The Livermore Farm and Orchard - Vermont (Pictorial History of Victoria)

Livermore Farm 1947 (Picture Victoria)

Early History of Vermont

Prior to the first European colonialists, the landscape was thickly timbered bushland, occupied by the Wurundjeri, Indigenous Australians of the Kulin nation, who spoke variations of the Woiwurrung language group. They were hunters and gatherers, camping near the creeks and gullies of the area now known as Bellbird Dell. The creek flowed from immediately north of the Dell, through it and on to join the Dandenong Creek.

Livermore Farm 1947 (Picture Victoria)

1850s 

The first settlers, who were woodcutters and charcoal burners, came before land sales. Selectors followed and they marked out, leased and improved allotments, which would enable them to gain freehold titles from the Crown. Temporary wattle and daub huts were erected and later substantial timber cottages.

Apart from some general farming, orchards dominated the landscape until the 1950s when the demand for new housing areas led to the subdivision of orchards. Nunawading Council (now Whitehorse Council) began the acquisition of property in 1966, with the purchase of a large block (7.26 hectares) from local orchardist Cecil Rhodes to form Bellbird Dell.

In the early years, .land allotments of about 50 to 200 ha were offered to settlers. The first primary school in the district opened in Mt Pleasant, near the present Uniting church in Canterbury Road at the border between Forest Hill and Vermont. In 1872 a permanent school was functioning in Vermont proper, and the single room structure remained in use 100 years later.

The Farm - 1947 (Picture Victoria)

Vermont was also known as L.L. Vale, after the model farm owned by Dr L.L. Smith, medico and parliamentarian. The name persisted for a while, despite the school being named Vermont: the post office was L.L. Vale from its opening in 1881 until 1885.

By 1913 Vermont had a general store and post office, a school, an Anglican church, a mechanics' institute and a public hall. It was described as a prosperous fruit-growing district. The area's relative remoteness from land-subdivision activity kept it a mainly rural area with local organisations such as the football club, scouts and a horticultural society (1937). Its population in 1933 was 711 when described in the Victorian municipal directory:

Aerial view of farm in 1945 (Whitehorse Digital Maps)

The Livermore Orchard

One of the larger properties in the distriot during the 1940s was the Livermore Orchard. This was 28 acres, (11.3 ha) occupying the flat and undulating and bounded by the Dandenong Creek and Morack Rd.  It was primarily a supplier of apples. It was managed by Clem Livermore and his sons, with the main entrance on Morack Rd opposite is now East Rd...

The orchard was known for its innovative use of new irrigation technology, which included overhead sprinkler networks.The orchard closed down around the mid-1970s – the Morack Public Golf Course was opened in 1984 on land previously used by the orchard.

Aerial view 1945 - Whitehorse Digital Maps)

Morack Golf Course 2004 (SLV)

Morack Golf Course (Google Maps 2020)

A legacy of the orchard is present day Livermore Close and the adjacent Livermore Close Reserve.

Livermore Close 2020 (Google Maps)

Livermore Close Reserve 2020 (Whitehorse Digital Maps)

Livermore Close Reserve 2020 - (Whitehorse Digital Maps)

Livermore arm and Orchard 1945 (Whiitehorse Digital Maps)

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Livermoe Close and Verona St 2020 (Google Maps)

Morack Golf Course (Morack Rd Golf Club 2020)


Acknowledgements: 

National Library of Australia
Trove
State Library of Victoria 
Picture Victoria
Morack Public Golf Course
Whitehorse City Council 
DEWLP