The Lost Suburb of North Kew
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- Опубликовано: 26 фев 2023
- While today the roar of the Eastern Freeway can be heard for many kilometres, before 1977 this area of Boroondara was a quiet, sleepy corner of the suburb.
In this video we take a walk through the locality of North Kew to find out what has been lost and what still remains of this time.
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MORE INFORMATION
victoriancollections.net.au/c...)
My website: philipmallis.com
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I acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands on which this video was filmed, the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people. I pay respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and their extensive and continuing connection to land, water and country.
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SOURCES
'Plan, Studley Park Estate, 1910'. Kew Historical Society. 1910. victoriancollections.net.au/i...
'1 December 1934 flood footage', Old Scoth Collegians Association. • 1 December 1934 flood ...
'VicPlan'. Department of Transport & Planning. State Government of Victoria. 2023. mapshare.vic.gov.au/vicplan/
'City of Boroondara LAM'. Public Transport Victoria. 2023. www.ptv.vic.gov.au/assets/def...
Moyle, Douglas. 'Melbourne Government Bus Routes Until 1993'. Bus and Coach Society of Victoria. bcsv.org.au/vm/melbourne-gove...
KEW GOLF CLUB'S NEW CLUB HOUSE. (1925, April 1). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 19. Retrieved February 27, 2023, from nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207...
Tell us more about Far Kew.
It existed!
I came here to see who would make that comment. I wasn't disappointed.
😂
👍🤣
Graham Kennedy lives.
Born in 1946, I lived in Kilby Road until 1951.....my paternal grandmother and an uncle lived in Willow Grove. Other relatives lived in our home for decades after we left (moved to Hawthorn!) so we still had contact with the area, the wonderful park opposite, the Yarra and the oxbow lake where I remember being taken at dusk to see platypuses swimming. Friends even had a cattle property on the river flats, not too far away .....my sister older rode her bike along there to visit with the daughters of the family. I remember she returned with a bucket of blackberries. All this is just unimaginable now, but I am glad I experienced it!
Willow Grove, you mean up near the Blue Rock dam?
Always happy to learn about all things Kew, North Kew, East Kew, Near Kew and of course Far Kew..........
I'll see myself out.
It was going to happen eventually
I would love to see you do a video one day on the area surrounding the Citylink, and the roads that used to be there before the freeway was built. There is still so much that you can see to this day
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll add it to the list
Great video. The parkland running down Kilby Road was the first fairway of the old course, and hence the first side street east of Belford Road bridge is called Fairway Avenue. Page Street runs up into Baker Avenue, which is named after the founder Thomas Baker of what became Kodak Australia and the whole area along Belford Road north of the highway was the Kodak Estate until sub-divided between the wars. Kodak moved to Abbotsford where its HQ building is part of the CUB complex - and presently for sale! Kew golf club moved northwards in various stages through the first half of the 20th century as more land was sub-divided to create what became East Kew - hence the streets are named after eg WW1 generals. The tennis club and Hyde Park opposite were once the home to the North Kew Football Club, the Bears.
In the 1960s, North Kew trained at Victoria Park (also used by Kew FC) and played at Stradbroke Park. I played a few games in the juniors. Dad was worried that it tied me to Hawthorn in the VFL. Dreamer. It didn't take long to work out that playing footy wasn't for me.
Thomas Baker house was at the now CUB site and hence he started the Austral film/plate company there. Latter he and John Rouse negotiated with George Eastman who started Kodak in the USA to be there agent in Australia. Having g out grown the Abbotsford site, they purchased the land in Kew East bit the Kew Council refused to give permission to build a factory in what was considered residential so they bought land in Coburg and moved from Abbbotsford in the 1960's (1964?) There is one original building of the Kodak factory remaining in Southampton Cres. Baker Ave in Kew East is named after Thomas Baker as is the Baker Heart Institute attached to the Alfred Hospital. Page Ave was named after Joe Page a Kodak director in 1945 as it was named Kodak Ave until the Kew Council said a street cannot be named after a company.
Thanks for sharing!
