I have a very vivid memory of visiting a VicRoads branch in Braybrook (
this very old guide to getting your learners permit mentions the address, 11 Evans Street*) circa 1992. The building was small but very open, Australian modern with a pragmatic government twist - flat roof, coffee-coloured bricks, timber stained dark, and large glass windows (walls?) opening into a central courtyard (or was it a light well) full of native vegetation. For some reason I was under the impression an animal lived in there because it reminded me of a zoo exhibit, and I recall being a bit sad because I couldn't see it.
Anyway, the building is long gone. I assume it was demolished after the much larger Sunshine complex opened, which was in 1998. It could've been abandoned for a while too, I don't know. It obviously had a very short lifespan:
this publication clarifies it was only a temporary premises, taking on the duties of the Port Melbourne branch, which had closed:
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| From http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/papers/govpub/VPARL1987-88No73.pdf |
The above document (dated 1987 BTW) also refers to 'the
new [my emphasis] Braybrook office [which] provides a wider range of services with better
conditions for both customers and staff' (41). Based on this I assume it was built in either 1986 or 1987.
Obviously it's mentioned in the Melways too (see
1,
2 [seems the weighbridge came before the office]) but this doesn't tell me anything aside from the fact that the whole corner block was used by the RTA/VicRoads and that, for some reason, the office itself wasn't marked in the Melways until 1989. One would be forgiven for thinking it was built then, if they were relying solely on maps. The 1997 and 1998 Melways both show VicRoads offices in Sunshine and Braybrook so I think they operated in tandem for a while. I can't imagine many people would choose to visit Braybrook over Sunshine seeing as the former was sandwiched between
various meat processing plants in an industrial area (where someone
once fell into a mincer and some
youths drove trucks for fun) and the latter was right on Ballarat Rd and next to the fancy new Sunshine Marketplace.
Despite much searching, there are no photos of the old VicRoads, but I did find
this which I'm tempted to check out because I'm curious.
What a seriously underwhelming conclusion. Hopefully I'll find out more one day, if only to confirm whether an animal actually lived in the courtyard or not
*11 Evans Street is also given as the address of Pridham, the aforementioned "organic recycling" firm (
see this document, p. 784). I wonder how VicRoads came to use this address? Maybe Pridham had some spare land they were willing to lease, which would explain why the VicRoads office was eventually closed and demolished. The factory they constructed seems pretty new, I had a look on Nearmap and their oldest image - from 2009 - shows a functioning plant of some kind, so I'm assuming whatever happened was between 2000 and 2007ish (assuming it takes 1-2 years to build a facility of this size)
Here's a streetview image of the site today:
