No 3 Back Paddock | Gun Alley Stories Lilydale Historical SocietyMax Sheldrake2023-10-26T17:18:39+11:00
Back Paddock Stories
Gun Alley Stories
Introduction
The land to the south of John Street was known as The Back Paddock to the kids and families of John Street. The paddock purchased by John Hutchinson on May 31, 1860, backed on the homes along John Street and stretched southwards to the Three Chain Road (now Melba Avenue).
The land was bounded by the Olinda Creek to the east and to enhance drainage and improve crop production, channels were constructed to carry water and drainage across the paddock. The main one crossed the paddock and Hutchinson street at the back of the John Street homes and continued to William Street along to Main Street and under the railway west of the railway crossing. This was a constant worry as during heavy rainfall it caused numerous floods in the lower end of Lilydale.
At other times, the drain was the place where eels and fish were caught and rabbits hunted for food and skins.
However, like so much of Lilydale in the 1960s, the land became an industrial site, the home firstly Turner Industries and then Nylex-Olex Cables. While John Street was transformed from residential to commercial, the Back Paddock was transformed from farming to industry and then commercial in the 1980s. The new Market Place Shopping Centre is testimony of the confidence large retailers have in the future of Lilydale.
Audio introduction
Throughout the Gun Alley pages you will see references in old articles to £ (pounds). £1 = $2; 10/- (10 shillings) = $1; 5/- (5 shillings) = 50 cents. Please note: this does not reflect the value of the money but serves as an indication only.
Using the map:
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Timelines
1920s
The Back Paddock was “the backyard” for the kids of Gun Alley and a source of food for the families.
Ken Hawkey Memories
“At the rear of our house in John Street was a ten acre paddock called the back paddock which was bounded by the Olinda Creek in the east, “The Creek”, the Three Chain Road on the south and “The Drain” mentioned earlier on the west side. The north side of course consisted of houses. Part of the paddock is now developed and occupied by the Lilydale Market building. The Drain I think was man-made and the purpose of it was to take the excess water which was an overflow from “the Race” and which eventually finally finished up in the Olinda Creek….. The Three Chain Road I referred to is that part of Old Gippsland Road, now Melba Avenue, that stretches from the railway crossing at Cave Hill Road eastwards down to the Olinda Creek, on which is the remains of an old blackberry covered bridge which was not usable in my time, the ‘20s. The road was a misnomer then as it consisted of several dirt wheel tracks….”
( Ref Ken Hawkey Reminiscences Vol