Geelong. Decoration fo the oriel tower window of the Gordon Technical College. Building started in 1887 and opened in 1888. Became the Gordon Institue of Technolgy and now is Gordon College of TAFE. Right hand wing added 1916.

Brief History of early Geelong.

The local Aboriginal people, the Barrabool tribe were possibly shocked when Captain Matthew Flinders sailed into Port Phillip Bay in April 1802. He sighted the You Yang Ranges and mentioned the Indented Head now known as Portarlington near Geelong. A major survey of the bay was undertaken by British officers in 1803 from a camp in what is now Sorrento. A party of 50 crew and marines around 300 convicts made camp here in October 1803 to found a new penal settlement for NSW. They were led by Lieutenant Governor David Collins. Bush was cleared, crops were sown but the settlement floundered and was abandoned in January 1804 when it was moved to Van Diemen’s Land with the founding of Hobart. It was many years later before white explorers Hamilton Hume and Captain William Hovell ended their overland exploration across NSW to Corio Bay near Geelong. White settlers rather than explorer came to Port Philip Bay in 1835. The group was led by John Bateman of Launceston who made a treaty with local Aboriginal groups to acquire large tracts of land around the bay from Geelong to Melbourne. Bateman’s group soon moved from their first camp at Indented head (Portarlington) to near the Yarra River and what is now Melbourne. John Fawkner, who had been the son of one of the convicts to land near Sorrento in 1803, arrived in late 1835 with a group of prospective white settlers from Van Diemen’s Land. They settled at Hobsons Bay also near Melbourne but the area near Geelong on Corio Bay remained untouched at this time. Except for one convict who escaped in 1803 and lived an isolated existence till the white settlers arrived. He was William Buckley.

 

In 1836 the first pastoralists moved into the Geelong region with David Stead and John Cowie on the Moorabool River and Alexander Thompson on the Barwon River (Kardinia estate meaning sunrise in local Aboriginal language). By 1837 there were enough pastoralists and their workers in the region for Magistrate Foster Fyans to be stationed at the Barwon River and Constable Patrick McKeever to be the first police officer there. The town of Geelong was surveyed in October 1838 with the first land sales in 1839. The first general store, the Wool Pack Inn and a wool store opened around his time and by 1841 there were 82 houses and over 400 residents and the town had its own newspaper. The main streets were named after places and people mainly who were early settlers– Moorabool, Yarra, Bellarine, Corio, Gheringhap, Swanston and Malop, Ryrie, McKillop, Myers, Brougham, Fenwick and etc. The name of Geelong came from a local Aboriginal languages meaning either “white sea bird” or “cliff” or “going up”. Within a short time there was a saddler, Wesleyan place of worship (not quite a church), a post service etc. In 1848 Geelong was declared a port for exporting wool, grain, hides, tallow etc. A year later (1849) it was officially proclaimed a town with its own Town Council and a mayor as the self-governing colony of Victoria was created from NSW. The growing Industrial Revolution in England and the great demand for wool for England’s woollen mills boosted the town’s growth and optimism which was exploded by the discovery of gold in central Victoria and Ballarat. Geelong was able to supply needed goods for the goldfields etc. In 1851 Geelong had 8,291 inhabitants but by 1853 it had 22,000 thanks to gold from Ballarat being received and exported from here. The basalt and sandstone Customs House was built in 1856 in Brougham Street when exports began from here rather than at Williamstown near Melbourne and immigrants landed directly in Geelong. The first Town Hall was built in 1855 and a telegraph connection with Melbourne was established in 1854. The fine sandstone Telegraph Station with a timeball for shipping on its roof was built in 1858 and still stands next to the former Post Office. The first railway in Victoria linked Melbourne and Geelong in 1854. A private company began building the Melbourne to Geelong railway in 1854 but it was not completed until 1856. The first railway station was replaced with the current one between 1877 and 1881 hence the polychromatic brick work which was popular at that time. A new railway line was built from Geelong to the goldfields at Ballarat starting in 1858 with completion of the link in 1862. A short tunnel was cut through the hill beyond the railway station in 1875 to allow trains to travel to South Geelong and on to Colac. By the mid-1850s Geelong was the third biggest town in the Australian colonies and a well-established city and it continued to greatly significantly in the 1860s. Brougham Street near the bay was lined with impressive wool stores and warehouses at this time and they still grace that street.

 

Building a city.

