Historical information

Pru 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.

Significance

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.

Physical description

The Erin Heights Estate in Kew included just seven lots in in Valerie Street. These were all that remained of this wartime subdivision, the other 11 allotments on Balfour and Belford Roads having already been sold. Balfour Road was to be only a temporary name as the street is currently called Windella Avenue. Now, the parkland opposite the subdivision is the reserve created from the route of the Outer Circle Railway. This Railway reached Kew East in 1925, but had been planned as far back as 1873. The development focuses on the benefits of living in Kew: being at the highest of Kew’s ‘suburbs’; being a good residential area; its rapid growth; and the proximity of the Kew East tram in High Street. In 1917, the electric tramline only extended to a terminus at the Harp of Erin hotel. The terminus is clearly represented on the plan.