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BROOKS STORE
6 TEMPLETON STREET MALDON, MOUNT ALEXANDER SHIRE

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Victorian Heritage Register
BROOKS STORE SOHE 2008
BROOKS STORE SOHE 2008
BROOKS STORE SOHE 2008
1 cooperative store templeton street maldon front view dec1997
brooks store former cooperative store plan
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Statement of Significance

What is significant?
Brooks Store, (former Co-operative Store), Maldon, is a relatively intact building, initially constructed 1866, and extended 1868, by the Maldon Co-operative Store Trading Company. John Brooks further extended the complex after purchasing it in 1872. The Brooks family conducted a general store on the premises until 1986. The building complex, on two levels, is cut into the sloping site. The original 1866 and 1868 section of the store, on the lower level, is a single storey parapet fronted brick building with stone walls below natural ground level.. A restored verandah extends the full Templeton Street facade. Two rear store rooms are on the higher level, one of brick over the vaulted room with a small fireplace, the other timber framed and clad in corrugated iron. The two storey grain store extension on the corner of Templeton and Edwards Streets, in brick and stone, and the top storey clad with corrugated iron, was built by John Brooks. The Co-operative store is an unusually intact building type with timber posted verandah, paned display windows, high shelving, pine boarded ceilings and skylights. Much of the internal fixtures and fittings still exist in-situ. The interior timber work is unpainted or oiled and only some of the interior walls have been whitewashed or painted. The original timber framed stables still stands, though extended several times, with the original roof shingles under the existing corrugated iron clad roof. Early timber troughs exist along with well worn brick floor paving.

How is it significant?
Brooks Store (formerly a Co-operative Store) is of historical and architectural importance to the State of Victoria.

Why is it significant?
Brooks Store is rare in its ability to demonstrate historical associations with the early co-operative movement on the goldfields.

Brooks Store is of architectural interest as a rare and generally intact 19th century country store complex initially constructed in 1866 with few alterations/additions since the 19th century, with ownership for 114 years till 1986 with the Brooks family.
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    • History

      BROOKS STORE - History

      Contextual History:History of Place:
      Township of Maldon

      In 1853 gold was discovered at the Tarrangower Diggings, and 20,000 miners including an estimated 2000 Chinese descended on the area. A tent town sprang up adjacent to the diggings at the present town centre originally known as ‘The Springs’. The township, which was surveyed the following year, was named Maldon after the town of Essex, England. The townspeople were mainly from Cornwall, Wales, England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, California, and China.

      Maldon became one of the richest quartz goldfields, being second only to Bendigo. In the early 1860’s veins of quartz containing large nuggets of gold were discovered, making Maldon an important regional town. Cornish tin miners and Welsh coal miners experienced in underground mining converged on the town. Unlike the diggers of the first alluvial rush, the quartz miners were wage-earners. The Chinese at Maldon, as elsewhere, mined the tailings of alluvial diggers, and most lived in separate camps. By the 1860’s many either left the town or took up other occupations such as market gardening.

      Today Maldon retains excellent evidence of its gold history, from the rush of 1853, through a depression and subsequent quartz-crushing boom in 1859/60, followed by two decades of settled prosperity. The first recognition of the historical importance of the town was by the National Trust, designating Maldon as a ‘Notable Town’ in 1966. The Maldon Planning Scheme was prepared in 1973 and gazetted in October 1977. The Planning Scheme is the first statutory attempt in Victoria to achieve historic protection of a whole town.

      Co-operatives

      The historical roots of co-operation stems from village life in rural Europe preceding the industrial revolution. The modern principles of co-operation were laid down in the first half of the nineteenth century in England when the competitive pressures of the market place were totally unfettered. Failure meant utter ruin, unemployment meant starvation and dissent meant beatings, imprisonment, transportation or hanging. With the failure of England’s 1832 Reform Act to give workers the vote, trade unionism and co-operation grew rapidly in tandem. A “general union” of the entire working class became a goal. It was envisaged that this union would control production and trade through the use of worker-controlled, producer co-operatives and co-operative stores trading in the products of the producer co-operatives; mutual aid through co-operation. At this time a large number of producer co-operatives and stores were founded, mainly by disenchanted workers. The first financially successful co-operative in the world was began in 1844 by a group of workers in Rochdale in England. They drafted eleven principles of operation, the forerunner to the internationally accepted six principles of co-operation. They flourished where other venturers failed due to the unique device of paying both a limited interest on capital provided by the members and a further dividend to members on the basis of their patronage of their store. Despite the success of the Rochdale store and the export of its principles throughout England and Europe, the co-operative movement faltered and split during the 1840’s. Producer co-operatives came under attack by employers and government. The original vision of a co-operative society of “labouring capitalists, not labourers and capitalists” faded away. In the workplace, co-operation as an alternative became wholly replaced by the struggle to form trade unions. The co-operative trading store branch of the movement, however, went on from strength to strength.

