KALKALLO POLICE PADDOCK SITE

1310 HUME HIGHWAY KALKALLO, HUME CITY

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Victorian Heritage Inventory

Statement of Significance

• Additional Place Information

  • History

    KALKALLO POLICE PADDOCK SITE - History

    The Donnybrook Village Reserve was set aside in the original 1838 survey and its street pattern was determined by about 1850. The settlement (originally known as 'Rocky Water Holes') was a hive of activity by 1849, with the Argus of 12 December that year recording 'a fine store . two first rate inns, a post office, a watch-house etc.' and that passing traffic was 'very great. no less than 98 drays loaded with wool touched at this place last week'.

    Between 1840 and 1860 the settlement was an important overnight stop for bullock-drivers and travellers to the north-east. The village was surveyed in 1852 and re-named Donnybrook when the post office was transferred here from Kinlochewe in 1853.

    The settlement especially flourished during the 1850s because of travellers to the gold fields, at which time it had a gaol and courthouse, a church, a school, a tannery and a flour mill. A cemetery was established in the locality around 1860, and by the mid 1870s most of the land in the area was well established as agricultural and pastoral freehold and village settlements had sprung up both at the railway line at the current Donnybrook and on the main north-south roads. To reflect this separation, the latter was renamed Kalkallo in 1874 by government proclamation.

    A police station was located on this site from at least 1853 when a halting place for the gold escort was established here. It would appear that the site continued as a police station until the beginning of the 20th century, but a township plan shows the northern portion to have be in the control of a state school from 1913.

    The site is now in private ownership.

    (Partly derived from Maloney & Johnson 1998)

    Interpretation of Site

    KALKALLO POLICE PADDOCK SITE - Interpretation of Site

    A large concrete foundation of early 20th century appearance is located at the western end of the site. This incorporates a surface drain and is approached from the east by a concrete path which then forms a t-junction, extending to north and south. The foundation is accompanied by the metal stand of a water tank and what appears to be the top of a subterranean vaulted concrete cistern. No building footings are apparent, and all of these features point to this being the site of a wooden structure, perhaps relating to the site's post 1913 state school ownership.

    It is possible that this foundation overlies evidence of the earlier police station.

    To the east of the concrete foundation, a slight depressionmay bethe site of a dam in what would most likely have been the police paddocks. Further to the east, in a clump of cypress and pine trees at the eastern end of the site, is a subrectangular area of slightly raised ground, featuring a row of bluestones which could be wall footings and an area of bluestone paving at its eastern edge. This may represent the site of the 19th century police station, or perhaps a related outhouse or stable building.

    A large 20th century timber and iron shed occupies the north eastern corner of the site, together with a concrete water tank.

    Archaeological Significance

    KALKALLO POLICE PADDOCK SITE - Archaeological Significance

    The site appears to be relatively undisturbed and it may therefore contain subsurface archaeological deposits of local historical significance.

    Historical Significance

    KALKALLO POLICE PADDOCK SITE - Historical Significance

    The site is historically important with regard to the development of the Donnybrook (Kalkallo) settlement during the middle of the 19th century, and in particular with its role in servicing the route north to the gold fields.

    It is of significance with regards to the evident development of a police station and a school at the site, and its subsequent removal, illustrating the continued varying fortunes of the settlement into the 20th century.

    Heritage Inventory Description

    KALKALLO POLICE PADDOCK SITE - Heritage Inventory Description

    Bluestone footings of a structure at the eastern end of the site, to the south of modern agricultural sheds. At the west end of the site, on the opposite side of slight depression, is a concrete foundation with an underground concrete cistern and metal water tank holder.

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