(The featured image is from a 1906 postcard, taken from the Bruce Street end of the Park and believed to have been hand-colored and printed in Germany)
Preston and the Park : A Time Line
1838-39 : The lands that were to become Preston are sold off at public auction – 12 lots rangingfrom 312 to 1,117 acres at prices ranging from 8/3d per acre to £2.1.6d (High, Belland Miller Streets to Merri Creek).
1853 : Land between today’s Westgarth Street and Merri Creek set aside as a site for a township; 14 acres in Westgarth Street gazetted as a public park in 1867; Shire of Jika appointed as managers of Northcote Park in 1873.
1854 : The name Preston chosen after the establishment of the first post office at Wood’s store
1860 : The first Preston Cricket Club noted in matches against Phillipstown (south-east Brunswick) behind the Preston Arms Hotel. Later race meetings on the same site.
1874 : Proposals to establish a recreation reserve behind the Shire of Jika offices at the Junction Hotel rejected
1875 : At the instigation of Cr., J. C. Clinch, Shire of Jika acquires nine acres in Cramer Street after the partial subdivision of Shepherd’s Run; Preston and Gowerville Park. A Preston Park Cricket Club noted as offering to plough and sow grass if the area is enclosed.
1877 : A five-foot high picket fence completed around the Park at a cost of £86. Moves by ratepayers to acquire the vacant land east to High Street.
1880 : A wooden “pavilion” costing just £16 is erected on the eastern side. Remarkable, this humble structure remained until 1925! Gowerville Cricket Club formed and allocated use of the Park. Running water laid on to the Park.
1885 : The Shire of Jike becomes the Shire of Preston after Northcote was proclaimed an independent Borough in 1883. Requests for use of the Park by the Preston and Gowerville Football Club rejected. Two cricket wickets are known to have existed, at the north and south ends, running north-south.
1887 : Preston Football Club granted access to the Park on a two-month trial.
1888-89 : Caretaker appointed to the Park at a contract rate of £10 per annum. The Preston Leader introduced (1888). Spencer Street to Whittlesea railway via North Fitzroy, Carlton and Royal Park opens (1889).
1892 : Admission charges first allowed at the Park for a series of football matches in aid of a fund supporting the families of 15 players and officials of the Mornington Football Club drowned in a boating accident in Port Phillip Bay
1895-97 : “Draconian restrictions” on access to the Park. Bans restrict access to hours between sunrise and sunset, shooting and hunting banned. A “full-time” caretaker (also Inspector of Health) appointed at £100 per annum.
1899 : Plans to move the financially-stricken Preston Reading and Recreation Rooms from Clifton Grove to the Park as an alternative pavilion thwarted after the Catholic Church buys the site for use as a school.
1900 : Regular admission charges for football introduced
1901 : After considerable controversy, an inner picket fence was erected around the playing arena at a cost of just over £57. Today’s Preston Cricket Club formed (as Preston Districts).
1904 : Following Preston Football Club’s admission into senior V.F.A. ranks, three ticket boxes, a press box are erected and a member’s reserve at the northern-western corner of the Park was fenced off. A cycling track of around 15 feet width was laid inside the oval at the behest of the Preston Cycling Club.
1907 : The two-pitch usage of the ground ended; the circumstances in controversial circumstances.
1914 : Underground sewerage laid on to public conveniences at the north and south end of the Park (date of connection to the pavilion remains unknown).
1919 : Electricity connected to the pavilion. Police presence during football matches for the first time.
1919-23 : Playing surface in both summer and winter noted as badly impacted by long grass, particularly in infestation of onion weed. Council agrees (1023) to devote proceeds from the sale of pine trees around the Park to purchase a horse-drawn mower.
1922 : A turf wicket is laid following the Preston Cricket Club’s application to join the Sub-District Cricket Association. Plans to build Municipal Baths were quickly torpedoed when preliminary drawings showed they could not be built without impacting the playing area.
1924 : Following a re-formation of the Preston Municipal Band, a band rotunda was erected in the north-western corner at a cost of around £125. Plans were announced for construction of the southern end of today’s grandstand, a tender of £3,100 for the stand, plus another £308 for tiling.
1925 : The grandstand was officially opened in December. The pavilion of 1880 lived to fight another day – after several applications, the building was removed to Bell Park for the use of the Preston Ladies Cricket Club and the Preston Soccer Club.
