July 2026

A delightful bit of street furniture but sadly just rotting away. The tram shelter on Dandenong Road at the corner of Hawthorn Road was built in 1912 for passengers on the rapidly expanding electric tram network being built by the Prahran & Malvern Tramways Trust. Not sure what exact routes they had, but I think two passed originally, now it’s just the 64, and the 16 (was 69) wiggles past nearby. Pic 3 is in 1930. It was designed by Leonard Flanagan who also did the Malvern and Hawthorn tram depots, and other similar shelters – a long gone one cnr of Chapel and Dandenong, and the one still on St Kilda Rd, cnr Commercial Rd (1914). The other St K Rd ones (pic 12) came later, and are rather more elaborate, so Dand Rd is the oldest.

I was involved through the @nationaltrustvic in the 90s when all the old shelters were fully restored and painted in ‘tramways’ green and cream, and the work was pretty good – but something’s very amiss here – much of the diagonal panelling is completely rotted, so people have punched holes in it, and the whole thing is sagging a bit. Maybe it’s been this way for ages, since pic 8 is from 2008 when Heritage Vic listed it. Nobody uses it because the actual stop is along a bit. While historic places shouldn’t be moved, maybe this one should, and go somewhere less isolated, and be restored of course. How about the corner of Hawthorn and Balaclava Roads, where the 16, 3 and 64 intersect ? It could go on the edge of Caulfield Park, and be a park bench on one side, tram shelter on the other. Anyone willing to take this up a campaign ?

Update : I emailed around, and Yarra Trams got back to me saying they were responsible, and that they were aware this shelter has a terrible termite problem, and they’re working on it….

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