The Mont Albert District - a Pictorial History 1830 to 2013

1830s

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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Arundel Wrighte

WHITEHORSE - FIRST EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT

The first European settlement in the Whitehorse area was in Box Hill in the 1830s

1830s
Arundel Wrighte took up a pastoral lease on 350 acres of land which he had previously explored in the Bushy Creek area East of Elgar Rd. He erected his house on Bushy Creek near what is now Shannon Street Box Hill North (East of Station Street and towards Goulburn Street). 
 

The first surveys were undertaken in the 1840s.

 

The first sale of freehold land in the Parish of Nunawading took place in 1850 in Box Hill. The pattern of early land ownership was small blocks in Box Hill and Burwood, larger blocks in Blackburn and the largest lots in Vermont, Burwood East and Mitcham.

 

The municipality’s first roads consisted of rough tracks used by timber cutters and farmers. By the 1850s, rough tracks across the municipality had begun to be shown on maps: these included an approximation of Mont Albert Road, which existed as a track from Barkers Road, in the west, east to Elgar Road.

 

By about 1864, the Nunawading District Road Board had overseen the establishment of the roads now known as Whitehorse Road, Canterbury Road and Burwood Highway.

By 1879, north-south roads including the present Elgar Road, Station Street, Middleborough, Springvale, Mitcham and Heatherdale Roads had been formed, formalizing the municipality’s present network of primary roads.

 

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2013 - Cairn in Pioneer Park, Station St, Box Hill

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