POLICE STATIONS
The first police station in Yarra Glen was located on land between the Grand Hotel and Herbert Lane. It was probably built in 1886 when it was gazetted. It is shown on an early map of the township area dated 1888. [Note: Burgoyne Hotel is now the Grand Hotel and Lowmans Store was until recently Rosiers Real Estate. This map is not drawn to scale.]
The police station in Bell Street was closed around the turn of the century. Police officers lived at and worked from 1 Sayle Street during the first half of the 20th century. It is unknown if the police were the first occupants of this building. The Yarra Ranges Council Heritage Database states that the house appears to date to the 1890s. In the 1940s (and probably earlier) one room on the northern side of the house had its own entrance off a veranda and this was the office for police business. The lock-up stood against the fence on the northern boundary between the house and the stable.
After the transfer of Constable Fleischer in 1944 there were no resident police in the Glen until 1951. The property at Sayle Street was sold in 1945.
Police were sent from Healesville during the period 1945-1951 and they rented part of the premises of the former Colonial Bank building as an office (now occupied by Hargreaves Hill Brewing Company).
In March 1949 tenders were called for the erection of a new police station at Yarra Glen. The buildings were completed in 1951 at no.6 King Street. They were timber with an iron roof. The house had four rooms plus a kitchen, bathroom and laundry, and a detached garage.
The office building was separate and the lock up was located behind it.
The buildings erected in 1951 were all demolished in 1987 and the current brick police station was opened in 1988.
