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Laneway off Abbotsford St
Abbotsford
Cobbles have been sanded to provide a safer walking surface.
52/31/1 #cf22 #stone
© Pat Miller
Fascinating construction techniques: river rocks suplemented by concrete and gravel. Note in the upper right quadrant the bolt/stud with nut still sticking out of the concrete. This facility was still in use when I was a very young child in the 50's. It dates back to at least 1909 as I have a photo of it with that date on it. It was part of the heavily industrialized Dunbar Creek area around Dunbar, Pa which contained numerous coal mine coke oven operations, Dunbar Furnace, a Plant for making glass and called Pennsylvania Wireglass(glass with wire mesh in it) and 5 railroads(PRR, B&O, WM, NH&D, and West Penn Railway) all ran through the little valley.
Gawler School was one of the first eight model schools built in South Australia in 1877. It and opened in 1878. The building is a National Estate heritage listed structures. In 2005 $3.74 million wa spent on restoring and upgrading the school. The foundation stone was laid by the Mayor of Gawler the Honourable James Martin. The school was designed by Edward Woods, the Colonial Architect. The design featured Gothic style windows, prominent gables decorated with finials, a tall belfry with a still operational bell and an intricate air circulation system with prominent roof vents and the drawing of cool air from the basements. Gawler Model School was built with 9 class rooms to cater for 600 students but enrolments soon exceeded 700. In 1907 Gawler Public School added a "Continuation class". In 1909 the school became a District High School. This ceased in 1915 when Gawler High School opened on Lyndoch Road. In 1950 the school grounds were expanded to include the area between the school and Parnell Street thus destroying Parnell Square as originally planned by Colonel William Light in 1839.
The foundation stone of St Andrew's Kirk, Ballarat was laid in 1862 and construction of the bluestone building with freestone detailing was completed in 1864. Built on the corner of Sturt and Dawson Streets, to designs by Charles D. Cuthbert of Ballarat, the porch and vestry were added in 1873. The tower and spire were completed in 1884 to designs by Charles Douglas Figgis and Henry Richards Caselli, and the transepts in 1889 to designs by Figgis and Molloy. Finally the choir vestry was added in 1926.
The congregation had its origin in 1855 when the Free Presbyterian Church appointed a minister to the Ballarat goldfields. The first regular minister, the Rev William Henderson, had been sent out by the Free Church of Scotland to meet the needs of the colony and he held the position for 26 years. He was the Moderator of the Free Church in 1855 and of the Presbyterian Church in 1872, and was a pioneer minister of the State, who wrote extensively on religion and was actively involved in the community. He also founded Ballarat College, the oldest public school for boys in Ballarat in 1864. He died during the construction of the spire of St Andrew's Kirk, and black bands were inserted in the pinnacles to commemorate this event.
Both the Presbyterian and Roman Catholic churches secured prime corner sites in Sturt Street and the first building on the Presbyterian site was a small timber church opened in 1858. This was used as a Sunday School after the new church was erected, but was sold and removed in 1875. The present Sunday School building was opened in 1885, situated to the north of the church, and the manse was erected in 1886-88 to the west of the Sunday School in Lyons Street. Both buildings remain on the church property, the latter however was replaced post 1960. Ballarat College was also built on the Presbyterian site at the corner of Sturt and Lyons Streets, occupying this position from 1874 to 1912. Designed by Henry Richards Caselli, the building was used for part of the Sunday School after it was vacated by the school. The school building was demolished in 1949.
The original church building consisted of a broad six bay nave with side aisles. Nave arcading defines the three spaces internally, which all contain timber lined ceilings. This original section, the later tower and transepts are Norman Romanesque in style and they incorporate a number of well executed Romanesque details. Described as the largest and most complete Norman style church in Victoria, it features freestone details include elaborately decorated concentric orders, blind arcading, arcaded corbel tables, stilted arches, wheel windows, scallop and cushion capitals, chevron moulding and interlaced arches. The last feature, particularly common in Romanesque work in England, can be seen externally in the freestone blind arcading above the entrance and in the cast iron fence, and internally on the timber baptismal font and gallery. The main south portal is of particular note with a profusion of finely carved elements and a centrally placed figure of St Andrew, bearing a Salitre cross. Some of this detail, including rosettes, was added to this elaborate doorway in 1883.
The use of textured bluestone blocks and smooth freestone detailing provides the building with both textural and colour contrasts. This is evident throughout the exterior, particularly in the buttresses, where bluestone blocks are embedded in freestone masonry.
The tower, above the wheel window, and spire were added in 1884, and the latter is the only element of the church building that is Gothic in character. It incorporates pinnacles and lucarnes with pointed arch openings, and rests on a Romanesque tower with blind arcading, arcaded corbel table and round headed arch openings. Designed in conjunction with the spire, the tower retains the Norman character of the rest of the building, with the upper level of windows appearing to be altered before construction from the original pointed arch design shown in drawings.
A cast iron fence, by White’s Eagle Foundry in Ballarat, was constructed along the Sturt and Dawson Street boundaries in 1902. It reflects the style of the Norman church by incorporating interlaced arches in its design. A pair of cast iron lamps, executed by the Victoria Foundry in Leith in Scotland, were erected in the grounds at an unknown date.
