The History of Croydon in Victoria, Australia

Posted on by David Grissom

Croydon is a area in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia found about 28 km east of Melbourne's . Croydon has a populace of almost 27,000 people. The area that became Croydon was initially utilised back in the 1840’s by residents for the grazing of farm animals. The initial road in the location was known as Sawmill road due to a sawmill nearby. Later it was changed to Oxford Road and in the 1900’s it was changed as to what it is identified these days as Mt Dandenong Road. The region itself was first known as White Flats as the place was greatly filled by a coarse silvery-white grass. The naming of Croydon was presented to it through the Lacey family whom came from Essx, England who named it after the Croydon in England that was Mrs. Lacey's home town. Near the current Main St shopping precinct is a road named after the Lacey family.

Packages of land in the region were first mapped in 1868 and the location was first formally habituated with all the region emphasizing the farming of sheep, dairy and beef. There were also some sawmills established. Next, there have been orchards which incorporated cherries, apples, pears, peaches in addition to plums that did well. Some of the present-day street names in and around Croydon today reflect that early on development. In 1874 Cobb & Co began services using horses and buggies to the area. A railroad track to the area was opened up on 1 December 1882 and the rail station was named Warrandyte that was not really actually in Warrandyte which was misleading as that region was a horse and coach journey 10km away. On 1 August 1884 it was renamed to become called the Croydon train stop. In the mid-1880s Mr James Hewish constructed his homestead and began several other business ventures which included a general retailer, news agency, butchers shop and a hotel. He also founded several orchard trees. The Croydon Post Office was launched on 1 December 1883. The close by Nelson's Hill Post Office opened in 1902 and it was later relabeled Burnt Bridge in 1979. On Mt Dandenong Road in 1908 Croydon Hall had been built. It was finally announced and gazetted being a town in 1912.

In 1920 a Monday marketplace was began in Croydon which included live animals, chickens, birds as well as other small animals. It was really a noted landmark in the area as well as a favorite meeting location for locals from neighbouring suburbs until the site was redeveloped in the 80s. The market was finally shut down in 2012. For local government purposes, Croydon was initially an important part of what was then the Shire of Lillydale, however in 1957 a request was submitted by representatives for Croydon to leave the Shire of Lillydale and become its own governing organization. The City and Shire of Croydon was incorporated in May 1961 and was announced as a City in 1971. Afterwards, it was combined, in addition to the City of Ringwood being the City of Maroondah in 1994. These days, the Main Street of Croydon is a booming community hub that has just about 200 shops.

Have you been to the Caribbean?

Posted on by David Grissom

The Caribbean describes an island group of 28 countries which attracts travellers to it which has a selection of idyllic tropical escapes situated in the Caribbean Sea. Every one of these island nations offers something unique with it to offer largely based on their natural beauty of both the land and marine environments which surround the coastlines. The Caribbean is considered one of the world’s most biologically diversified sea locations, being the place to find iconic wildlife and it has a lot of prone coastline communities that are suffering with just what environmentalists consider an alarming decline. The Islands also offers a refreshing culture and history, having a number of important sites dating back to neglected previous societies. In addition to that cultural variety, the Caribbean has an contemporary culinary scene. There are flavours from all the world’s areas in the region’s delicacies.

The primary languages spoken in the Caribbean are Spanish, French, English, Dutch, Haitian Creole, and Papiamento. Each Caribbean country incorporates a handful of unique creole spoken languages or dialects. The area has a primarily tropical geography with the climates getting shaped by ocean temperatures and rainfall, with the typhoon season often bringing about disasters. By far the most serious was the Great Hurricane in 1780 in which it was thought that 20 000 to 30000 people were killed. Hurricanes continue to occur with a regularity. Because of this tropical environment and the low lying island geography, the Caribbean islands are generally at risk of quite a few climate change effects for example the greater hurricane strength, saltwater incursion, growing sea levels as well as deterioration of the coastline. These kinds of weather conditions variations will have substantial impacts and significantly affect the economies of the islands, in particular the key economies of farming and tourism.

The native individuals have occupied the islands since at least 3600 BC. Shortly after the adventurer, Christopher Columbus stumbled on the Caribbean back in 1492 subsequent adventurers coming from both Portugal and Spain commenced proclaiming areas in Central and South America and settling them. With this particular European colonization the native population was rapidly decimated as a result of imposed brutal work practices, enslavement, and illnesses on a lot of of the islands. Those native populations were soon replaced by enslaved Africans. These types of initial settlements exported gold to Britain, the Netherlands, as well as France that each had was going to establish lucrative cities in the Caribbean. Most of these colonial rivalries made the Caribbean a source for European wars for centuries. The region was war-torn through a lot of its colonial historical past, though the wars were more frequently located in Europe, with only modest conflicts in fact conducted in the Caribbean. The Caribbean was renowned for pirates, in particular in between 1640 and 1680 with the phrase “buccaneer” often getting used to describe a pirate operating in this area. Starting with the independence of Haiti from France in early 19th century as well as the following decrease of slavery in the 19th century almost all of the island countries in the Caribbean gradually obtained independence in the 50s and 60's. As the location is within close proximity to the USA, there is also a lengthy track record of their interference politically, militarily and in the economy.