Churches and schools were important structures for the early citizens of Geelong as they were important signs of progress and civilisation. In 1855 Geelong Grammar School opened as an Anglican boarding school for boys. It had several moves to different premises and its prestige grew as a boarding school for the wealthiest of the Western District pastoralists. It moved to its present location on Corio Bay in 1914 from 55 Maud Street Geelong. This is the school Prince Charles attended in the 1960s. The Church of England Girls’ Grammar School only opened in 1906. Yet another important educational establishment was the opening of the Gordon (named after General William Gordon from the Siege of Khartoum 1884-5) Technical College in 1888. This grand Scottish baronial style building was extended in 1891 and the matching northern wing was added in 1916. It makes a dramatic statement in Fenwick Street. Part of the campus incudes the Bostock Memorial textile laboratories and the Edward Lascelles wool laboratories. One of the city’s wool broker was T E Bostock who was also Mayor of Geelong 1905 to 1908. When he died in 1922 a public subscription fund was started to build a memorial to him. He was a founder of Strachan Bostock and Co a leading wool firm and employer in the city. The foundation stone a new textile laboratories for what was then the Gordon Institute of Technology was laid in 1928. The architects were Laird and Buchan. About the same time (1921) a public subscription fund was started as a memorial to Edward Lascelles another Geelong leader of the wool industry. His wool stores are down on Brougham Terrace. The new Lascelles building in Art Deco style with strong vertical lines was to be joined to the Bostock Laboratories. Building started in 1944 and was completed in 1951. The architect of this Art Deco masterpiece was Percy Everett who also designed the old Courthouse into a Spanish Mission Art Deco building around 1930. Nearby is the Matthew Flinders Girls Secondary School which was established in 1856 and known as the Flinders National School for boys. It was the first state school in Geelong and became the first state school to offer high school studies. From 1864 it was also a primary school for girls and in 1939 it became a girls’ secondary school. Although the main building dates from 1856 it was extended, remodelled and given its current Italianate appearance with a three storey tower in 1880.

 

Outside the city centre are two other prestigious schools in Geelong from later in the 19th century –the Catholic Sacred Heart College in Newton and the formerly Presbyterian Geelong College. The main two storey Gothic buildings of Geelong College in Talbot Street Newton were designed by architects Davidson and Henderson in 1871. Additions in 1873 and layer have produced an outstanding college campus in architectural terms. The college began as a boarding school in 1861 and still offers boarding but now for both boys and girls. Boarding colleges in Geelong were needed for the wealthy pastoralists of the Western Districts to have their children well educated. Sacred Heart College for girls is in Retreat Road Newton. It was established in 1860 by the Sisters of Mercy from Dublin. It opened as a boarding school for girls and still provides that service. The early school complex was Gothic in design near a blue stone chapel built between 1871 and 1874. The early school and chapel remained largely unchanged. The architect was T Kelly. Presbyterian Girls College opened in 1920 in a grand house called Morongo which was built in 1860. This college amalgamated with Geelong College in 1994.

 

Although early church services for Catholics, Methodists and Presbyterians were held in private homes from the early years it took a few more years to build churches. The first church in Geelong appears to have been St Andrews Presbyterian Church in Yarra Street which for many years has been a Lutheran Church. Its foundation stone was laid in March 1841 and the simple Georgian style church opened as Scot’s Presbyterian in July 1842. It was changed to St Andrews Presbyterian in 1858. The current two storey classical façade was added in 1912 after it closed as a Presbyterian Church in 1911 and became a Scots Hall. It was purchased by the Lutherans in 1946. This heritage listed church is the first Presbyterian Church in Geelong and the oldest still standing in Victoria and the oldest Victorian church outside of Melbourne. The Catholics built an early church also in Yarra Street in 1842 which was demolished in 1872 when the nave of the current St Mary’s Church was completed. Work began on St Mary’s in 1854. Work continued on the current St Marys Basilica Church until it was completed in 1937. This grand cathedral like church with three towers and a huge rose window is befitting of Victoria’s second city. A fine two storey Catholic Presbytery is next to the church. Below the Catholic Basilica towards the harbour is the old Wesleyan Methodist Church which is now the Uniting Church. This Wesleyan Church was built in 1845 but there is little of the early church visible from the street except a few feet of wall with windows at the rear of the current church and the four partition mullion window on the street facing gable of the nave. There are several late 19th century additions around the 1845 nave. The oldest continuously used Anglican Church in Victoria is Christ Church Anglican Church in Moorabool Street. An early chapel school room was built around 1840 and it still stands on the site but the architect Edmund Blacket of NSW had work start on the church proper in 1843. It opened in 1847 with a nave and tower. It was enlarged with a transept which was completed in 1855. The spire on the tower was added later. Much of the sandstone of the church, especially the buttressed are weathered and peeling away in places.