1926 : Preston Football Club re-admitted to the Victorian Football Association. Upgrades to the Park over the next year or two include a new press box, kiosk, toilet facilities and gates.
1928 : Embankments around the oval completed. Experiments with dirt track speedway racing.
1932? : Six-feet high privet hedge planed around park as park of sustenance work during the depression. Ground resurfacing over the summer of 1931-32.
1942 : Air raid shelters dug in north-eastern corner.
1944 : Moves to rename as Kingsbury Park in honour of the late Bruce Kingsbury V.C. (1943) Preston District Junior Football Association formed.
1947 : First noted usage of “Bullants” for football club. Adopted by cricket club, 1960-61 season.
1949 : New wooden, internally-operated scoreboard erected. Electric siren installed.
1956 : Extensive works to widen the ground by up to eighteen feet sees both football and cricket clubs play the season at Coburg,
1957 : First television broadcast from the Park (June 1)
1960s : Changes around the Park include opening of P.A.N.C.H. (1959), the demolition of Zwar’s Tannery for a bowling alley (1960), and closure of Broadhurst’s Tannery in Murray Road (160) and Cook’s Timber Yard (1967) with construction of the Preston Market commencing the following year.
1960 : First Sunday Victorian Football association matches with admission by “donation”
1961 : The caretaker’s house in the south-west corner of the Park (22 Bruce Street) demolished and practice wickets moved from the south-eastern corner of the oval. Grandstand extended at northern end (not roofed).
1962 : Fitzroy Football Club attempts to take over the ground fail.
1967 : ATV-0 commence regular transmissions of both Saturday and Sunday V.F.A. games
1969 : Plans announced for construction of Preston Football Club Social Club
1970 : Cantilever roof extended over northern end of stand. New brick scoreboard erected and terracing extended around northern end of the Park
1977 : Social Club finally opens after many delays with planning and licensing issues.
1979 : Plans announced for a $280,000 auditorium, gymnasium, sauna and spa room, training area, change rooms, kiosk, toilets, press facilities. Later shelved after State Labour Government announced plans for casino licenses.
Late 1980s-early 1990s (unknown) Approximately five metres of eastern side lost with Council decision to install right-angle parking along Mary Street
1993 : Creation of elite under-18 football competition (ultimately the T.A.C Cup) sees the elimination of League and Association Thirds.
1994 : Merger of Preston and Northcote councils creates Darebin Council. Playing surface at the Park deteriorates to an alarming level
1996 : Preston and Northern Knights Football Clubs merge to become Preston Knights Football Club.
1998 : Preston Knights Football Club license revoked, the decision later overturned after negotiations with the administrator of the sacked Darebin Council saw an agreement for major drainage works for the playing surface
2000 : A.F.L. Reserves abolished and a new Victorian Football League introduced with a mixture of combinations. Northern Bullants forced to play home matches against teams with A.F.L. players at Victoria Park due to change rooms deemed to be inadequate
2001 : Home matches return to the Park with rooms under the stand combined for opposition teams and the Bullants using temporary rooms erected behind the scoreboard
2002 : New change rooms and administration bloc opened to the south of the grandstand
2005 : Darebin Council releases a Master Plan for wider community access and use of the Park. Initial work sees removal of the embankment in the south-eastern corner and establishment of a children’s playground and replacement of the corrugated iron Mary Street fence with an open-mesh equivalent.
2009 : A.F.L. announce $1.4 million grant for each of the stand-alone and affiliated V.F.L. Plans for redevelopment of social areas. Surface of the oval re-sown with drought-tolerant grass, Preston Cricket Club play all away games.
2010 : Works commence on redevelopment of reception centre. Preston Football Club Social Club trades for the last time in August.
2011 : Now dining facility opens, but with no kitchen or beer available on tap due to budget overruns and design flaws. Administration area extended to accommodate Northern Knights offices.
2012 : Cramer Street streetscape redesigned. Ticket boxes and wire fence removed, frontage along Cramer Street landscaped and new gates installed.
2013 : Another gate installed behind Cramer Street goals (nobody knows why)! Change rooms extended with medical room and small gymnasium for use by Northern Knights. Reception centre completed with additional grant from Darebin Council.
