Category: Local history
Fruit and nuts in North Balwyn
Eagle-eyed visitors to the northern reaches of Boroondara may have noticed a couple of street name patterns near Doncaster Road and Greythorn Road. There are two areas with related names here. The first is a group of three streets running west off Greythorn Road that have a fruit theme: Lemon Road, Lime Avenue and Citron…
5 things that you didn’t know about North Balwyn
Having lived in North Balwyn for most of my life and represented it on the local council, it’s a special kind of place to me. Despite its reputation as ‘North Boring’ there are many interesting things about the area. So, in no particular order, here are five things that you (probably) didn’t know about North…
Walking the Yan Yean Pipeline
The post for this fortnight is a little different – in the form of a video instead. A few weeks ago, I walked the length of the Yan Yean Pipeline from Yan Yean Reservoir to the storage reservoirs at Preston. You can see the video below or at this link here. It’s my first real…
The unluckiest cinema in Balwyn
Picture theatres were once a much more common sight around the middle suburbs of Melbourne. Suburbs that were in development throughout the 1920s and 1940s could have several different venues in close proximity, all vying for customers. Balwyn was no exception. Despite today being best-known for the Balwyn Cinema located on Whitehorse Road at Austin…
From white to grey – a little bit of North Balwyn history
At only 1.6 kilometres, Greythorn Road is one of the shortest main roads in Boroondara. It shares its name with Greythorn, a locality within North Balwyn. There aren’t any fixed boundaries but it’s generally understood by locals to be an area bounded by Balwyn Road, Gordon Barnard Reserve, Belmore Road, Winfield Road and Koonung Creek.…
