[Somerton] Oldest surviving building in Somerton?

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About this blog: random thoughts, discoveries, ramblings. Much of this was originally composed as email to a local history mailing list, rather than being written specifically for publishing, so it's a little disjointed. I figured it was better to get it out to everyone else in rough form rather than not at all.

If you have a common interest in anything, or can add further to the information I've provided here, please contact me.

[Somerton] Oldest surviving building in Somerton?

01 October 2007, 3:29pm

Craigieburn and many other surrounding areas have plenty of old standing buildings, but I got to thinking: what is there in Somerton? The only "really old" ones I can think of are the Roxburgh Park Homestead (100+ years - now officially in the suburb of Roxburgh Park) and the warehouses at the former navy base (about 60-65 years - now officially in Greenvale)

The other question is whether Somerton has any residences remaining, and whether this is something unique (are any other suburbs in Melbourne purely commercial?)

I haven't been down every road in Somerton, but even so I can't recall seeing a building that was older than maybe 25-30 years max, and I've never seen a residence.

The Kernan house on the old Thirteen Mile Lane that CHIG visited still existed in 1991, so it was probably demolished later that decade as that area was developed as part of Roxburgh Park. I also came across an article that mentions Austrak purchasing "residential land" in the late 1990s to build their terminal. (They never responded to my polite request for any information about what was there before they developed the land.)

Can anyone think of anything "old" that's still standing within the borders of today's Somerton, which is bounded by Somerton Road, Merri Creek, Patullos [Thirteen Mile] Lane, and the railway line.

UPDATE: I finally remembered to email Hume Council and received a prompt response. Their reply is that there are no longer any residences on individual titles, although there may possibly be caretaker residences as part of a commercial property. The oldest remaining building in Somerton was built between 1968 and 1972.