{"id":"city-kew-thornton-street-act-1933","name":"City of Kew (Thornton-street) Act 1933","slug":"city-of-kew-thornton-street-act-1933","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"vic","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":173370,"registerId":"vic-city-kew-thornton-street-act-1933-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-05","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"City of Kew (Thornton-street) Act 1933","content":"Victorian Legislation and Parliamentary Documentsi\nVersion No. 001\nCity of Kew (Thornton-street) Act 1933\nAct No. 4187/1933\nVersion as at 8 October 1999\nTABLE OF PROVISIONS\nSection Page\n1. Short title construction and citation 2\n2. Powers of council of city of Kew as described in Second and\nThird Schedules 3\n3. No right of access etc. over land described in Third Schedule 3\n__________________\nSCHEDULES 4\nSCHEDULE 1—Land comprising Thornton-street dedicated as a public\nhighway under Act No. 2686 s. 537 4\nSCHEDULE 2—Portion of the land described in the First Schedule laid\nout as a tree reserve 5\nSCHEDULE 3—Portion of the land described in the Second Schedule 6\n═══════════════\nENDNOTES 7\n1. General Information 7\n2. Table of Amendments 8\n3. Explanatory Details 9\n\nVictorian Legislation and Parliamentary Documents1\nVersion No. 001\nCity of Kew (Thornton-street) Act 1933\nAct No. 4187/1933\nVersion as at 8 October 1999\nAn Act relating to a Tree Reserve in a certain Street in the City\nof Kew.\nPreamble\nWHEREAS the land described in the First\nSchedule to this Act comprises a certain street fifty\nfeet wide known as Thornton-street the formation\nof which was completed on the twenty-ninth day of\nApril One thousand nine hundred and nineteen and\nwhich was dedicated to the public as a public\nhighway under the provisions of section five\nhundred and thirty-seven of the Local\nGovernment Act 1915:\nAND WHEREAS the land described in the Second\nSchedule to this Act, being land seventeen feet\nthree inches wide comprising the eastern part of\nthe hereinbefore recited street, is a portion of the\nland described in the said First Schedule and was\nlaid out by the council of the city of Kew\n(hereinafter referred to as the \"said council\") as a\ntree reserve (hereinafter referred to as the \"said\nreserve\"):\nAND WHEREAS the land described in the Third\nSchedule to this Act is land ten feet wide\ncomprising the eastern portion of the land\ndescribed in the said Second Schedule:\nAND WHEREAS the portion of the hereinbefore\nrecited street (including the footpath)1 remaining\navailable for traffic is reduced by the said reserve\nto less than forty-six feet and the said reserve is of\na greater length than ten chains and doubts have\narisen as to whether the said council was\n\nVictorian Legislation and Parliamentary DocumentsAct No. 4187/1933\nCity of Kew (Thornton-street) Act 1933\n2\nempowered to make the said reserve and as to\nwhether the owners or occupiers of the lands\nabutting on the eastern side of the said reserve or\nthe public or any person or body of persons\nwhosoever or whatsoever have or has any right of\naccess to ingress into or egress from the lands\nabutting as aforesaid from to over or across the\nsaid reserve:\nAND WHEREAS it is expedient to provide that\nthe said council should be deemed to have been\nempowered to make the said reserve and that the\nland described in the said Second Schedule should\nbe deemed a tree reserve under section five\nhundred and fifty-three of the Local Government\nAct 1928 and the corresponding previous\nenactments and that the said reserve should be\nreduced in width so as to comprise only the land\ndescribed in the said Third Schedule and that no\nright of access to ingress into or egress from the\nlands abutting as aforesaid from to over or across\nthe land described in the said Third Schedule\nshould be deemed to exist or to have existed in the\nowners or occupiers of the lands abutting as\naforesaid or in the public or in any person or body\nof persons whomsoever or whatsoever:\nBE IT THEREFORE ENACTED by the King's Most\nExcellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the\nLegislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of Victoria\nin this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of\nthe same as follows (that is to say):\n1. Short title construction and citation\nThis Act may be cited as the City of Kew\n(Thornton-street) Act 1933 and shall be read and\nconstrued as one with the Local Government Act\n1928 (hereinafter called the Principal Act) and any\nAct amending the same all of which Acts and this\nAct may be cited together as the Local\nGovernment Acts.\ns. 1\n\nVictorian Legislation and Parliamentary DocumentsAct No. 4187/1933\nCity of Kew (Thornton-street) Act 1933\n3\n2. Powers of council of city of Kew as described in\nSecond and Third Schedules\n(1) Notwithstanding anything in section five hundred\nand fifty-three of the Principal Act or any\ncorresponding previous enactment, the said\ncouncil shall for all purposes be deemed to have\nbeen empowered to make the hereinbefore recited\ntree reserve upon the land described in the Second\nSchedule to this Act and the said land shall,\nsubject to the provisions of the next succeeding\nsub-section, be and be deemed to have been a tree\nreserve under the provisions of the said section\nand shall be deemed to have been a tree reserve\nunder the provisions of any corresponding\nprevious enactment aforesaid.