The area, between the bay and the lower reach of the Yarra River, originally consisted of low lying marshy undeveloped land.

[1] After WWI they then lobbied the State Government to provide social housing on the unused land at Fishermen's Bend, but the Melbourne Harbor Trust resisted.

The entire project was managed by the Bank, which laid out the estate, built the houses, and provided loans, with purchasers expected to pay them off within about 20 years, and not allowed to sell for the first two.

They were built of 'cindcrete' concrete blocks covered in roughcast, in a boxy unadorned format with six slight variations, giving the estate a very British character.

In 1936 the State Government directly undertook the construction of a small estate of 46 houses to be rented to families at moderate rates, completed in early 1937.

They were again semi-detached, but in a range of styles, such as Tudor and Georgian, all designed by Percy Everett, Chief Architect of the Public Works Department, and are mostly set on an angle to the street to further avoid any monotony.

A competition was held for the design of the houses and for the layout, but rather than employ the winners, in May 1939 a panel comprising architects John Scarborough as Chairman, Arthur Leith, Frank Heath and Best Overend were appointed[7] who developed a range of standard dwelling types, and a final layout; this was based on the winning plan by Saxil Tuxen,[8] which was more inspired by garden city principals than the Bank Estate, with a formal, central avenue and crescent around a public reserve, cul-de-sacs and two more reserves.

[11] Little change took place for decades, with the area remaining an out of the way pocket of Melbourne, the far westernmost suburb along the bay beaches, more or less surrounded by wharves, docks and light industry.