This well-known Kew business, which would become known as The Model Dairy, was founded in 1863 by James Venn Morgan. Morgan sold the company in the 1890s to John Simonton who renamed the business The Model Dairy Co. Simonton had experience in the local dairying industry having previously leased the Willsmere Park Dairy. He moved the business to Belmont Avenue in c.1899. In 1924, following his retirement, the company expanded to become The Model Dairy Pty Ltd with Arnold Thompson Simonton and John Tanner as its owner/directors. With new techniques and processes such a pasteurisation, the Belmont Avenue site no longer met required standards for processing and bottling, so its operations moved to 191 Cotham Road. The company celebrated its centenary in 1963. A new factory, built in 1959 to a design by Bates, Smart & McCutcheon, was purchased by Bib Stillwell Motors after the dairy closed. The entire site has since been redeveloped.Digital copy of the front side of an invoice, for week ending 22 June 1907 by John Simonton of the Model Dairy in Belmont Avenue to Watson for delivery of 17 bottles of milk on six occasions during the week . A drawing of the Model Dairy is printed at the top of the invoice. (The card was donated by John Harvey Simonton in 2021,)"[To M] Watson" / "Paid A Simonton 26/6.07"model dairy -- kew (vic.), john simonton, belmont avenue -- kew (vic.), dairies -- kew (vic.), invoices

This well-known Kew business, which would become known as The Model Dairy, was founded in 1863 by James Venn Morgan. Morgan sold the company in the 1890s to John Simonton who renamed the business The Model Dairy Co. Simonton had experience in the local dairying industry having previously leased the Willsmere Park Dairy. He moved the business to Belmont Avenue in c.1899. In 1924, following his retirement, the company expanded to become The Model Dairy Pty Ltd with Arnold Thompson Simonton and John Tanner as its owner/directors. With new techniques and processes such a pasteurisation, the Belmont Avenue site no longer met required standards for processing and bottling, so its operations moved to 191 Cotham Road. The company celebrated its centenary in 1963. A new factory, built in 1959 to a design by Bates, Smart & McCutcheon, was purchased by Bib Stillwell Motors after the dairy closed. The entire site has since been redeveloped.Rare silver plate salver commemorating one of Kew's most famous businesses. The salver is one of a pair, identically engraved with Model Dairy 1963-1963.Hecworth reproduction old sheffield plate salver with foliate edge on three feet, with impressed maker mark on reverse rim and engraved with the words 'Model Dairy 1963-1963' in the centre of the reverse. "Heckworth Plate was made by Platers Pty Ltd at 39 Greeves St, St Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria. Platers introduced 'Hecworth' Sheffield Reproduction Silverware in 1940 and in 1946 'Hecworth' was acquired by Rodd Pty Ltd." (MAAS)MODEL DAIRY 1863 - 1963model dairy -- kew (vic.), commemorative silver, john tanner, tanner family

This well-known Kew business, which would become known as The Model Dairy, was founded in 1863 by James Venn Morgan. Morgan sold the company in the 1890s to John Simonton who renamed the business The Model Dairy Co. Simonton had experience in the local dairying industry having previously leased the Willsmere Park Dairy. He moved the business to Belmont Avenue in c.1899. In 1924, following his retirement, the company expanded to become The Model Dairy Pty Ltd with Arnold Thompson Simonton and John Tanner as its owner/directors. With new techniques and processes such a pasteurisation, the Belmont Avenue site no longer met required standards for processing and bottling, so its operations moved to 191 Cotham Road. The company celebrated its centenary in 1963. A new factory, built in 1959 to a design by Bates, Smart & McCutcheon, was purchased by Bib Stillwell Motors after the dairy closed. The entire site has since been redeveloped.Rare silver plate salver commemorating one of Kew's most famous businesses. The salver is one of a pair, identically engraved with Model Dairy 1963-1963.Hecworth reproduction old sheffield plate salver with foliate edge on three feet, with impressed maker mark on reverse rim and engraved with the words 'Model Dairy 1963-1963' in the centre of the reverse. "Heckworth Plate was made by Platers Pty Ltd at 39 Greeves St, St Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria. Platers introduced 'Hecworth' Sheffield Reproduction Silverware in 1940 and in 1946 'Hecworth' was acquired by Rodd Pty Ltd." (MAAS)MODEL DAIRY 1863 - 1963model dairy -- kew (vic.), commemorative silver, john tanner, tanner family

Following a Royal Commission in 1854, the building of a new Asylum at Kew began in 1864. It was built to replace the Yarra Bend Asylum on the Fairfield side of the Yarra River. Work started in 1864 and was completed in 1872 at a cost of ₤198,334. Operating over a period of 116 years, and often renamed to take account of public sensitivities, the ‘Kew Lunatic Asylum’ was one of the largest asylums built in Australia. ‘Willsmere’ was finally closed in December 1988 and sold by the Government of Victoria in the late 1980s. The photograph is by Charles Nettleton. He arrived in Victoria in 1854. In Melbourne he joined the studio of T. Duryea and Alexander McDonald and specialized in outdoor work. ... Nettleton opened his own studio in 1858. His souvenir albums were the first of the type to be offered to the public. However, when the dry-plate came into general use in 1885 he knew that the new process offered opportunities that were beyond his scope. Five years later his studio was closed (Source: ADB)A rare silver albumen photograph by the Victorian photographer Charles Nettleton.A framed original silver albumen photograph by Charles Nettleton showing the front of the Kew Lunatic Asylum.KEW LUNATIC ASYLUMkew lunatic asylum, studley park, charles nettleton, asylum, willsmere hospital, willsmere mental hospital, lunatic

