The Mitcham Reservoir was commenced in 1921 and completed in 1923. The capacity was 43,000,000 gallonsSepia-toned copy of a photograph of the Mitcham reservoir taken from 'Water Supply and Sewerage Systems of the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works - 1925mitcham reservoir, water supply

A brief history of the Mitcham Reservoir.A brief history of the Mitcham Reservoir.mitcham reservoir, melbourne and metropolitan board of works, meagher, ray, walker, e., australian tesselated tile co pty ltd

Black and white photo of Mitcham Reservoirmitcham reservoir, dams and reservoirs

Series of photographs loaned for copying by Robert Collier through Keith Rooney. Photographs have been scanned by Ted Arrowsmith at 300dpi as a 'tiff' and burnt onto a CD Rom. copies of photographs were produced from the CD Rom for inclusion in the album.Black and white photograph of Construction site for the Mitcham Reservoir.mitcham, mitcham reservoir

Black and white photo of Mitcham Reservoir. First capacity.mitcham reservoir

Black and white photo of Construction of Mitcham Reservoir in 1922.(As for NP1024)sydenham, diane, mitcham reservoir, melbourne and metropolitan board of works

Series of photographs loaned for copying by Robert Collier through Keith Rooney. Photographs have been scanned by Ted Arrowsmith at 300dpi as a 'tiff' and burnt onto a CD Rom. copies of photographs were produced from the CD Rom for inclusion in the album.Black and white photograph of Mitcham Reservoir being filled with water following construction.mitcham, mitcham reservoir

Framed Black and White photo of Workers at Mitcham Reservoir, Lucknow Street. See also NP2468 in albumwathen, edward william, mitcham reservoir

Series of photographs loaned for copying by Robert Collier through Keith Rooney. Photographs have been scanned by Ted Arrowsmith at 300dpi as a 'tiff' and burnt onto a CD Rom. copies of photographs were produced from the CD Rom for inclusion in the album.Black and white photograph of the Water Tower at the Mitcham Reservoir, located in north-eastern corner of reservoir close to Agra Street.mitcham, water tower, mitcham reservoir

Black and white photo of Construction of Mitcham Reservoir. Taken in 1922. Photograph of southern retaining wall nearby Lucknow St.sydenham, diane, mitcham reservoir, melbourne and metropolitan board of works

Black & white photo of construction workers with their horse-drawn dray working on the construction of the Mitcham Reservoir for the then Melbourne & Metropolitan Board of Works in 1922.melbourne and metropolitan board of works, mitcham reservoir, agra street, gotts r c

Sepia-toned copy of a photo of the water tower at the Mitcham Reservoir. Taken from page 142 of the 'Water Supply and Sewerage Systems of Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works - 1925'mitcham reservoir, water supply

Black and white photo of Teams of Horses clearing Land for M.M.B.W. Reservoir at Mitcham.meagher, ray, melbourne and metropolitan board of works, mitcham reservoir

Most of the area is now Thornton Crescent, Mitcham, a factory area. When erecting the present 'buildings', which are all single level, certain strategies were employed to ensure safety.Black and white aerial photograph of Mitcham showing the reservoir, Australian Tesselated Tiles with the clay pit at the rear, and Monarch Tiles (1914-16) in the foreground.mitcham reservoir, australian tesselated tile co. pty ltd, monarch terra cotta pty ltd

Photo of Teams of Horses used for clearing land for the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works reservoir at Mitcham. (Copy of framed Photo see NP842).melbourne and metropolitan board of works, mitcham reservoir

The Mitcham Reservoir was completed in 1923. Excavation was by horse drawn scoops and drays. The site is accessed by Agra Road MitchamTwo copies of a black and white photograph of John Williams of East Doncaster Road, Mitcham, standing in front of the Mitcham Reservoir construction site in c1922williams, john, mitcham reservoir

An aerial view of Australian Tessellated Tile Works. |In the background M & MBW reservoir. In the foreground is the Builders Trading and Roofing Company Tile works (formerly the Monarch Pottery - note the M on the chimney)australian tesselated tile co.pty ltd, aerial photographs, dams and reservoirs, mitcham reservoir, builders trading and roofing co. ltd, monarch pottery