@@inspectorgadget5691 Kodak at Nth Coburg is now Conga foods..run by a couple of silverspoonfed brothers from Toorak
That was a waltz down memory lane. Thanks. The Mulligans lived in Belford Rd back then and the Clarkes (Cal Clarke, the real estate agent and his wife and … ten sons - wonderful family) had a huge bungalow style house on Kilby Rd (I think). This is ‘73 - 75 ? We spent a lot of time on minibikes and trail bikes in that area before the Freeway works disrupted everything. My only revenge was a blast late one night down the dirt covered freeway in making, in a manual S class Merc sedan. Not many cops in those days and we all knew when the shifts changed at Kew police station.
Could you possibly do a video on the Boulevard. It has a lot of memories and a lot of history too.
Love your work
cheers
Simon
That's great, thank you for sharing. And glad you enjoyed it!
That bridge is terrifying to cross on foot! Great video 👍
Such a shame that they built the freeway instead of a Kew and Doncaster train line, and tram expansions.
Fantastic video, Phil!!! Too much to say in a short comment, but I lived on Kilby road from 1970 until the beginning of the freeway construction. We moved across the river to Ivanhoe. The building of the Eastern Freeway was an atrocity that destroyed AT LEAST the suburbs of North Kew and North Balwyn. Oh well.......
Phillip, your videos are always a delight. Great to see the lovely face behind the voice! Thanks for sharing more about Kew - Such a fascinating area 😊
Got recommended this by the RUclips algorithm today, the first of your videos I've seen. Thanks for your research everything was well presented and enjoyed this video 👍
I used to go to East Kew Primary School on Kitchener St. We often did sport at Willsmere Park which abutted Kilby Rd and Willow Grove. I remember Kilby Rd flooding in 1971.
Thanks for sharing :)
I grew up in the area. Went to East Kew Primary School and after school would go to my grandmothers house on Grandview Terrace. Never knew the history and found your video extremely satisfying to watch. Learnt so much. Keep up the good work.
I grew up in East Kew residing in Kilby Rd and saw the development of the Freeway first hand. Prior to the Freeway Willsmere Park extended to Kilby Rd and was almost twice its size. Yes Kew Golf Clubhouse was on the corner of Belford Rd and that bit of open land abutting Kilby Rd was the practice fairway. With the advent of the Freeway around six or maybe more holes were were built on cleared land to the North closer to Ivanhoe Public Golf Course but on the South side of the river. Most of these changes can be seen from the main Yarra trail. The Freeway also saw Hay’s paddock being developed some years later.
A while back I was doing research into my grandfather’s brother, the electoral roll of 1968 had him living at 1 Elm Grove, Kew North. I went looking for the address but couldn’t find it because Elm Grove on the west side starts a number 9. Thank you Philip, now I know.
I love learning about how melbournes suburbs have changed over the years. I live near watsonia and its changed so much I cant imagine how it would look back in the 60s. The train station used to be at ground level, and I cant imagine not having greensborough highway (which is now changing for the tunnel project). Or over in greensborough the bridge over the plenty river. Really makes me wish I could go in time and just explore and see all the differences.
Born and grew up close by. Heaps of time spent on the river flats in the 50s. Family had strong ties to Kew Golf Club before and after the freeway. Moved away in the 90s.
Fascinating. Grew up in Kew, often ran along Kilby Rd for cross country training. BTW that was 1977-1980. Can’t remember the exact year the F19 was opened. But I remember running from Heidelberg Rd past the old paper recycling place then along and over the old bridge over the Yarra in late December 1977. I had to keep looking over my shoulder because there was no footpath.
The old bridge is still there next to the new one!
I remember back in the 70's we used Kilby Road to get to Chandler Hwy and Willsmere Park was flooded with canoeists making good use of the park. At the time I belonged to the Kew Archery Club and would walk along Kilby Rd back home near the #48 tram terminus at Balwyn Rd.
I lived on the corner of Cotham road and Glenferrie road for 4 years. I loved the area. The more you know!
I live in North Kew and never noticed a lot of these things! Great video
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it
Fascinating! I rode my bike through that area recently and was trying to make sense of some of those features as I went ... suddenly it all makes sense!
