100 years ago
Extra duties for the police
The amended Police Offences Act 1922 now makes it compulsory for the police to proceed against any person or persons who drive upon any road, or cause or permit to be driven upon any road between sunset and sunrise, any vehicle, which includes bicycles, and tricycles, without proper lights. A bright white light on the off side of such vehicle, and a red light at the tail, must be shown, and these lights must be of a standard such as can be seen at a certain distance. The penalty for the first offence is £5 and for the second offence £20. The new act came into force on the 1st January 1923.
50 years ago
11 January 1973
For a County Boy it’s fine
Environment isn’t a passing fad. Pollution, city over-crowding and destruction of the countryside affects us all. In the past 20 years the population of Dandenong city alone has almost quadrupled. The impact of such intense development on the environment in the Dandenong area could have been harmful. However careful planning by authorities and community awareness has ensured that the natural beauty and resources in the district has been preserved. Concern for the environment is also strong among local business leaders. Care has been taken to build attractive offices, warehouses and factories and many businesses boast gardens which would make homeowners green with envy. Industrial wastewater is piped direct to a special plant for treatment. One man who has been part of the rapid growth in the Dandenong area is Wally Raddick, 62 of Dandenong West. He says: “I brought my family to the district 20 years ago after the family farm, which was leased form the government, was resumed for development. The 126 acres that was our farm is now a Housing Commission Estate. Over the years this area has really gone ahead.”
20 years ago
13 January 2003
Dandenong retail icon closes doors
One of Dandenong’s leading retail and trade store, Arkana Timber and Hardware, is closing on January 31 after operating as a family business for the past 42 years. It will be a sad day for not only the well-known owners, the Pretty family, but their staff of 14 as well as loyal customers, some of whom have been shopping at the store for decades. Speaking on behalf of the family trust Arkana director Lesley Pretty said the store at the corner of Foster Street and the Princes Highway, was closing for a number of reasons. Miss Pretty said the family business started as Arkana which is in Aboriginal Terms, meant boomerang. “The name was chosen with the idea that the customers would come back like a boomerang.”
5 years ago
15 January 2018
Rising Sky Rail ‘unites’ city
Workers will raise the first Noble Park column for Noble Park’s elevated rail in February 2018 and put the last column into place in March. In April 2017, Premier and Mulgrave MP Daniel Andrews visited the work site at Mons Parade to celebrate a 70-tonne super T beam milestone. He said the level crossing removal would “unify” Noble Park. By August 2017, more than half of the beams needed to raise the rail line in Noble Park were in place.
Compiled by Dandenong & District Historical Society
