Summary

Early 1960s colour brochure from Leighton Homes Pty Ltd advertising their house designs for a new housing estate at Seaford, a sea-side suburb on the south east of Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne. The promotional headline is 'The Call of the Sea - In the Heart of Melbourne's Summer Playground - New Seaford'. The brochure features a map of the estate location, information about the area, details of the company's house designs, and profiles of home buyers.

This document is part of a collection of documents and photographs that relates to the purchase of land, and the construction and setting up of a family home by Graeme Fullarton in Keilor East, in the period from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. The collection tracks the 'great Australian dream' of owning a home.

Graeme Fullarton bought adjoining land with his brother Bruce Fullarton in 1959 on Quinn Grove and David Street in East Keilor. In 1964 they both built homes using the same builder. The items in this collection include legal documents relating to Graeme's land purchase; brochures from builders; his subsequent house construction plan; mortgage repayment, land valuation, rates and sanitary services accounts; a quotation relating to the connection of the telephone service; house content insurance accounts; and gas and electricity accounts from the first years in the home. Family photographs show the house being built, from its footings through to the roof being put on.

This particular brochure is part of a sub-set of about 100 housing brochures, issued by project builders and developers in the early 1960s in Melbourne, and collected by Graeme Fullarton and his wife while looking for an appropriate house to build in the early 1960s. They ultimately built a house in East Keilor in 1964. The actual house design on which his built home was finally based is also in this collection.

Physical Description

Brochure printed on glossy white paper and folded in thirds. The front features the title, printed in black, with a black and white photograph, half sepia-toned, of a man and woman lying on a beach. The page inside when unfolded, features a map of the location, coloured blue and brown, surrounded by information about the area and the houses. Below are two personal profiles of buyers, accompanied by photographs. The inside page when folded in half features a promotional statement about seaside estates, with three black and white photographs, coloured sepia and blue, forming a sphere in the centre. On the reverse is an advertisement for the housing company, with a photograph of a built house in the centre.

Significance

This object is part of a document and photograph collection that tracks the 'great Australian dream' of owning a home through the experience of Mr Graeme Fullarton, during the period from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. This collection includes some of the legal documents relating to Graeme's land purchase; his subsequent house construction plan; brochures from builders; mortgage repayment, land valuation, rates and sanitary services accounts; a quotation relating to the connection of the telephone service; house content insurance accounts; and gas and electricity accounts from the first years in the home. Family photographs show the house being built, from its footings through to the roof being put on.

This collection includes about 100 housing brochures, issued by project builders and developers in the early 1960s in Melbourne. This sub-set of housing brochures is a great addition to the domestic life collection. It provides an overview of the surveying process that many young couples went through whilst seeking their own home in the post war period, and provides an excellent representation of the types of house designs available to build yourself or buy from an architect, builder or developer. The brochures show the floor plan spaces and arrangement, design aesthetic, materials and finishes, sizes, and costs of housing in the early 1960s, and reveal how architects, builders and developers promoted the idea of the home to Melburnians.

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