Lindsay Williams Crossing

Lindsay Williams

Welcome to the site of The Lindsay Williams Crossing, named after H L (Lindsay) Williams (1914-1993), the inaugural Shire Secretary of the Shire of Springvale and Noble Park from 1955 to 1961, and the first Town Clerk of the City of Springvale from 1961 to 1977. 

Lindsay Williams grew up in the tough days of the Great Depression. Before his career at Dandenong and Springvale, he worked as a rabbit trapper, ice-delivery man and then in the local abattoir. He went on to become a meat inspector at the Dandenong Bacon Factory, then the Superintendent at the Dandenong Market, a Health Inspector and then the accountant for the former Shire of Dandenong. 

One of his major achievements in his role as Superintendent at the Dandenong market, was the introduction of a system where everybody was treated on their merits and not on their ethnicity – an important contribution to an increasingly multi-cultural community. 

His working-class background was formative in his character of fairness, perseverance and tenacity – attributes which were significant in motivating and assisting him to successfully lobby State and Federal Governments for funding – which was used to build the infrastructure of the Municipality. 

His contribution to Springvale and surrounds was not only fundamental in the development of infrastructure in the former City of Springvale region, but significant in the social history of the area. Imagine the area at the time he started as Shire Secretary in the mid-1950s. You would have seen houses, shops and churches scattered between open paddocks. There were unmade roads and streets, no footpaths, no drainage systems and no sewerage. Lindsay Williams was determined to change all of this. 

During his 22 year career with the Municipality, he worked tirelessly to plan and build Springvale’s streets, footpaths, drainage and sewerage systems. His work during these decades is largely responsible for how this area looks today. Among his other outstanding achievements were community centres, libraries health services and child welfare programs. During his career, the population of Springvale increased from 18,000 to 75,000. The work and foresight of Lindsay Williams was fundamental in providing infrastructure and community services which were ready to cope with this increase in population. 

Lindsay’s strong work ethic, passion for equality and dedication to the community meant that he was very highly respected in local government.