Category / History / Planning / Transport

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  • Historical transport and planning documents now online

    I have spent some time uploading some historical transport and planning documents related to Melbourne and its development. Check them out here!

  • 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War

    15 August 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the surrender of Japan in Australia. This is considered the end of the Second World War and is referred to here as Victory in…

  • The tank that Australia built

    The story of Australia’s first locally-designed and manufactured tank is a fascinating one. I think that it’s an overlooked part of our history that deserves more recognition than it currently has. (Post…

  • Which is the oldest roundabout in Melbourne?

    Finding out which roundabout was the first to be built in Melbourne may be one of the most vexxed and complicated local history topics possible. There are so many contradictory sources that…

  • Tram roundabouts of Melbourne

    With 85 percent of Melbourne’s tram network mixed with general traffic, it is inevitable that they will have to pass through some interesting intersections. In Melbourne, there are 19 roundabouts that have…

  • Are more people living in apartments now than in 1954?

    65 years ago the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW) released the Melbourne Metropolitan Planning Scheme. This formed the foundations for our current planning system. Some aspects, like car parking requirements,…

  • What happened to the closed schools of the 1990s? Part 2

    Read Part 1 here. Keysborough Primary School The original school in this area was opened in 1869 and moved to this cosy country school building in 1874. Not to be confused with…

  • The shopping strips of Reservoir

    Just before the prominence of private cars engrained itself into Melbourne’s urban planning after the Second World War, Reservoir went through a major housing expansion. Although there was some European settlement in…

  • Victoria’s rocket playgrounds

    Googie architecture (1950s, 60s and 70s) has not been preserved as well as other periods in Melbourne and Victoria. Many of the examples of this brief but fascinating time in design have…

  • What happened to the closed schools of the 1990s? Part 1

    While doing some research for BoroondaraWiki on the closed Greythorn High School, I stumbled across a whole host of other resources related to schools that are no longer around. Greythorn was one…