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April 2003
LANES BY ANY OTHER NAMES…
The fascinating history of the Inkerman Oasis site in St Kilda is reflected in the names of two public walkways just determined by the City of Port Phillip.
The east-west walkway will be known as Depot Lane, a reference to the former City of St Kilda depot on the site from to the 1880s to the mid-1990s while the north-south walkway will be named Old Market Lane. A market occupied the site from 1868 to the beginning of the twentieth century.
Inkerman Oasis is a joint venture between the City of Port Phillip and Inkerman Developments Pty Ltd via which the land has been exchanged between the council and the developer in return for 28 units of community housing. Altogether, there will be 237 units on the site. The first stage of the development, which is bounded by Greeves and Blanche Streets, will be launched next month.
Deputy mayor, David Brand said that council had considered a shortlist drawn from a much more comprehensive list compiled by the St Kilda Historical Society.
"Other names which didn't quite make the grade included Transfer Lane, Tar Lane, Weighbridge Lane and Destructor Way or Lane. All, however, evoked the rich and interesting history of the site. Its first colonial use was as a farm and landholders included John Pascoe Fawkner, one of the founders of Melbourne, and someone called Greeves (after whom the adjacent street is named.) In 1868, the council bought the land to establish a market and later a weighbridge.
"By the beginning of last century, a handsome fire station graced the corner while the remainder of the site was used a council depot. The original destructor – the municipal incinerator – supplanted the market uses by the twenties or thirties. In 1953, its was replaced by a new destructor and chimney, designed in the cubic style heavily influenced by the Dutch modernist architect Dudok.
"It operated until 1978 as both a transfer station, destructor and hot mix plant for road works. At this stage the council acquired the land on the south side of Blanche Street which had originally been used as a stable and, later, motor garage.
"In the early eighties, the destructor building was converted to municipal depot offices. The depot site ceased operation after council amalgamation. Its last occupants were a group of artists who paid a modest rent. The council helped find at least some of them alternative studio accommodation three years ago when soil remediation was about to start," he said.
Cr Brand said that, under the agreement with the developers, there had to be full public access to the walkways at all times.
"We see the lanes as public assets. The landscaping around them is for the enjoyment of the general public. Inkerman Developments will indemnify the council against liability for the use and maintenance responsibility of the walkways and grey water recycling tanks," he said.
The new names will be notified to the Registrar of Geographic Place Names.
Written by:
Carmel Shute
Media Officer
City of Port Phillip
April 2003
converted to HTML by Mark Barry, Nov 2003
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