Where you can find Melbourne’s secret themed streets
The most used street names — William, Church, King — may be dull, but occasionally developers cut through the suburban humdrum and use their imagination. From footy legends to King Arthur and our solar system, here are the themed streets hidden in Melbourne neighbourhoods.
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Australia’s most used street names might reflect the high and mighty, but they are thoroughly dull.
The top 10 are George St, William St, Church St, High St, King St, Short St, Elizabeth St, John St, Victoria St and Queen St. Boring.
But occasionally, developers and our civic leaders cut through the suburban humdrum, used their imaginations and came up with clever themes so some neighbourhoods could stand out from the crowd. Here’s a selection.
FOOTBALL
This is Victoria. Of course we have suburbs with footy-themed streets.
Out in Berwick, one estate is perhaps a product of its time and someone’s love for Essendon, because many of the streets there feature the name of a Bomber who played in with the 1984 or 1985 grand final, when the Dons went back-to-back.
(Merv) Neagle Mews, (Simon) Madden Retreat, (Tim) Watson Gardens, Daniher Cl and (Paul) Van Der Haar Ave are among the big names in the Essendon-themed neighbourhood.
There is also a patch representing Richmond legends across the 20th century in Hoppers Crossing, including (Kevin) Bartlett Crescent, (Francis) Bourke, (Dick) Clay Ave, (Dan) Minogue Cres, (Kevin) Sheedy Rd, (Tom) Hafey Cres and (Frank “Checker) Hughes St.
Where: Area between the Princes Hwy and Princes Hwy, Berwick; area bounded by Derrimut Rd, Hogans Rd, Mossfiel Park Dve and Heaths Rd, Hoppers Crossing.
FOOTBALL – AND FAMOUS SPORTSGROUNDS
Hawthorn’s administration and training base is situated in the one remaining stand of the old
Waverley Park arena, and streets in the neighbourhood surrounding the former VFL Park oval reflect both footy history and famous stadiums from around the world.
Waverley Park Dve and Stadium Ct are two streets that arc around the oval.
Sir Kenneth Luke Dve honours the former VFL president who oversaw the purchase of the land and construction of VFL Park, which opened for business in 1970, the year before Sir Kenneth died.
The street leads from Wellington Rd to the back of the last grandstand.
There are streets that hark back to VFL days – Richmond Ct, Punt Ln and Windy Hill Drive among them.
Streets named after stadiums include Sabina Park Dve (Jamaica), Ibrox St (Glasgow), Edgbaston Way (Birmingham), Lords Avenue, St James Park Dve (Newcastle-upon-Tyne). Marylebone Dve and Tottenham Gve (London).
Where: old Waverley Park, bounded by Wellington Rd, Jacksons Rd and the Monash Fwy, Mulgrave
VICTORIAN TOWNS
Streets in vast areas of Broadmeadows, Westmeadows, Coolaroo and Meadow Heights are named after Victorian towns.
And just about every town is represented in there. Dimboola Rd, Pearcedale Pde, Colac St,
Malmsbury Dve, Kiewa Cres. There are literally dozens of them.
Where: Most of the area bounded by Pascoe Vale Rd, Barry Rd, Camp Rd and the western edge of Westmeadows.
CAMELOT
Around the Camelot Rise Primary School in Glen Waverley are streets with a mystic medieval theme.
Two of the main streets through the surrounding estate are Camelot Dve and King Arthur Dve.
There’s Jousting Pl, Armour Cl, Rampart Ave, Galahad Cres, Guinevere Pde, Excalibur Ave, Knights Dve and Chivalry Ave among the Camelot theme.
Where: The northeastern corner of Glen Waverley, wedged between Highbury Rd and the Dandenong Creek.
PURE AMERICANA
Mildura was established by the Canadian Chaffey brothers in the 1890s.
The brothers had spent time in Southern California and used a naming convention that is very
common in the US when they named the streets in the Mildura CBD grid.
Streets named after trees – Lime, Pine, Olive, Orange, Lemon and Walnut Avenues among them – intersect with streets names numerically – Seventh, Eighth, Ninth streets and so on in the heart of Mildura.
The numerical streets run way out into the agricultural areas – as far as Seventeenth St.
The main street through Mildura, Deakin Avenue, is an exception, It was named after Alfred Deakin, who as a Victorian government Minister supported the Chaffeys establishing an irrigation settlement there, and later became Australia’s second prime minister.
There are other, less elaborate examples of this in Victoria, such as in Parkdale, which has streets named from First Ave to Eighth Ave, and Altona North has First to Seventh Avenue
Where: Central Mildura; Parkdale between Nepean Hwy and Warrigal Rd; Altona North between Blackshaws and McIntosh roads.
WORLD WAR II
The 1956 Olympic Games was a chance for Melbourne and Victoria to bask in the international limelight in an era when memories of World War II were still painfully fresh.