Excellent presentation Phillip, the considerable attention that you put into this is very admirable. Well done.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it
Was told that originally they planned to widen Heidelberg Road but decided to build the Eastern Freeway instead. The father of a friend was in the loop and lived on Heidelberg road and sold and moved worrying that the road would be widened; but never eventuated.
Thankyou Philip. Fascinating trip down memory lane !
This was fascinating! Thanks so much for your work in pulling this video together
You're very welcome, glad you enjoyed it!
This was fascinating. I love ghost development and infrastructure. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Phillip . Always enjoy your videos . Great content 👍
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it
Great story; I always wondered about that little suburb snippet on the north side of the freeway.
Fascinating history of old sites, love your videos. I was born in St George's private hospital in Kew . So much interesting history around Melbourne. Even though I live in the Sunshine Coast and have been in Qld since 1992, I am drawn to you videos on old familiar locations.
Very enjoyable,the dip in Kirby road as it goes towards Kew junction ,Kellett grove tennis club there was a large period Edwardian home there till the freeway was put it over the years it was flooded and there are photos of people sitting on the roof .
Thank you so much for this gem!!
I have many memories of the adventure it was loosing half our street/park. swathes opening in both directions and getting chased on our minibikes by the Roche brothers. Being dropped off on in the emergency lane by a teacher, then climbing up the side under the belford road bridge and crossing through it's internal tunnels with just a box of matches to light the way. And the 2 poor suckers who fell down the side after leaving a nearby party. Never learning what became of them
Thanks for your videos mate. I always find them very interesting and informative. I grew up in Hampton Park in the 70's and watched as the freeway (then Mulgrave Freeway) and South Gippsland Hwy evolved over time. Keep up the good work.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it
@@philipmallis pitty yourwrong
This was interesting to note, and judging by the comments it's popped up in a few other people's feeds too just recently. Watching this and thinking oh the 30's they were so long ago, and realising we're almost there again now!
Another great and informative video. Thank you Philip.
You're very welcome, thanks for watching!
This was really interesting...thanks for researching and sharing.
Love this Philip...lived off / near Belford rd 1962-1979....awesome place to grow up...virtually LIVED at the yarra river../ Sandy point / billabong...often camped there as a kid with a stack of mates and my 2 brothers..like the bush in the burbs we were so lucky !...keep up the great work Philip
We were there with you Neville. The Tarzan swing at Sandy Point was epic.
Thank you very much, glad you enjoyed it!
Magnificent Philip. Thank you so much.
You're very welcome, thank you!
Another great video Phillip. I love to see the hidden relics that we would usually walk past without realising
Thanks very much, glad you enjoy it!
Fantastic history - plenty of gaps filled. More please!
Thanks very much, glad you enjoy it!
Love your videos phillip. Thank you!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it
Great work ! So much history we dont know about
Having both past and present connections and also having lived there myself, I know the area you are covering here Very well,
It's really interesting to see someone examine this history
You Sir are a dead set legend. Thank you for making this video. I have liked and subbed.
Wow - very interesting. I love exploring Melbourne & finding hidden secrets like this. I very much enjoy your content. :)
Thanks very much, glad you enjoy it!
Their used to be many more pine trees next to Belford road. We might have used that area to have a few pre going out drinks after finishing high school in the mid 90s
I love this video- I was looking at the effects the M1 (SE Arterial) had on parkland in Glen Iris- it seems like a great video you could make. Thanks for this great video and all your content
Thanks so much, glad you enjoy them!
Thanks again. Love the videos you produce. Live near by in Balwyn North, travel down Kilby Road alot. Great history of the area. Kilby road especially has a long history dating back to the 1860's to 1870's when it was used for transport of timber to the city of Melbourne and other produce, being a dirt road then of coarse. Maybe you could do history of the Hays Paddock, it also got chopped by the Eastern Fwy, but not badly. As also mentioned in another reply Burke rd was changed and Bulleen rd also. In 1850's there was a church also sitting on the side of Bulleen rd and Koonung Koonung Creek now occupied by one of the tees of the gold course. Keep up the great work.
You're very welcome, and good video idea! It's definitely an interesting place
Great videos mate, love em.
