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HERITAGE ADDRESS
Retired Consulting Engineer Roy Hardcastle AO was presented with the Ray Tonkin Award for
individual volunteer services to heritage on World Heritage Day.
The award was created by the Heritage Council of Victoria in recognition of the significant role
volunteers play in the maintenance and preservation of Victoria’s cultural heritage.
Mr Hardcastle, pictured below with his award and below right with his wife June, is only the second
winner of the award, recognising his more than 40 years of voluntary service to industrial and
engineering heritage.
Presenting the award, Heritage Council member and Chair of the Council’s Industrial/Engineering
Advisory Committee Helen Lardner, said Mr Hardcastle, a worthy winner, had been a valued member
of her committee since it formed in 2002-3. She said Mr Hardcastle had been a member of the
Government Building Advisory Council from 1972 and a foundation member of the Historic Buildings
Preservation Council in 1974, representing the Institution of Engineers (now Engineers Australia) until
1985.
“His profound knowledge of the origins, history and significance of industrial heritage in Victoria added
greatly to the business of the committee,” said Ms Lardner.
The award was presented to Mr Hardcastle at the Heritage Council’s annual Heritage Address held at
Melbourne Museum on 18 April, this year featuring historian and author, Emeritus Professor Graeme
Davison AO (below left) as the keynote speaker.
Former member and chair of the Historic Buildings Council (the Heritage Council’s predecessor),
Graeme looked at the idea of heritage and the evolution over the past 30 years to a highly
sophisticated, codified and bureaucratic system of heritage appraisal and management, questioning
what kind of heritage will survive.
See http://www.dpcd.vic.gov.au/heritage/about/heritage-victoria/heritage-council-of-victoria/heritagecouncils-annual-heritage-address
HERITAGE COUNCIL TOUR
The Wimmera centre of Horsham was the base for the Heritage Council’s trip this year.
A highlight of the trip was a visit to Dimboola and District Historical Society general (above right) and
print (left) museums, winner of the Council’s heritage award in 2009.
Former editor and printer Joe Barry (above centre) provided a demonstration of the early printing
presses at the museum.
Lunch at Mason Clarke Preserving Co in the town also got a big vote of approval.
Members and partners also toured towns along the way, using the Vic_Heritage iPhone app to ensure
they didn’t miss any key places, such as the former Rupanyup Railway Station (below left), and visited
Horsham Town Hall, and the Stick Shed, Mechanics Institute and Museum in Murtoa.
The Group was joined by Jennifer Beer, of the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council to visit Ebenezer
Mission, Antwerp (above centre) and then took a walk in Little Desert National Park (above right).
On the return trip the Heritage Council met with Northern Grampians Planner Scot Douglas and
inspected the former Shire Offices on the Western Highway (below left) and looked at various heritage
precincts in the town.
Cultural Officer Rooney Gambeau took members on a tour of the Gregory Burgess designed Brambuk
Cultural Centre (below centre) and the tour finished at Ararat’s historic J Ward (below right).
UNCOVERING AND COVERING A WRECK
The 1850 Clarence, a historically significant Australian colonial wooden trading vessel wrecked off the
coast of St Leonards in Port Phillip Bay, was the site of a four week excavation for a national
collaborative research project.
The Australian Historic Shipwreck Protection Project was awarded a large Australian Research
Council Linkage grant in May 2011. The linkage project brings together 10 partner organisations,
including Heritage Victoria, as well as students and volunteers from around Australian. The aim of the
project is to investigate methodologies for the excavation, reburial and in-situ preservation of wrecks
and their associated artefacts, many of which are considered to be at risk.
The national collaborative research project will run for three to four years and is focused on the
Clarence. The project brings together the disciplines of behavioural archaeology, maritime
archaeology, conservation sciences and maritime objects conservation. The investigation work on the
Clarence has been critical to the development of a new national policy and technical guidelines for the
management of historic wrecks.
The four week excavation of the shipwreck ended on 11 May. A jack-up barge was used as a platform
for the diving and conservation works, with the assistance of Heritage Victoria’s boat Trim.
Approximately three quarters of the starboard half of the shipwreck was uncovered, more than 100
artefact records created and small samples of leather and rope taken. Following recording, the
artefacts and excavated area were reburied; the area will later be covered to protect this unique
shipwreck for centuries to come.
As an Australian-built vessel, this work on the Clarence is also revealing local shipbuilding methods.
The project website is www.ahspp.org.au/resources/
Above: (from left) Jennifer Rodrigues examining cask staves; a piece of timber that is thought to be
the base of a leather satchel, possibly a bo'sun's bag; Matt Carter from New Zealand and lead
investigator Peter Veth of WA help Mike Nash, Tasmania, prepare to dive.
