Surburban Archaeology the fun way- Time Travel. Part Five

A journey continued.

Traffic on Dorset Road

After I walked out the side entrance I didn’t realise the shops running down to the theatre weren’t built yet and were the backs of larger shops facing Dorset Road. Back on Chandler Road, the scout hall was still standing, and nothing says you’re in the foothills of the mountains like a place that sells firewood and stock feed like Bowen Bros. & James Fuel & Fodder Merchants. Both would be apartment buildings in the next century. Coming down Dorset Road, it was strange to see it as a T-intersection and the old Primary School and not the McDonald's. It was good to see the old youth hall and Maguire's garage still standing. Two places that made it to the 2010s. I wanted to see the station. The arcade that was prime real estate here, as the entry to Boronia station, was a shadow of itself back home. The station itself was in bad shape. I had read how, back in 1972, it had been burnt down in an arson attack. Ironically, before any fire brigades could save it. The Boronia CFA station was stone-throwing distance from the Western platform. The station would look like a makeshift stop between Ferntree Gully & Bayswater until it was

The Fountain and park on Boronia rd

finally rebuilt in 1985. Seems strange since a brand new shopping centre was just across the road. I went back onto Dorset Road after the disappointment that was Boronia Station and saw that it was a vibrant strip shopping area. Large Furniture and fashion shops, butchers, milk bar, chemist, green grocer, and the theatre. Today it is small takeaways or the rear of shops in Dorset Square. The unmistakable ringing of the railway crossing began, and within a minute, the traffic which seemed to be flowing steadily was starting to back up past Chandler Road. The crossing has been gone for nearly 30 years now, but I still remember it being the one place locally to avoid at all costs if you were in a hurry. This just brought back so many memories of how relieved everybody was when the crossing went underground.

Maguire Park fro the station

I continued down Dorset to go have a look at the park and the fountain, which became famous as a make-shift bubble machine when wags would constantly pour detergent into it. Both the fountain and park playground were victims of a more convenient and shorter wait at the intersection. I was never aware there were so many trees removed to be replaced with asphalt. Standing back on the road and looking back at the fountain, the wall and all the trees behind it, bookended by the railway and the Fire Brigade building and tower, gave the whole park a peaceful aura, and it’s a pity they never kept it instead of the carpark and service station that replaced it. I walked back up Boronia Road, attempting to take some photos of the traffic on my way back home. I realised, time travel takes it out of you.

  

I did get the occaisional video to record, but

with the same restrictive results.

Coming back home and sitting in my kitchen having a cup of tea, it occurred to me that I had been moving progressively further up the timeline. Each trip was about six months in advance of the other, approximately.  I was now considering if there were any other portholes in the guise of garden beds to explore.

              Part FOUR                                                  

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INTRODUCTION:

THINGS TO BE AWARE OF: