History of Ward Names

Bellevue

Takes its name from a street in the 1922 Camberwell City Heights subdivision. The estate was a strip of land from Doncaster Road to the Koonung Koonung Creek, between Hill and Bulleen Roads.

Most of the street names were derived from references to the views in all directions, many in French. The name was used for a new primary school in 1957 and a nearby shopping centre.

Maranoa

Takes it name from the native plants garden established by John Middleton Watson on land he bought in the early 1890's. The area was previously known as One Tree Hill or Canterbury Park, Balwyn.

He continued to buy land in the area most of which later became Beckett Park. He began to create gardens on one side with Australian and New Zealand indigenous species.

He named the gardens Maranoa after a river in Queensland, from native words meaning flowing, alive or running.

Maling

Takes its name from the road beside the Canterbury Railway Station, which ran through a large property owned by the Logan family.

The area originally had four different names due to various subdivisions. Councillor Mercy suggested that long term Councillor and three times Mayor John Butler Maling be honoured in 1899, with a last section renamed also in 1908.

The Maling Road part of the Canterbury Shopping Centre slowly became more important than Canterbury Road. By the First World War, the two-storeyed row of shops, a theatre and hall and then the de-licensing of the large Canterbury Hotel increased the area's importance. The area is now recognised and protected by Council as an important tourist precinct.

Lynden

The Hartwell village was subdivided in the early 1850's, and with its school and post office, was briefly more important than Camberwell Village.

Lynden takes its name from the road and park through long time farming land generally known as Highfield. The first subdivision occurred after the First World War, through a property belonging to the Boyd family, and named after trees.

The Linden is a lime tree, but the original subdivision plan shows the street spelt with a 'y', which could have been a minor change due to other Linden streets not far away. It is also possible that the name was changed due to anti-German sentiment following the War to avoid associations with the German avenue in Berlin.

Solway

Possibly named after a Scottish Firth, and the name given to Camberwell's post office in the southern part of the former Waverly Golf Links estate.

In the 1890's a long timber railway bridge extended the railway over Gardiner's Creek, similar in appearance to a bridge across the original Firth. The Education Department acquired some of the land in 1929, and opened Darling East Primary School in 1950.

According to the wishes of the PMG's Department, the school was renamed Solway in 1956. The railway terminated at Ashburton for many years, but was eventually extended to the new Alamein station for the new government housing developments. The housing was built after the Second World War on an area popularly known as Ashburton Forest.

Gardiner

Takes its name from John Gardiner, the first white settler in the Boroondara parish. At the end of the 1830's John Gardiner lived close to the top outlet of the creek named for him, stretches of which had other names until the 1850's.

At first his cattle were free to roam over a wider area on the south side of the creek which was the first district to use the name as the Gardiner Road district. This area was later named Malvern.

Studley

This name is associated with John Hodgson, the Kew pioneer responsible for the establishment of the Studley Punt in the 1840s. The punt took traffic across the river into land which was part of his squatting run known as Studley.

Some of the land was set aside for public purposes by the mid 1950s, becoming a popular recreational area. Part of the area was used for quarrying and volunteer army exercises took place there in the 1860s. The road to the punt where a bridge was later erected was known as the Studley Park Road.

Cotham

Was a settlement from the early 1850s, near Wellington Street east of Denmark Street where the two roads from the river crossings met.

The roads then diverged and travelled to settlers along the river or along the Main Gippsland Road due east. It was soon overshadowed by the larger Village of Kew, also established in the 1850s just north along the road to Bulleen, later called High Street.

It had a strip row of thriving shops, businesses and hotels by the 1860s, when Kew's streets were named. Some of the main roads had different names to those already given by other municipalities.

The Main Gippsland Road was generally known as the White Horse Road after the hotel in the Box Hill district, but on the Kew side of Burke Road it retained its name as the Cotham-road, the road to Cotham.

Junction

The Camberwell Junction developed around the hotel licensed in 1857 by George Eastaway, established near where the main roads met.

The area was formerly known as Red Gum Flat. Town Commons were set aside below, and a school, churches and Camberwell Town Hall built. This name was also used for residents across the boundary road in Hawthorn.

The Junction shopping centre spread to and beyond the new railway station in the 1880's. The name recalls the original village established around the Camberwell Cross, or crossroads.

Glenferrie

Peter Ferrie's property on the Glenferrie Road/Toorak Road hill in the 1840's gave its name to the road which led to it.

The new Hawthorn municipality officially adopted the name in the early 1860's. The official name was also eventually adopted by Kew, where the road was known as Barkly, to honour the Victorian governor.

The new railway station on Glenferrie Road in the 1880s took the name permanently to that area. The station was first known as the Glenferrie Road station and like other stations, dropped the 'road' reference.

The name was then used for nearby businesses and a hotel.