Mount Bischoff Estate, Preston

Bruce, Tasman, Bischoff, Mount & James Streets

The late 1880s saw a land boom generally in Melbourne and also in Preston with numerous land companies being formed along with individuals subdividing and offering land for sale. In 1888 there were 25 different estates on the market in Preston, along with Mt Bischoff.

Newspaper advertising for the sale boasts of the natural drainage, soil that is ‘eminently adapted for garden purposes’ and that ‘altogether the paddock is one of the finest blocks within a radius of ten miles of the city.’ A deposit of £10 per lot was required to secure one of the lots on this ‘highest, driest and most commanding position in this important thoroughfare’.

 However, much of this land lay vacant for many years until interest picked up just before and certainly after the First World War. Only those housing estates in the southern parts of Preston became heavily settled by 1920. Preston still had much land left over from the subdivisions formed in the 1880s. Mt Bischoff Estate in West Preston was a classic example of this and still had many vacant lots well into the middle of the 1920s according to an MMBW plan.

Carroll, Brian & Rule, Ian (1985). Preston: an Illustrated History. Preston: City of Preston. Mercury and Weekly Courier (Vic: 1878 - 1903), Friday 1 June 1888, page 2
Plan of the Mt Bischoff Estate, Preston [cartographic material]. 1888. State Library of Victoria. Available online.
Melbourne & Metropolitan Board of Works Plan no. 3271. Municipality of Preston [cartographic material]. MMBW [Melbourne] 1926.