\n(2) By virtue of and without any other authority or\ninstrument than this Act the said reserve shall be\nreduced in width so as to comprise only the land\ndescribed in the Third Schedule to this Act.\n3. No right of access etc. over land described in Third\nSchedule\nNotwithstanding anything in any Act or\ninstrument or any law to the contrary, no right of\naccess to ingress into or egress from the lands\nabutting on the eastern side of the hereinbefore\nrecited tree reserve from to over or across the land\ndescribed in the Third Schedule to this Act shall\nexist or be deemed to have existed in the owners\nor occupiers of the lands so abutting or in the\npublic or in any person or body of persons\nwhomsoever or whatsoever.\n__________________\ns. 2\n\nVictorian Legislation and Parliamentary DocumentsAct No. 4187/1933\nCity of Kew (Thornton-street) Act 1933\n4\nSCHEDULES\nFIRST SCHEDULE\nLAND COMPRISING THORNTON-STREET DEDICATED AS A\nPUBLIC HIGHWAY UNDER ACT NO. 2686 S. 537\nOne acre twenty-three and one-tenth perches, parish of Boroondara, county\nof Bourke, city of Kew, being part of Crown portion 76:\nCommencing at a point on the south side of Studley Park-road a distance of\none hundred and sixty-six feet eleven inches from the west side of Howard-\nstreet; thence by a line bearing S. 0° 12' W. a distance of five hundred and six\nfeet five inches; thence S. 0° 1' E. a distance of four hundred and ninety feet\nnine inches to the north side of Stevenson-street; thence S. 89° 55' W. along\nthe north side of Stevenson-street a distance of fifty feet; thence N. 0° 1' W.\na distance of four hundred and ninety feet eleven inches; thence N. 0° 12' E.\na distance of five hundred and six feet one inch to the south side of Studley\nPark-road; thence N. 89° 44' E. along the south side of Studley Park-road a\ndistance of fifty feet to the point of commencement.\n_______________\nPreamble.\nSch. 1\n\nVictorian Legislation and Parliamentary DocumentsAct No. 4187/1933\nCity of Kew (Thornton-street) Act 1933\n5\nSECOND SCHEDULE\nPORTION OF THE LAND DESCRIBED IN THE FIRST SCHEDULE\nLAID OUT AS A TREE RESERVE\nOne rood twenty-three and two-tenth perches, parish of Boroondara, county\nof Bourke, city of Kew, being part of Crown portion 76:\nCommencing at a point on the south side of Studley Park-road a distance of\none hundred and sixty-six feet eleven inches from the west side of Howard-\nstreet; thence by a line bearing S. 0° 12' W. a distance of five hundred and six\nfeet five inches; thence S. 0° 1' E. a distance of four hundred and ninety feet\nnine inches to the north side of Stevenson-street; thence S. 89° 55' W. along\nthe north side of Stevenson-street a distance of seventeen feet three inches;\nthence N. 0° 1' W. a distance of four hundred and ninety feet ten inches;\nthence N. 0° 12' E. a distance of five hundred and six feet three and one-half\ninches to the south side of Studley Park-road; thence N. 89° 44' E. along the\nsouth side of Studley Park-road a distance of seventeen feet three inches to\nthe point of commencement.\n_______________\nPreamble,\nsection 2.\nSch. 2\n\nVictorian Legislation and Parliamentary DocumentsAct No. 4187/1933\nCity of Kew (Thornton-street) Act 1933\n6\nTHIRD SCHEDULE\nPORTION OF THE LAND DESCRIBED IN THE SECOND\nSCHEDULE\nThirty-six and six-tenths perches, parish of Boroondara, county of Bourke,\ncity of Kew, being part of Crown portion 76:\nCommencing at a point on the south side of Studley Park-road a distance of\none hundred and sixty-six feet eleven inches from the west side of Howard-\nstreet; thence by a line bearing S. 0° 12' W. a distance of five hundred and six\nfeet five inches; thence S. 0° 1' E. a distance of four hundred and ninety feet\nnine inches to the north side of Stevenson-street; thence S. 89° 55' W. along\nthe north side of Stevenson-street a distance of ten feet; thence N. 0° 1' W.\na distance of four hundred and ninety feet nine and a half inches; thence\nN. 0° 12' E. a distance of five hundred and six feet four inches to the south\nside of Studley Park-road; thence N. 89° 44' E. along the south side of\nStudley Park-road a distance of ten feet to the point of commencement.\n═══════════════\nPreamble,\nsections 2, 3.\nSch. 3\n\nVictorian Legislation and Parliamentary DocumentsAct No. 4187/1933\nCity of Kew (Thornton-street) Act 1933\n7\nENDNOTES\n1. General Information\nThe City of Kew (Thornton-street) Act 1933 was assented to on\n29 December 1933 and came into operation on 29 December 1933.\nEndnotes\n\nVictorian Legislation and Parliamentary DocumentsAct No. 4187/1933\nCity of Kew (Thornton-street) Act 1933\n8\n2. Table of Amendments\nThere are no amendments made to the City of Kew (Thornton-street) Act\n1933 by Acts and subordinate instruments.\nEndnotes\n\nVictorian Legislation and Parliamentary DocumentsAct No. 4187/1933\nCity of Kew (Thornton-street) Act 1933\n9\n3. Explanatory Details\n1 Preamble: See No. 3720 s. 553.\nEndnotes","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains tightly scoped to its original purpose: validating and adjusting the Thornton Street tree reserve in Kew. It has not expanded beyond this specific localised land management issue."