 

Surprisingly Geelong also had a break away or Reformed Church of England congregation which built the magnificent Trinity Church on la Trobe Terrace in 1858. The church closed around the turn of the century and it became the Churches of Christ Church, which it still is, in 1907. It is the only independent Anglican Church known in Victoria and possibly in Australia. Almost next door to it in La Trobe Terrace and Myers Street is yet another Free Presbyterian Church built in 1870. The Free or Reformed Presbyterians built quite a few churches in Geelong including a small church in 1862 in Fenwick Street. Almost next door to that church the Baptists built their early church around 1860 (with a raised roof) and a later church in 1911. But the biggest Free Presbyterian Church in Geelong was built in 1861 in Gheringhap Street in basalt with sandstone quoins which are now badly weathered. Next door they began a Presbyterian school in 1854. Two school rooms of that early school remain in Gheringhap Street. The church closed in 1977 with the formation of the Uniting Church but its magnificent mullion stained glass window in the gable by Ferghuson and Urie has been preserved. The main Presbyterian Church, St George’s in La Trobe Terrace was built in 1861. Behind it is a superb basalt two storey manse. The church closed around 2011 and is now vacant. By 1900 there were six Presbyterian churches just in central Geelong including the Ryrie Street church of 1858 which is now incorporated into a modern building façade at 12 Ryrie Street. The Jewish community acquire land for a synagogue in 1851 in Yarra Street but they did not build a synagogue on it until 1861. It closed as a synagogue in 1984. There were Baptist, Congregational, Primitive Methodist and other Presbyterian churches in the town. Many have now been demolished but several (Catholic, Presbyterian and Anglican) still exist near the railway station. Although not a church and far from it the Protestant Hall erected in 1888 at 61 Yarra Street is worthy of mention. Conflict between Protestants and Irish Catholics in Victoria was always an issue and a lodge purely for Protestants was seen as appropriate in those times. In 1882 a Protestant Hall was built in Melbourne for the Protestant Alliance Friendly Society with the support of Orange Lodges. The Protestant Hall in Geelong which opened in 1888 survived until closure in 2013. It was basically a pro-British Empire association run by the Protestant Alliance Friendly Society which provided insurance for funerals and the like with an emphasis on loyalty to the Crown and Empire. Other lodge organisations including the Loyal Corio Lodge used the Geelong Protestant Hall for their meetings and the Protestant Alliance raised funds for the Geelong hospital and other charitable organisations. By the 1920s there were Protestant Halls in Mildura, Shepparton, Ballarat and several Melbourne suburbs but few survived as long as the Geelong Hall.

 

Some of the commercial buildings of Geelong have heritage listing or are of special historical importance. At 1 Malop Street is the former interwar stripped classical building of Dalgety Wool Merchants and shipping agents. It was built in 1924 and has now been incorporated into a 14 storey office block. Next door at 9 Malop St. is the former London Chartered Bank built in 1860 with classical elements and an almost fortress like appearance. It is built in local sandstone. It became an English Scottish and Australian bank in 1921 but is now purely used for commercial purposes. Across the street at 8 Malop St is the Trustees building. It was built in 1857. Additions in 1886 gave it the current appearance and is probably when it became the Trustees Building. On the next corner of Malop and Clare streets is the former Carlton Hotel. An old hotel on this site from the 1850s was rebuilt as a modern Art Deco building around 1930 with porthole windows, wrought iron on the doors, coloured tiled walls to the street etc .On the next corner with Moorabool Street and Malop Street is the National Mutual Building. It was built in stripped classical style in 1929 and is still a city landmark. On the opposite corner is part of Market Square. This big square was once a park but the site was converted to shopping. The Market Square along Moorabool Street was built in 1912 and opened in 1913. It began life as Solomon’s store. Like many public buildings in Geelong it has a cupola on each street corner of the building. Further along at 79 Malop Street is the fine CML or Colonial Mutual Life insurance building. It was built in 1923 and the fine stone and cement corner tower with its cupola has an historic clock in it dating to 1856. A clock tower was built in the middle of the 1850 square. When the square was redeveloped the clock was put into the CML tower. Further along Malop Street at 138 is the former Corio Chambers used for city lawyer offices. It was built in Queen Anne style in the 1890s and although it is on a corner with Yarra Street it does not have a cupola. Instead it has a small spire instead and three pediments in the steep angled roof. The decoration or entablature around the windows is superb. It was later known as Southern Union House as the Union Investment Company had offices here. It is still a city landmark.

