Communication with the City.
Communication with Melbourne has been a vexed question ever since Kew has been Kew. Up to about 1856 there were no public conveyances; residents either walked to Richmond Bridge, used their own vehicles, or rode on horseback. A few walked the whole distance to and from town for a considerable period; where are the young men now to follow in their footsteps?
About 1856 Charles Scuffam, landlord of the Red Lion Hotel, Lower Hawthorn, put a three-horse conveyance on the road, charging 2/6 each way afterwards reduced to 3/6 per day if passengers rode both ways. At that time the present Hawthorn Bridge was not in existence; the river was crossed by a narrow wooden bridge at a much lower level a short distance up stream from the Present bridge: the earthen approaches on either side can still be seen. This bridge had been erected about 1850, and was already somewhat shaky, being chained to trees on either side so that it might not be carried away by a flood. The approach on the Hawthorn side down Denham Street was exceedingly steep, consequently, passengers by the omnibus were expected to get out and walk up or down the hill as the case might be. The present bridge, opened in November, 1861, was erected on a much higher level, and cuttings were made to form approaches both from Kew and Hawthorn. This bridge is said to have cost nearly £43,000, and was some four years under construction. «28»
An interesting illustration from a photograph taken in 1860 by Mr. Osgood Pritchard, town clerk of Kew, was reproduced in the "Australasian" of 18th January 1908, showing the old and new bridges, also their predecessor as a means of crossing the river-Palmer's Punt, established in 1840. The old bridge was removed in December, 1861, and did not exist in 1863, as stated in the recently published "History of Hawthorn."
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Kew Post Office and "The Block" in 1880. |
The omnibus, as it was called, made at first only one trip each way daily, and if one missed his seat in town at 5 o'clock it meant walking home to Kew. One resident relates that having missed the omnibus one evening, he thought he would try the new road through Studley Park. As it was dark by the time he got there he missed the track, and was wandering about amongst the trees for some time until he came upon Mr. Carson's house, "Clutha," where he was put upon the road and directed to the village of Kew. Such were the troubles of the early residents.
A few years later Alexander Mackie started a similar conveyance, charging 1/6 each way. One of his drivers, Edward Bassett, is still a resident of Kew. Then the old fashioned one-horse cabs, which may be seen figured in old illustrations of Melbourne, came into use, and the fare was reduced to 1/-. These were followed by "Albert" cars, with moveable tops, to be in their turn succeeded by waggonettes, the fares coming down to 9d., and finally to 6d., when owing to the competition of trains and trams, they finally disappeared as regular conveyers of passengers.
Of the numerous cabmen once on the Kew road, but two are alive to-day. Edward Bassett, mentioned before, familiarly known as the "Kew Dove," and Henry Fisher; Mick Mullavin, Lemuel (George) Bryenton, Fred Mansfield, Tom 0'Brien, Joe Player, Harry May, and many others, have long since passed away. In the cabbing days it was no uncommon occurrence to have to spend some time in a cab dodging up one road or another until a full load was obtained «29» to make it worth while starting, while at the Melbourne end - Germain Nicho1son's corner, now Stewart Dawson's-you were handed over to the next cabman if a load had not appeared by the time your cab was due to start.
On the lst June, 1876, the Melbourne Omnibus Company commenced a line of buses from Hawthorn Bridge to Kew, running at first the large two-horse buses, but afterwards replaced by small one-horse buses popularly known as "pill boxes, of which an illustration was given in the "Argus" of 5th November, 1910. These were finally superseded by the horse tram to Victoria Bridge, which was open for traffic on 28th December, 1887. The first cable tram, the Bridge Road line to Richmond, was opened in November, 1885. Starting with three or four cars, there are now eight on the line during the busy times of the day and on Sundays, the traffic to the Cemetery being extremely heavy on a fine day.
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Municipal Chambers, 1864. and Town Hall. |
The Suburban Railway Company, having its Melbourne terminus at the present Princes' Bridge station, had in 1859 commenced a line towards Hawthorn. This was opened to Swan Street station, now Richmond, on 7th February, 1859. By the 24th September, 1860, it had been opened to the one-time Picnic station, situated about a hundred yards on the Richmond side of the Yarra Bridge, the fares being:-First class, 9d. and 1/3; second class, 6d. and 9d. On 13th April following it had reached the terminus at the present Hawthorn station, and trains were run at about hourly intervals from 8.35 a.m. to 6.35 p.m., the fares being :-First class, 1/- and 1/6; second class, 10d. and 1/3.
Under, these circumstances it is not to be wondered at that the line was not rushed with traffic, and the directors talked of closing it again until the population warranted its re-opening. An indignation meeting was held at Hawthorn early in June, 1861, when Mr. George Wharton, of Kew, suggested that the directors be asked to run cabs from Upper Hawthorn and Kew at a fare of 3d., when traffic would be created and the line become a «30» success. This idea was adopted, and the cabs of Levi North and George Gardner kept up communication between Barnard's corner (now post office) at Kew and the Hawthorn station until December, 1868. They were succeeded by other cabmen, but regained the contract for some time. Later, as the traffic increased, Gunn's buses, cumbrous affairs taking three horses abreast, were introduced, and remained on the road until the Kew railway was opened on 19th December, 1887.
A line to Kew and Heidelberg had been included in the original act of the Suburban Railway Co. when granted by Parliament, but the finances of the company were not sufficiently strong to carry it out. However, when the amalgamation with the Hobson's Bay Co. took place in the middle sixties, Kew made an effort to get the Hawthorn line extended, and surveys were made to proposed stations near the Kew Hotel, and in High Street, opposite Brougham Street, or Little Walpole Street, as it was then called. This street it was proposed to utilise as part of the route to Heidelberg. The estimate was £20,000 or £25,000, according to the site selected for the station, far too large a sum for the prospects of the line, a very deep cutting being necessary owing to the locomotives of the day not being adapted for hill climbing like those of the present time.
There was also a proposal for a tramway from Hawthorn to Healesville, via Kew, but it came to nothing. At a meeting held on 5th May, 1866, the railway question was discussed, and a guarantee of sixty monthly ticket holders promised to the company without result, and Kew had to wait more than twenty ears for its railway. The construction of the railway to Camberwell and Lilydale greatly 'facilitated the making of a line to Kew. This was undertaken in 1885, and the line was opened for traffic in December, 1887, as before mentioned. The history of railway communication with Kew would be incomplete without a reference to the Outer Circle railway, a relic of the prodigality of «31» land boom times, but to enter into all the details of its initiation would be too tedious. The railway is about ten miles in length, extending from Fairfield to Oakleigh, passing through East Kew. It was opened for traffic in March, 1891, and after a two years' trial, the portion passing through Kew was closed in April, 1893, as being unpayable. Efforts are being made to re-open the line, but a rival scheme of electric trams gravitating towards the Junction, just proposed, will be of far more service to the inhabitants of East Kew.
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