Historical information

Kew Railway Station (1887-1959). ‘Kew Railway Station’ in Denmark Street was the terminus of the Kew Line, which extended from Hawthorn Station to just south of Wellington Street. The Station opened on 19 December 1887 after a prolonged campaign for a railway by the people of Kew. Due to a decline in patronage, the passenger service ceased operations in August 1952. While a freight service continued for another five years, the line and station were officially closed on 13 May 1957. Subsequently demolished in 1959, the headquarters of VicRoads (formerly Country Roads Board) now stands on the former Station site.

Significance

This work forms part of the collection assembled by the historian Dorothy Rogers, that was donated to the Kew Historical Society by her son John Rogers in 2015. The manuscripts, photographs, maps, and documents were sourced by her from both family and local collections or produced as references for her print publications. Many were directly used by Rogers in writing ‘Lovely Old Homes of Kew’ (1961) and 'A History of Kew' (1973), or the numerous articles on local history that she produced for suburban newspapers. Most of the photographs in the collection include detailed annotations in her hand. The Rogers Collection provides a comprehensive insight into the working habits of a historian in the 1960s and 1970s. Together it forms the largest privately-donated collection within the archives of the Kew Historical Society.

Physical description

A photographic copy of a book plate from 'Kew's Civic Century' (1960) by W.D. Vaughan. The book plate was itself a copy of an early 20th century postcard depicting the Kew Railway Station.

Inscriptions & markings

"Railway opened 1887 - Then as photo states"