Altona, Altona Beach, Seaholme Unrestored Maps and Photos

A rare estate plan encompassing the entirety of the Altona Beach Estate, including Seaholme, from the 1920s. You should be able to find your allotment. If you're among the privileged few who own a slice of Altona's beachside paradise, seize this opportunity to own a piece of this historic land sale.

History of the Altona Beach Estate: The first real estate sale took place on 8 September 1888 (those plans are also available on our site). On the first day of selling, 281 lots were sold and over the following five weeks, and a further 717 lots were sold. But but within two years, the market bubble burst and the bulk of Altona’s land was forfeited in bankruptcy and missed payments. The Altona Estate development too went bankrupt. The Altona estate market started to recover by 1915 with tiny population of about 50 people in 15 dwellings.

In 1840, Robert Hoddle and his assistants surveyed the area and created this first estate map for the purpose of dividing the land into referenced sections for ownership tracking for the Crown. This was also the very first documented reference to the name “Cut Paw Paw”.

The Parish of Cut Paw Paw contains the suburbs now known as Williamstown, Footscray, Yarraville, Seddon, Newport, Kingsville, Maribyrnong, Brooklyn, Braybrook and Maidstone. Kororoit Creek and the Maribyrnong River (originally known as Saltwater River at this time) are the boundaries of Parish division in the County of Bourke. If you look back at your home purchasing documents, you'll notice this reference still today.

This 182 years old hand-drawn map of the Parish of Cut Paw Paw is the very first map of its type. It’s exceptionally old and beautifully textured. It provides a snapshot of the sparse land scattered with the She Oaks that the name Cut Paw Paw originates (meaning Many/Clumps of She Oaks).

There are other Cut Paw Paw versions available in the store.

This little vintage looking gem is Sheet 4 of the Parish of Cut Paw Paw. It covers Williamstown, Spotswood, Newport, South Kingsville and Altona North. Most of the Crown Lands maps we have are relatively clean and clear, this one was had coloured and used a lot which has lead to the lovely patina and character that we all love in vintage maps.

The full version of the Parish Cut Paw Paw Crown Lands plan is big, really big! Large maps are difficult to work with so most Crown Lands plans have a smaller isolations for convenience.

There are other Cut Paw Paw maps here: Click here for our store options.

In the 1880s, developers purchased land in Altona for housing, marketing the estate as a seaside resort. To help promote and attract people to the area, they built the Altona Pier and extended the Williamstown railway line from the Williamstown racecourse to the beach. While some housing blocks were sold, most were left undeveloped. By 1891 there were possibly five new houses, and much of the estate's land was still being used for dairy or agriculture due to the real estate depression in that started in 1891. Parcels of the Altona Bay Estate land were later sold to another developer and were subdivided into more than 3000 lots.

The area east of Millers Road was named Seaholme. The first auctions were held in 1918 although development could not be described as rapid. By the 1930s there about 400 houses built in Altona and on the Seaholme Estate was still noted as “a shop and 29 dwellings.”

This artwork contains these streets: Millers Road, Esplanade, Beach Street, Queen Street, High Street, Seaview Crescent, Central Avenue, Civic Parade, Acacia Avenue, Wattle Grove & Waratah Street.

Interesting promotion of the Wonder Building Material ‘Solomit’, which is the stitched straw thatching material often seen in early beach housing.