BEECHWORTH PRIMARY SCHOOL NO. 1560

JUNCTION ROAD BEECHWORTH, INDIGO SHIRE

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Victorian Heritage Register

BEECHWORTH PRIMARY SCHOOL NO. 1560 SOHE 2008

Statement of Significance

• Additional Place Information

  • History

    BEECHWORTH PRIMARY SCHOOL NO. 1560 - History

    Contextual History:
    Beechworth
    The town of Beechworth became the capital of the Ovens goldfields which included the areas of Rutherglen, Yackandandah, El Dorado and the Buckland. Gold was discovered at Beechworth in March 1852 and set off a rush to the Ovens district. Mining continued in this district until the decline in quartz mining in the 1920s. Because of the location of courts, gaol, hospital, benevolent asylum and lunatic asylum at Beechworth, the town remained an important centre for the north-east,
    
    Competition Schools and their derivatives
    The Errol Street North Melbourne Primary School No. 1402 was one of the schools resulting from an architectural competition commissioned by the Education Department in 1873. Thirteen schools were built between 1874 and 1881 as a result of the competition in which local architects were asked to design large schools. There were three kinds of school required in the competition. One was for one thousand children on one floor, another for one thousand children on two floors and one for five hundred children. All the successful architects as well as the adjudicators, Leonard Terry and Charles Webb were given commissions. This school was designed by Wharton and Vickers and was the prototype for five other schools.
    
    The Architect
    The Wharton and Vickers design for Errol Street, North Melbourne was used by Henry Bastow for the Beechworth school.
    
    Bastow, Henry Robert (1839- 1920 ) was born on 3 May 1839. He migrated to Australia from Bridport, Dorset. He practised as an architect and surveyor in Tasmania in 1863 and is known to have designed the Union Chapel in Hobart. He took up an appointment with the Victorian Public Service on 30 April 1866, working as a draughtsman for the Victorian Water Supply and later as an architect and civil engineer for the Railway Department. In 1873 he was appointed to the Education Department as head of the architecture branch.
    
    The introduction of free compulsory and secular education in Victoria in 1872 led to a wave of building of schools all over the state. As the architect in charge of the provision of school buildings, Henry Bastow left a huge legacy to the State in the form of hundreds of schools of every type and size. Bastow was attached to the Education Department from 1873 to 1883 when he and his staff were transferred to the Public Works Department as part of the State Schools Division. By 1885 he was Senior Architect. He then had responsibility for "the design and execution of all architectural works". Bastow supervised the design of the new Crown Law Offices in Lonsdale Street in 1892. He was retrenched on 30 April 1894, when reductions in the public service were made during the economic depression. He worked as an orchardist at Harcourt until his death on 30 September 1920.
    
    History of Place:
    
    The first school at Beechworth was a school opened in the Wesleyan chapel in January 1855. A small Church of England school opened in 1856 later to become Beechworth Grammar School. A new national school opened in Loch Street in November 1858 and this became Common School No. 36 after 1862. A new brick building designed by Thomas Dalziel was constructed in Loch Street for the school. This building later became the Ovens Advertiser office. The school was re-named the Beechworth Academy before being taken over by the Education Department in 1873.
    
    The Beechworth Primary School No. 1560 moved into a new building on the Sydney Road end of the Botanic Reserve. The school was constructed in 1875 according to a design first used for the Competition School at Errol Street North Melbourne. It had at its peak over 1000 students but by 1890, enrolments had declined to 304. The tower has been altered but it is otherwise intact.
    A freestanding cookery centre was constructed in timber in 1910. A room on the south-west side of the school was used as a Sloyd Room. The school was proclaimed a Higher Elementary School in 1912. The school was remodelled in 1920, lengthening some windows and altering others. The window to the science room on the front elevation was altered to a square-headed window with concrete lintel. The tower was removed in the late 1940s after a number of slates fell from the roof. A smaller fleche was installed in 1950 after protests from the School Committee. The replacement is out of scale for the building. The Higher Elementary School was raised to a High School in 1959 and moved to a new, purpose-built building in Sydney Road in 1962. The rooms formerly occupied by the H.E.S. then reverted to the Primary School. The roof was repaired and re-slated in 1968. In 1971 the building was re-floored.
    
    A pine plantation on the site was established by the school children until 1938, and fully planted subsequently.
    The school was a teacher training centre. Pupil teachers attended evening classes conducted by the head teacher and assisted in the school during the day. The Education Department paid for their board and lodging.
    Associated People: Assoc.People DAME JEAN MCNAMARA, ISAAC ISAACS

    Assessment Against Criteria

    BEECHWORTH PRIMARY SCHOOL NO. 1560 - Assessment Against Criteria

    Criterion A
    The historical importance, association with or relationship to Victoria's history of the place or object.
    
