When you take as many photos as I do, lots of strange things start to happen – like accidentally photographing the same bus twice on the same day. But having that happen with two different buses on the same day – what are the odds?
I photographed Transdev bus #369 0369AO departing Footscray station on route 216 to the city at 8:39am.
I board a train towards work.
And spot it again at the corner of Lonsdale and William Street at 9:06am.
I head out to inspect the Metro Tunnel works at South Yarra, and photographed Ventura bus #1034 5396AO on an all stations rail replacement service at 1:38pm.
I board the next train towards the city.
And spot the same bus passing beneath Richmond station at 1:47pm.
Many roads across Melbourne are subject to load limits, to prevent heavy trucks from passing through residential areas. But when I went for a wander around the streets of Sunshine I found a curious sign, referencing a street that doesn’t exist So what’s the story behind ‘Graham Street South’?
Hot on the trail
A check of the current Melway edition shows a ‘Graham Street’ in Sunshine, parallel to Anderson Road between Sun Crescent and Derby Road.
Melway map 40, 2020
But checking the Land Victoria database wasn’t much help – no ‘Graham Street South’.
Land Victoria 2018
But it was Melway Edition 1 that gave me the answer – Graham Street once continued south past Sunshine High School all the way to Wright Street, on what is now called Anderson Road.
Melway Edition 1, 1966
On the ground, the connection no longer exists.
Hitting a dead end.
A nursing home built on the site.
But a nearby street sign on Anderson Road proclaims ‘Formerly Graham Street South’.
Bingo.
So why a kink in the road?
Kororoit Creek runs parallel to today’s Anderson Road.
An advertisement for the 1890s ‘Post Office Estate’ land subdivision shows the planned road network in the area – Anderson Road running parallel to ‘Anderson Street’ south of Derby Road.
My starting point was The University of Melbourne, who have digitised every Melway edition from 1966 to 1999. Edition 5, 1971 features the original kinked road connecting to Graham Street.
Melway Edition 5, 1971
While edition 7, 1974 has the current day direct link.
In 1999 the Department of Education engaged Sinclair Knight Merz to complete a site contamination assessment, and the TAFE campus and remnant roadway was consolidated onto a single title.
Notice is hereby given that pursuant to section 206 and Clause S of Schedule 10 of the Local Government Act 1989, Council on 16 August 1994, resolved that Graham Street South, Sunshine, be renamed Anderson Road.
So it took 20 years after the Anderson Road realignment for the name to be changed, and 25 years on signs still bear the old name.
A loose end
What happened to the initial ‘Anderson Street’ name? Some digging around on Trove found the answer to that question, in the 4 August 1939 edition of the Sunshine Advocate.
Shire of Braybrook
Notice is hereby given that the Council of the Shire of Braybrook in pursuance of the powers conferred by the Local Government Act 1928 did at a meeting of the Council held the 24/7/1939 order that the street running north and south to Wright Street to Morris Street and connecting with Graham Street, known as Anderson Street, be renamed Graham Street South.
E. Hargraves
Shire Secretary
Quite the history of names – Anderson Street to Graham Street South, then back to Anderson Road.
Footnote: Flynn Place
For some reason Google Maps calls the stub of Graham Street South leading into the nursing home ‘Flynn Place’.
I can’t find any official reference to the name in the Land Victoria database, but Reverend John Flynn, founder of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, grew up in Sunshine – is this street a tribute to him, or just another mapping error?
Why is a tram like a banana? Because they come in a bunch! ba dum tsh
So why do trams supposedly timetabled an even distance apart end up running up against each other?
The usual cause is the tram in front getting a bad run, which results in it getting progressively more delayed as passengers try to cram on board, while the tram behind makes up time because nobody is waiting for it.
Melbourne’s route 58 commonly suffers from trams getting bunched up, which was flagged a few years ago as a reason behind the route being one of the most overcrowded in Melbourne.
However, tram load breaches are caused more by tram reliability than tram capacity, according to Tony Morton, the Public Transport Users Association president.
“Route 55 trams are meant to be running about every four minutes in morning peak and there are on a regular basis delays of up to 10 minutes between trams,” Dr Morton said.
“So the tram that comes after 10 minutes has more than twice as many people on it as there would be if the tram route was able to operate according to a schedule.”
Seeing a pair of route 58 trams following themselves down William Street is a common sight in morning peak.
But sometimes you’ll have a 15 minute gap.
As the crowds of waiting passengers grow.
Time continues ticking.
Until three of them appear at once.
Great.
Footnote
This animation from the New York MTA shows how a single delayed train can cause delays throughout an entire subway line.
Here I go down another rabbit hole – aerial photos on the State Library of Victoria labelled ‘Sunshine’ but which I couldn’t place the location of – and for good reason!
Car parks are usually known for their asphalt, not trees, but the Bunnings Warehouse in Sunshine tried their best.
Google Street View, September 2016
With trees flanking the rows of parking.
Google Maps, July 2016
But as part of the 2017 expansion of the store, every tree in the car park was chopped down.
Google Street View, December 2017
And for what – parking bays running in a different direction.
Google Maps, October 2018
The sole improvement to the car park being the addition of a pedestrian crossing between Ballarat Road and the store entrance.
John Hedditch, former City of Brimbank mayor, had this to say on the outcome.
The Planning laws allow this to occur. Bunnings planted new little trees with a watering system and guess what they are still little trees. The planning laws are the problem. That Bunnings is a big local supplier of garden products and environmentally friendly ones at that and still does this is another matter altogether. Don’t worry it was made an issue at the time and we met with Bunnings to try and get a good environmental outcome. We failed. The picture speaks a thousand words.
