What’s In a Name delves into the fascinating stories and personalities behind some of the city’s best-known street names. This week the Journal looks at central Dandenong’s Ewart Lane, named for the family behind a popular local business.
EWART Lane was named after Ewart’s Newsagency and Stationery Supplies – once a prominent newsagent in Lonsdale Street, Dandenong.
The store on this site – between Walker Street and the Vanity Court Arcade – had operated as a newsagency and stationary supplier for several decades before David Eward bought it in 1919.
The long, narrow shop was to the left of Tharle Brothers Butchers and directly between De Lorenzo’s Fruit Shop and Trewin’s Bakery.
The two-storey building would have been among the first of the new brick structures built in Dandenong, and would have replaced one of the many single-fronted, single-storey timber buildings that formed what was then the one-street country town.
Ewart’s Newsagency and Stationery Supplies backed onto the lane that now bears the family name and was operated by brothers Norman and Charlie Ewart.
During the 1930s and ‘40s it was the only newsagent in Dandenong.
It sold books, photo frames, leather goods, fountain pens and writing cases, and was especially popular around Christmas.
Ewart’s was the place to go to book tickets to shows, collect magazine subscriptions, and even hand in lost items such as umbrellas, watches or wallets in the hope of receiving a reward.
John Ewart is Norman and Charlie’s nephew. He said they moved to Dandenong from Brighton in the 1920s and that there were four brothers in all.
“Alan had the menswear store not far from there,” he said.
“My father was Frank and he was the youngest of the four brothers. Frank was a banker.”
Norman was the eldest brother and died in 1954.
“The funeral procession was the whole length of Lonsdale Street,” John said.
He said the brothers would have known most Dandenong residents.
“In those days it was a small country village rather than a big suburb like it is now,” he said.
“There was nothing much between Cheltenham and Dandenong.”
Charlie and Norman had no children.
Alan had a daughter, Doris, and a son named Russell.
“After Norman died Charlie kept the newsagency going. I think Russell helped him with that,” John said.
John isn’t sure what happened to the business after Charlie passed away.
“But I think whoever took it over might have kept Russell’s son on for a little while,” he said.
Want to know the history behind a street name in Greater Dandenong? Let us know and we’ll find out! Email casey.neill@starnewsgroup.com.au.
