Historical information

One of a series of photographs, taken by Edgar James Dower in the second decade of the twentieth century. Born and raised in Olinda, his family later moved to Surrey Hills. He worked as an adult as a clerk in the city office of the Metropolitan Gas Company, and in his role as a 'collector', he was able to photograph scenes including the construction of tramlines and associated buildings in Kew, Hawthorn, Camberwell and Surrey Hills. Later he established a real estate agency with his brother - the E.J. Dower Real Estate Agency, Dandenong Office.

Significance

The image is an historically significant record of the development of transport infrastructure which was used to connect Victorians in the first two decades of the twentieth century. This development resulted from increases in population and the consequent extension of Melbourne's suburbs. The photographs, both individually and collectively, richly detail the labour of workers and the tools and machinery used to create and extend Melbourne's tram network in the years preceding and during World War 1.

Physical description

Two faded original horizontal photographs, mounted on vertical card showing external and internal features of the construction of the Hawthorn Tram Depot on the corner of Power Street and Wallen Road. These images postdate the electrification of tramlines within Camberwell, Hawthorn, Kew, and Surrey Hills. The first photograph is an exterior view of the depot under construction. At the left of the photograph is the rear portion of a tram. The second photograph is an interior view of construction workers inside the partially completed Hawthorn Depot. Other tram depots, in what is now Boroondara, include the Kew Tram Depot which opened in 1915, and the Camberwell Tram Depot which opened in 1929.

Inscriptions & markings

Recto: "The tramways building in course of creation. C/r of Power St & Wallen Road, Hawthorn. Showing one of the original horse drawn trams which ran from Hawthorn Bridge to Auburn Road"..