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Market Gardeners Tram Plateway

Other Name Market Gardeners Vehicle Metal Traffic Strips Location Centre Dandenong Road, near Grange Road Junction,, HEATHERTON VIC 3202 - Property No B2252 File Number B2252 Level State

[1/1] B2252 Market Garden Vehicle

Statement of Significance

The Centre Dandenong Road market gardeners' tram rail is historically significant at the State level to the extent that it demonstrates a past way of life, being the practice of conveying vegetables to City markets by means of horse drawn wagons guided by iron rails. It recalls the once extensive system of such tracks, or "plates", having the Point Nepean Highway as their spine, and was unique when built for its design, which represened an advance over previous forms. The tracks indirectly recall or remind us of the life of the market gardening community and of the early days of the municipalities which they served. In a similar way they recall the era of the night soil carts and of the conflicts which occurred between the inner and outer suburban councils concerning the matter of night soil disposal. The tracks are also of local significance to the extent that they represent the end of the Centre Dandenong Road "line" which terminated at Ross Street.
Classified: 12/06/1991