Josiah Holloway (c.1812-1874)
The land originally proclaimed as the Government township of Eltham lay between the Yarra River and the line of Dalton Street and Withers Way, essentially what we now know as Eltham South. In 1851, Melbourne property developer Josiah Holloway purchased one square mile immediately to the north of this. His parcel of land was bounded on the south and west by Dalton and Bolton Streets and on the north and east by lines near present day Grove and Rockliffe Streets. He subdivided immediately, calling the subdivision Little Eltham. Today’s central Eltham is contained within this subdivision. Holloway named some streets after family members, others after British politicians or notable people of the era. Holloway never lived in Eltham, yet his actions changed Eltham forever.
This list covers the streets within Holloway’s subdivision, as well as others in the broader Eltham area. While the history of many of the names is known, there are some where research has suggested a source for the name and others where the origin is unknown.
A couple of points…I clearly remember late 50’s, my Monty Primary teacher, Mrs. Fullard, explaining that Diamond Creek had nothing to do with diamonds, but a bullock named Diamond that was black with a diamond shaped blaze on it’s forehead. The story went that this lead bullock of a team drowned fording the flooded creek about where the present town is.
I grew up in Karingal Drive and remember well a blow in from up the new subdivision called by to ask the old man to sign a partition to change the name from St Helena Road. On some maps it was called Old Eltham Road, confusing it with the one in Lower Plenty.. She explained that some people were getting lost, which is what Dad told her to do.
LikeLike