POWDER MAGAZINE

NAPIER STREET AND CAMP STREET AVOCA, PYRENEES SHIRE

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Victorian Heritage Register

POWDER MAGAZINE SOHE 2008

Statement of Significance

• Additional Place Information

  • History

    POWDER MAGAZINE - History

    Powder Magazines in Victoria were primarily intended to store explosives used in goldmining, quarrying and road-making. Publicly owned powder magazines were located outside many goldfields towns to avoid accidental explosions close to residential areas. By 1890 there were 22 public magazines in Victoria, but by 1921 all were closed, due to the decline in goldmining activity. They were replaced by a system of licensed private magazines.

    Powder Magazines were also constructed inside forts to store gunpowder and other explosives.

    The Powder Magazine, Avoca, built in 1860, is part of a larger justice precinct designed by the Public Works Department and includes the court house (1859), police residence (1859) and lock-up (1867). The magazine, which was designed to exclude all flammable materials and protect the stored materials from weather and dampness, is a rectangular brick building with a deeply overhung gabled slate roof. The building has a small porch in the centre of one facade, narrow ventilation slits and unusual diagonal corner buttresses. The internal ceiling is a brick barrel vault constructed to minimise damage to surrounding areas in the case of explosion.

    The draft statement of significance and the above history were produced as part of an Online Data Upgrade Project 2003. Sources were as follows:

    Avoca Shire Heritage Study, 1993
    Frances O?Neill, Police Buildings Survey
    National Estate Register
    

    Permit Exemptions

    POWDER MAGAZINE - 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.

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