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The Changing Landscape

The landscape of the region has been shaped over millions of years, from the emergence of the Dandenong Ranges, to their erosion and the subsequent deposit of rich soils that formed the great mud plains to the north, west and south of the district. Great magma intrusions forged the Lysterfield Hills and in the process compressed and "cooked" the mudstone to form the hornsfelds stone that is now extracted at the quarries for road making material.

William Lyster was the first to drain the swamps and he converted the Lysterfield Valley to rich farm lands. His example was taken up by other settlers and eventually, after much back-breaking effort, the marshlands along the courses of the Monbulk, Corhanwarrabul and Dandenong Creeks were turned into productive acreage.

In more recent years Melbourne's insatiable need for more living space has seen much of that farmland disappear beneath housing estates as well as the roads, shopping centres, sports grounds and industrial developments that are required in an area where the population is growing so rapidly.



  • CLOW Rev. James Clow Writes to Governor La Trobe

    In July 1853, Governor Charles La Trobe sent a circular letter to a number of early settlers seeking information about the original European settlement of the Colony. Among the more than fifty replies received by La Trobe was a long letter from Rowville's first settler, Reverend James Clow, telling of the people who occupied the areas along Dandenong Creek and of his experiences with the aborigines in Rowville.

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  • Dandenong Water Supply Polluted at Heany Park by Shaggy Dog

    In extracts below from the Dandenong Advertiser of 25 December 1902 and 22 January 1903 we read about the commotion caused by the failure of the Dandenong Water Supply Trust to prosecute a youth following an incident at the service reservoir in the Police Paddocks (now known as Heany Park Lake). The water for Dandenong was sourced from Monbulk and the pipeline ran through the Major Crescent area to the reservoir.

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  • Heany Park

    The proposed new school (in 1991) to be built in Buckingham Drive has been given the interim name of Heany Park Primary School. This article by Heather Ronald explains how the name Heany Park originally came to Rowville.

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  • LYSTERFIELD QUARRIES Jack Smith Remembers

    In this article Jack Smith takes us on a journey in time far more wide-ranging than any other history articles. He takes us back into the deep history of Rowville-Lysterfield when the very rocks were being formed and then on to a vista of the Lysterfield hills in the year 2050.

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  • Lightwood Park Sub-Division

    When I interviewed Hedley Hobbs for the article that appeared in the December 1997 and February 1998 editions of the News, he showed me an old poster advertising the Lightwood Park subdivision. It was too yellowed with age to copy but it is reproduced here as closely as possible to the original.

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  • Peregrine Reserve

    On the 22nd July 1997, Council approved the Master Plan for the six hectare reserve bordered by Dandelion Drive and Pine Hill Drive to be known as Peregrine Reserve.

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  • TRESISE Max and Sally Tresise Remember

    Max and Sally Tresise were among the very first residents on the Twin Views Estate. The estate had formerly been the sixty acre farm in Taylors Lane of the Raymond family. The Raymonds had sold to developers Wallace and McKay, who appointed Gordon Norris of Dandenong as the selling agent. It was one of the developers, Jack Wallace, who built the first home on the estate at No 2 Norris Road.

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  • The 1973 Bush Fire in Lysterfield and Rowville

    There's an old saying that good things come in threes, but that doesn't seem to be the case for our district so far as the years 2003, 1983 and 1973 are concerned. The summers for each of those years were very severe ones with bush fires a major problem. As I write this, Lysterfield has survived an apparently deliberately lit fire that burnt out part of the Lysterfield Lake Park in early 2003. The terrible Ash Wednesday fires of 1983 destroyed many properties on both sides of Wellington Road to the east of Lysterfield. However, the most spectacular fire to hit our district occurred on Friday, 19 January 1973, when a series of deliberately lit fires burnt out more than 5,000 acres.
    I shall recount the story of that day from the reports in the Melbourne dailies: The Herald, The Sun and The Age.

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  • Tirhatuan: Stories behind the Rowville-Lysterfield Ward Names

    At its meeting on 23 July 1996 Knox City Council decided on the names of the nine new wards that will constitute the city. The three wards covering the Rowville-Lysterfield area will be Tirhatuan, Taylor and Friberg. These names recall significant people in the history of the district and their choice by Council is to be commended. This article will tell of the establishment of Tirhatuan, the first homestead to be built in the area now known as Knox. Its first occupant, the Rev James Clow, is a very important figure in the history of Victoria.

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  • VANCAM Lois and Ray Vancam Remember

    Lois and Ray Vancam are the longest living residents on the Stamford Estate having moved into their home in Hillview Avenue in 1959. In this interview they recount stories of the primitive conditions on the estate in the early years. Lois, of course, is very well known for her many years of dedicated service in manning the school crossing in Stud Road.

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  • VERN SULLIVAN REMEMBERS
    Vern was born in New Zealand in 1918 to Australian parents, Alexander and Elizabeth Sullivan, who had met and married while on holiday in the shaky isles. After the wedding Alexander and Elizabeth decided to stay in NZ and they... comments Comments (0) Read more...

  • William Saurin Lyster

    William Lyster, in whose honour Lysterfield is named, was an extraordinary man whose great energy and many talents left an abiding legacy, not only in this district where he led the way in opening up the potential of the beautiful Lysterfield Valley, but also in the field of the dramatic arts in which he was acknowledged as Australia's leading impresario of the 19th century.

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