Templestowe, Victoria

"Templestowe" redirects here. For the Victorian Legislative Council Province, please see Templestowe Province.

Templestowe Melbourne, Victoria
Population	16,428 (2006)
• Density
Postcode(s)	3106
Area	14.7 km2 (5.7 sq mi)
Location	17 km (11 mi) from Melbourne
LGA(s)	City of Manningham
State electorate(s)	Bulleen, Warrandyte
Federal division(s)	Menzies
Suburbs around Templestowe: Lower Plenty Eltham Warrandyte Templestowe Lower Templestowe Doncaster East Doncaster Doncaster East Donvale

Templestowe is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 17 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Manningham. At the 2006 Census, Templestowe had a population of 16,428.

The suburb has a number of natural attractions, including ample parklands, contrasted with large, modern shopping malls.

Geography

Templestowe is located in the North-Eastern area of Melbourne. Templestowe is bordered by the Yarra River, King Street, Victoria Street, Blackburn Road and some parks.

Typical view of Templestowe at dusk.

The landscape of Templestowe is striking. Gentle, rolling hills extend from east of the Yarra River flood plains along Templestowe Road (towards the Eastern Freeway) for seven km (4.3 miles) to the north-east. The altitude of the plain above sea level is 50 m, and the topography is subdued and mostly flat; the hills are just below 60 m, the slopes rounded, and there are several forrested gullies.

Since the Southern Ocean sea-level stabilised 3000 years ago, the rivers of the Port Phillip Sunkland ceased eroding their channels and have been depositing an alluvium of silt, clay, and sand in the lower reaches of the flood plains. Over the last 2000 years the slowly coursing river widened the build-up to form a series of meanders (billabongs). In Warrandyte the river flows through a steep sided gorge for a distance of 26 km, forming an "antecedent" stream: the absence of steps or high river terraces on long spurs inside meander bends indicates some relatively recent deposition. In the suburb itself, at the confluence with the Plenty River, the valley opens up into "wide flood plains surrounded by undulating country of tertiary geology."

Scoured banks of a creek in Templestowe

Degradation of the soils in the steep slopes at the river's edge has been exacerbated over the last century by unsustainable agricultural processes (such as the harvesting of storm-felled trees), deforestation and the introduction of rabbits; following the 2006 drought, the community newspaper has reported several times the population was only brought under in 2007, 12 years after baiting programs were begun and that more conservation funding is needed to halt the loss of vegetation along the river. Most of the surrounding area has been cleared for agricultural and orchard use, although an "urban forest" exists in the densely populated rural-residential areas. There is a wide diversity of growth within the flood plain.

Climate

Most of the area corresponds to the climate recorded in Melbourne, though some variation has been recorded in the hills to the north-east. The rainfall in this forrested area is 782 mm in 169 rain days per year, which exceeds the metropolitan average of 655 mm in 143 rain days by approximately 12 mm daily.

Geology

Devonian volcanic intrusions containing rich auriferous quartz and feldspar are present on both sides of the river, as well as in the hills to the west (Heidelberg). The Newer Volcanics (2.5 to 5 million years old) are concentrated in the upper reaches of the river but it was their flows just upstream that blocked off the depression into Port Phillip Bay, forming a large lake at Fairfield. The Yarra subsequently cut across to the east of the flow and the lake was drained. The basalt is exposed at both the Fairfield locality and along the Plenty River. Quaternary sediments in the form of river alluvium, including half a metre of fine gravel, have been deposited on the floodplains and in the river channels; only some of this forms high river terraces, most material being diverted in massive annual floods.

A report from The Argus in 1923 gives rare insight to interest in the area. It had been recently accepted that "when the coastal plain is overweighted the back country rises" due to inexorable forces moulding the surface of the earth, and the so-called "Templestowe anticline" was studied as representative of microscopic faulting which accommodated this elevation of the eastern suburbs. It was observed that the new reserve grounds established along it would become a "Mecca" for geologists:

at the better geological sections... [there are] folded rocks, which were originally soft mudstones, but now hardened by the forces induced through [lateral] pressure, often sheared and thrust out of position. The saddleback thus produced naturally opened out at the summit of the old, and the cracks that were formed w[h]ere [w]ater filled in with milky quartz veins... [are now, after being mined] full of cavities which were once occupied...

