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Doveton

(3177, 31 km SE, Casey City)

An agricultural area until the 1950s, the Doveton area was originally part of the Eumemmerring run and named after John Doveton, nephew of Francis C. Doveton, a goldfields commissioner and magistrate. During World War II a bombed-out firm from Nottingham, England, bought land by the Princes Highway for a lace and textile factory. Commencing operations in 1950, this was soon followed by major motor car and truck manufacturers, International Harvester Co. and General Motors-Holden. H.J. Heinz moved into a factory opened by Prime Minister Menzies in 1955, and other companies followed. In 1954 the Housing Commission bought up land in the area and built a large estate, mainly constructed in production-line fashion from prefabricated concrete. The whole of the old Eumemmerring parish and pastoral run area is now subdivided into residential blocks which include Doveton and its adjoining suburbs, Hallam, Endeavour Hills and Eumemmerring. Doveton was the subject of sociological study in Lois Bryson and Faith Thompson's Australian Newtown: Life and leadership in a working-class suburb (Melbourne: Penguin, 1972).

Jenny Keating

References
Harding, Maria, Doveton: A brief history, The Friends of the Doveton Library, Melbourne, 1993. Details