Historical Plenty Buildings

List of Buildings

A list of all the main buildings in the Plenty township. If you would like to learn more about each, please click on the images.

Plenty Store
The Plenty store was established about 1915 by Maud Finneran and her brother George Starling. It was in the music room of Maud’s home which was located on the hill behind the present building. The home and store were moved down the hill to Yan Yean Road when Maud’s sister Nora and husband Frank Windsor bought it. The post office opened in 1923. The present building was built in the late 1960’s and the original building destroyed by fire in the early 1970’s

Plenty Church
The Plenty Church was built by the people of Plenty and opened in December 1925. It was a Methodist Church and located at the corner of Yan Yean Road and River Avenue. It became a Uniting Church after the merger of the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches. A hall was added from a church in Greensborough in 1966. The church was closed for worship in 1985. The building remained and was used as an artist home and then a gift/craft shop until the re-construction of Yan Yean Road in 2018/19. The church building was removed to the Plenty Heritage Park and completely restored by Major Roads Projects Victoria.

Plenty Community Hall
The Plenty Community Hall was officially opened with a Grand Ball held in the new hall on Friday, 17th July 1931. Funds to purchase land and erect a hall were raised by the Plenty Progress Association and Social Club.

The Club held regular fund-raising socials and euchre tournaments at the Plenty State School, in the caretaker’s cottage and dining room at Sutherland homes, and in member’s homes. Grand Balls held in the Diamond Creek Hall were very popular and contributed significantly to available funds. The Queen Carnival held in 1930 was a major contributor to the fund.

Once the hall was completed the members of the Plenty Progress Association and Social Club turned their attention and efforts to raising funds for Unemployment Relief. Regular socials, at one time on a fortnightly basis, were held in the hall for the benefit of the unemployed.

Plenty School
The Plenty School began around the early 1920s. Around this time, the school attached to the Sutherland Homes (3660 Meglin Special) became overcrowded, so district children had to transfer to Taank’s Corner (now Yarrambat) or Diamond Creek. Alarmed at the long walks entailed, Mrs Beatrice (Maud) Fineran and other parents campaigned for the establishment of a school in the Plenty area.

After lengthy correspondence between the community and the Education Department eleven pupils enrolled on the first day, 18th February 1922, and a further 18 began school two days later. The first head teacher in a temporary capacity was Dorothy Downey. Dorothy and her pupils operated in very spartan conditions in ‘a small unlined structure providing shelter but little else’. Ralph Greenhalgh became the first permanent teacher in June 1922.

A contract was let on the 13th of April 1923 to build a new school. There were lengthy delays due to the lack of building materials, the want of labour and bad roads.  The new school was finally occupied on the 26th of February 1924.

Plenty Fire Brigade
The Plenty Fire Brigade had its beginnings in 1945 with the formation of the Country Fire Authority (CFA) and the Diamond Creek Fire Brigade shortly thereafter. Firefighters of Plenty, together with the neighbouring townships of Yarrambat and Wattle Glen became members of branches of the Diamond Creek Fire Brigade. Each branch had its own Lieutenant who served under the captain in Diamond Creek. Residents including George Upton, Jack Upton, Cecil Monson, Frank Blackwell, Johnny Walker, Jack Ross, Jim Fellows and Arn Twilley were synonymous with the preparedness for, and co-ordination of, early firefighting efforts.

The 5th of September, 1961 saw the Plenty branch of the Diamond Creek Fire Brigade break away to form the Plenty Rural Fire Brigade. As a brigade, Bill Upton was elected as the first captain serving from its inception through until 1976.

Plenty Cricket Club
Plenty Cricket Club was formed at a meeting held in the Plenty Hall on Thursday 20th November 1947.

The first Plenty cricket players played on land owned by Mr Burns which is now the site of the Council Depot in Yan Yean Rd. The first cricket pavilion was built in the early 1950s on the eastern side of the oval, behind the old tennis shed. The club rooms were constructed by the members of the PCC with brothers Bobby and Donny Beale as the principal builders. All construction was done pro bono.