100 years ago
24 July 1924
A Busy Shopping Centre
There is now no longer any justification for the old jibe that Dandenong is only a one-day shopping town, viz., on market day. The fact is patent to anyone passing along Lonsdale Street on any of the six business days of the week and particularly so on Saturday mornings. On Saturday morning last it was especially noticeable that the main street was full as vehicles, and almost as busy as on a market day. This is as it should be, as Dandenong business people cater well for their customers. “Trade within the Empire” is a very fine national slogan, and “trade within your town” is an admirable local slogan, always remembering the bigger the local trade is the better chance there will be of the high prices, which some people complain about, coming down.
50 years ago
25 July 1974
The end of an era.
The Dandenong Mechanics’ Institute – a mecca for local booklovers for 71 years, will close its doors on August 9. The 15,000 well thumbed volumes on its shelves will be transferred to the new Dandenong Library near the municipal offices. No more will library members make their way up the Dandenong Town Hall stairs to the rooms which have volumes of local history and provided reams of reference for avid students. The Dandenong Mechanics Institute was established in 1863, the first Institute being built for the committee by Mr Henry Powis on the site of the Town Hall. In 1887, efforts were made to move the Mechanics Institute to another site to make way for municipal buildings. The institute refused to give up the site, but after much argument, a compromise was reached. The institute agreed to hand over the site on condition council made suitable accommodation for the institute in the new building …. And the Town Hall opened on September 3rd 1890.
20 years ago
26 July 2004
Young giant off to dunk in Athens
Prodigiously talented Endeavour Hills teenager Andrew Bogut is set to become Australia’s second-youngest-ever Olympic basketballer after being named in the squad for the Athens games.
At just 19, the giant 207-centimetre 110-kilogram power forward will be the youngest player to represent Australia since Andrew Gaze’s debut in Los Angeles in 1984. Last July, the former Cleeland Secondary College student and Dandenong Rangers player attracted international headlines when he was named most valuable player at the World Under 19 Championships. Once his Olympic campaign ends, Bogut will travel to America for a second season with the University of Utah. “I’ll see what sort of a year I have and hopefully go for the NBA.” Cleeland Secondary College’s symbol is the Olympic torch after it was established the year after the Melbourne games. Now it’s set to boast its own Olympian.
5 years ago
23 July 2019
Bike lanes are safer: cyclist
Dandenong North cyclist Nyssa Sims was at first a sceptic about on-road bicycle lanes. She is now a regular rider on Gladstone Road, converted by the road’s wide sanctuary. On the main, apart from going around the occasional parked car, it puts a safer buffer from the cars. It’s a similar treatment to the controversial new markings on Corrigan Road, Noble Park. Ms Simms has not ridden on Corrigan Road, but often uses the Gladstone Road lanes, then travels in the Princes Highway service lanes to Dandenong. Before the bike lanes went onto Gladstone Road, cars would drive nearer to the left and give her less space.
Compiled by Dandenong & District Historical Society