History

Templestowe has had two notable waves of human settlement. The first occurred c. 40000 BCE, its history being preserved in legend amongst the tribes of the Kulin nation (a confederation of at least five language groups) via the dreamtime pathways. Most interpretations depict a pathway from the area today known as Port Phillip Bay along the Goulburn River, across The Black Spur at Healesville and down the Yarra River to what are now the cities of Manningham and Nillumbik, in the eastern suburbs.

The land to the east of Melbourne was acquired by The Crown early in the 19th century, during the Stawellian timocracy; the Wurundjeri people, who inhabited the Yarra River Valley and its tributaries for 500 years, were granted "permissive occupancy" of Coranderrk Station, near Healesville, and forcibly resettled. Extensive trading networks had been established with the predominantly British colonists prior to pastoralism in 1835, George Langhorne, a missionary in Port Phillip from 1836 to 1839, noting in his recourse to the Colony of New South Wales that a substantial monetary trade was well established in 1838: "A considerable number of the blacks obtain food and clothing for themselves by shooting the Menura pheasant or Bullun-Bullun for the sake of the tails, which they sell to the whites." The increasingly rapid acquisition of guns, the lure of exotic foods and a societal emphasis on maintaining kin relationships meant they weren't attracted to the mission. According to John Green, the Inspector of Aboriginal Stations in Victoria and later manager of Corranderrk, the people were able to achieve a "sustainable" degree of economic independence: "In the course of one week or so they will all be living in huts instead of willams [traditional housing]; they have also during that time [four months] made as many rugs, which has enabled them to buy boots, hats, coats etc., and some of them [have] even bought horses."

The subsequent, pioneer settlement process was drawn out due to the area's geographic inaccessibility relative to that west of Melbourne: the land was hilly and thickly timbered, as opposed to the open plains of greater Geelong. Additionally, it was believed that the soil was shallow and infertile, a fallacy which was not debunked until T. R. Nutt surveyed the land in 1839.

In 1841 Frederic Unwin, a Sydney solicitor, purchased 5,120 acres (20.7 km²) or eight square miles of land, including the part of Templestowe south of Foote St/Reynolds Rd and west of Church Rd. The land was purchased from the Crown for one pound an acre under the terms of the short-lived Special Survey regulations. The area was sometimes known as Unwin's Special Survey.

The original Templestowe village was situated between what is today Finns Reserve and the Templestowe Hotel, as this expanse of land ran by a fresh water stream and was north of Unwin's Special Survey. It was formally recognised in legislative writ following the establishment of the school in Tom Hicks' barn, as the educational facility was also utilised in an official capacity by the community, that is, it facilitated the burial of the dead and town meetings. The original building was roughly situated on the corner of Serpells Road and Williamsons Road and was first cited in a judicial trial in 1856.

The Sad Story of Templestowe Bridge (1855-1863, 1873-1935?)

In March 1855, Hungarian immigrant Sigismund Wekey held a meeting at the Bulleen Hotel and called for shareholders, each “according to his means”, in a proposed toll bridge, the first bridge ever built over the Upper Yarra, joining Templestowe to what is now Lower Plenty. The bridge, in replacing a tolled punt being operated by Wekey's company, would cut five kilometres off the trip from Eltham township to Melbourne, it was claimed at the meeting.

The previous month Wekey had purchased 211 acres (0.85 km²) in Lower Plenty, via The Victoria Vineyard and Garden Fruit Company of which he was manager, with a vision to start a wine industry in the new settlement of Melbourne.

Wekey's toll bridge plan, backed by a group of Melbourne businessmen who would form the ‘Templestowe Bridge Committee’, attracted the necessary shareholders and the project was underway. Colonial Architect of the day, James Balmain did the design as a private commission, engineers and builders were Allott and Greenwood. The foundation stone, laid by John Hodgson M.L.C., on August 18, 1855, concealed a manuscript giving details of the people at the ceremony.

