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PETER AH SEN SAWMILL
SPLITTERS RANGE TRACK TONGIO, EAST GIPPSLAND SHIRE

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Statement of Significance
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Statement of Significance

What is significant?
Peter Ah Sen’s Sawmill was among the first mills to be established in the Omeo district, and the only known sawmill in Victoria to have been licensed to a Chinese-born person. The site is also the only example known in Victoria of a sawmill powered by an overshot water wheel which has significant remains. Peter Ah Sen operated the mill between 1881 and 1886. The site includes a dam on Gap Creek and a simple earthen channel to deliver water to the mill. The pit for the water wheel is nine metres long and three metres deep, with a tail race connecting the wheel pit with the creek. Stone chimney mounds represent the remains of three dwellings on the site.

How is it significant
Peter Ah Sen’s Sawmill is of historical and archaeological significance to the State of Victoria.

Why is it significant?
Peter Ah Sen’s Sawmill is historically significant as the first and only sawmill site 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. Ah Sen achieved success as a gold miner, hotel-keeper, sawmiller and storekeeper, and was headman in his local community. The site has the potential to provide significant information about the Chinese in the Omeo district in particular and in Victoria more generally.

Peter Ah Sen’s Sawmill is archaeologically important for its potential to yield evidence about the technological history of sawmilling, and the cultural history of Chinese workers at a forest settlement.

[Source: Victorian Heritage Register]

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- History
  
  PETER AH SEN SAWMILL - History
  
  THE SAWMILL WAS ESTABLISHED BY ELIZABETH MCQUEEN IN 1880, POSSIBLY THE FIRST SAWMILL IN THE OMEO DISTRICT. PETER AH SEN ASSUMED CONTROL OF THE MILL IN 1881. BORN IN CHINA C.1827, AH SEN WAS HEADMAN OF THE CHINESE COMMUNITY AROUND OMEO, ENJOYING SUCCESS IN GOLD MINING AND HOTEL-KEEPING. HE SOLD THE MILL IN 1886 BY WHICH TIME THE AREA WAS CUT OUT AND THE MILL MOVED FURTHER UP GAP CREEK.
  
  Interpretation of Site
  
  PETER AH SEN SAWMILL - Interpretation of Site
  
  THE DAM SUPPLIED WATER FOR THE MILL'S WATER WHEEL, DELIVERED VIA A RACE APPROX 110M LONG. THE SITE OF THE SAWBENCH HAS BEEN DESTROYED BY THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE SPLITTER RANGE TRACK. THE WATER WHEEL, GIVEN THE DEPTH AND LACK OF LINING, WAS PROBABLY OVER-SHOT. A TAIL RACE, 33M LONG CONNECTS THE WHEEL PIT WITH GAP CREEK. STONE CHIMNEY MOUNDS REPRESENT THE REMAINS OF THREE DWELLINGS ON THE SITE.
  
  Heritage Inventory Description
  
  PETER AH SEN SAWMILL - Heritage Inventory Description
  
  REMIANS OF 1880S SAWMILL NEAR OMEO WITH PIT FOR WATER WHEEL AND SUBSTANTIAL HABITATION DEBRIS.
  
  PIT FOR WATER WHEEL, TAIL RACE, STONE CHIMNEY FOUNDATIONS OF THREE HOUSE SITES, EARTHEN WATER RACE, EARTHEN DAM WALL.
  
  Physical Conditions: RUINOUS.
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- PETER AH SEN SAW MILL
  
  Victorian Heritage Register H2021
- PETER AH SEN SAWMILL
  
  Victorian Heritage Inventory