In the Past
The Ngruk willam, a band of the Boonerwrung Ianguage group of Aboriginal people, called Sunshine Creek, Ballern Ballern. The name Ballern Ballern, is thought to be an Aboriginal word Balun, meaning ‘creek’. Because another smaller creek enters the bay close to Sunshine Creek, Ballern Ballern probably means ‘place of two creeks’. The creek’s first European name was Granite Gully. Quality granite was quarried for building purposes along the creek’s southern banks in the 1800s. Evidence of quarrying can be seen today. The area was officially reserved as a drainage reserve in the 1830s, in anticipation of future residential expansion of Mt Martha. The creek reserve’s name is most probably coincident with the naming of Sunshine Drive as part of residential development in the area during the late 1950s and early 1960s. – Malcolm Gordon
