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‘My soul will flash back to The Junction’: The suburb where residents fight for their leafy idyll
Burke Road, CamberwellCredit: Paul Jeffers
Barry Humphries started out lampooning the “semi-posh” and “spotlessly clean stamping ground” of his childhood.
The satirist described growing up in Camberwell as “excruciatingly boring” and in 1968 penned a sardonic ode to the suburb which concluded: “Yet ever in my mind, you’ll dwell – Hideous, heartbreaking Camberwell, And ere I take Extremist Unction, My soul will flash back to The Junction.”
But long before his final rites, Humphries became one of the poster boys for a spirited community campaign to save his childhood environment.
In 1995 Camberwell resident Colin Denovan faxed Humphries in Europe to warn him the Golf Links Estate was under threat from dual-occupancy development.
Colin Denovan at the Golf Links Estate.Credit: Aaron Francis
Denovan knew Humphries had grown up on the estate; a remarkably intact example of the interwar suburban landscape in Australia with its concrete roads and lamp posts, 1930s brick bungalows, Spanish Mission-style homes, mature trees and Art-Deco flourishes.
Two weeks went by and nothing happened. Then one night the phone rang.
“He said: ‘It’s Humphries old boy, what the F… are they doing in my old neighbourhood?’,” Denovan recalls.
“So I explained the whole thing to him. And he was mortified: ‘Thin edge of the wedge, old boy’, he kept on saying.”
Humphries wrote to The Age, ominously warning that the Golf Links Estate – “that comfortable and leafy monument to pre-war Melbourne decency” was in “danger of going the way of Hawthorn”.
“Barry’s letter was quoted by everyone,” Denovan says. “So it helped a lot. We beat the developer.”
The stoush led to the new Boroondara Council applying a heritage overlay over the Golf Links Estate to conserve it for future generations. “The council came to us and said ‘You need protection’,” Denovan says. “And we said “Yes, we do.”
Barry Humphries’ letter to The Age.Credit: The Age Archives
The suburb of Camberwell has long been associated with comfortable affluence, large blocks with high-rise hedges, majestic churches, grand Italianate mansions, superb public transport – not many suburbs have five train stations – leafy parks, access to excellent schools and a streak of puritanism. (It was not until 2021 that the state government abolished prohibition-era dry zones in parts of Camberwell and other suburbs.)
“Camberwell has always seen itself as a secluded area where you kept out all the problems of city life,” says historian Chris McConville. “It has been the middle class suburban ideal.”
It’s an ideal for which Camberwell residents are willing to fight: for decades they have risen up to defend their suburban calm from developers.
Camberwell has become a flashpoint in the tension between the state government’s push for higher density in inner suburbs and locals’ desire to preserve the character of their area.
In the 1980s Camberwell residents stared down a plan to build a mini-Chadstone shopping centre behind Camberwell Junction.
Geoffrey Rush, Mary Drost and Barry Humphries at a rally opposing the development of Camberwell Station.Credit: Sandy Scheltema
In the mid-2000s, Humphries once again lent his celebrity heft – alongside famous Camberwell resident Geoffrey Rush – to fight a controversial redevelopment of Camberwell Railway Station.
The thespians addressed a protest match (“though in Camberwell, we don’t march, we walk,” the indomitable Mary Drost, a doyenne of community activism who died this year aged 92, said at the time.)
“I think what made that a striking campaign was these were law-abiding, respectable middle-class families and homeowners who probably voted conservative most of their lives, coming out and demonstrating to protect the local area,” McConville says.
“It was an activity that was much more identified with the inner working-class suburbs that were connected to trade unions through the green bans.”
But while multiple developments have been staved off in the past, Camberwell is slowly changing.
As empty nesters sell their homes, developers are subdividing lots and building apartments.
McConville says the identity of Camberwell streets is also changing as people pull down 19th century houses. “They put up these mega mansions, with triple garages at the front, trying to look like a French chateau, perhaps with a few touches of Hollywood attached to it.”
In 2001 houses accounted for 70 per cent of the 5472 homes in Camberwell, with the remaining 30 per cent semi-detached dwellings or apartments.
Now semi-detached dwellings or apartments make up almost 40 per cent of the 9041 homes in the suburb, according to the latest census in 2021.
“Over time what I have noticed is increased density, particularly around Camberwell Junction,” says Joe Stinear, a director of Melbourne Property Advisory.
He says town houses and apartment blocks are being built along Camberwell Road, Riversdale Road and Toorak Road in areas the state government has identified as suitable for greater density.
