Belvedere Estate

Speaking of Monterey pines as I was on 15th April, it's topical to tell you that several large ones along Station Street. bordering Bill Parker's paddock have been removed this week. Of couse it's not Bill Parkers paddock at all now, he sold it last year. It's the Belvedere Estate.

I wonder where the name 'Belvedere' came from? It sounds odd to me, but then I've never really been into estate names.

It's with some relief that I can answer my own question, the relief because I've discovered the name 'Belvedere' is from historical source and not some market driven attempt to sound sophisticated. I had a look at Bill Parker's book, 'Forest to Farming, Gembrook: an early history'. I quote from Bill's book, written in 1995.

"By the time I was of school age we had moved into the heart of Gembrook township. My older brother, at the age of 23, bought the 6 and 3/4 acre propery 'Belvedere' in Station Street just up from the Puffing Billy railway station. I eventually inherited and still own this property."

Bill told me once, I was picking holly before Christmas along his boundary with the school, that he'd planted those pine trees from cones in his youth. He told me the year but I can't remember, but as Bill was born in 1914, I'd say the 1920's. There's a picture of a timber cottage, "'Belvedere', my home" in his book, taken in 1942, so there was a residence there.

I walked along Station Street this morning. The giant 80 year old pines were gone. A huge bonfire burned in the middle of the paddock as an excavator worked noisily where the pines had been, digging stumps and roots and levelling. For good measure my holly trees had also gone. I've picked holly for Christmas orders there for nearly twenty years so I'll have to find another source. Not that I sell a lot of holly these days, the demand having steadily declined.

There are 17 blocks of land selling in 'Belvedere Estate'. Most are a quarter acre with some larger. Prices start at $150,000 and rise to $180,000 or more. Someone told me Bill sold the land for $870,000 so if you do the sums the blocks will bring over $3 million. I think the developer will make a handsome profit, there being only one road to be built up the middle of the estate to provide access.

Other than me, no one will mourn the loss of the hollies, they are regarded as an environmental weed. Same for the pines. I'll miss them too, just for their size and strong dark prescence. So will the black cockatoos who loved to roost there and feed on the cones.