dryburgh

Here's a dull observation. I noticed this morning that there is a sign in the Gardiner Reserve (around the corner from this house) which designates a path in the park as part of Dryburgh St. I found this a bit stupid then I realised in fact that probably is official Dryburgh St as council (or someone) has taken a long wide street/avenue, and turned one lane into a path and expanded (or maybe just maintained) the central park space as an extension of Gardiner Reserve. You can see in the 1966 map below that it narrowed at this point even then but whoever was doing the colour was careful to denote that the space to the left of the road was not park. I wonder if there were ever other buildings? It's possible. Also, I wonder about the continuation of O'Shannassy St through the park. That was meaningless. 

more dryburgh st - 1860s-70s

You don't think much, or I don't anyway, about how hard it must have been for people to get in touch with each other if they fell a bit out of touch in the time before the telephone, literacy, street numbers, etc. Also it was a lot easier for people to disappear from other people's lives. This is from the Age, 12 November 1861. I wonder where Duntiblae Cottage is and whether it still stands. I also wonder whether Mrs Stone had gone back to Adelaide from England, found Fred had left for Melbourne, and went there hoping to reestablish contact. She had enough money to place this ad ten times in the paper in the first half of November. 

The other ads also no doubt have rich and amazeballs stories to tell. Here's one of mild interest from the Age 17 June 1862, p.2 :

This is Arden St in the Sands and McDougall for 1860. You're not going to get much information except confusing information, because Dryburgh street is not actually listed in there, but it appears frequently as a cross-street, and there's Alexander Grant, living near it but not in it. 

Everything was happening in Dryburgh St in 1862. Not only was Alexander Grant (sorry, Alexander Grant Esq) moving out, but there was a prosecution for illegal operation of a still, viz:

There's so much great detail in this story (from the Age 7 August 1862 p. 6). I don't know where Cambria Terrace (presumably a row or a couple of houses) was though. 

The Sands and McDougall for 1870 only details Dryburgh from Victoria St to Arden St, which leads me to believe, that was its extent then. A few of the houses have street numbers but by no means all. 

Flash forward to 1879 and now we're using street numbers pretty extensively, which is a relief, though of course there's no guarantee that the numbers are the same now as they were 150 years ago. 

Age 24 May 1879 p. 1

Whatever 13 Dryburgh was, the site is now combined into a few occupied by large modern apartments. 

Age 23 January 1880 p. 1

There's quite a bit of activity in the Dryburgh area at this time. A lot of places to let, for instance. Judging by the dates on houses, the 1880s was when Dryburgh really came into its own, was completely built out. I would say it was never an entirely respectable street (well, maybe the Royal Park end was) but it was solid. I think I will return to this topic later, if you don't mind. 

dryburgh st

There's not much to say about Dryburgh Street (you'll be sorry to hear, as you presumably relished this as a topic). I have found lately that, of the local area, it is the only street that for some strange reason does not bore me to tears as a prospect when I come to consider where to wander with Perry. I mean I am much more likely to want to drive somewhere, or take a train, and walk than to just set off out the door. I know that's a bit pathetic but I also know my own tolerance to the relentlessly familiar, and also, how much I enjoy the unfamiliar. 

I do sort of like this building, J. Howie Farrier, though I am more interested in the very faded Briquettes ad on the building. This ad from the Age for 16 August 1894 (p. 2) is interesting mainly because of the listed address:

I mean was this building once in Flemington Road? Because now it's here:

By the way, if Howie (as opposed to his estate or a relative or a company with his name) built this building in 1889, he didn't have long to enjoy it - he was dead by 1900 when his wife Mary's funeral notice was published in the Age (7 December, p. 1). She was 72. 

What are these side windows on verandahs in two-storey terraces called? What interests me particularly about them is they seem only to be installed only when there is no chance of another two storey terrace adding to the row being built next door, i.e. no-one ever made an ambit claim that the single-storey cottage next door would always be a single-storey cottage. So, they're almost only ever seen on corners. 

Even then, sometimes people change their minds:

Exception: this, which I think is a rebuilt or perhaps an entirely newly (eg 1980s) built terrace house with a single-storey, set back house next door. Not in Dryburgh btw - it's in Canning.