The bridge would have a span of 43 metres and a width of eight metres. It would cost 2200 English Pounds ($US800,000 in today’s currency). It would be located at what is now Finns Reserve [near the intersection of Thompsons Road and Foote Street] and Bonds Road, Lower Plenty, the land for Bonds Road being donated by local landowners John Seymour and David Bell. And the Central Road Board agreed to level the road to the bridge on the Templestowe side through the estate of Henry Stooke.

Meantime Wekey conceived a plan for another bridge at Studley Park to improve and shorten the trip to the city even further. By September 21, 1855 the plan for this second bridge was underway.

A stoppage in the works of the Templestowe Bridge was explained by Wekey on September 22, as being a dispute between the Board and the contractors over payment when the foundation on the Lower Plenty side was found to be different than expected, causing a change in the design - the contractors were wanting more money to accommodate this.

Unfortunately in January 1856 the Victoria Vineyard and Garden Fruit Company was forced to sell its land. The sale was to Mr King for eight English Pounds an acre. The company was to be wound up shortly after.

It appears the Templestowe Bridge was operating by this time.

In March 1862, a deputation of Eltham residents approached the Commissioner of Railways and Roads, requesting the government buy the Templestowe Bridge then give it back to the Eltham District Road Board, as while its toll earning capability was not as “remunerative” as had been hoped, the bridge was a “great public convenience”. This request was denied.

In October 1863 there was a great flood causing the Yarra to rise 12 metres - it even flooded Elizabeth Street city. A number of bridges were washed away.

In March 1865 a deputation of Templestowe residents to the Acting Commissioner of Roads and Bridges, offered 600 English Pounds raised by them towards a new bridge to replace the Templestowe Bridge and requested a government grant towards the cost. The Acting Commissioner “promised to give the matter further consideration” though "he did not see from what fund a sum of money could be granted to them”.

A repair job was carried out over 1873 and 1874.

There were several more large floods notably in October, 1923 when the Templestowe Bridge, “a solid wooden structure on an iron girder, with stone supports” almost washed away again. The bridge also appears to have survived the significant December, 1934 flood as it is mentioned in a news article in The Argus newspaper in February 1935. No other references have yet been found. And no bridge picture has been found either.

The last bits washed away in the 1960s according to local folklore. And there's a suspicious bluestone wall right near the spot on the Templestowe side!

Postscript

The manuscript, concealed under the foundation stone, has not been found.

In 1860 another bridge was built nearby in what is now Lower Plenty but over the Plenty River. This bridge, bluestone blocks and steel, still stands today and is part of the Plenty River Trail close to the Heidelberg Golf Club and the Lower Plenty Hotel. It is possible that the Templestowe Bridge was similar in appearance to this.

Founding families

The gravestone of Major Charles Newman, relocated to Templestowe cemetery in 1910.

The first permanent resident in Templestowe was Major Charles Newman (11 Dec 1783 - 12 Dec 1865). He served for 30 years in the Honourable East India Company and rose to the rank of Major in the 51st Regiment of the Indian Army, the Bengal Native Infantry. As his vision had degraded, Newman retired from the military and migrated to the penal colony of Van Diemen's Land with his wife, children, and two step daughters arriving on the Ship Princess Victoria on the 10th Dec 1834. He purchased a large area of land near the town of Pontville, which was to become the colony's second largest estate. Hearing that land was selling quickly in the newly formed town of Melbourne, he purchased 36 km² (13.9 square miles) during the 1830s around what is now Newmans Road. In 1840 he began construction of Pontville Homestead, relocating there with his remaining family in 1843. The Newman family were at the time the furthest settlers east of Melbourne. Their descendants occupied the land until 1955. The only descendants to still carry the Newman name today are the Webster Family. The other founding families include:

