth of connecting railway lines in Brimbank was a key factor in encouraging industries to settle in the area. Braybrook Junction Station opened in 1885 and St. Albans Station in 1887. Railway sidings went off from the main lines to quarries and new factories. The locality of Braybrook Junction, as Sunshine was first known, was described as ‘the greatest junction in Victoria’. New industries relating to the railway as well as agricultural implements thrived at Braybrook Junction. The Braybrook Implement Company started one of the first factories there, producing mainly farm implements. The factory, established on Devonshire Road next to the new railway junction was later taken over by H.V. McKay’s Harvester Works. Another large factory, Wright and Edwards Carriage Works was also established by the junction. This factory built railway carriages and other engineering items and by 1890 it employed 400 people (Ford 2011:5, Ford & Vines 2000:37-38). However, the growth of industries and settlement around Braybrook Junction came to an abrupt halt with the depression of the 1890s, many home buyers lost their mortgages and some houses in the area were relocated to other areas. The Wright and Edwards Carriage Works was among the first companies to fail, while the Braybrook Implement Works continued to operate until the beginning of the twentieth century (Ford 2011:8). At the turn of the century Braybrook Junction was still a small township, consisting of about 50 dwellings in January 1901. The Braybrook Implement Works closed soon after and in 1904 the company was inviting tenders to purchase the works. H.V. McKay, already a successful businessman operating the Sunshine Harvester Works out of Ballarat, purchased the factory the same year. Over the following years H.V. McKay would move his entire business from Ballarat to 2 GRAND JUNCTION ESTATE & MATTHEW’S HILL PRECINCT Braybrook Junction. The factory employed people of the area, as well as many workers who relocated from Ballarat (Ford 2011:60-61 & 71). The influence of H.V. McKay stretched beyond industry. H.V. McKay bought land around the factory and began a process of subdividing, land-selling and building. His subdivisions and town planning, as well as his marketing and philanthropy has greatly influenced the area. The name of the settlement and the station was changed from Braybrook Junction to Sunshine in August 1907, named no longer after the Great Junction but after the great Harvester Works (Ford 2011:87). The initial success of the Sunshine Harvester Works attracted other industries to the Sunshine Albion area, but the main reason for the arrival of new factories was probably H.V. McKay himself. H.V. McKay actively encouraged companies to locate in Sunshine and sold land to them. Within two decades of the establishment of the Sunshine Harvester works, another ten factories had begun operations in the area (Ford & Vines 2000:43). For many years, the Brimbank area was part of the most highly industrialised region in Melbourne. Most of its early factories were large-scale, the largest and most innovative of their kind in Australia (Ford & Vines 2000:39). After the difficult times of World War I, Sunshine continued to grow during the 1920s. The years of 1921-25 saw the town and the Harvester Works prosper. By 1921, Sunshine was the major centre within Braybrook Shire, with a total of 4431 people recorded in the 1921 census. Furthermore, almost half of the Shire’s adult population was involved in the manufacturing industry. Following the establishment of war service homes in the early 1920s, more families arrived and settled in Sunshine (Ford 2011:256). Electrification of the suburban railway lines began in 1919, and by 1921 the line between Footscray and St. Albans had been electrified, which further encouraged the development of Sunshine (Ford & Vines 2000:38). During the 1930s the Great Depression hit the area hard, and development faltered. World War II followed, which despite being a difficult time was a great stimulus to the industrial development of the area. Several new factories were established, and old ones were extended (Ford 2012:46). Following the end of the war, the population of Sunshine increased yet again, welcoming back servicemen as well as newly arrived migrants from Europe. The Housing Commission acquired land in the area, and thousands of new dwellings were constructed. By 1947, the Shire of Braybrook (later City of Sunshine) had 15,066 people and by 1954 it had increased to 44,332 people. Precinct History The extension of the railway line was an important factor in the development of the Great Junction Estate & Environs Precinct, which include the streets immediately east of the junction of the Ballarat and Bendigo railway lines. Once Braybrook Junction Station (now Sunshine Station) opened in 1886, Melbourne’s land boomers were buying, subdividing and promoting the area (Ford 2011:3). The northern part of the precinct comprises Dickson Street (then Langbein Street), Monash Street (then Durham Road), Whitty, Tyler, Servante and Pizzy streets, as well as Victoria Street and Station Place. The area was subdivided in 1886, and marketed as the ‘Grand Junction Estate, Braybrook’, with vendors the Cosmopolitan Land Banking Company Ltd. The importance of its location next to the train station was made very clear in the name of the estate and in all advertising material, with maps showing the adjacent station and auction notices in the newspapers proclaiming that the estate was ‘adjoining the railway station’ and just ‘15 minutes from the City’ by train. ( The Age, 6 Dec 1886:3). Typical of nineteenth-century residential subdivision, there were laneways running behind all properties to allow collection of waste from rear dunnies. 3 CONTEXT PTY LTD Figure 1. Grand Junction Estate subdivision plan, dated 1887. (Durham Road and Langbein Street are now called Monash and Dickson streets, respectively.) (Source: SLV) The land was surveyed by architectural practice Terry & Oakden, and auctioned by Fraser & Co. The subdivision was one of many land speculations in Brimbank during the 1880s, reflecting both the land boom and the significance of the railway lines to the development of Sunshine. Allotments in the Grand Junction Estate were advertised as ‘suitable for all classes’. In the late 1880s, the establishment of the Braybrook Implement Company, Wright and Edwards Carriage Works and other industries at Braybrook Junction resulted in the area being promoted as a suitable residential area for workers. The new suburb of Braybrook Junction included subdivisions on both sides of the railway line. The largest settlement was on the west side of the railway, subdivided as the Braybrook Railway Station Estate (part of which is now protected in the Brimbank Planning Scheme as HO25). While there were many residents listed in the Railway Station Estate at the start of the 1890s, there had been almost no development in the Grand Junction Estate. Two residents were listed: one on 4 GRAND JUNCTION ESTATE & MATTHEW’S HILL PRECINCT Whitty Street and another on Station Street (then Railway Parade; though this could have been outside the precinct boundaries). By the end of the century, only one more house had been built, on Servante Street (S&McD 1892, 1900). Of these three nineteenth-century houses, it appears that one may survive at 19 Whitty Street (though with its roof form altered). Following the relocation and expansion of H.V. McKay’s Sunshine Harvester Works from Ballarat, the area underwent a revival by 1911-12 and the land surrounding the Grand Junction Estate was subdivided to accommodate the growing population. Unlike many of the surrounding areas in Sunshine, the subdivisions within the precinct were not directly associated with H.V. McKay. Development on the east side of the railway line was slower than the west side and did not really take off until after World War I. The earliest houses within the precinct to survive, built before the 1920s, include 19 Whitty Street, 63 Dickson Street, 80 & 85 Parsons Street, 2 & 19 Tyler Street and 17 Robinson Street. The Victorian survival house at 2 Tyler Street was built on lots 44-46 of the Grand Junction Estate, on the corner of Monash Street (then known as Durham Road) and Tyler Street. Richard Bailey, engine driver, appears to have been the first owner/occupier of this property. He had a house here from 1909, and it was rebuilt or enlarged in 1913-14 when the property had a net annual value of £25. For many years this was one of the only houses in the street. By 1930 a dairy is listed as being on the property and this continued until at least the early 1950s. It is not clear if this outbuilding has survived (for further information see Individual Citation for HO116 2 Tyler Street, Sunshine).