The Olympic Village in Heidelberg West was constructed to show off the Australian post-war suburban lifestyle – a brick veneer dream for the world’s greatest athletes complete with lawns, gardens and streets named with World War II in mind.
Liberty Pde marked the western side of the Olympic Village. Pacific Dve is near the centre of the village. Within it, streets include Timor Pde, Morobe Street, Buna St, Malacca St, Perth St (after the sinking of HMAS Perth), Alamein Rd, Moresby Crt (home to the local shops), Ambon Crt, Borneo Crt and others reminded everyone of Australia’s recent military history.
The theme spread to other Heidelberg West streets, too.
The Olympic Village and surrounds became a large Housing Commission estate.
Another Housing Commission estate built in Ashburton in the same era had similar street names including Victory Blvd, Wewak Rd, Alamein Ave, Wirraway Rd, Lancaster St, Catalina Ave, Bardia Ave and Tobruk Rd.
Where: The area bounded by Waterdale Rd, Dougharty Rd, Southern Rd and the Darebin Creek, Heidelberg West; the area bounded by the Alamein rail line, the Gardiners Creek, Warrigal Rd and High St.
CRIMEAN WAR
The suburb of Balaclava itself was named after one of the greatest battles of the Crimean War, waged between 1853 and 1856.
Russia was defeated by an alliance between the UK, the Ottoman Empire, France and the island of Sardinia. Balaklava (with a K) is on the Crimean Peninsula, in territory now disputed by Ukraine and Russia.
Apart from Balaclava Rd and Crimea St, Inkerman Rd, Alma Rd, Malakoff St and Sebastopol St are named for major Crimean War battles. Nightingale St is named after nurse Florence Nightingale, who served there. Other Crimean War figures recognised include Lord Lucan (Lucan St), French Marshal Francois Certain Canrobert (Canrobert St) and Lord Raglan (Raglan St).
CITIES AND TOWNS IN THE BRITISH ISLES
Before the former cities of Ringwood and Croydon were created, each was part of the former Lillydale Shire, with four Ls, which was based in Lilydale, with three Ls.
From Ringwood through to Lilydale and Mount Evelyn, many main roads were named after British cities.
Canterbury Rd extends to the area from Camberwell, and the region is crisscrossed with roads including Liverpool Rd, Colchester Rd, Dublin Rd, Bedford Rd, Hull Rd, Lincoln Rd, Oban Rd, Exeter Rd, Dorset Rd, Hewish Rd, Sheffield Rd, Durham Rd, Cambridge Rd, Pembroke Rd, Swansea Rd, Birmingham Rd, Manchester Rd and Croydon Rd.
Where: The City of Maroondah and the suburbs of Mooroolbark, Lilydale and Mount Evelyn
THE HEIDELBERG SCHOOL PAINTERS, ART AND WINE
Ivanhoe East is home to a neighbourhood where streets are named for famed Heidelberg School artists including Walter Withers, Arthur Streeton, Frederick McCubbin and Charles Conder.
Nearby McArthur Rd and Charteris Dve are named for David Charteris McArthur, a prominent early Melbourne banker and art figure who rented part of his mansion in Burke Rd North, Charterisville, to artists including Withers in the 1890s.
In the 1920s, the home was owned by government viticulture expert Francois de Castella, son and nephew respectively of Swiss pioneering Yarra Valley vigneron Charles Hubert and Paul de Castella.
Charles’ St Hubert vineyard in Yering and Gruyere, a nearby Yarra Valley town named by Paul after a Swiss town he loved, are also recognised in East Ivanhoe streets.
Where: East Ivanhoe, from Lower Heidelberg Rd east to the Yarra River.
INDIA
Flemington House was built by pastoralist Hugh Glass in 1953 on a sprawling property that extended north between Flemington Rd and the Moonee Ponds Creek and, at its opulent height, boasted 25 acres of gardens alone.
It remained in the Glass family until 1907, when it was bought by Henry Madden, who had made his fortune selling horses for British military use in Travancore, a kingdom near India’s southern tip know known as the Indian state of Kerala. Madden renamed the estate Travancore.
The land around the mansion was subdivided in the 1920s, and the new suburb took the Travancore name.
Travancore’s streets, including, Mooltan St, Mangalore St, Cashmere St, Baroda St, Lucknow St and Madura St, all hark back to colonial India and Madden’s links to it, along with the Delhi Reserve and Delhi Crt.
PLANETS
There’s a small cluster in streets in Caulfield South named after planets in our solar system.
There’s Mercury St, Venus St, Mars St, Saturn St and Jupiter St. Oddly, Neptune missed out, and so did Uranus.
Where: Caulfield South, in a small area bounded by Kooyong Rd, Hawthorn Rd, Aileen Ave and Ludbrook Ave.
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