Powlett Reserve East Melbourne Palm Trees

Powlett Reserve in  East Melbourne, is bordered by Powlett, Albert, Simpson and Grey Streets. It is also surrounded by Palm Trees. 

Powlett Reserve, 1899

Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works detail plan. no. 1031, 1032, City of Melbourne, 1899.

 See full plan at State Library of Victoria 

https://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/109263

East Melbourne historian, Winston Burchett, notes that in the 1850s the land was set aside for the Eastern Hill Cricket Club; and later likely used by the Collingwood Cricket Club, who also had the use of the adjoining block to the north. In August 1871, the reserve was temporarily reserved as the Volunteer Parade Ground. (1)  In 1881, in response to the Government contemplating the sale of this land, a letter from Captain  F.S. Small, a member of the Reserve committee was published in The Argus, which read in part - 

the Powlett street ground is the only place in Melbourne in which troops can be assembled for parade or drill. In every other reserve the planting of trees and the laying out of the ground into flower beds and walks prevent the movements of troops. To sell the Powlett street ground is equivalent to depriving the Engineer Corps, the East Melbourne Artillery, and the Second Battalion of Rifles (numbering in all 800 men) of the only ground available for general muster and drill. (2) 

The Reserve wasn't sold and in 1893 the area was permanently preserved as a Park, Garden and Children's Playground Reserve. (3) 

In  December 1918, the Herald reported that -

Reserve Neglected -  What is known as the Powlett Reserve, a fairly large block of land, bounded by Powlett, Albert, Grey, and Simpson streets, East Melbourne, which is under the control of the Defence Department, presents a  neglected appearance. The reserve is used occasionally for drill, but chiefly by children in playing cricket and other games. An old and dilapidated notice-board states: "Any person found trespassing on this reserve or damaging the fence will be prosecuted. - By order (signed), Robert Collins, Secretary of Defence." Apparently this order has been a dead letter for a long time, as numerous pickets have been removed from the fence, and in places whole panels have disappeared. Horses, which are allowed on the reserve for week-ends, are kept from straying by single lines of barbed wire stretched across the gaps. The reserve is fringed by fairly well-grown trees, and others have been chopped down and cut up, most likely for firewood. Generally the reserve looks neglected, and is out of keeping with the trimly-kept municipal reserves in the immediate neighborhood. (4)

Eighteen months later, in April 1920, the Herald had some good news -
New City Playground Powlett Street Reserve....Recently the reserve was handed over to the  [Melbourne] City Council, and the Parks and Gardens Committee is converting it into a garden and children's playground. The fence has been repaired, and some thousands of loads of earth have been spread on the reserve to level its surface. When completed, the reserve should not only present a much improved appearance, but should prove a great boon to the children of the neighborhood in affording them a fine playing area.  (5)  More amenities were added to the Park in 1924, when the tennis courts were opened. (6)

Powlett Reserve, March 1957.  

Albert Street is at the top of the reserve, Simpson Street is at the right and Grey Street is at the bottom. 

The building, bottom right of the reserve, is a Kindergarten, which opened in 1951. 

Labelled as: Aerial view of residential streets, Collingwood, 23 March 1957. Photographer: Airspy. 

See full image here at State Library of Victoria 

 https://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/4325234

In 1923, one of the fairly well-grown trees surrounding the Reserve was cut down by the Melbourne City Council- 

An Ancient and Noble Gum Tree at East Melbourne - The City Council authorities responsible for converting the Powlett-street reserve, East Melbourne, into a children's playground and beauty spot have been guilty of a piece of work that is to be regretted. A fine gum tree at the corner of Simpson-street and Albert-street has been cut down and converted into firewood. The tree was in splendid 

condition, and was an ornament that cannot be replaced. (7)

All this suggests that until the playground was established in the 1920s the ground was fairly rough and ringed with trees  - some of which were seemingly remnant gums from before European settlement and some of which were removed for firewood, so it appears that there was no large affection for the trees from either the local community or the Council. 

When were the Palm Trees planted? I believe after the playground and tennis courts were installed. Late 1920s, possibly, but that was the Depression, would the Council have money on landscaping during this time? I think the trees were planted in the 1930s, which makes them 20 to 25 years old in the photograph. If you have any information  on the date they were planted, I would be interested in knowing.

Footnotes

(1) Burchett, Winston East Melbourne 1837-1977: People, Places and Problems (Craftsman Press, 1978), p. 47

(2) The Argus, February 21, 1881, see here. 

(3) Burchett, op. cit., p. 47.

(4) The Herald, December 10, 1918, see here.

(5) The Herald, April 20, 1920, see here.

(6) The Herald, August 9, 1924, see here.

(7) Sun News-Pictorial, June 11, 1923, see here.