JOHN Hemmings was a coach builder from Ringwood near Bristol.
He landed in Dandenong in 1855, worked as a carpenter and built up a coach-building works and timber business.
Mr Hemmings started as a small contractor and went on to become one of Dandenong’s most outstanding public men with one of the town’s most successful businesses.
In 1873, John K. Dunbar bought the wheelwright and blacksmith business from Mr Hemmings and for some time stayed in its Pultney Street premises, later moving to a small shop next door to Arthur Griffiths on the corner of Main and Foster streets.
Later he and Mr Hemmings joined forces under the name Dunbar and Hemmings.
Mr Hemmings was a member of the roads board and the first shire council, and was shire president in 1903-04.
He served on the shire council for 1873-75, 1889-95 and 1898-1913, his occasional defeats in the polls said to be due to the fervour with which he espoused various causes and local issues.
Hemmings was also on the Dandenong Agricultural and Pastoral Society, Dandenong Mechanics Institute and Dandenong City Bowling Club committees.
Things didn’t roll smoothly for Dandenong City Bowling Club in Dandenong Park.
The opening of its two-rink green in 1883 was washed out and it became embroiled in a conflict with Hemmings over a nearby dam that was soaking the green.
The dam named Hemmings Lake was eventually drained and filled in.
Mr Hemmings bequeathed the land now home to Hemmings Park for the use of the citizens of Dandenong as a memorial to the soldiers of World War I.
The brickyards on the site operated until 1929 when Dandenong Council took over the land.
The council used the hole from which the clay was dug as a tip and in the 1990s uncovered remains from it when constructing an adventure playground.
Today the park also has BMX tracks, skate ramps, a flying fox and a Liberty Swing for people with disabilities.
River red gums remain throughout the park.
Mr Hemmings died in 1922, aged 84.
– From Chronicles of Dandenong and Reminiscences of Early Dandenong.
