History.
Prior to
the arrival of the Railway to Auburn in 1882, Burwood and Auburn Rs were mainly rough dirt tracks. The
opening of the railway station on April 3, 1882 (known as Auburn Rd Station) was associated with a strong movement of
people setting up shops along Auburn and Burwood Rds, extending from Glenferrie Rd to the Tower Hotel.
The land.along the southern side of Burwood Rd,.extending
between Camberwell and Auburn Rds, is now of historical significance.
It
was cleared of natural forest by the 1860s and the first lots were released for sale in 1880
The group of shops at the western end is included
in the Boroondara Heritage Overlay.
No trace
of the original villas or cottages remain - they were ultimately demolished to make way for commercial businesses..
The five shops remain, all having changed hands many
times in the past 70 years!. Until recently the building at 600 Burwood Rd displayed "EST 1880"
on the top parapet (now covered by a modernized façade)
The
shop at 604 Burwood still displays the original early-1900 faded signage "Cash Grocers"
above the window.
The two-storey property at 602 Burwood
Rd was the home of the author and his family until 1959. In the1960s it became
a post office then a fish/chips shop. Now, it is occuoied by the "Table Talk" businress
The strip started at the former Tower Hotel (1876-1954) and included:
- Four villas (1880) located to the west of the Hotel
- Six small
cottages (1880) sited between what is now Rojo Place and the group of five shops
- The
former Commercial Bank of Australia (1883-1903) on the corner of Auburn Rd (later rebuilt in 1903
as the Grainstore)
- Two buildings were erected in 1917 on each side of Rojo
Place; in the 1940s the author recalls one of these buildings was "Dwyer;s Furniture Store
- Size of the cottage lots was very small - width of each block was only 20 ft.
Street numbers - there are no numbers shown in the Sands-McDougalls Post Office directories
prior to the 1910.edition. In those days, mail was delivered to the occupier, such as "Joe Bloggs, Esq". The
"Esq" suffix is not often seen nowadays!
Street numbers in Burwood, Burke and
Auburn Rds were changed in 1922.
