Eyes on the sewers 1899 52/8/1

Eyes on the sewers 1899 52/8/1, a photo by Boroondara Libraries on Flickr.

In the late 19th century the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works commenced a massive undertaking which resulted in maps of metropolitan Melbourne essentially to map sewerage and drainage. These maps provide a wealth of information about areas, streets and properties at the time of their mapping.

I ended up on this 1899 map of Collingwood because I was searching for 36 Cambridge Street, Collingwood. From this map you can see that 36 Cambridge Street was on the eastern side of Cambridge Street, just opposite Cambridge Street Primary School and in the block just north of Victoria Parade which has the New Bendigo Hotel on the corner.


If you zoom in on the map and focus on 36 Cambridge Street itself, you can see quite a bit of detail. You can see that to the south there was a vacant block; that the house was a single fronted terrace with a small garden in front and a verandah indicated by the "v". There was another verandah on the side of house and a tap and the bath are also indicated. Buildings appear to extend to the back fence and there on the left (or south) is a closet (indicated by "c") conveniently located near the rear lane for collection by the night man.

And what you may ask has 36 Cambridge Street Collingwood to do with Boroondara? Government printer and stockbroker, Edward Khull (1804-1884) owned the estate "Tooronga" after whom Tooronga Road was named but by 1884 when he died he was living in 36 Cambridge Street, Collingwood. This terrace in Collingwood was certainly smaller than his estate in Hawthorn would have been and evidence of reverses he had on the exchange and insolvency.

Digital reading 52/7/2

Digital reading, a photo by Boroondara Libraries on Flickr.

If you want to read about the early days of Hawthorn in particular but more broadly the Boroondara area you can do no better than to hop onto the National Library of Australia's Trove portal and check out the South Bourke Standard which was produced in Burwood Road Hawthorn. The editor, Apollos Slatterie, was the second Town Clerk of the fledgling municipality of Hawthorn and later the librarian.

Digitized newspapers provide a fabulous new way for getting a flavour of the past, be it for descriptions of events, looking at advertisements or following what was going on at Council meetings.

City of Hawthorn Honour Roll 52/7/1

City of Hawthorn Honour Roll 52/7/1, a photo by Boroondara Libraries on Flickr.

The City of Hawthorn Roll of Honour records all the citizens of Hawthorn who enlisted in the First World War. There is also a separate section which lists those who fell in the war. The Honour roll has lived in the foyer of Hawthorn Town Hall for decades but due to the imminent renovation of the building it is now proudly on display at Hawthorn Library.

Next time you are at the library, come and have a read of it. You'll only be able to see one page but it is interesting to see what residents pop up so you might have to keep coming back! And if you want to see the whole list of people without coming back, there is a complete transcript available for viewing in the Hawthorn Library local history section.

Dappled light in Camberwell Library garden 52/6/2

Dappled light in Camberwell Library garden 52/6/2, a photo by Boroondara Libraries on Flickr.

This second photo for the #fp2012 reflects both light and shade. The dappled light showing through the trees make this seat a popular spot for the community to relax. It has been very hard to get a photo of this without members of the community on the seat. There always seems to be someone sitting there resting, reading or one day there was a mother having a picnic with her children.

Camberwell Library has been housed in temporary accommodation in this house in Inglesby Road for the last five years. The house was the former resident of the City of Camberwell Hallkeeper. Camberwell Library which was previously housed in Camberwell Road in the 1890 clocktower building moved here to allow that building to be renovated and returned to its former civic function. The adult library now houses the Council Chamber and associated meeting rooms.

Camberwell Library is scheduled to open in new premises in the former Camberwell Centre in Camberwell Road in October 2012 and we are looking forward both to the new premises but also to the relocation of the Camberwell local and family history collections to this library.

If you want further information on the history of Camberwell Library and to check out some more historical photos, search on "Camberwell Library" in the word cloud on the right.

Ex Umbra in Solem 52/6/1

Ex Umbra in Solem 52/6/1, a photo by Boroondara Libraries on Flickr.

The municipality of Hawthorn was formed in July 1860 as a split away from the Boroondara Roads Board. The embryonic community gave themselves the motto "Ex Umbra in Solem" which can be translated as from the shadows into the sun. It is hard to find any documentation about the source of this motto but I think it was a play on words relating to Boroondara which is said to be an Aboriginal word meaning "shady place". Hawthorn saw themselves as emerging from the shade and moving towards the bright light of the sun depicted here in gold.

The residents of Hawthorn identified themselves with progress and nothing typified this more to them than the extension of the train line over the river to Hawthorn Station. Again the train is a key element of the crest with the railway bridge and the Yarra shown.

This crest was produced for the new Hawthorn City Library building opened in Glenferrie Road on 21 November 1969 and celebrated the municipality there until 31 May 1989 when the building was closed for renovations.