A home

DOVETON owes its name to Captain Doveton who lived there with his wife Margaret and owned land in the area from the 1890s.
Doveton was established by the Housing Commission to provide housing for the employees of the ‘big three’ industrial companies, International Harvester, H.J. Heinz and General Motors-Holden.
But it was originally known as Grassmere, part of the Eumemmerring pastoral run between Eumemmerring Creek and Kays Avenue, to the east of Dandenong.
The area was partially destroyed on Black Thursday (February 6, 1851).
The fire swept down on a race meet and all the sportsmen rushed back to defend their homes, but the hotel was one of the only buildings to survive.
Opposite Captain Doveton’s home was a building used as a stopping-place for the Gippsland coaches and later occupied by Mrs McLean, widow of Victorian Premier Allan McLean (1899-1900).
In 1942, William A. Smith Pty Limited, an English firm, built the first factory in the area – starting a long industrial history.
The company started operations in 1950, manufacturing lace, napery and handkerchiefs, and employing 50 people.
In 1950 the International Harvester Company bought land at the junction of the South Gippsland and Princes Highways and in 1952 a major truck plant officially opened there.
In 1954 General Motors built a huge factory at an initial cost of nine million pounds.
In 1955, the H.J. Heinz company opened its Australian headquarters in the area.
Since 1956 the area has been subdivided into residential blocks.
In 1956, the City of Dandenong sought to annexe the area that adjoins its borders, but after a long legal battle it was retained by the Shire of Berwick, now known as the City of Casey.