Though I have long been aware of the group
of internal reserves at Montmorency, I have to say that one of the most
intriguing things about them has been the lack of information available.
Whereas there are many similar groupings around Australia and elsewhere in the
world, it is remarkable how little publicity exists for what was apparently
called the Panorama (or Panorama Heights) Estate, designed by the surveying
firm Woodcock and McCormack commissioned by the land developer John Quinn &
Co.
The estate was, it would seem, pegged out
in 1929-30 and there is a small amount of discussion in the (very local) press
over whether it would be a wooden or brick area – that is, whether local
government would insist that housing be made from the latter, or accede to
construction with the former. Wooden housing is, of course, cheaper and the
estate may have sold more quickly with such relaxed building rules, but on the
other hand, brick attracted a wealthier class of people. The recent history of
Montmorency (Maureen Jones’ Montmorency:
the farm on the Plenty, 2015), quoting local historian Russell Yeoman,
tells us that ‘the sale of the land and house building proceeded very slowly
and much vacant land remained in the 70s.’ (p. 141).
Beyond this, there is relatively little to
say about the Panorama Estate, or for that matter its designers. Woodcock and
McCormack were not known as innovative ‘town planning’ surveyors, although the
firm was responsible for one rather delightful design – a ‘flower petal’ (or
teardrop?) shaped park in the southern Melbourne suburb of Rosebud.
It is worth noting that some – not all – of
the internal reserves provided herein were designed around land too steep to
build on. Just to clarify, there seems to be no explanation or rhetoric
surrounding their rationale.
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