Fascinating. Reminds me of old family photos I was looking at not long ago of my childhood home in Narre Warren, which used to back up on to the field where the Monash Freeway now is and in the photo I'm feeding horses from the back fence. Hah
I remember paddling a kayak upstream from Fairfield boat shed in 1972 and coming across the beginnings of the freeway construction.
Great video. Though one minor point. The 200 and 207 never used to go down Kilby Road they actually went down High street along side the trams.
Very interesting and well presented 👍
thanks so much with that victorian railways map i love these stuff river avenue🤔 a little familiar
Another great video mate. I would love to see one on Dandenong, when and why it was built.
Thank you! And I'll add it to the list of possible topics
Used to live on Elm grv in the early 2000s, interesting to learn the history of the area. Keep it up.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it
Awesome! This is my local hood, I'm surprised I didn't see you filming this. We tend to call the pocket of houses to the north of the freeway Snake Island. You'll have to do another video walking along the "Green Mile" bike path through the Connor Street Reserve which I think is on top of an old creek or rivulet? While you're there don't miss out on Dog Poo Island the green strip beside Earl St down from the Willsmere Station Community Garden? Keep up the good work.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it
In the 1960 and 1970 as the South Eastern Freeway an the Eastern Freeway where built and the whole course of the Yarra River between Burnley an East Kew changed a lot. With much more traffic the old roads and streets couldn't take this load. I remember as a kid when my father drove from Gardener to the city along Malvern road. It toke about 40 minutes til we where at Princess Bridge. With the new South Eastern Freeway that started at Tooronga road we where in about 20 minutes there
I come home from work most days down this way, and was surprised to find it the first time my GPS sent me this way. It's a cute little area, and it was great learning about some of its origins!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it
awesome video as always phil :)
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it
My recollection of this freeway construction was watching the 6.30 nightly news showing protesters being dragged off and arrested by police
Yes you're absolutely right. I've done a separate video that covers some of those protests ruclips.net/video/aaR4JzrzIOI/видео.html
Great video Philip. I've been a resident of East Kew for more than 30 years but from the 1930s onwards my family members have lived in various parts of East Kew, Kew, and nearby North Balwyn. A large part of the area was originally owned by Kodak (Australasia) Ptd Limited. Page Avenue where you stood was originally called Kodak Avenue. Although Kew East has consumed the old area of North Kew, there are still a few entities around using the North Kew name (eg, the tennis club, kindergarten, etc).
You're very welcome, thanks for sharing!
This is really fascinating.
Great video, I'm just curious if you're able to do a video about some history of Sandringham. About lost streets, lost parks or anything to do with history of Sandringham!
Thank you! And yes I'll probably get down that way some day. Melbourne is so big with so many hidden stories, it's hard to fit them all in
I live in North North Kew - a.k.a. Alphington 😁 - and had wondered about what I presumed was empty land before the Eastern car park was built. Most interesting. Thank you. I wonder if I can find pictures online of this area before the freeway.
There aren't many, but the Kew Historical Society do have some in their collection
I lived in this area from 1963-1972 and my father was a Kew old-timer from the 1930s, remembering the Kew Railway line to South Hawthorn, the Inner Circe line which ran up from the Chandler Hwy via Princess/Willsmere, and all that. He told me the golf course originally extended well to the west towards the Chandler Highway, and he lived for a dozen or so years from 1976 off the bottom of Kilby Rd in White Avenue, in a house backing onto one of those gullies you mentioned. I remember the old alignment of North Kew, the bottom of Kilby Rd flooding every year, &c very well, also the old alignment of Burke Rd over the river.
BTW Aboriginals have been counted in every census since the first in 1910. Check your facts.
Vote NO 🇦🇺🇦🇺
Like to know more about the Chandler Highway and the trains, shunting yards and the paper mills. Maybe other factories along the river.
Awesome video. We are keen to research more about the Bedford Rd Bridge actually, as there's a good nuggets of history and engineering feats in there.
Thank you! It's an interesting bridge, possibly changing as part of the North East Link Project as well.
100% interesting!! Sorry,no family living in Victoria in the time they built the tram lines but lived in Melbourne before & saw some changes over the years.
