Subdivision plans are historically important documents used as evidence of the growth of suburbs in Australia. They frequently provide information about when the land was sold on which a built structure was subsequently constructed as well as evidence relating to surveyors and real estate and financial agents. The numerous subdivision plans in the Kew Historical Society's collection represent working documents, ranging from the initial sketches made in planning a subdivision to printed plans on which auctioneers or agents listed the prices for which individual lots were sold. In a number of cases, the reverse of a subdivision plan in the collection includes a photograph of a house that was also for sale by the agent. These photographs provide significant heritage information relating house design and decoration, fencing and household gardens.The ‘Eastlawn Estate’ was surveyed and ready for auction in March 1914, three months before the outbreak of World War I. Sixty-six allotments, created on the ‘order of Mr & Miss Preston’ surrounded the mansion of Woodlands in Harp Road. Woodlands formed part of the Estate, being advertised as lot 1. The allotments faced High, Station and Wright Streets, Harp and Normanby Roads, and Woodlands Avenue. Pru Sanderson in the Kew Conservation Study (Vol.2, 1988) wrote that the Eastlawn Estate ‘covered the western half of the failed Harp of Erin Estate’. Contemporary advertisements promoted the Eastlawn Estate as: ‘There will be no more convenient district nor pleasant Suburb than East Kew for the busy business man. When the Electric Tram is laid, he will be able to journey quickly and pleasantly direct from Collins Street to his home in the Eastlawn Estate in about 20 minutes’. The actual plans of subdivision were included in advertisements in The Argus and in the local newspapers.subdivision plans - east kew, eastlawn estate

The Kew Historical Society's map collection includes a substantial number of real estate subdivision plans, mainly of Kew but also of surrounding suburbs in Melbourne. Most of the subdivision plans date from the 1920s and 1930s when the districts old homes and local farmland were being split up to accommodate residential growth in the postwar period. These early plans were assembled by a local firm, Jas R Mather & McMillan, which had an office in Cotham Road. Many of the plans, and sometimes photos, were annotated by the agents.Subdivision plans are historically important documents used as evidence for the growth of suburbs in Australia. They frequently provide information about when the land was sold as well as evidence relating to surveyors and real estate and financial agents. The numerous subdivision plans in the Kew Historical Society's collection represent working documents, ranging from the initial sketches made in planning a subdivision to printed plans on which auctioneers or agents listed the prices for which individual lots were sold. In a number of cases, the reverse of a subdivision plan in the collection includes a photograph of a house that was also for sale by the agent. These photographs provide significant heritage information relating house design and decoration, fencing and household gardens.The photograph may also be aesthetically significant depending on the importance of the photographic atelier.The ‘Eastlawn Estate’ was surveyed and ready for auction in March 1914, three months before the outbreak of World War I. Sixty-six allotments, created on the ‘order of Mr & Miss Preston’ surrounded the mansion of Woodlands in Harp Road. Woodlands formed part of the Estate, being advertised as lot 1. The allotments faced High, Station and Wright Streets, Harp and Normanby Roads, and Woodlands Avenue. Pru Sanderson in the Kew Conservation Study (Vol.2, 1988) wrote that the Eastlawn Estate ‘covered the western half of the failed Harp of Erin Estate’. Contemporary advertisements promoted the Eastlawn Estate as: ‘There will be no more convenient district nor pleasant Suburb than East Kew for the busy business man. When the Electric Tram is laid, he will be able to journey quickly and pleasantly direct from Collins Street to his home in the Eastlawn Estate in about 20 minutes’. The actual plans of subdivision were included in advertisements in The Argus and in the local newspapers."C" top left. Various annotations.subdivision plans - kew, station street, normanby road, high street, woodlands avenue, harp road, woodlands - kew

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.Subdivision plans are historically important documents used as evidence of the growth of suburbs in Australia. They frequently provide information about when the land was sold on which a built structure was subsequently constructed as well as evidence relating to surveyors and real estate and financial agents. The numerous subdivision plans in the Kew Historical Society's collection represent working documents, ranging from the initial sketches made in planning a subdivision to printed plans on which auctioneers or agents listed the prices for which individual lots were sold. In a number of cases, the reverse of a subdivision plan in the collection includes a photograph of a house that was also for sale by the agent. These photographs provide significant heritage information relating house design and decoration, fencing and household gardens.The mansion Woodlands in Harp Road, East Kew suffered the death of a thousand cuts. In its case, the cuts were subdivisions. Previous subdivisions of the mansion and its grounds were given titles such as ‘The Eastlawn Estate’ (MAP.0055), whereas at the end, the subdivision called it as it was, naming itself the ‘final section of the Woodlands Estate’ when it was put up for auction in 1932. The emphasis in the promotion of the subdivision was that it provided purchasers with splendid opportunities ‘to build modern homes in select, well established modern surroundings’. As with other subdivisions in the interwar period, transport links were emphasised. The six residential lots cut Woodlands off from Harp Road. When the vendor, Louisa Rachel Preston Hill, was to die at Woodlands in 1937 aged 86 her address was given as Normanby Road.subdivision plans - kew, woodlands estate