The Palm Trees outside the Shire Offices in Pakenham

The Shire of Berwick offices at Pakenham were opened on Thursday, June 6, 1912, by the Minister of Public Works, Mr W. Edgar. The building was located corner of Main Street and John Street. I have written about the building here. As you can see from the photo below,  there were two fine Palm Trees in the garden on the Main Street frontage. 

The Shire Offices in Pakenham, maybe 1950s.

Image: Uncertain where this originated from

In 1961 work commenced on extending the Shire Offices and the building was also encased in a facade. It was due to this work that the Palm Trees were removed. The Pakenham Gazette of  September 15, 1961 reported - 

To make way for the re-building of the Shire Hall at Pakenham, it was necessary to remove the two huge palm trees on the Main Street frontage. It took workmen several  hours to cut around the roots,, and the palms were finally pulled out by a power grader. The palms, which have been landmarks for many years were planted by the late Cr  J. Reg Henty about 40 years ago. They have provided a home for hundreds of starlings and on Friday night the air was filled  with the discordant cries of these birds as they sought for a resting place which had vanished. (1)

The Palms being removed.

 Pakenham Gazette of  Friday, September 15, 1961, p.1.

The article mentions that the palms were planted by Cr J. Reg Henty,  about 40 years ago. This is  James Reginald Henty, who was a  Berwick Shire councillor from 1910 until his death at the age of  57 on February 17, 1929.  (2)  So we can establish the palms were planted between 1912 and 1929. It is more than possible they were planted soon after the building opened in 1912 or maybe when Cr Henty was the Shire President in 1913-1914. And now we know that they were removed in September 1961.

The Shire Offices in the 1960s. The original building is behind the brick facade.

Image: Berwick Pakenham Historical Society https://bphs.com.au/articles.

The photograph, above, shows you what the Shire Offices looked like from 1962 - the 1912 building remained virtually intact, behind the brick facade. It looked better with the Palm Trees, but since this blog is a tribute to Palm Trees, then it is fair to say that everything looks better with Palm Trees.

Footnotes

(1) Pakenham Gazette, Friday, September 15, 1961, p.1.

(2) Pakenham Gazette, February 22, 1929, p.3.