},"complexity_factors":["Extremely short: only 3 operative sections plus preamble and schedules","Single purpose legislation with no cross-references to other Acts beyond the basic incorporation with the Local Government Act 1928","No defined terms section—all terms are used in their ordinary meaning or defined inline","No conditional logic or exceptions; straightforward declaratory language ('shall be deemed', 'notwithstanding')","Three schedules contain only land descriptions with bearings and distances—technical but not legally complex","No amendments since enactment (Table of Amendments is empty)"],"plain_english_summary":"This 1933 Victorian law fixes a local council's mistake about a tree reserve in Kew, a suburb of Melbourne.\n\n**What happened:**\n- In 1919, Thornton Street was built and dedicated as a public road (50 feet wide).\n- Later, the City of Kew council created a \"tree reserve\" (a planted strip) along the eastern side of the street, taking up 17 feet 3 inches of the road width.\n- This caused two problems: (1) the remaining road became narrower than the legal minimum of 46 feet, and (2) the reserve was longer than 10 chains (about 200 metres), which may have exceeded the council's legal power to create it.\n- Neighbours started claiming rights to walk or drive across the reserve to reach their properties.\n\n**What this law does:**\n- **Validates the reserve:** It declares that the council did have the power to create the tree reserve, even if technically they might not have under the Local Government Act.\n- **Narrows the reserve:** It reduces the reserve from 17 feet 3 inches wide down to 10 feet wide (the land described in the Third Schedule).\n- **Blocks access rights:** It explicitly states that nobody—neither the neighbouring landowners, the general public, nor anyone else—has any legal right to cross over the reserve. This prevents people from claiming the reserve as a public right-of-way or using it for access to their properties.\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- Property owners on the eastern side of Thornton Street (they lose any claim to cross the reserve).\n- The City of Kew council (it gets legal certainty about its tree reserve).\n- The general public (they cannot use the reserve as a shortcut or path).\n\n**Why it matters:**\nThis is a classic \"validate and rectify\" statute—common in the 1930s—where Parliament steps in to fix a local government's technical legal problem, ensuring a tree-lined street stays green and protected from being turned into a thoroughfare."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act does not widen or add new powers; it retrospectively affirms the council’s power to create the tree reserve, reduces the reserve’s width to the area in the Third Schedule, and extinguishes rights of access over that narrowed strip (Preamble; s.2; s.3). Its scope is therefore confirmatory and reductive, not an expansion beyond the matters described in the Act."},"complexity_factors":["Very narrow, site-specific subject matter (single street and defined parcels in Schedules 1–3).","Retrospective legal deeming: validates past council action as lawful (preamble; s.2(1)).","Statutory extinguishment of property/access rights over a defined strip (s.3).","Interplay with the Principal Act (Local Government Act 1928) and corresponding earlier enactments (s.1, preamble).","Technical cadastral detail: metes-and-bounds descriptions and exact dimensions in the three Schedules.","Mechanism uses statutory description and deeming rather than administrative or transactional processes (s.2(2), s.3)."],"plain_english_summary":"This Act confirms that the City of Kew was empowered to establish a tree reserve along Thornton Street, narrows that reserve to the strip described in the Third Schedule, and statutorily removes any right of access across that narrowed strip. The change operates by deeming the council’s earlier actions valid and extinguishing ingress/egress rights over the ten‑foot portion, so owners abutting the eastern side lose any legal claim to cross that specific part of the reserve (see s.2(2), s.3)."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"There is no evidence of scope change. The Act appears to have remained narrowly focused on its original subject matter — a specific street in the former City of Kew — with no amendments broadening or narrowing its application since it was made in 1933."},"complexity_factors":["Extremely narrow geographic and subject-matter scope — applies to a single street","Very limited text available for analysis, making full interpretation difficult","Historical legislation from 1933 may reference legal frameworks and terminology no longer in common use","Interaction with subsequent local government amalgamations (City of Kew absorbed into City of Boroondara) adds minor interpretive complexity"],"plain_english_summary":"This short local Act from 1933 gives the former City of Kew special powers over Thornton Street — typically matters like closing, renaming, realigning, selling or resolving boundary/ownership questions affecting that specific road. It primarily affects residents, property owners and title holders for Thornton Street and the local council.\n\nIt remains technically in force, so it matters chiefly for historical title, boundary or conveyancing issues involving that street."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/city-of-kew-thornton-street-act-1933","history":"/api/acts/city-of-kew-thornton-street-act-1933/history","analysis":"/api/acts/city-of-kew-thornton-street-act-1933/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/city-of-kew-thornton-street-act-1933/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/city-of-kew-thornton-street-act-1933/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/city-of-kew-thornton-street-act-1933/documents"}}