At the beginning of the 1890s, the Kew businessman and Town Councillor, Henry Kellett, commissioned J.F.C. Farquhar to photograph scenes of Kew. These scenes included panoramas as well as pastoral scenes. The resulting set of twelve photographs was assembled in an album, Kew Where We Live, from which customers could select images for purchase.The preamble to the album describes that the photographs used the ‘argentic bromide’ process, now more commonly known as the gelatine silver process. This form of dry plate photography allowed for the negatives to be kept for weeks before processing, hence its value in landscape photography. The resulting images were considered to be finely grained and everlasting. Evidence of the success of Henry Kellett’s venture can be seen today, in that some of the photographs are held in national collections.It is believed that the Kew Historical Society’s copy of the Kellett album is unique and that the photographs in the book were the first copies taken from the original plates. It is the first and most important series of images produced about Kew. The individual images have proved essential in identifying buildings and places of heritage value in the district.Hyde Park is now a small recreation reserve bordered by Willsmere and Kilby Roads and White Avenue. In 1982, Hyde Park was cut off from the Yarra River by the construction of the Eastern Freeway. The building of the latter was to transform the natural landscape, including the Yarra, as well as Hyde Park. The construction of the Freeway makes it difficult to view the scene with the photographer’s eye. Today’s Hyde Park is located on land purchased in 1847 by John Cowell, and in 1851 Catherine Cowell, yet the scene selected by the photographer may well have been located on farmland owned by the Wills family. Farquhar’s point-of-view emphasises both the pastoral and recreational elements of the scene: the grazing cows, three boys, and in the distance two figures, seated on the bank with a parasol. By 1891, an environmental consequence of human activity, including farming, was deforestation, leading to the erosion of the south bank of the Yarra. In contrast, the land on the Alphington side of the river in 1891 included remnant bushland.The Yarra in Hyde Parkkew illustrated, kew where we live, photographic books, henry kellett, yarra river

Prue Sanderson, in her groundbreaking ‘City of Kew Urban Conservation Study : Volume 2 - Development History’ (1988), summarised the periods of urban development and subdivisions of land in Kew. The periods that she identified included 1845-1880, 1880-1893, 1893-1921, 1921-1933, 1933-1943, and Post-War Development. These periods were selected as they represented periods of rapid growth or decline in urban development. An obvious starting point for Sanderson’s groupings involved population growth and the associated economic cycles. These cycles also highlighted urban expansion onto land that was predominantly rural, although in other cases it represented the decline and breakup of large estates. A number of the plans in the Kew Historical Society’s collection can also be found in other collections, such as those of the State Library of Victoria and the Boroondara Library Service. A number are however unique to the collection.The Kew Historical Society collection includes almost 100 subdivision plans pertaining to suburbs of the City of Melbourne. Most of these are of Kew, Kew East or Studley Park, although a smaller number are plans of Camberwell, Deepdene, Balwyn and Hawthorn. It is believed that the majority of the plans were gifted to the Society by persons connected with the real estate firm - J. R. Mathers and McMillan, 136 Cotham Road, Kew. The Plans in the collection are rarely in pristine form, being working plans on which the agent would write notes and record lots sold and the prices of these. The subdivision plans are historically significant examples of the growth of urban Melbourne from the beginning of the 20th Century up until the 1980s. A number of the plans are double-sided and often include a photograph on the reverse. A number of the latter are by noted photographers such as J.E. Barnes.Coloured lithograph of a subdivision plan of the Studley Park Estate, bordered by Yarra, Willsmere Road and the Outer Circle Railway line. The estate was listed in 1910 and was the subject of a planning dispute between the developer and the Town of Kew in relation to flood levels and the suitability of the land for housing. In many cases the names of streets were subsequently changed. The layout was also affected by the creation of the Eastern Freeway. A newspaper report of the day described the subdivision as a: "GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY. We are pleased to submit for PRIVATE SALE that magnificent ESTATE, situated only 4 1/2 miles from the Melbourne General Post Office, STUDLEY PARK ESTATE. KF/NV. Doubtless the CHEAPEST LAND EVER OFFERED having extensive frontages to the prettiest spot on the River Yarra and the National Park, commanding lovely river and landscape views, and acknowledged to be the finest land available so close to the city. The PRICES ARE EXTREMELY MODERATE; The TERMS ARE SIMPLY MARVELLOUS. NO DEPOSIT. NO DEPOSIT. NO DEPOSIT. Allotments and prices to suit everyone."subdivision plans - kew, studley park estate