The Mont Albert District - a Pictorial History 1830 to 2013

Geology and Topography

Home
Demographics
Prologue
Indigenous Heritage
Geology and Topography
Vegetation and Fauna
Climate and Hydrology
1830s
1840s to 1870s
1850s - Parish of Nunawading
1852 - Whitehorse Inn
1861 - Postal Services
1880s - Electricity Supply
1880s to 1920s
1882 - Phantom Railways to Doncaster
1883 - Residential Heritage Precinct
1884 - Broughton Park subdivsion
1884 - Brickworks
1885 - Surrey Hills district - map
1888 - Football Clubs
1889 - Gas Supply and Gasworks
1889 - Doncaster Electric Tramway and Tower
1890 - Mont Albert Railway Station
1892 - Surrey Hills Golf Club
1892 - Water Supply, Reservoirs and Sewerage
1899 - Telephone Services
1905 - The Surrey Dive
1907 - Scouts and Guides
1912 - Mont Albert Village Shopping Precinct
1914 - Mont Albert Progress Association
1916 - Californian Bungalows
1917 - Schools
1917 - Wattle Park
1924 - Early Shortwave Broadcasting from the Surrey Hills district
1924 - Black's Estate
1925 - Bus Services
1929 - Tramways
1930 - Cricket Clubs in Mont Albert
1930s - Balwyn - Beckett Park Bonfires and Wildlife Sanctuary
1948 - Grange Tennis Courts
1957 - Pioneer Park
1961 - Surrey Hills Communications Tower
1981 - Box Hill Miniature Railway
Koonung Creek Parklands
Heritage Notes
Mont Albert Road - Early History
Mont Albert Rd - the East End
Elgar Rd - north and south of Mont Albert Rd
Mont Albert Rd - View St to Elgar Rd
Bushland Reserves
Service Associations
Sporting Clubs
Box Hill Institute of TAFE
Walking Trails
Epilogue
Timeline
The Author's Websites
References and Acknowledgements

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1850 - Topography map

OVERVIEW

Historical Notes

Boroondarah  became the City of Camberwell, the name derived from aboriginal Burroodarah – shady or dark place

 

Nunawading - derived from aboriginal Numphawading – ceremonial ground or battlelfield

 

Nillimbuk Peneplain
Whitehorse is sited on a geological formation known as the Nillimbuk Peneplain.

 

Originally, the higher parts (the hilltops) of Whitehorse were light sandy country, timbered with gums and sheoaks.

 

The ridge of high ground along which Mont Albert and Whitehorse Rds run is the watershed between streams flowing north to Koonung Creek, and south to Gardners Creek.

 

W or West Creek, originally rising near Whitehorse and Union Rds corner was frequented by wild ducks.

 

The land surface is on three separate areas, formed over a span of more tha 400 million years.

 

It encompassed the geological period known as the Silurian, beginning 435 million years ago, as sediments, lasting for about 40 million years. The sediments laid down settled, over tens of millions of years, and ultimately formed layers of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.

 

These layers were subsequently elevated above water level that occurred in the Devonian Period (395 to 345 million years ago).Then, during the Jurassic Period (195 135 million years ago) the land was again uplifted. By the Tertiary Period, some 65 million years ago, the Nillimbuk terrain formed the shape and height known today.

 

During the Tertiary Period, the land was overlain with further deposits of sediments.

 

In the Whitehorse  area, the later sandstone deposits occur in only a few places, as capping on the older Silurian deposits.

 

These may be seen in Wattle Park, the hill at the SW corner of Canterbury and Elgar Rds, and between Middleborough and Blackburn Rds.

 

The third type of land surface found in this district is ground in the valleys of the larger streams, such as Gardner's Creek, Koonung Creek, and their tributaries.

 

For the next 175 million years, the land was subjected to erosion by wind and water.


Some of the land is on the oldest rock strains in the Melbourne region.

 

High Points
The highest points in Mont Albert and Surrey Hills are Delaney Hill (135 m - Ca
nterbury Rd, site of the communications tower and reservoirs), Round Hill (120 m - Canterbury Rd), Mount Albert (110 m - Union Rd), Round Hill (Mont Beuty (105 m - east of Warragul Rd)

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2013 - Map showing contour lines

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