Loved it. Thanks. More of these of the eastern suburbs would be great. Kilsyth boy from 45 years ago. I heard I wouldn't recognise Kilsyth now. Could you do Kilsyth or Croydon or Ringwood. That would be great.
No worries, thanks for watching! And I'll add those to the list
Kilsyth boy here too from 52 years ago when Geoffrey Drive abutted paddocks of cows and rabbits.
The realignment of the river is interesting. A video idea could be documenting the changes to the Yarra that have been done over the years? I think there has been a few
The River avenues used to always flood before the freeway, as did much of the area, as in a metre deep. River ave had a few old houses and I remember seeing a boat tied up to the front more than once. One of the houses was called "The Moorings" and used to hire boats.The stone fence had houses behind it and they were demolished for the freeway. I think the land was sold off at some stage by the GC. The residents certainly made a lot of noise when compulsory aquisition came. The bridge over the freeway at belford road was built at the behest of the golf club. They refused to use the underpass even if a road was built to the club house door.
The underpass having been demanded by the Lord Mayor at the time for a Nuclear Shelter.
Stradbroke Park was once level sloping ground, it was excavated and the soil used on the freeway. A lot of the soil that was excavated in the trench at north kew was no good and dumped in the north west, acid sulphates or something, it stank. So they were short on fill and stole the park.
It was a beautiful area before the freeway, real natural river flats, but a lot of weeds and blackberries. North Kew was considered isolated and poorer as it only had a bus not the tram. Willsmere road would flood all the time so something had to be done.
That's fascinating, thank you for sharing!
Hi Phillip, another interesting video, I did reach out to you if you did anything about Kew, I could help out. Where you started is O'Tooles Reserve named after the local Police Sargeant and champion Axeman Jack O'Toole, where the underpass is I have photos of its construction and was the site of the former Chipperfield boat house which often flooded, the land the freeway cut off is called the Island, and if the Belford bridge collapsed, people could drive accross the oval and through the underpass to Kilby Rd. Kilby Rd is named after the old Kilby Farm owned by the Oswins, a street further up the road after them. The whole area known as Green acres golf course was the old Willsmere Dairy farm, owned by Arthur Wills who was a mayor of Kew and when you were standing on the Belford bridge was the site of his home accross from the old golf house. Page Ave until 1945 was Kodak Ave, because the whole estate bounded by Belford Rd, Kilby Rd and Willsmere Rd was owned by Thomas Baker (hence Baker Ave)(and the Baker Heart Institute) and was going to be the site of the second Kodak film/photo factory around 1910 but Kew Council would not approve a factory in a residential area and renaed the street Page after Joe page Kodak company director. I have photos of the bridge under construction, the freeway under construction, the last houses as they were demolished and more. If you remake this video I can help out. See my Facebook page "Kew History Group"
As always, very interesting!
Thank you!
I used to live just off Kilby Rd. Munro st. in the 50,s. Played cricket in Willsmere Park which adjourned Kilby Rd about 200 metres west of Belford Rd. Tennis on courts about 0.5 K east of Belford Rd. Swam in the Yarra via track north of Willsmere Park.
@robertwhite2046 i lived in mcCubbin Street around the same time. Remember the bottom of McCubbin st flooding many times, and lots of fun playing in Hays paddock behind the houses in Frater st.
I find it interesting looking at the online Melways Edition 1 maps and seeing how much of Melbourne has changed, especially the areas around the old South Eastern Freeway and before the construction of the Eastern.
Old Melways are always interesting to look through. There's also this great website comparing 1945 aerial imagery to today: 1945.melbourne/
Amazing the power a freeway has to engulf and permanently alter a suburb.
I can't believe they even moved the river?!
Good video dude
I cycled along the freeway just before it was opened. A great flat run from Bulleen Road down the Chandler Highway on the smooth new surface. On the way back I crashed when I hit some reo that was sticking out of the unfinished road. Got some gravel rash but otherwise OK.
Another realignment of the Yarra was done for the construction of the South Eastern Freeway including replacement of the Heyington rail bridge in 1969 with a sports area now to the north of what is now Citylink under the railway as a vague reminder of the old river course. The southern bank of today’s river has a steep rise again due to it being an excavated realignment.
