page_title: Patterson Lakes, Victoria
section_title: The development of Patterson Lakes
hierarchical_section_title: Patterson Lakes, Victoria / History / The development of Patterson Lakes
caption_attribution_description: English: An overview of Patterson Lakes.
context_page_description: Patterson Lakes is located in outer south-east Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The canal suburb is located 35 km southeast of Melbourne's central business district. Its local government area is the City of Kingston. In the 2016 census, Patterson Lakes had a population of 7,564.
  Patterson Lakes consists predominantly of new houses, and is home to the most popular boat launching facilities in Victoria. The Patterson River is a popular portal for Port Phillip. It includes four public launching ramps; joins the Tidal Canal system to Port Phillip; and includes the Patterson Lakes Marina and its facilities in Middle Harbour and Inner Harbour.
context_section_description: The decision to go ahead with what was originally going to be called Gladesville took place in 1973.
  The development of residential areas adjacent to canals and waterways had been carried out successfully in many places. No-one had attempted to do this in Victoria unlike in other states. When Donald Cameron looked closely at the land adjoining the Patterson River, he saw the possibility of a development. If it proved to be feasible and practicable, it would give home owners access to Port Phillip from their "back door".
  A large part of the area to the east of Carrum had flooded in the 1930s and 1950s, but to the engineers investigating the land, the important issues were why this occurred and how it could be prevented from occurring again. A common misconception was that the area was all swamp and mud. Extensive drilling found that only a surface layer of peat-like material was unsuitable. Underneath this layer was fine dense sand. The engineers realised that once the unsuitable material was removed (and used to strengthen levee banks and create landscaped areas and reserves) they would then be able to excavate to form lakes and canals, and use the excavated sand in forming residential sites. By using this fine, dense, carefully compacted sand, all the proposed residential sites would be brought to a level above that required by the authorities.
  The first soil was turned in 1974 in the north-east corner of Patterson Lakes around Iluka Island (Lake Legana.) Originally the plans were to build high rise towers of up to 15 stories in height.
  Patterson Lakes was rezoned from rural to residential.
  Central sites were planned for a shopping centre and for a marina which would have a second access to the river via flood gates. Sites for housing and apartments overlooking the marina and the river were identified. Sites for a primary school and for community facilities were also incorporated into the overall plan. Also the project was "different", in that more than a hundred non-lake, residential sites were created to further the concept of a new community having a mix of socio-economic groups.
caption: Patterson Lakes
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