History

Originally known as Bald Hill, Lyndhurst changed its name after Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Chancellor of England. Lyndhurst originally sat within the Shire of Cranbourne boundaries, changing in 1992 to the City of Casey.

As the old saying goes “every town has a pub”, Lyndhurst was no different having the popular Lyndhurst Tavern which was demolished in 1996.

The 130 hectare site, currently named Marriott Waters was first purchased in September 1904 by John James Tomlin of Richmond and was used as a Dairy Farm. In 1956 Mabel Kleinsmith of Murrumbeena purchased the land as an investment and then 12 months later sold it to two brothers of the Marriott family, Hector Anderson and Alfred for just $50 per acre.

The Marriotts were market gardeners in Moorabbin. By subdividing their Moorabbin land, they used the money to purchase 80 acres in Keysborough and 320 acres at Lyndhurst. They continued market gardening at Keysborough, whilst clearing the Lyndhurst site ready for cattle grazing.

The main road of Lyndhurst which was once a dirt track and named Lyndhurst Road is now known as Western Port Highway. The other access roads were all dirt tracks and only accessible by horseback.

In 1963, Graeme Marriott, the current owner of the property, took over from his father and uncle. He ran the market garden on Springvale Road, Keysborough (opposite Garden World) and regularly made the trip from Keysborough to Lyndhurst on horseback to check the cattle and often break in a young pony at the same time. It was a full day’s work for what is now a ten minute drive.

After Graeme married and had a family of his own, he turned the trip into a Sunday afternoon drive to ‘check the farm’ incorporating a family picnic into the trip, with Graeme’s children still remembering that as the Sunday family ritual.

At the age of 72, with his children nagging him, Graeme finally decided to partially retire and subdivide the Lyndhurst land, with many streets within Marriott Waters named after family members.