Smythesdale Precinct
Glenelg Highway SMYTHESDALE, Golden Plains Shire
Statement of Significance
What is Significant?
Smythesdale is located on the Glenelg Highway, about 20 kms south-west of Ballarat on generally level ground north-east of the Woady Yalloak River. While gold had been discovered throughout the Woady Yalloak district, it was the rush to Smythe's and Brown's Diggings which established the town of Smythesdale in 1855 and its consolidation as the colonial government's administration. The complex of Courthouse, Police Station and Police Stables, including the trees surviving from the Police Magistrate's garden, is one of the best surviving in the central goldfields. The heyday of the town was in the 1860s and 1870s. The township's street grids show an attempt to control its naturally organic linear form. The main public buildings were always located close to the intersection of Brooke Street and Heales Street. The former di-chromatic brick Post Office, the painted brick Smythesdale Hotel and the rendered Masonic Hall are each important contributors to the streetscape because of their distinctive architecture and historic functions. The retreat house built by the Masons opposite their hall may be the only such example in Victoria. These buildings, while conventional in their form and typical in their style, are more pretentious in their scale than similar buildings in nearby towns. The Mechanic Institute hall survives. One bank and several cottages in clusters survive along the main street. One shop survives but with very low integrity. None of the three churches survives on its original site. The Railway Station was in Ireland Street but nothing survives. The redundancy and loss of so many public and private buildings illustrates the great decline of the gold fields' townships.
How is it Significant?
The township of Smythesdale is of historical, architectural and social significance to the Golden Plains Shire.
Why is it Significant?
The township of Smythesdale is of historical significance as one of the many small settlements in the Shire established on the site of gold rushes in the 1850s and 1860s, several of which have survived into the twenty-first century. It was the administrative centre for the colonial government imposing law and order as well as controls on the mining industry. It is of architectural significance for its range of very modest private buildings dating from the nineteenth century and several particularly fine public buildings, the most important of which are the former Post Office, the former Courthouse and Police complex. The Courthouse Hotel is particularly distinctive for its rare form and dominant siting. The Masonic Hall and the residence opposite, built by the Masons, create a special relationship. These and other buildings are complimented by mature trees, as well as the limited surviving civic infrastructure. The township is of social significance for its survival from a peak of many thousands, reflected in some surviving public buildings and cottages, to their modern population of less than one and a half thousand in the whole district. The township reflects the inter-relationship between pastoral, mining and agricultural pursuits.
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ARGYLE HILL
Victorian Heritage Inventory -
CAXTON CO
Victorian Heritage Inventory
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ROXBURGH CO.
Victorian Heritage Inventory
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