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.
The Lightwood Park subdivision was bounded by Kelletts Road, Wellington Road and what is now the extension of Napoleon Road. The subdivision must have occurred about 1918 as the poster refers to "after our boys return from the front", that is, the time our soldiers would be coming back to Australia following the end of World War 1.
The poster had belonged to Hedley's brother Gordon who was the first owner of the Lysterfield Store. Gordon had obtained the poster when he purchased lots 30 and 31 in 1930 from Randall Dicker who had purchased the blocks on 22nd January 1920.
Gordon had pencilled in the names of the owners of many of the lots and below I have briefly noted Hedley's recollections of these people.
A copy of the original poster is available at the Rowville Library.
| Lot | 1 | Thompson. |
| Lots | 2 - 6 | Hill. |
| Lots | 7, 8 | Freddie Williams. He a very active member of the Lysterfield community and a leading light in the building of the Lysterfield Hall. His wife had served as a nurse in WWI and suffered from war neurosis as a result. |
| Lots | 9,10,11 | Robertson. |
| Lot | 12 | William. Williams was Freddie's brother. (The story of Bill Williams' family was told in the April 1996 edition of the R-LC News.) |
| Lot | 13,14,15 | Hayes. They were transport people with tip trucks. |
| Lot | 16 | unknown. |
| Lot | 17 | Daniells. They were quarry people. |
| Lots | 18,19 | Harry Coggins. He worked for the Ferntree Gully Council. |
| Lots | 20,21 | Harwood. |
| Lots | 22,23 | Haveram or Hayman - almost indecipherable. |
| Lot | 24 | Bill Falk. Bill was Hedley's brother-in-law. Hedley remembered being one of the tin-kettlers when Bill and his bride spent their honeymoon in the house there. He also recalled that classes were held in the house for six weeks about 1928 while a porch was added to the Lysterfield State School. |
| Lot | 25 | Robinson. |
| Lot | 26 | Sheppard and later Jack Newton who lost a leg in WWI. |
| Lots | 27,28 | Stewart. The Stewart family owned the Lysterfield Quarry. |
| Lot | 29 | Godenze. These people lived at Oakleigh and only came out at the weekend. Many of the bush blocks in Lysterfield were owned by "weekenders" who built huts with skillion roofs in which they camped during Saturday and Sunday. |
| Lots | 30,31 | Dicker originally and then bought by Gordon Hobbs. |
| Lot | 32 | White or Waite. |
| Lot | 33 | Porter. |
| Lot | 34 | Coggins. |
| Lots | 35 - 38 | Westrup. |
| Lot | 39 | unknown. |
Interviewed by Bryan Power
First published in the March 1999 edition of the Rowville-Lysterfield Community News.