But despite the growing density, Boroondara Council was blindsided by the state government’s bombshell housing statement last year.
Camberwell Junction was earmarked as one of 10 suburban activity centres, across which the government plans to build 60,000 new homes to curb urban sprawl.
The state intends to seize planning control for these centres from local government before the end of the year.
Boroondara Council was dismayed. It says the changes will remove community input into planning decisions, take decision-making powers from the council and create a system lacking transparency.
Boroondara Mayor Lisa Hollingsworth.Credit: Aaron Francis
Mayor Lisa Hollingsworth says the community is very aware that it needs to accommodate future housing and population growth.
But she says residents deserve a voice in housing projects that could be detrimental to their amenity.
“I don’t think we have NIMBYs, I think it’s more that we have people who are proud of the history, the heritage, and they don’t want to see it desecrated,” Hollingsworth says.
“At the same time, they do accept that it’s time to further develop and evolve. If Boroondara is retained as the responsible building authority, we can work with the state to deliver these projects.”
Last year the council voted to oppose many of the key elements of the housing statement, including the abolition of planning permits for granny flats.
It wrote to Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny asking whether the government had considered the impact of granny flats on heritage homes and neighbourhood amenity or the need for extra car parks.
“We don’t want to see residential properties completely moonscaped, and we’ve already seen some evidence of people wanting to further develop their property, where some magnificent established trees sadly have been lost,” Hollingsworth says.
“If that happens on repeat blocks of land, then you can have a very barren parcel of a residential precinct that’s denuded of all trees.”
A Victorian government spokesperson said granny flats did not impact local heritage or neighbourhood amenity.
“The bold reforms we announced as part of the housing statement will enable 800,000 new homes to be built over the next decade,” the spokesperson said.
“Local communities, industry, and councils will continue to have a say.”
Boroondara wants the government to let it get on with its own plan for Camberwell Junction, which has a more modest target of 1500 new apartments by 2051.
The plan, which was endorsed by the council earlier this month, allows height limits of 6–8 storeys near Camberwell Station and up to 12 storeys in other parts of Camberwell Junction.
Hollingsworth says the plan would require the state government to do its bit: improvements to roads, accessible trams, bike lanes along Burke Road and expansions to schools, which she says are close to capacity.
The council has submitted its plan to the state government and is asking for a planning scheme amendment.
The state government says it will consider Boroondara’s plan on its merits, while ensuring it meets its expectations and targets for housing as set out in the housing statement.
Jeremy and his partner moved into an apartment in Camberwell Junction in 2020. “It’s a nice area – green, old, established,” he says.
But he says the suburb needs more electric vehicle chargers for apartment dwellers and better cycle lanes and bike parking.
“The cars are not respectful of cyclists being on the road and it gets a bit hairy,” Jeremy says. “This is a huge discouragement to active transport.”
Jeremy would also like more frequent express trains to the city in the morning. “Trains are generally packed to overflowing in peak hours.”
For years, Camberwell was the butt of jokes about wowserism. (Q: What does Boroondara mean? A: Can’t get a drink.)
Historically, the suburb was part of Melbourne’s “Bible Belt”, with church spires rising above the rooftops.
The community had a strong temperance movement. In a 1920 Victorian poll, the former cities of Camberwell and Box Hill were the only areas where the majority voted to abolish all liquor licences.
Camberwell was Sabbatarian: during the 1930s, Methodist clergymen convinced council to close several parks on Sundays and after the Second World War a referendum banning all Sunday sport was carried. (Remarkably, according to historian Sarah Craze, this ban was not lifted by the former Camberwell council until the late 1960s.)
The suburb was also very white. In 1993 The Age described Camberwell as “more Anglo-Saxon than East Anglia”. “Multiculturalism doesn’t really start until Box Hill,” this masthead said at the time.
However, both its religiosity and ethnic diversity are changing.
In the 2021 census 43.8 per cent of Camberwell residents said they had no religion. This is more than double the 18.2 per cent who said they had no religion in 2001.
Petra Brooks has noticed less people are buying fish on Fridays.Credit: Darrian Traynor
Petra Brooks, who has worked at Bill’s Takeaway Fish & Chip Shop on Burke Road for 19 years, has noticed that fewer people are eating fish on Fridays, a Christian tradition.
“With the newer generation, I think religion is definitely not as strong,” Brooks says.
“It’s interesting – religion has an impact on how well we do. If people don’t believe then our profits are going to be down.”
