PETER AH SEN SAW MILL

SPLITTERS RANGE ROAD OMEO AND TONGIO, EAST GIPPSLAND SHIRE

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Victorian Heritage Register

H02021 peter ah sen sawmill scatter

Statement of Significance

• Additional Place Information

  • History

    PETER AH SEN SAW MILL - History

    A sawmill site was surveyed for Elizabeth McQueen in 1880, a mill which may have been the earliest in the Omeo district.  The surveyor’s plan showed a race and flume, the site for a proposed dam, a site for a water wheel and a T-shaped mill building.  McQueen held the site for less than a year, before transferring her interest to Peter Ah Sen in 1881.  The site thus became the first and only sawmill licensed to a Chinese-born person in Victoria.

    Peter Ah Sen was born in China around 1827.  He emigrated to Australia at an unknown date and was among the first Chinese to arrive in Omeo.  Also known as Ah Sin, he occupied the position of headman in his local community.  By 1873 he was mining at Omeo and Swifts Creek in company with Ah Fook, Cong Jon, Ah Pow and Ah Foo.  In addition, he held a licence for a hotel in Omeo in the 1870s.  His success in these ventures enabled him to purchase Elizabeth McQueen’s sawmill.

    Ah Sen operated the mill for almost five years before selling the business to William Condon, a farmer from Hinnomunjie, in January 1886.  Condon immediately shifted the mill further up Gap Creek.  Following the sale Peter Ah Sen became a storekeeper at Omeo, where he lived out the remainder of his life.  He died in 1893 at the age of sixty-six.
    

    Permit Exemptions

    PETER AH SEN SAW MILL - 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 exempted alterations are to be planned and carried out in a manner which prevents damage to the fabric of the registered place or object. General Conditions: 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. General Conditions: 3. If there is a conservation policy and plan approved by the Executive Director, all works shall be in accordance with it. General Conditions: 4. Nothing in this declaration prevents the Executive Director from amending or rescinding all or any of the permit exemptions. General Conditions: 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.

    EXEMPTIONS:
    Preliminary Mineral Exploration work
    Fire suppression duties
    Weed and vermin control
    Public safety
    Rehabilitation, protective and stabilisation works
    Information signage - for interpretation and prevention of public risk

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