150 Years of Stories
Many people and events have made up Abound Communities's 150 years. We would like you to meet some of the people and find out about the events that helped shape the organisation.
Hebden Cottages enshrined
June 24, 2019

On Saturday November 2, 1911, Sir Thomas A’Beckett, a distant relation of George and Harriet Hebden, using a silver trowel, laid memorial stones for the Hebden cottages.
Read More
Over a hundred years after the start of OCAV, its success – and inflation- had caught up with the Association. With a four-year wait-list for places in its villages, in 1975 the Association opens a $500,000 appeal to build more cottages.
Read MoreLocal Diamond Valley man Bruce Wadeson was an obvious choice to become the first manager of Leith Park. He was local and well connected.

Percy Oakley was a giant in the architectural profession. He was appointed to design the Godfrey Cottages at Rushall Park in 1920. He set up the company Oakley and Parkes on his return from World War I, a firm which won many accolades for their work in Canberra, including designing the Prime Minister’s Lodge, as well as their designs for Melbourne-based Yule House, the cylindrical Brighton Municipal building and the semi-Saracenic Equity ...
Read More
Like many other charities of the day, the Old Colonists’ Association was suffering from a lack of funds – not only to build new cottages but to maintain those in its aegis. A Grand National Carnival, including an art union and picturesque exhibition, was organised, and held in Exhibition Building on 21 May 1898.
Read More
Joseph Crook was a man of many firsts. He followed George Wharton as architect for the Old Colonists’, completely changing the layout and look of the village in Fitzroy, he allegedly built the first house in Chapel Street in 1849, and was a member of the party which discovered the Eaglehawk goldfields. The party lost their packhorses for three days and were unable to claim the gold.
Read More
George Wharton was the Association’s second architect, whose contribution to the village was three bluestone cottages, and the introduction of the verandah. Wharton was active in public life, president of the second Victorian Institute of Architects, and established a Chair and architecture course at the University of Melbourne.
Read More
Architect and surveyor George Johnson drew inspiration from alms houses in England when he designed the layout of the ‘institution’ for old colonists or ‘inmates’ as the residents were then called. His design included a large hall in the centre, with four semidetached cottages on either side. Each cottage was designed to house two people.
Read MoreWhile women were becoming more evident in the committee rooms of charities in Melbourne, a bank of opposition was welling up among the old colonists.
Read More
The $8 million SEK Hulme Community Centre and 26 independent and assisted living apartments were opened at Rushall Park in 2013. The community centre quickly became the hub of the village, and was named after one of OCAV’s longest serving councillors and vice presidents.
Read More
Sanctuary is how artist Gillian Coates describes her home at Currie Park, OCAV’s village in Euroa. “When I go to Melbourne and I am heading back to Euroa, I can’t wait to get home to the peacefulness of this place. It is like a sanctuary for me."
Enquire today about securing a position at one of Melbourne's longest established and highly reputable independent living estates.
Enquire NowOurVillages
Four unique locations providing specialised services