Ashburton: In Pictures

It's been a busy few weeks for me as I put the finishing touches on the second draft of my Ashburton history book, "Ashburton Stories".

The manuscript assessor, who turned out to be married to a former Ashburton resident, really enjoyed it. She suggested it has a broader audience than just Ashburton's current and former residents (who seem to pop up everywhere it seems!), so I have been working away at figuring out how to do that.

Today I spoke to a local graphic designer about the cover. We think we can have it out at the end of June. I'll have it available for the Ashburton Community Centre's Bookfest in July and have already agreed to speak there.

I loathe pop-ups on websites (that's why there isn't any on mine!) but if you would like to receive notice of when it is due, please complete the form! It will help me work out how many copies to print. Five, ten maybe?!

I've also been working on collecting up photographs and copyright permissions for them. Since I haven't had time to write anything new, I thought I would share some of the photos that I have managed to get my hands on that you may not have seen before.

1927 advertisement for the never built "Sunnrise Estate" [sic]. Courtesy of the State Library of Victoria

Note how the flyer mentions the Proposed High Street Tramway Extension "which will surely take place at an early date". It never eventuated but not for want of trying.

The "Red Rattler" train to Camberwell at Ashburton Station, c. late 1950s. courtesy of Boroondara Library Service

Original Ashburton Park Pavilion, c.late 1950s. Courtesy of Boroondara Library Service.

The pavilion was built around 1935. It had no toilet or plumbing. Aside from accommodating sweaty cricketers and footballers, the first Ashburton Community Kindergarten and 1st Ashburton Scouts met there too. By all accounts, it was gross and disgusting by the mid-1950s. The existing pavilion did not arrive until 1979.

Ashburton from the air in 1945 with the old Outer Circle Line cutting down the middle.

This is a screenshot from the fascinating website 1945.Melbourne As it says, it depicts Melbourne in 1945 with the present day superimposed over it. It is an amazing website and covers the whole of Melbourne. All that empty space will be populated by houses in a few short years as you see here:

Aerial view of Ashburton, Burwood and Jordanville, c.1950s. Courtesy of State Library of Victoria

The inside of the beloved Civic Theatre. Courtesy of Boroondara Library Service.

Built in 1946, the Civic Theatre was located on Johnstone Street and High Street (the site where the Shell Service Station is now). It was created out of the original Ashburton Hall, built in 1928 by an East Malvern baker called Alexander Charleston. It was one of the only indoor, non-church affiliated meeting places that brought the residents of the north side of High Street together with the Housing Commission residents. It was demolished in 1960. People still talk about it to me.

The entrance to the Southern Swimming Pool, courtesy Boroondara Library Service

Situated on Warner Avenue, this is now the YMCA Pool and Recreation Centre.

The covering over of the rubbish dump on Markham Reserve, c. 1960s. Courtesy of Boroondara Library Service

Underneath those piles of dirt were debris from the Housing Commission build, old cars and various landfill items that were 10 m deep in some places. But hey, if you can't see it, it's not there right?! In 1990, the Council undertook a major refurbishment project to deal with all the methane rising out of it and turned it into Markham Reserve.

Early residents of Ashburn Grove building the footpath, c. late 1940s. Courtesy of Rosemary Berrell

This delightful photograph was sent to me by a reader. Her parents bought an early commission home on Ashburn Grove. There were no streets or paths built then. One day a truck overturned a pile of rocks and shale. These two industrious ladies decided they would lay out the footpath themselves! Note their high-heeled shoes!

Do you have a photograph like this that you would like in the book? I'm working on the photos until mid-March, so drop me a line!