Section 2: Agriculture, Industry, Housing

2.1 Farming and Factories

In 1855 a visitor from Melbourne recorded (in the Argus) that on approaching Frankston "the intelligent traveller observes a change in the country ... he has left behind him the desert-like aridity of the beach track between (Hobson's Bay) and the Carrum Swamp". On the land around Frankston and away from the flat shoreline the traveller would come to "the scene of the several agricultural efforts of Messrs. McMahon, Liardet and Carr."1

Frankston won an early reputation as a prosperous farming area. This derived firstly from the pioneer graziers, then the work of orchardists (see Inverell House, now part of Linton's nursery Canadian Bay Road). Secondary industry remained minimal until after the Second World War when parts of the shire were speedily industrialized. More numerous however were the new domestic land uses. From being identified as a fringe farming and fishing settlement, Frankston developed around resort accommodation and by the inter-war years was the site for innovative designs in holiday homes for Melbourne's elite.