• Adams
• Atkins
• Bell
• Britton
• Clancey
• Collins
• Channey
• Cunningham
• Chivers
• Eccleston
• Finn
• Fitzsimons
• Fromhold
• Griffin
• Hunter
• Hodgson
• Haughton
• Howett
• Howith
• Hardidge
• Johnston
• Jacks
• Jenkins
• Joughin
• Kent
• Kean
• Lowe
• Lacey
• McNamara
• McEwin
• Mahoney
• McGahy
• Parker
• Rawnsley
• Read
• Rhodes
• Robertson
• Schuhkraft
• Smith
• Stacher
• Stewart
• Taylor
• Trott
• Todd
• Williamson

See also: Warrandyte § The Bridge

"Manna Gum" sculpture

Lake Bulleen, now known as Bolin Bolin Billabong

There was an early settlement of Irish and Scottish folk from the ship "Midlothian" through Bulleen and Templestowe, which had arrived in June 1839. The grassland there was interspersed with large Manna and River Red (Be-al) gum trees and broken up by chains of lagoons, the largest of which, called Lake Bulleen, was surrounded by impenetrable reeds that stove off attempts to drain it for irrigation. Due to the distribution of raised ground, the flats were always flooding and for a long time only the poorest (non-English) immigrants leased "pastoral" land from Unwins Special Survey, the estate of the Port Phillip District Authority. Hence although far from prosperous, the farmers living close to nature, most were independent, such that a private Presbyterian school was begun for the district in 1843:

The ready market for firewood and building timber [led to the construction of] several pits and charcoal burners. In winter, the tracks on the river flats became quagmires and to overcome this, corduroy roads were built consisting of layer upon layer of timber carted by bullock wagons and drays.

As the land was cleared, crops of wheat, barley, oats and potatoes were gown and dairy farming started, the land having flooded as early as 1847. The [village] was in fact the first wheat exporting community in [Port Phillip].

The first priority of the settlers was shelter, so they built homes from materials readily available, such as trees, bark, and locally quarried stone and probably following the example of materials in local aboriginal housing. A bark hut with one or two rooms was the quickest to erect. Wattle and daub huts were made from wattle sticks interlaced horizontally, nailed to uprights then daubed over with a mixture of clay and water, this gave a wrought cast appearance.

The slab hut was constructed from large slabs of timber two or three inches thick. Consequently the hut lasted many years. The stone house was of course the most permanent dwelling. All houses were roofed with either bark or wood shingles, and had chimneys made out of stone or timber slabs, rendered over with mud on the inside to prevent it catching fire. An iron bar was positioned in the fireplace so that cooking utensils could be suspended over the open fire. Three legged pots and camp ovens were used for baking.

[...]

Nearly every home kept fowls, a cow or two, and pigs. The women of course milked the cows, made butter and cheese, collected eggs and looked after the vegetable plot. When there was a surplus, the women often walked to Kew and Collingwood to sell it. The pig when slaughtered, was cured and hung from the rafters in the kitchen. Women also worked alongside their husbands ploughing and sowing crops, then reaping with scythe and sickle. They also stripped the bark from wattle trees to use in the process of leather tanning.

Pontville Homestead

Pontville Homestead

Pontville Homestead was constructed in the early 1840s on part of Newman's pastoral holding, at the confluence of the Yarra River and the Mullum-Mullum Creek. The remains of his first dwelling, a turf hut, was located near the site. Pontville now comprises a house constructed c. 1843-1850 and extended in the 1870s, remnant plantings, cottage foundations, outbuildings, bridge foundations, tracks, and a range of other features associated with the farming use of the area since the 1830s. Pontville was acquired by the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works in 1978, and Melbourne Water and Parks now manages the property as part of Paddle Reserve.

Pontville Homestead is socially, if not in practice, one of the last pastoral selections on the Yarra River within the metropolitan area, and is associated with the earliest development of the Templestowe area. Newman, one of only two ex-Indian Army officers resident in Victoria at the time, was influential in the development of Australian colonial society, and his Indian experience strongly influenced the architectural form of the Pontville homestead. Newman was also associated with gold prospecting in the district following the discovery of gold at Anderson Creek in Warrandyte. He was among the first in south-eastern Australia to mine quartz reefs.

