The Mont Albert District - a Pictorial History - 1830-2013

I am pleased to announce the release of ”The Mont Albert District - a

Pictorial History - 1830-2013”,  a free, on-line Pictorial Research

Project, in which I examine the history, development, and evolution of the

leafy, heritage suburb of Mont Albert, 12 km east of central Melbourne, from

its beginnings in 1830 until the present.

Much of the content has been derived from the author's first-hand knowledge

of Mont Albert,  which has been his home since 1959, supported by interviews

with long-time residents.

The present day suburb of Mont Albert did not really begin until the early

1890s - prior to then, it was part of Surrey Hills and Box Hill, and

relevant background information about those suburbs is included, as well as

content about adjoining present-day Mont Albert North.

The Project comprises 56 Chapters, with several hundred images

The Project started out as a private on-line Research Study into the history

of the author's home,"Hargicourt" in Mont Albert Rd, mainly to document

information which had been collected over many years, much of which was in

handwritten notes!

It was originally intended that distribution of this would be limited

privately to family members and close friends, but as the project evolved,

it became clear that it might be useful to make the results available to a

wider public readership via the Internet.

The Research has of course been facilitated by the ready availability

on-line of a vast amount of out-of-copyright photographs, sketches, maps,

plans, subdivision posters, drawings, and textual material from the National

Library of Australia and the State Library of Victoria. In particular, the

NLA's "Trove" website was a source of  an enormous  amount of archived

information, especially the  "Age" and "Box Hill Reporter" newspapers.

It should be noted that many present-day images and videos of the district

are included, examining the progression of many of the early events, locations,

organizations and activities, complementing the historical material

The research uncovered many historical gems, including the National Poultry

Farm (1920s) in Mont Albert Rd, very close to the author's present home, the

Black's Dairy (1920s) (Mont Albert Rd), the original planned location

(Elgar Rd) (1890s) of the Mont Albert Railway Station (eventually built

about 1 km to the west), and the route of the proposed Canterbury to

Doncaster Railway! (1880s).

There is even a chapter about the first Australian two-way shortwave broadcasts, which were from Mont Albert!

Please feel free to tell others about this Project!

The Project may be viewed at http://bpadula.tripod.com/montalbert