House Cleaning Services in Kensington

Prior to European settlement, the area was settled by Wurundjeri people, who have lived in the area surrounding the Birrarung Valley for up to 40,000 years. They lived predominantly as hunters and gatherers, moving around the present-day City of Melbourne and its surrounds depending on changes in the weather and the availability of food.

Neighbouring Flemington was initially settled in 1839 by James Watson, who named the area after Flemington Estate in Scotland, where his father-in-law was a manager. The first land release came in 1840, when land adjacent to the Maribyrnong River was made available for cattle grazing. Kensington was part of the City of Essendon on its foundation in 1861, but later split away to form the Borough of Flemington and Kensington in 1882. The area was originally known for horse proving grounds, its cattle yards, and abattoirs.

In the late 1850s, the City of Melbourne moved its cattle yards from a location on the corner of Elizabeth and Victoria Streets to a location in the north of the suburb, near present-day Racecourse Road. The yards were completed in 1858, with the first sales held the following year. The yards’ proximity to the Maribyrnong (or Saltwater) River, allowed for the discharge of liquid waste and were soon joined by factories for fellmongery, bone manure, and glue.

The abattoir and its associated factories were soon surrounded by suburbs, prompting complaints and public meetings objecting to the by-products and waste produced by the saleyards. Alfred Deakin, who represented the member for Essendon and Flemington in the Victorian Legislative Assembly until 1900, moved a division in favour of the yards’ closure in 1891. Economic downturn in the 1890s, however, meant that the closure was postponed and a by-law was instead passed by the Melbourne City Council making it illegal to drive livestock through streets in Flemington and Kensington between 8am and 10pm.

The earliest land sales in the suburb included the Palace Hotel and a Wesleyan Church, both acquired in 1879. In 1886, the borough had a population of approximately 6,000, with approximately 20 new buildings opening each month. Low-lying land in the south of the suburb, near the present-day JJ Holland Park, was filled in around the same period, allowing for the construction of the Gillespie Mill adjacent to the railway line.

A railway line to Essendon was opened by the Melbourne and Essendon Railway Company in 1860, including Kensington railway station. The railway closed in 1864, but was later reopened as far as Newmarket by the Victorian Railways in November 1867. The refurbished and extended railway line also served the Newmarket cattle sale yards, which by 1888 handled more than half a million animals every year.