Pontville is historically and aesthetically significant amongst the early towns as its landscape contributes to the greater understanding of 1840s agricultural and garden history, as well as for containing numerous relics of aboriginal life. The survival of its formal garden terracing and the presence Hawthorn hedgerows, used for fencing, is unusual. In his book on pastoralism in Tasmania and the 1920s conflict with the island natives, Keith Windschuttle writes:

In the 1820s [and 1830s], some settlers began to plant the hawthorn hedges that remain part of the Tasmanian landscape today. However, this was also a slow and expensive process. The plants had to survive several months of sea transport from England and one mile of hedgerow required between 8,000 and 10,500 plants. The early hedges were used primarily as windbreaks for the house, and were planted close to it. Before the 1830s, Sharon Morgan writes, 'stone walls were almost unknown, and hedges were rare'.

The property itself (now subdivided) has several remnant plantings of the colonial era including Himalayan Cypress, Black Mulberry and willow trees; and, the integrity of ancient scar trees, ancestral camping sites and other spirit places of the Wurundjeri aborigines which was respected by the Newman family. They can be observed in their original form along the trail systems at the Tikalara ("meeting place") plains tract of the Mullum-Mullum Creek.

Pontville is architecturally important in the evidence surviving from the original homestead building, most notably its distinctive Indian Bungalow form (a core of three interconnected rooms surrounded by a broad verandah formed by the continuation of the main hipped roof slope, within which the ends were built in to create further rooms) and elements of the original fabric which provide a technical history of colonialism. Important items include a displaced hearth of a stone clearly imported from outside the Port Phillip District, possibly English millstone grit, some unexplained sallow cream bricks, probably of local manufacture, pit sawn hardwood ceiling joists, and a stair opening in the ceiling trimmed with tusk tenon joints. Other significant elements are the plaster finishes and remnant ruled lime stucco - the oldest such surface finish in authentic condition to be identified in Victoria, if not Australia. Indian influenced houses are a significant element in Australian colonial architecture, but are extremely rare in Victoria. Associated with the homestead building are the farm outbuildings which are important for their ability to contribute to the historical understanding of the homestead property.

Pontville is archaeologically important for the below ground remains inherent in the location of, and the material contained within the archaeological deposits associated with Newman's turf hut and the subsequent homestead building, cottage, associated farm and rubbish deposits. The structures, deposits and associated artefacts are important for their potential to provide an understanding of the conditions in which a squatting family lived in the earliest days of the Port Phillip settlement.

Namesake

The government initially adopted the Aboriginal name "Bulleen", meaning "resting place", to refer to the area near the meeting of the Plenty River and Yarra River. Settlers to the south were known to have called the area "the forest", in reference to its stringybark forests and other gum trees.

The name Templestowe was chosen when a village was proclaimed. Its exact origins are unknown, although a "Templestowe" is mentioned in the book Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott—supposedly modelled after the Temple Newsam preceptory at Leeds. As the village of Ivanhoe was settled immediately prior to Templestowe, it is believed by some that the name was chosen to preserve the literary parallel.

Templestowe Post Office opened on 1 July 1860.

Development

Apple peel structure located at the roundabout intersection of Porter Street and Fitzsimons Lane, site of the former coolstore.

Reed family milking shed at Heide. John and Sunday's work is a testament to the successes of the riparian strip.

Dairy farming was the primary vocation of the pioneer settlers, and was practiced along the river flats in Templestowe and Bulleen well into the 20th century. Orcharding was taken up in the 1870s, soon providing prosperity for the district. Apples, peaches, lemons, pears and other stone fruits were grown, providing inspiration for the post-modern "peel" structure on Fitzsimons Lane. Fruit, vine-growers and market gardeners were soon able to build new and more comfortable houses, using brick and weatherboard as materials. Many of these houses still exist, although for the most part they have been modernised beyond the scope for heritage classification by the National Trust of Australia.

The "River Peel" sculpture was installed in 2001 as part of the Manningham City Gateway Sculpture Project.

