100 years ago
8 October 1925
Prime Minister at Dandenong
EXTRAORDINARY ENTHUSIASM
Mr Bruce, Prime Minister of Australia, opened his campaign for Flinders in the coming Federal elections in the Dandenong Town Hall on Monday night. The meeting was timed for 8 o’clock, but before 7 o’clock, cars and pedestrians were arriving at the hall. The building was crowded by 7.30pm, hundreds were even then unable to gain admission. Several climbed to the windows and held risky positions, there was a tremendous overflow in Lonsdale Street, and numbers assembled round the wireless at Messrs Blain Bros’ garage, the speech being broadcast from the hall throughout Victoria and New South Wales, and was clearly heard in Sydney, King Island, Port Darwin, New Zealand and Rabaul. The broadcasting was from 3LO station, Braybrook.
50 years ago
6 October 1975
FIRE, BUT THE MEN BAKED ON
A fire did not deter employees of Tip Top Bakeries last Thursday night …. They kept baking on. As firemen from Dandenong and Doveton Brigades tore off asbestos sheets on the roof of the bakehouse in Cranbourne Road Dandenong to get to the seat of the blaze, the employees went on with their work of turning out thousands of loaves of bread below them. The alarm was registered at the Brigade switchboard from an automatic alarm at the factory. The outbreak could have started through a spark from maintenance work being carried out on the premises. Station officer Ron Fawcett and crew of 25 men from the Dandenong Brigade and 10 firemen from Doveton stayed at the scene cleaning up water and attending to mopping up operations for 80 minutes.…
20 years ago
3 October 2005
More than $92 million to be invested in Dandenong
Vision of prosperity
The State Government will pump $92.8 million into redeveloping Dandenong in Victoria’s biggest urban renewal project since the Docklands. Major Projects Minister John Lenders said the work could take up to 15 years to complete. “The project will kickstart the regeneration of Dandenong, and unlock the city’s potential to become a thriving city centre in Melbourne’s growing south-east corridor.” The funding package comprises $50.3 million to buy and redevelop land in a declared area in central Dandenong, $17.5 million to build the George Street Bridge linking southern Dandenong with the central business district and $25 million for a residential development of the former Dandenong saleyards.
5 years ago
6 October 2020
Lifeline for CBD
Free parking would be expanded through most of the CBD to help spark business recovery, says Greater Dandenong incumbent mayor, Jim Memeti. In a survey by Star Journal, Dandenong Ward candidates were asked for their ideas of revitalising the town’s struggling ‘dead centre’ that’s fallen on harder times during the Covid-19 lockdown. The council has plans to convert parking bays into dining areas in restaurant precincts such as Thomas Street. It will allow eateries to serve more diners under the State’s recovery roadmap, which allows only small numbers of indoor customers.
Compiled by Dandenong & District Historical Society