 

In Ryrie Street a number of buildings are worthy of mention. At 137 Ryrie are the Hopetoun Chambers named after the then Governor of Victoria. Built in 1891 in classical style for businessman G.F. Belcher. Next door is Belchers Corner (with Moorabool St.) with another building that has Corinthian acanthus leaved pilasters against the walls etc. On the opposite corner is the landmark T and G Life Assurance Building with its fine Art Deco features and its six storey clock tower. When built in 1934 this would have been the tallest building in Geelong. Nearby at 161 Ryrie is the Geelong Gas Company building built in Art Deco style with bay windows, towers etc The Gas Works Co was founded in 1858 and operated until 1971 with the gas works at Geelong West. The offices in Ryrie Street were built in 1920. At 194 Ryrie is the Geelong Theatre now beautifully painted. It began theatre productions in 1913. Today it is a Village Cinema. On the next corner of Ryrie and Yarra note the Gatehouse on Ryrie Guest House. This pretty two storey red brick Art and Crafts house with some Art Nouveau decoration was erected in 1897. The plaster decoration in the gables is very Art Nouveau with a pseudo armorial shield and a French fleur de lys.

 

The civic precinct and buildings of Geelong are especially attractive around Johnstone Park. The park was named after a mayor of Geelong Robert de Bruce Johnstone. When the town was laid out the area here was a swamp. In the 1850s it became a dam to supply water for the growing town. Mayor Johnstone in 1865 wanted a fine park and garden there for Geelong. Hence the naming of the park after him. An early bandstand was erected here but the park and gardens were beautified in 1917 when a new bandstand with a cupola was erected. Later a war memorial and war memorial gates were built in the park which were opened in 1926. One the edge of the park is the Town Hall which dates from 1855 when it faced Little Malop Street. Its grand classical style was befitting of a growing city. The rest of the original architectural plans for the Town Hall facing Gheringhap Street were completed in 1917. Just two years before that the Geelong Art Gallery was built on the edge of the park too. Behind the Art Gallery is the futuristic Dome which is now the city library. It was only completed in 2015. Although not part of the civic complex across the park is the stunning facade of the Gordon Technical College in Fenwick Street which was built in 1887. On the north western corner of the park is the Geelong railway station. The company that built the Melbourne to Geelong railway opened the service in 1856. Malop Street begins at Johnstone Park and at the eastern end of it is another garden- the Geelong Botanic Gardens. 200 acres were set aside here as a reserve in 1851 when Victoria became a separate colony from NSW. An area for a botanic garden was established in 1857 when the first garden curator Daniel Bunce was appointed. In 1859 a conservatory and a greenhouse were erected in the gardens as the plant collection from around the world was being established. In line with Victorian era trends a fernery was built in 1885 and a pond in 1886. The fernery was demolished in 1920 as gardening trends altered. The gardens were renovated in 2002 with new arid land and Australian native gardens.

 

Industries of early Geelong. In the 1860s several textile mills opened to use the wool from the Western Districts and Geelong holds the distinction of having the first woollen textile mill in Victoria. Meat processing works and tile and brick manufacturers also opened in the 1860s and 1870s. In addition all the usual small industries of any Australian town operated such as blacksmiths, wheelwrights, saddlers, candle makers, aerated drink makers etc. The city also had a gas works, a paper mill, an early cement works, several tanneries including the largest in Victoria because of the wool sent there, a fellmongery works and rope works. In the 1920s Cresco Fertiliser works, Ford’s Motor vehicle plant opened (closed 2016) and a whisky distillery. In the 1930s International Harvester Works opened. After World War Two in 1954 the oil refinery at Corio Bay began operations followed a few years later by the Alcoa aluminium refinery thus establishing a wide economic and industrial base for the growing city. As a major city Geelong had a tram network to move its workers and citizens around. The trams operated from 1912 to 1956 with the first routes to Geelong West and Newtown. The first seven trams were all built in Adelaide. A line to the Barwon River suburbs was built in 1913 and to East Geelong in 1922. By the 1920s tams were being purchased from Adelaide, Melbourne and America. More lines were added in later years before the demise of all services in 1956. In addition to trams Geelong also and the bay steamers to provide ferry services to Portarlington and Melbourne. A steamer service to Melbourne began in 1855 from the new pier at the end of Moorabool Street. By the time of World War Two the steamers were languishing in the face of fast train and road transport to Melbourne and the service finished in 1942 and the Moorabool Street pier was demolished in 1949.

 

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