3.1 The Public Buildings

Village Townships to the East

The earliest village township established within the area to the east of Frankston after the cutting-up of the large pastoral estates was at Skye, where Scottish farming families settled in the 1850s. An 1863 Lands Department map of the Village of Skye showed a township reserve with a township centre at the intersection of four main roads composed of small lots, surrounded on four sides with larger allotments mainly of five to 19/20 acres. The southern boundary, North Road, was the boundary between the Parishes of Lyndhurst and Langwarrin.1 In the Langwarrin Parish to the south, the 'boom town' of Langwarrin emerged in the 'eighties', after the 1886 land sales at Langwarrin East. In January 1887 twenty township allotments were sold.

By April 1888, a 'very commodious and lofty' public hall had been erected and by mid 1889, a flourishing community occupied the 7,000 acre estate planted with orchards and cornfields.2

An 1881 railway map shows the small Skye township and, to its east, the larger Cranbourne township. To the west the much larger Frankston township is already linked by rail to Melbourne and by road to the Cranbourne and Hastings areas.3 Early 1890s maps shows the railway stations on the west side of Camp Road (now McClelland Drive), near the Langwarrin Military Reserve and, to the south, the Mornington Junction (now Baxter) station. At this date, a number of properties are shown near the Baxter Station, suggesting an infant village settlement. There are village clusters at Somerville and in the vicinity of Pearcedale.4

From the opening of the Langwarrin Railway Station in the 1880s a small village settlement developed there, taking the name of Langwarrin. The earlier settlement at Langwarrin East became known as Pearcedale. In 1895 an English family named Pearce bought all the township blocks in the old Estate settlement, "pulled the shops down and built their house with them...".

In 1906 there was a revival of the township. The first general store and post office was built, run by Ralph Hatch, who also had the Somerville daily mail run. The name change to Pearcedale was made in 1907, the Langwarrin Railway Station settlement having taken over the name of Langwarrin.5 Pearcedale is outside the study area.

By the 1920s the Cranbourne Army Ordnance Map indicated village settlements at Skye (then known as Lyndhurst South) and at Carrum Downs. A small Langwarrin village settlement was shown along the Warrandyte Road near North Road, on the east side of the Military Reserve.6