Below: (from left): a tierse barrel in-situ; diver excavating the site; divers snorkelling at the wreck.
Images courtesy Jennifer Rodrigues and AHSPP.
VICTORIAN HERITAGE REGISTER
A Dandenong Ranges country retreat and one of the state’s earliest motor garages were added to the
Victorian Heritage Register in May.
Mawarra, (H2300) in Sherbrooke boasts a 1925-27 house attributed to architect Harold DesbroweAnnear and a 1932 garden by the prominent and influential garden designer, Edna Walling.
Mawarra is one of the finest and most intact examples of garden design by Edna Walling and is an
outstanding example of her formal geometric garden design, particularly on a steeply sloping site.
She, and other experts, considered it to be one of her finest works.
Originally known as The Grove, Mawarra was developed for three sisters, Mrs A W McMillan and the
Misses Marshall. After a disagreement between Walling and the sisters, the garden was completed by
Eric Hammond, Walling's principal contractor, who was retained to finish constructing the garden and
its extensive stonework, but she became involved again with subsequent owners.
Walling's design skills are clearly demonstrated, in both the use of structural elements and plantings,
and the workmanship of her principal contractor, Eric Hammond, is clearly evident in the extensive
and well constructed stonework.
Adding to the aesthetic landscape are elements such as the sun dial and the1930s Wendy cottage
reputedly based on the playhouse built in 1932 for the princesses at Royal Lodge.
Although some changes have been made to the garden since its inception, the original structure is
clearly evident with the retention of the main structural elements and a vast array of original planting.
Mawarra is also of scientific (botanical) significance for its collection of Walling's signature plants and
some unusual specimen plants including the rare Nothofagus solandri (Black Beech), and uncommon
Azara microphylla, Euonymus alatus, Quercus coccinea, Parrotia persica, Enkianthus campanulatus
and Carpinus betulus.
The former Hawthorn Motor Garage (H2296) in Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn, is the oldest-known
purpose-built motor garage in Victoria.
The single storey brick garage was praised for its modern design when it was built in 1912,
commissioned from the prominent Melbourne architect Chris Cowper by local auctioneer Ernest Hill.
Initially the main business was storing, washing, repairing, hiring and selling of cars. Selling petrol was
a sideline, and it was sold from cans stored inside the garage.
Petrol bowsers were introduced to Victoria in 1914, and were installed on the kerbs outside garages
from about 1920. The Kane family, who ran the Hawthorn Motor Garage for more than 20 years from
the 1920s, installed the first electric petrol pump in Hawthorn during that time. The building was used
for car-related businesses until the early 21st century.
Hawthorn Motor Garage demonstrates the form of the first motor garages, which were basically large
sheds with a wide central entrance, based on the earlier coach building and blacksmith workshops of
the horse and buggy period, but with a decorative street facade with a parapet above, typical of
shopfronts of the Edwardian period.
RARE BENDIGO FIND ON DISPLAY
A rare archaeological find was on view in Bendigo as part of Archaeology Week.
In 2005 a remarkable gold rush relic was discovered in Thunder Street, Bendigo – the remains of a
Chinese brick-making kiln, dating from 1857. An initial archaeological dig revealed an outline of the
kiln’s size and shape, and confirmed its Asian origins. To preserve the kiln, the remains were reburied
and had lain out of sight for the past seven years.
Heritage Victoria undertook further investigations to determine how the kiln was constructed and
operated, and to determine how much of the structure still survives below ground. It was assisted by
independent archaeologist Adam Ford (host of the ABC series ‘Who’s Been Sleeping In My House?’),
and local experts on Asian ceramics and kiln technology, Dr Gary Hill and Dennis O’Hoy.
The evidence obtained turned out to be very informative: it is now estimated that the kiln was huge (a
diameter of about 10 metres) and that the first two metres of the kiln still stands. The kiln is built of a
single layer of large clay hand-made bricks. The extraordinary craftsmanship behind its curving and
domed shape and the technological sophistication of its operation are a superb example of the
technological transfer that occurred during the Victorian gold rush.
The public was given an opportunity to view the kiln and about 150 people visited the site to learn how
the kiln operated and see the archaeologists at work. All who visited the site were amazed at the
sophistication of the kiln’s construction, living proof in Bendigo of the technical brilliance of China’s
long ceramic tradition. The kiln is the only known example of its kind in the world outside China
As demolition rubble only was removed, very few artefacts were recovered. However, a small glass
fragment proved to be a bridge across time, linking Dennis O'Hoy to his gold rush ancestors, explains
Heritage Victoria archaeologist David Bannear.