St Andrew's Kirk is of architectural significance as an example of the work of three Ballarat architects who between them designed many of the city's significant religious and secular buildings from the 1860s to the 1880s. The original architect, Charles D. Cuthbert, also designed the Gothic St Peter's Anglican Church in Sturt Street between1864 and 1867, and Charles Douglas Figgis and Henry Richards Caselli designed the Gothic Congregational Church in 1881. Henry Richards Caselli designed a large number of churches in Victoria, with two Lombardic Romanesque examples in Ballarat, the Ebenezer Presbyterian church, Armstrong Street South between 1862 and 1863 and the Lutheran Church in Doveton Street in 1876.
St Andrew's Kirk is of historical significance due to the retention of much of its original site in Sturt Street from Dawson Street to Lyons Street, and to the presence of the adjacent 1885 Sunday School building. The Sunday School is of historical significance for its contribution to the spiritual life of the congregation and the religious education of its young people.The manse on the site replaced an earlier building. Both St Andrew's Kirk and St Patrick's Cathedral, either side of Sturt Street, retain their spacious grounds, illustrating the importance of these churches when land was reserved in the 1850s.
Kyneton.
The Carlsruhe sheep run taken up in 1838 by Ebden covered a huge area from modern Woodend to Kyneton. In 1839 it was split into two pastoral runs and the run near Kyneton was taken over my Charles Wedge and then shortly after by Henry Jeffreys who built his slab homestead on the current town site astride the Campaspe River. In 1848 Henry Jeffreys went into partnership with Lieutenant Governor Charles La Trobe as this was still part of NSW then (the Governor was based in Sydney but the Lieutenant Governor was based on Port Phillip Bay.) Perhaps not coincidentally a small courthouse was established in 1848 on the Campaspe River at this spot after La Trobe had visited his and his partner’s property. La Trobe decided to make the courthouse site a town site which he called Kyneton after the birthplace of Henry Jeffreys’ wife who was born in Kineton Warwickshire. The town was gazetted as Kyneton in 1850 just before the first gold was found at Bendigo and around Mt Alexander in late 1851. Kyneton grew quickly as it was a resting place on the journey from Melbourne to Bendigo and impressive basaltic bluestone buildings were erected as there was a plentiful supply of good bluestone between Kyneton and Taradale. By the late 1850s there was an impressive array of bluestone public buildings in Kyneton including: the Kyneton Courthouse erected in 1856; the Anglian church (built 1852 and rebuilt 1856 with the west tower added 1928); the Congregational Church (built 1853 and rebuilt 1860 but now a theatre); the Mechanics Institute built 1854 (and rebuilt 1897); the Catholic Church built in 1857, the Presbyterian Church also built in 1857 and numerous banks, shops, the school (built in 1855, extended 1861 and in 1906 and still in use as the state school) and the hospital. Also built in the 1850s in bluestone was the De Graves three storey flourmill (1857) a few kilometres out of the town and another steam flourmill for Willis Brothers was built partially in bluestone in Piper Street in 1862. Some notable houses and residences were also built in the 1850s including the Attic House in 1858, the rear part of Carn Brae built in 1854 and Inverugie opposite the old town school which was built in 1858. The two storey grand Kyneton Hospital built between 1854 and 1856 with an amazing little morgue behind it of the same vintage as it was built in 1859 when the east wing was added to the hospital. The west wing was added in 1874. The hospital’s lacework wrought iron veranda was added in 1910 thus destroying the Georgian appearance of the hospital. General use of the hospital ceased in 1942. Alas it is now vacant and vandalised but there are plans to restore it and convert it into apartments. The oldest house in Kyneton is believed to be the Anglican rectory built in 1853. One of the many fine two storey banks - the former Bank of NSW built in 1856 is now the town museum which has the homestead of Theaden station (1840) relocated in its grounds.
Keyneton also has a fine Botanic Garden along the edge of the Campaspe River. It was established in the 1880s although the site was reserved for this purpose back in 1867. Across the river from the Botanic Gardens is the bluestone railway station and goods shed which were built in 1862. Some of the later buildings of Kyneton, not in bluestone, are also of great interest. They include the rebuilt Royal George Hotel which was built in its current style in 1915 to replace an earlier structure from 1860 which was called the Diggers Arms Hotel; the wonderful Art Nouveau style Bank of New South Wales built in 1904 in Mollison Street; the impressive Post Office and tower built in 1871; the Congregational Sunday School built in Arts and Crafts style in 1898; the former Kyneton Market on the corner of Piper and Ebden Streets built in 1878 which is again being sued for that purpose; and the slightly bizarre Ellim Eek house with tower and griffins along the roof which was built in 1890 and remodelled in 1906 with the griffins etc. It is now used as solicitor’s offices. Many of the shops of Kyneton date from the 1850s but one in classical style is worth special mention as it was constructed in 1852 exemplifying the optimism and confidence of the early settlers of Kyneton because of the nearby goldfields. This fine classical store is at 68 Piper Street almost opposite the town museum.