I was born in 64 in Melbourne .Sadly Melbourne roads are nightmare from poor design and Dodgy road repairs ,its even worse in Rural Victoria .I lived in Earlwood in Ruskin st ,when there was Bushland between Melbourne CBD to Dandenong ,also Eltham had Farms back then .
Great vi
Burke Road was also substantially realigned east and straightened out for the Eastern Freeway with the divided local street ‘Old Burke Road’ as the former alignment.
Yes you're absolutely right, it's another interesting area nearby. I've written an article about that particular bridge with a bit of its history here: www.boroondarawiki.org/wiki/Burke_Road_Bridge
Learnt to swim under the Burke Rd bridge in the 50s.
Wow!! Great video and great eye for detail!! However how do you find this stuff out!? :P woudl one source be facebook group or other social media places...??
And that club house was pretty grand, what a pity it hasn't been rebuilt :(
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it. I tend to go down rabbit holes when I see something on a walk or ride and then end up finding out all sorts of new things through Trove, the State Library, historical societies, and many other places
@@philipmallis Love it! :)
Interesting stuff, I do wonder if East/West link will have same effect
Have you made a video about Reservoir?
If the other maps/overlays had animation and arrows similar to 3:10, it would elevate the vid to another level
What about Willsmere Park? When I was at school in 1970... we used to go there and play cricket on the huge park that used to be there...
Another from East Kew Primary
I love this
I've always presumed that the giant truck sized bike path tunnel to Wilsmere Park was built to connect the Belford Rd estate to the outside world while the freeway cutting was dug and until the Belford Rd bridge was constructed, but I've never been able to find anything about it. No copy of the Melways presents the tunnel as a road to the estate and there doesn't seem to be a heap of historical information on the freeway's construction - even looking at the tender documents drew no luck! Any idea if this was indeed the case, and if so, what path such a road would have followed on the Wilsmere Park side of the freeway? There's no obvious remaining pieces of infrastructure besides the tunnel itself to substantiate the theory.
Interesting! I know exactly where you mean, I use it a lot to walk and ride. I believe that it was built that way to allow for maintenance and emergency vehicle access to Kew Billabong and the surrounding area. I don't think there were ever plans for it to become a public road. If you do find anything though, do let us know!
Good Stuff.
Hi Philip,
I'm curious. Have you been or are you a historian for Victoria? If not, I think you are very good and the Victorian Government should be employing your services for promotional spokesman for Victoria's Historical Tourism. I haven't particularly liked Victoria in the past, but I am slowly becoming a fan after being interested in what you have to say about it on your channel. Thank you.
Thank you! And no I haven't been in a historian role. The closest that I've probably been is being a committee member of the Balwyn Historical Society
@@philipmallis Well, the Vic Gov is missing out by not using you for tourism in some capacity.
It may be completely unrelated to this story of Kew being split by the EF, but if you're driving East along the EF and take the Chandler Highway exit, about 50ish meters before you hit the lights at the end of this exit, on the left embankment/cutout, there's the remains of a stone wall. I often wonder whether it's the same age as the freeway and is part of constructing this exit, or if it's something else. Royal Talbot is up above it, and I've no idea whether there were any roads around this part of the now freeway. Would love you hear if you know what it's about.
Now i know why there's a Studly park rd in Kew ,Thanks
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
My father was the green keeper of the Yarra bend golf course when the freeway was built.
We lived on the bend in the green keepers house
No mention of the woman’s detention centre close by, also gone
Oh wow you must have seen a lot of change! Do you recall what happened to the house?
@@philipmallis
Bulldozers moved in, it’s under the golf course I suspect, after the bend in the river was diverted
dam I miss north kew so much 😂
Hey Phil. Love your videos. How can we support you in making more videos? If you have a Patreon, I'd love to contribute
Thank you! And that's very kind of you to offer. I don't have any plans to set up a Patreon or other mechanism. The best way to support the channel is probably to share the videos and subscribe!
So funny, my partner and I were there the other day and I remarked “I think we’re in Kew!”
why didnt you mention that abandoned tunnel that leads off kilby rd ? seems related?
Freeways are such destructive pieces of infrastructure in cities.