Various family scenes taken from outside the family home on the southeast corner of the intersection of Nyora Road and Pitt Street with Eucalyptus Road. Also, scenes of the Stokes Orchard and equipment used, construction of water reservoir at the end of Nyora Road near Reynolds Road and Diosma Road as well as early stages of the Stokes Orchard housing development. Frank Stokes worked as a qualified accountant at Kennons leather factory in Burnley, while living at 1 Thomas Street, Mitcham. He suffered from migraines and wanted to go back to the land (he had previously worked on farms and orchards since coming to Australia in 1926 both in WA and Vic.). He first travelled to the district by train in July 1942 to find land with the intention to establish an orchard. By chance he met Arthur Bird of Bird Orchard (bounded by Pitt Street, Eucalyptus Road and Wattle Grove) and they got talking over their common interest. Arthur put Frank up for the night and pointed out the land, 158 acres- Taylor Estate- £900, part of Crown Allotment 15, Section 5, Parish of Nillumbik (CA15) somewhat diagonally opposite Bird Orchard. He applied through the Riverina Agency to purchase the land who in turn had to get permission from Canberra to sell as there was a new government regulation banning land sales except for immediate production. He obtained a loan on his Mitcham house of £600 @ 5% and paid £450 deposit with quarterly payments of £15 over 5 years. The title to the property was issued May 15, 1946. He was helped and advised by Arthur Bird who farmed the neighbouring orchard. Early 1943 he took possession and would catch the train out to Eltham on Fridays after work and began building a hut for shelter and to lock up tools. He was able to pay a neighbour (Hawkins) to help with clearing and fencing 25 acres and with a horse and single furrowed plow, planted approximately 2,500 fruit trees - cherries, peaches, plums, almonds, pears, apricots and lemons as well as a few apples and oranges; a massive job. A huge problem was hares and rabbits eating all the new buds off the tiny trees. As well as laying poison he painted the trees with a mixture of cow manure and lime. Often working by moonlight. It was extremely difficult to get wire and wire netting because of the war but after much effort he obtained a permit from the Agricultural Department for supplies in March 1944. In February 1945 he applied for a permit to build a “packing shed” as no house building allowed. It was to be 33 feet x 21 feet and cost £312. Constructed mostly from second-hand materials, which was hard to obtain, especially iron for roofing. Frank finished work at Kennons October 31, 1945, and in March 1946 he sold the Mitcham house for £1230 plus £170 for furniture. The family of five then moved into a very unfinished at Eltham, which was a struggle to weatherproof. Eventually rooms were divided off and lined with hessian bags and whitewashed. Their income was firewood (cut and sold), selling rockery stones and cut sweet bursaria. (It was discovered during the 1940s that Bursaria contained the sunscreen compound Aesculin. The RAAF utilised this compound from Bursaria during WW2 for pilots and gunners.) The orchard’s first fruit sale was a 1/2 case of Le Vanq peaches in December 1947 - 8 shillings. In 1956 plans for house were drawn and Glen Iris bricks purchased (1956 Olympic Rings variant). The building of the house commenced in 1957 - 12 feet of original packing shed removed – and was completed in 1959. Water was connected from newly built pressure storage on the property at the end of 1959 and the electricity connection for the first time at 3pm on April 29, 1960. In the mid-1970s the Shire of Eltham divided the orchard up into numerous rate-able parcel lots, which became unaffordable for Frank. Consequently, Stokes Orchard was turned into a housing development by Macquarie Builders and marketed as the Stokes Orchard Estate in two stages; Stage 1 encompassing Scarlet Ash Court, Ironbark Close and Peppermint Grove bounded by Nyora and Eucalyptus roads c.1976 and Stage 2 encompassing Stokes Place, Orchard Way, The Crest and The Lookout bound by Nyora and Diosma roads c.1979. The development of Orchard Way, The Crest and The Lookout did not proceed as planned due to the lack of the sewer along Diosma Road and so many of the proposed lots were incorporated into five-acre parcels instead. With the arrival of the sewer along Diosma Road many years later, most of these five-acre parcels have since been subdivided many times.Representative of the orchard growing areas of ElthamMP4 00:24:39; 426MB Digital file only - Digitised by EDHS from a DVD copy on loan from Beryl Bradbury (nee Stokes), daughter of Frank Stokes. 24 min duration compilation of home movie Super 8mm film shot by Frank Stokes brother-in-law.beryl bradbury (nee stokes) collection, frank stokes, nyora road, stokes orchard, stokes orchard estate, stokes place, video recording