Good Friday has traditionally been the busiest day of the year at Bill’s Takeaway Fish & Chip Shop. “I have a feeling that this year it’s just going to be a normal Friday. I’m hoping not, but we’ll see.”
There are also more Asians moving into the area.
In 2021, 7 per cent of Camberwell residents were born in China, the second-highest cohort after Australian-born residents (65.8 per cent.) Twenty years earlier 74 per cent were born in Australia, followed by 3.8 per cent in England.)
On Toorak Road, the former South Camberwell Methodist Church, an imposing Gothic brick affair with a tower and spire, is now a uniting church, offering English and Cantonese services.
Tandoori Den director Gaurav KhannaCredit: Darrian Traynor
Tandoori Den on Camberwell Road, one of Victoria’s oldest surviving Indian restaurants, has witnessed huge changes over its 45 years history.
Director Gaurav Khanna hopes that increased housing density in Camberwell Junction will make the precinct livelier.
Already he has noticed demographic change – a quarter of the diners at Tandoori Den now come from Asian backgrounds compared to 5 per cent 10 years ago.
Khanna would like the council to support local businesses by reducing parking fees and restrictions. “Parking fees are still expensive for a suburban area.”
Tandoori Den is in the former dry zone, which meant that in the 2000s its liquor licence application had to be decided by a poll of local residents.
“It was just bizarre – there was a place not even 100 metres opposite us that could sell wine,” Khanna recalls.
Tandoori Den lost its first poll in 2001 by nine votes – in part due to a campaign by the Dry Areas Quality of Life group – but finally won the right to serve alcohol in 2005.
“Now no-one thinks about the dry zone – it is a part of history – but for us a liquor licence was definitely a big gain,” Khanna says.
In 2021 the government finally repealed the archaic laws and now anyone wanting to serve alcohol is bound by the same rules as the rest of Victoria.
Benjamin Ruan owns Greenhart Food and Wine Bar on Toorak Road in Camberwell.Credit: Aaron Francis
New bars are flowing into Melbourne’s east.
Last year Benjamin Juan bought Greenhart Camberwell, a wine bar on Toorak Road, and turned it into a modern Asian restaurant.
There are new businesses on Camberwell Road too. Rachel Grove, a former lawyer who began painting during the pandemic, has opened a studio, where she paints and holds art classes.
Her partner Reinier Krol – whose father was one of the first bakers to introduce sourdough to Melbourne – is opening a micro bakery next door.
“Camberwell is very networked,” Krol says. “There’s a lot of word-of-mouth stuff. Rachel will have people come in who have heard through someone else that their child is doing a class here.”
Rachel Grove in her Camberwell art studio with her partner Reinier Krol who is setting up a micro-bakery in the shop next door.Credit: Aaron Francis
Linda O’Brien spent four years of her childhood in Camberwell. It was the early 1960s and the bread and milk still came by horse and cart.
O’Brien remembers being fascinated by Mary Anne Campigli – the stubborn elderly woman dubbed “Miss Stayput” by the media – who refused to allow the council to compulsorily acquire her Station Street home, so a Target could be built.
“Her little house was in the middle of the carpark and we all parked around it,” O’Brien recalls. “We were all fighting for her – it was a bit like that movie The Castle. I never met her but if you lived here long enough you know those stories.”
The house in Station Street owned by Mary Anne CampigliCredit: Fairfax Photographic
O’Brien moved back to Camberwell in 1979 with her husband. “We felt comfortable in Camberwell, it was affordable,” she says.
O’Brien loved bringing up her family in Camberwell and says the access to schools, public transport, parks, shops, scouts and the city remain as appealing as ever.
She has volunteered for 14 years with the Boroondara Family Network, supporting isolated new mothers.
“Camberwell has continued to change but it’s still somehow kept that community feeling,” O’Brien says.
But the suburb former premier Sir Rubert Hamer once described as “middle-of-the road in every respect” is different in one critical way.
Linda O’Brien in her Camberwell home.Credit: Aaron Francis
“It’s not affordable for the average person now,” O’Brien says.
The median house value in Camberwell last month was $2.49 million, according to CoreLogic.
Median monthly mortgage repayments are $3000, compared to $1859 Victoria-wide.
The O’Briens bought their English Tudor-style brick home on Toorak Road, with a lawn tennis court and swimming pool, for under $200,000 in 1984. Now it could be worth up to $3.5 million.
The couple watched the period home next door to them be converted into an apartment block. They are not going anywhere for the moment but one day will have to downsize. O’Brien predicts it too will be turned into apartments.
“This house will go one day, which is a shame, but we need more places for people to live.”
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