Tennis Courts in block bounded by Devonshire, Cornwall, Thomsons and Una Streets, Sunshine, Victoria

Victoria Kolankiewicz alerted me to this unusual space this afternoon: a block in the Melbourne suburb of Sunshine within which two 'roads' (unnamed, probably better termed lanes) run alongside what I assume is a public open space containing tennis courts.

A search in the digitised newspapers reveal nothing of consequence regarding the designation of the space for recreation aside from the information that Una Street, which it should be assumed was created at the same time as the block in question, dates back to at least 1937. Here is a mention of it in the Sunshine Advocate from 8 October 1937, p. 6, in which it is apparently being repaired by council:

It would be sensible therefore to assume that the block dates back to the first half (at least) of the 20th century. But curiosity got the better of me and I decided to spring for the original subdivision plan:

The confusing part is not the plan per se (though that's not exactly a common format for a suburban subdivision) but the date on it: it was lodged on 31 March 1960.

Note no designated purpose for the large central space ('lot 9') and the 'roads' are clearly far too narrow to be anything other than lanes (though Google Maps suggests that they allow for road access!). I'll have to visit this site soon, at which time I'll have more to report and can add to this information.

UPDATE:

My trusty Morgans Official Street Directory Melbourne and Suburbs from some indeterminate (but pretty guessable) late 1940s time reveals that the site was, at one time, crossed by two roads, Shelley Street and Byron Street: (this is map 59, by the way):

The Sunshine Advocate for 19 January 1951 (p. 1) tells us this:

The next step might be to advertisements like the one appearing in the Advocate on 15 December 1950 (p. 5) which gives us some detail on the size of the 'small lots' in question (as small as 20x55 ft) as well as the names of the former owners, all of whom apparently defaulted, and who I'd love to spend some time tracking down - maybe in the next life. Meanwhile, the origin mystery is largely cleared up: Sunshine Council appears to have resubdivided in the late 1950s and concentrated purely on street frontage. Council may have trumpeted its benevolence in dedicating the space at the rear of the four housing lots in Una and Devonshire to public recreation, but the digitised newspapers of Trove largely run out at about 1960, so that is not an easy 'get', nor is it really a sure one.

UPDATE # 2: Mystery solved (by Victoria, who gets the prize for being a snake that eats its tail). From the online History of the Sunshine Parish:

Land in Devonshire Road had become available to the Parish and the opportunity was taken up with the idea of making provision for youth recreation.  Four en tout cas tennis courts were built and opened in 1960.  Three years later the Duke of Norfolk (who was in Australia with the touring English cricket team) opened the Youth Centre Building, the lit basketball courts and the cricket practice wickets.  The portions of land not built on were sold off to help finance the project.