Until the expansionism of the 1970s, Templestowe was scarcely populated. Additionally, it was then part of the so-called "green belt" of Melbourne and subdivision into less than 20,000 m² (2 hectares) was not possible in many parts of the suburb. As Melbourne spread past Kew and Balwyn, the price of land escalated and pressure mounted to change the boundaries of the restricted land subdivision. By the 1980s Templestowe was being openly marketed as an alternative to the "dry suburbs". The suburb today has many nouveau riche mansions. In 2006, a property on Church Road was sold for $7.2 million, a record for the area.

Transport

Looking down James Street from the corner of Anderson Street in 1924 and in 2008

Templestowe lays between two of Melbourne's rail services (the Hurstbridge and Lilydale lines) and did not facilitate the city's urban development. Throughout the 1970s the Doncaster line was planned by the state government to run down the middle of the Eastern Freeway and serve the suburb, with land acquired for the line but sold in the 1980s.

A number of major roads combine to provide the basis for the metro infrastructure. They include:

• Manningham Road
• Foote Street/Reynolds Road
• High Street
• Thompsons Road
• Williamsons Road/Fitzsimons Lane
• Porter Street
• Blackburn Road
• Newmans Road
• Websters Road (named after Robert William Webster)

The area has since been built into and, while there is still no rail service, there is now a modest bus network operating routes to the city in the west, Box Hill and Blackburn in the south, and Ringwood in the east. Service is comparatively poor, with average interval times between buses of one hour after peak hours and few services running after 10pm (departure time), although it is likely to improve from 2007 to 2010 under the Victorian Labor Government's $1.4 billion "Smart Buses" program.

Following the Sir Rod Eddington-produced report into improving east-west travel, which included 20 recommendations for the area, the professor of public transport Graham Currie gave his support of expanding the bus transit system (eight older vehicles were replaced in 2007) but argued the need for rapid transit lanes throughout Manningham as an alternative to developing light and heavy rail. This would involve "separate road space so (specialised buses) don't have to wait in traffic or at traffic lights" as a solution to arterial congestion, without need for the extension of tram route 48 to Doncaster Hill favoured by the Manningham City Council.

Education

Templestowe School catered for generations of settlers. Initially there were schools for various religious denominations, culminating in the establishment of a common (state) school off Foote Street.

There are currently five state schools (Serpell, Templestowe Heights, Templestowe Park and Templestowe Valley) and two Catholic schools (Saint Charles Borromeo and Saint Kevin's), providing primary education to the suburb. Templestowe College serves some of the demand for secondary education. However, Templestowe College, Templestowe Valley Primary School, St Kevins PS and Templestowe Heights PS are located either on the border of Templestowe and Templestowe Lower or in Templestowe Lower.

Sporting teams

Sporting facilities at Templestowe Reserve, tennis courts are observable in the background, beyond the stand of trees

The suburb has an Australian Rules football team, The Templestowe Dockers, competing in the Eastern Football League.

The suburb also has a Cricket team, Templestowe Cricket Club, competing in the Box Hill Reporter District Cricket Association (BHRDCA) they use the above football clubs home ground in summer.

The suburb had one recognised Football (soccer) team, Eastern Titans FC, playing in the amateur leagues. In 2011 the team and its players became part of Old Camberwell Grammarians Football Club ("The Wellers"), competing in Football Victoria Thirds league.

See also

• City of Doncaster and Templestowe - the former local government area of which Templestowe was a part.

References

• Ellender, Isabel (1990). Template:PDFlink Retrieved on 2008-08-23.
• Green, Irvine (1989). Aborigines of Bulleen: The history of the Wurundjeri Tribe who inhabited the area which became the City of Doncaster and Templestowe. Doncaster-Templestowe Historical Society. pp. 25–40. ISBN 0-947353-00-3. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |coauthors= and |month= (help)
• Poulter, Hazel (1985). Templestowe: A Folk History. Templestowe: J. Poulter. pp. 1–55. ISBN 0-949196-00-2. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |coauthors= and |month= (help)
• William Thomas' map of the Western Port Phillip District. Note that the two pioneer settlements west of the city are described (illegibly) as a group of "various splitters, lum[ber]".

External links

• Memorabilia Photo gallery of Templestowe
• The Manningham Leader Newspaper
• Manningham City Council Online