“The small glass fragment bears his clan name, Loey or Lui. His grandfather and father owned market
gardens in the area. Even more amazing is the upper symbol means Thunder, then comes a symbol
for rain, then a symbol for gardens. The attached photo shows the glass fragment with the Loey or Lui
clan name (red writing) that Dennis has printed on the front of the note book he always carries with
him (below right).
“The kiln is located in Thunder Street, and the land was used as a market garden which needs rain to
grow. How spooky!”
Below left: visitors at the open day. Centre: the wall of the firing chamber curving around to meet the 3
metre long and 1.6 metre deep firing box.
OLD TREASURY
To coincide with the 150th celebrations of the construction of one of Melbourne’s original government
buildings, a fascinating exhibition is being presented within its walls.
Gold and Governors: 150 years of the Old Treasury Building is on display at the Old Treasury Building
in Spring Street until 30 November, providing visitors with a glimpse into the marvellous history of one
of Melbourne’s finest buildings.
The exhibition illustrates the life and works of the young architect J J Clark through a number of his
original works, including drawings, paintings and plans of the Old Treasury Building, his first major
work.
“The Old Treasury Building is a legacy of Melbourne’s golden past,” noted Diane Gardiner, Manager,
Old Treasury Building. “The gold pouring into Melbourne from the diggings led the city to become, for
a period of time, one of the wealthiest cities in the world.”
As well as being built to store the colony’s gold, complete with a metre thick floor above the barrelvaulted basement, the Old Treasury Building provided offices for Victoria’s political and administrative
leaders. These included the Governor, Premier, Treasurer, Registrar –General and the Registrar of
the Supreme Court, making it second only to Parliament House as the centre of state affairs in
Victoria.
Designed by 19 year old architectural prodigy John James Clark (1838–1915) the Old Treasury
Building, constructed from sandstone and bluestone quarried from Bacchus Marsh, drew inspiration
from classical and renaissance European designs. The result is now internationally acknowledged as
Australia’s finest Renaissance Revival building and the country’s most important 19th century
government building.
A comprehensive new biography of J J Clark by Dr Andrew, Dodd Senior Lecturer in Journalism at
Swinburne University of Technology, was launched by Premier Ted Baillieu, “JJ Clark: Architect of the
Australian Renaissance" is available at Old Treasury Building, rrp $59.95.
Also associated with the exhibition will be a series of events including lectures and seminars, heritage
walking tours and education programs. See www.prov.vic.gov.au or www.oldtreasurybuilding.org.au
Concidentally, with the Treasury Building once home to the relevant government officials, the Torrens
title system also marks its 150th anniversary this year. Developed by Robert Richard Torrens in South
Australia, the Torrens system of land registration was introduced in Victoria in 1862 as a reform to
proof of ownership by deed.
See http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/property-titles-and-maps/land-titles-home/150-years-of-torrens-title-invictoria-1862-2012
MELBOURNE OPEN HOUSE
Marking its fifth anniversary, Melbourne Open House will have 100 locations to explore
across inner Melbourne on 28 and 29 July. Old favourites will be joined by many amazing
new spaces, from medical facilities, gardens in the sky and residential housing to
underground sites. www.openhousemelbourne.org/
OTHER DIARY DATES
Old Treasury Building, Spring St, Melbourne: Gold and Governors: 150 years of the Old Treasury
Building on display to 30 November 2012
Deakin’s Cultural Heritage Seminar series: Deakin University’s City Centre campus, Level 3, 550
Bourke Street, Melbourne, last Wednesday of each month, 5.30pm start finishing by 7pm. For details
see http://www.deakin.edu.au/arts-ed/chcap/seminars/index.php
Latrobe Archaeology Lecture: The 2012 Allen Lecture, 14 June presented by Professor Peter
Mathew on The History of History: the third great decipherment of Maya hieroglyphic writing. Register:
http://www.latrobe.edu.au/humanities/about/events/executive-deans-lecture-series/allen-archaeologylecture/_recache/?src=husemail
Australia ICOMOS Heritage Careers Night: An expert panel of heritage practitioners will explore
employer expectations, pathways and issues for careers in heritage on 19 June 5.30 for 6.00 pm start
at Victorian Trades Hall, New Ballroom, 54 Victoria Street (cnr Lygon Street), Carlton. Bookings
essential: email austicomos@deakin.edu.au by COB Monday 11 June 2012.
Mission to Seafarers, Docklands: Final in a series of lectures on heritage architecture and
contemporary design, 14 June 2012 – Donald Ellsmore. Reinforced concrete as a ticking time bomb.
For further information, download the Mission to Seafarers Heritage Lectures flier
http://australia.icomos.org/wp-content/uploads/Mission-to-Seafarers-Heritage-Lectures.pdf
Inherit is published monthly by the Heritage Council of Victoria.
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