Author: Tara Oldfield
Senior Communications Advisor
The City of Greater Dandenong is one of Victoria’s most culturally diverse communities with more than 150 nationalities calling Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs of Dandenong, Dandenong South, Dandenong North, Keysborough, Lyndhurst, Noble Park, Noble Park North, Springvale and Springvale South, home.
A 2024 City of Greater Dandenong heritage interpretation project, undertaken in collaboration with Dandenong and District and Springvale and District Historical Societies, involved a series of installations in public places with QR codes linking to 11 online videos. These videos celebrate the diversity of the region and history behind local sites such as the Dandenong Civic Centre, Livestock Market and old home of General Motors Holden.
Other sites covered include:
- Benga House
- Dandenong Produce Market
- The Homes of Heinz and international Harvester
- Keysborough Church of Resurrection
- Laurel Lodge
- Springvale City Hall
- St James’ Church
Heritage Project Lead, Prue Hawkey, said that all sites chosen for the project were selected by the local community.
“A call out was made to the Greater Dandenong community to nominate their favourite local sites of historical significance. From these nominations, 11 places were shortlisted, and research undertaken to support the development of material for each site.
We were keen to focus on a wide range of sites that represented a broad range of architectural eras and key themes from the Greater Dandenong area. We really wanted to focus on sites with fascinating stories and interesting people connected with them - including how different waves of migration, particularly post-war migrants, have shaped the much loved, multicultural Greater Dandenong we all enjoy today.”
Can’t get to one of the physical locations to scan the QR code? No problem!
“There are multiple entry points for the audience to engage with the project. The project outputs include postcards, decal stickers and short videos. The decal stickers have been installed at each site and include vibrant artwork featuring historic photographs, and QR codes to videos explaining the history and site’s significance. The stickers will be in place for 12 months. The material was also released on Council’s social media, big screens and website. Free A5 postcards with a vibrant design, summary history and QR code link are available at Council’s civic centres, Heritage Hill Museum & Historic Gardens, and Springvale & District and Dandenong & District historical societies. We are also planning an exhibition of the project material in the coming months,” Prue said.
The dedicated webpage that houses the impressive project videos (filmed and edited by Hilton Stone of HAS Media), features striking, colourful designs.
“The project team and Council’s incredible Media and Comms area worked closely with Melbourne based design and illustration studio, Twelve Creative, to create the artworks (for each project including Springvale City Hall). Our brief was that we wanted an accessible, contemporary approach that raised community awareness of heritage, engaging with a broad audience that may not otherwise necessarily reach out to heritage related programs or information. We wanted bold design, imagery and different layers of available information to address an intergenerational audience, with the ability to connect with audience from primary school age upwards. We think they nailed the brief!”
Perhaps one of the most recognisable images of the project, is that of the bright red Heinz logo.
Heinz
Heinz was founded in Pennsylvania in 1869, with Australia welcoming the food giant to our shores in 1934. Originally manufacturing preserves and canned products in Richmond, the need for increased production saw the move to Dandenong in 1955. The Dandenong factory soon became the largest food processing plant in the Southern Hemisphere. Check out the video below.
Springvale City Hall
The City Hall, or Municipal Offices, were built in 1959 a few short years after Heinz’s arrival, with the site transformed in 1961 to allow for more recreational and entertainment facilities. The early history of the building is explored using fascinating photographs from the City of Greater Dandenong collections.
Benga
Prue says her favourite story in the collection is that of the 1930s gardens surrounding Benga House. While the house itself was known to be designed by architect Frederick Ballantyne, the garden’s designer was not known – until now!
“Throughout the research and development phase of the project, we unearthed an original garden sketch plan – that would you believe, was located by someone at the Camberwell Market!
“The 1936 plan shows that Nell Norris (nee: Edeson), one of Melbourne’s earliest female architects, was responsible for the initial garden design. Norris had her own practice from 1932 and had a commercial association with Ballantyne.
“We were able to confirm that the current garden still retains her original design, featuring ornamental trees and shrubs, a formal rose garden, perennial garden beds bordering neat expanses of lawn, formal paths, a pergola and a sundial.
“Unravelling the story of Benga’s gardens, in turn providing recognition to early women in the profession was a personal highlight for me.”
Collections
In addition to council and historical society collections, items from other local, state and national collections were also used as part of the project including Council’s Civic and Cultural Heritage Collection, Public Record Office Victoria, National Library of Australia, National Film and Sound Archive, National Archives of Australia, RMIT Design Archives, University of Melbourne Archives, Heritage Council of Victoria, Museums Victoria and State Library Victoria.
The RMIT Design Archives, University of Melbourne Archives and Heritage Council of Victoria were new collecting institutions for the project team to work with.
All collections have been acknowledged, providing awareness of their significant collections and work.
Explore these stories and more
This project aims to pass on knowledge and activate community support for heritage places, providing the community and newly arrived residents with opportunities to connect with the history of their home.
Prue said the two-and-a-half year undertaking was a wonderful collaborative effort between the City and local historical societies.
“This project has provided a great opportunity to regularly connect and share knowledge of local sites and stories.
“It’s truly been such a joy to work on this project, I’d do it all again in a second.
“We have received wonderful feedback so far, including longstanding locals eager to share their stories and memories of the sites, and newly arrived residents interested in opportunities to connect with the history of their new home.”
Take a look at the full suite of videos on the We Built This City webpage.
The Council is also regularly sharing the videos on their social media.
The project was funded by the Local History Grants Program. A new round of funding is now open. Apply for a grant for your local history project today!
Material in the Public Record Office Victoria archival collection contains words and descriptions that reflect attitudes and government policies at different times which may be insensitive and upsetting
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples should be aware the collection and website may contain images, voices and names of deceased persons.
PROV provides advice to researchers wishing to access, publish or re-use records about Aboriginal Peoples