OLIVER STREET, Yarra Glen
It is believed that this street was named after Calder Edkins Oliver (1855-c1930), a civil engineer who was a supervisor for the construction of the Maroondah Aqueduct in 1888.
Oliver Street is fully formed and sealed only between Sayle Street and Yarraview Road. The eastern section is still mainly a grassy expanse, fenced across one end before the land dips sharply down an embankment at the foot of which is the Railway Station.
One of the oldest buildings is the former Station Masters residence at no. 25. This block was purchased from Sarah Ann Samuel for £225. Almost opposite at no. 24 is the cottage built for the Railway Repairer who did maintenance work on the lines and buildings.
From 1890 until 1944 a police station was sited on the western corner of Sayle and Oliver Streets, and the building which was once the police stables remains. In the 1950s Mr Bill Bell and his family operated a dairy from this site.
At the eastern end of Oliver Street, perched above the Railway Reserve at the turn of the century was the Coffee Palace operated by Mrs Arthur Keets. It functioned as a wayside refreshment stop for train travellers who had to wait while the steam train was being loaded or the carriages shunted. Later used as a residence this building was burnt down in the mid 1960s.
Sources: Vital Connections: Melbourne and its Board of Works 1891-1991, by Tony Dingle & Carolyn Rasmussen; Healesville Guardian