    The Beechworth Primary School reflects the period of the establishment of large Education Department schools around the State and the growth of Beechworth from a goldfields town in the 1850s to a town whose economy was based on the establishment of courts, prison and mental hospital as the administrative centre of the north east of Victoria. It was an early teacher training centre.
    
    

    Criterion B
    The importance of a place or object in demonstrating rarity or uniqueness.
    

    Criterion C
    The place or object's potential to educate, illustrate or provide further scientific investigation in relation to Victoria's cultural heritage.
    

    Criterion D
    The importance of a place or object in exhibiting the principal characteristics or the representative nature of a place or object as part of a class or type of places or objects.
    
    The Beechworth Primary School is a particularly intact example of a Competition Derived School constructed in 1875 and retains much of its form and decoration. It demonstrates skilled craftsmanship in its execution. The bike shed is a rare example of an ancillary school structure.
    
    

    Criterion E
    The importance of the place or object in exhibiting good design or aesthetic characteristics and/or in exhibiting a richness, diversity or unusual integration of features.
    

    Criterion F
    The importance of the place or object in demonstrating or being associated with scientific or technical innovations or achievements.
    

    Criterion G
    The importance of the place or object in demonstrating social or cultural associations.
    

    Criterion H
    Any other matter which the Council considers relevant to the determination of cultural heritage significance

    Permit Exemptions

    BEECHWORTH PRIMARY SCHOOL NO. 1560 - Permit Exemptions

    General Exemptions:

    General exemptions apply to all places and objects included in the Victorian Heritage Register (VHR). General exemptions have been designed to allow everyday activities, maintenance and changes to your property, which don’t harm its cultural heritage significance, to proceed without the need to obtain approvals under the Heritage Act 2017.

    Places of worship: In some circumstances, you can alter a place of worship to accommodate religious practices without a permit, but you must notify the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria before you start the works or activities at least 20 business days before the works or activities are to commence.

    Subdivision/consolidation: Permit exemptions exist for some subdivisions and consolidations. If the subdivision or consolidation is in accordance with a planning permit granted under Part 4 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 and the application for the planning permit was referred to the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria as a determining referral authority, a permit is not required.

    Specific exemptions may also apply to your registered place or object. If applicable, these are listed below. Specific exemptions are tailored to the conservation and management needs of an individual registered place or object and set out works and activities that are exempt from the requirements of a permit. Specific exemptions prevail if they conflict with general exemptions.

    Find out more about heritage permit exemptions here.

    Specific Exemptions:

    General Conditions:
    1. All alterations are to be planned and carried out in a manner which prevents damage to the fabric of the registered place or object.
    2. Should it become apparent during further inspection or the carrying out of alterations that original or previously hidden or inaccessible details of the place or object are revealed which relate to the significance of the place or object, then the exemption covering such alteration shall cease and the Executive Director shall be notified as soon as possible.
    3. If there is a conservation policy and plan approved by the Executive Director, all works shall be in accordance with it.
    4. Nothing in this declaration prevents the Executive Director from amending or rescinding all or any of the permit exemptions.
    5. Nothing in this declaration exempts owners or their agents from the responsibility to seek relevant planning or building permits from the responsible authority where applicable.
    
    Exterior
    * Minor repairs and maintenance which replace like with like.
    * Removal of any extraneous items such as air conditioners, pipe work, ducting, wiring, antennae, aerials etc, and making good.
    * Installation or repair of damp-proofing by either injection method or grouted pocket method.
    * Regular garden maintenance.
    * Installation, removal or replacement of garden watering systems.
    * Repair, removal or replacement of existing pergolas and other garden structures.
    
    Interior
    * Painting of previously painted walls and ceilings provided that preparation or painting does not remove evidence of the original paint or other decorative scheme.
    * Removal of paint from originally unpainted or oiled joinery, doors, architraves, skirtings and decorative strapping.
    * Installation, removal or replacement of carpets and/or flexible floor coverings.
    * Installation, removal or replacement of curtain track, rods, blinds and other window dressings.
    * Installation, removal or replacement of hooks, nails and other devices for the hanging of mirrors, paintings and other wall mounted artworks.
    * Refurbishment of bathrooms, toilets including removal, installation or replacement of sanitary fixtures and associated piping, mirrors, wall and floor coverings.
    * Installation, removal or replacement of kitchen benches and fixtures including sinks, stoves, ovens, refrigerators, dishwashers etc and associated plumbing and wiring.
    * Installation, removal or replacement of ducted, hydronic or concealed radiant type heating provided that the installation does not damage existing skirtings and architraves and provided that the location of the heating unit is concealed from view.
    * Installation, removal or replacement of electrical wiring provided that all new wiring is fully concealed and any original light switches, pull cords, push buttons or power outlets are retained in-situ. Note: if wiring original to the place was carried in timber conduits then the conduits should remain in-situ.
    * Installation, removal or replacement of bulk insulation in the roof space.
    * Installation, removal or replacement of smoke detectors

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