VICPlanned settlement
Brighton
Bought sight unseen in England, laid out as a crescent by the bay.
1841Dendy’s Special Survey and town plan
WHAT STARTED IT
Henry Dendy bought eight square miles under the short-lived Special Survey rules, which kept such purchases at least five miles from Melbourne. He chose good undulating coastal land that avoided the Elsternwick swamp, and a town with a crescent street plan was surveyed in 1841.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Dendy’s scheme failed in the 1840s depression, but resale of the land made Brighton the third most populous town in Port Phillip by 1846, drawing wealthy residents and sea bathers. Railways opened in stages from 1859 to 1861, and market gardens surrounded the town until suburban growth filled them in.
TURNING POINTS
1841Dendy’s Special Survey is claimed and a town is surveyed.
1846Brighton is the third most populous town in Port Phillip.
1859Brighton municipality is proclaimed and the railway reaches North Brighton.
1861The railway is extended to Brighton Beach.
1906An electric tram opens between St Kilda and Brighton.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
An affluent bayside suburb of large homes, private schools and shopping strips. Dendy’s crescent street pattern and the bathing boxes on Dendy Street Beach remain.
KEEP READING · SOURCESTrove · Australasian Chronicle, 9 March 1841, ‘Special Surveys—Port Phillip’Trove · Sydney Gazette, 27 April 1841, ‘Port Phillip’Trove · The Age, 20 December 1859, ‘Brighton Railway’Trove · The Age, 21 December 1861, ‘Opening of the Brighton Railway to the Beach’Trove · The Age, 9 May 1906, ‘St. Kilda–Brighton Tramway’Victorian Places · Brighton