      Co-operatives in Australia

      Co-operative development in this country has followed the pattern of Australia’s natural resource and social development. The earliest needs were to produce and distribute food. By the mid-19th century, the early settlers were adapting English co-operative structures to aid food production and distribution. Formation of these co-operatives was spurred by the need for orderly marketing. There was a desire by co-operative members to escape the conditions imposed on them by middle men in the sale of their produce and purchase of their requirement. With the development of mining and manufacturing, workers and artisans during the mid 19th century began industrial co-operatives not just to influence, but to control their wages and conditions.

      New South Wales miners in the northern coalfields started their own co-operative colliery after being defeated in a coal strike in 1861. This started a long, and mainly unsuccessful, association between miners unions and co-operatives in NSW and Victoria. it involved not only attempts to control the means of production but also the methods of distribution. Early in the 20th century, striking miners in various mining towns set up co-operative stores.

      In 1850, Victorian stonemasons, supported by their union, formed a co-operative which sought out contracts, paid decent wages and distributed any surplus equally among the members. Their success led to the establishment of two further stonemasons’ co-operatives and a co-operative for carpenters.


      History of Place:

      Brooks Co-operative Store

      Brooks Store in Templeton Street is in a building began in 1866 for the Maldon
      Co-operative Trading Company. In June 1866 shares of the Co-operative Trading Company were issued. There were 2000 of them at 10 shillings, and any one person could not hold more than 20 shares, so that the 626 shares which had been issued by 19 June 1866 were in the hands of 127 shareholders. The intention was to start with a general store and thereafter attach as soon as possible first a butcher’s and then a baker’s, to which end the Secretary advertised to find suitable premises in the commercial heart of Maldon, and it was decided instead to buy land and build the store. The Tarrangower Times (TT), dated 17.08 1866, mentions that the manager of the Maldon Co-operative Store Trading Company buys allotment 8, Section 12 (or part of it) from Joseph Furness for £25.

      On 07.09.1866 (TT) tenders were called for a brick store measuring 22 feet x 36 feet. Tenders were called for a stable measuring 16 feet x 14 feet on 15.10.1867. The then secretary in 1868 had to relocate his office to his own residence as space was at a premium and as well on 01.05.1868 the Tarrangower Times notes that the front of the store was being enlarged. The co-operative , which commenced operations in 1866, was liquidated in 1872, six years later. Tarrangower Times, dated 23.09 1872, mentions that liquidators “sell the Co-operative Store to John Brooks for £117/10/0 plus an agreement.” There appears to be a third stage in the construction of the store, but it is likely to have been carried out by John Brooks, together with the two-storey grain store on the Edwards Street corner. Brooks purchased adjoining land from a Mrs Mary Dunsford for £15 on 03.02.1879, the balance of the Furness’ land the co-operative purchased. The store was run by the Brooks family for more than a century afterwards, till 1986. The Brooks Store building is now used as an antique shop. Early photographs appear to show that the only alterations to the building appear to be
      To quote Miles Lewis in his book, The Essential Maldon, “Though (this building) is a fine example of its type, with tiers of old shelving, pine boarded ceilings and skylights, its more particular significance is as a relic of the co-operative movement on the goldfields.”
      The buildings with which this building can be compared with in relation to retail trading/general store that are on the Victorian Heritage Register are,

      HBR 568, Carinya (Ladsons Store) (1862-67), Beechworth Road, Tarrawingee.
      HBR 777 Tintaldra General Store and former Bakery (1864), Main Street, Tintaldra.
      HBR 368 S G deans Grocery and Hardware Store (c.1870), High Street, Yackandandah.
      HBR 740 Purcells General Store (1887), 20-22 High Street, Yea

      Brooks Store compares favourably with above buildings being in good condition and largely intact, both externally and internally, and includes 1867 stables. In addition this building’s significance is as a relic of the co-operative movement on the goldfields. No other buildings could be identified on the Victorian Heritage Register with connections with the co-operative movement on the goldfields. Extensive research at the EPA Library, State Library and La Trobe Library has failed to uncover information relative to specific co-operative ventures to which this co-operative could be compared with. (This may be an area that deserves further study.)
      the verandah (since reinstated to original details) and the exterior painting of the store. The internal stairs to the two storey grain store do not appear to be original.

      Permit Exemptions

      BROOKS STORE - 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:

      EXEMPTIONS FROM PERMITS:
      (Classes of works or activities which may be undertaken without a permit under
      Part 4 of the Heritage Act 1995)

      General Conditions:
      1. All exempted alterations are to be planned and carried out in a manner whic
      h prevents damage to the fabric of the registered place or object.
      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 Execut
      ive Director shall be notified as soon as possible.
      3. If there is a conservation policy and plan approved by the Executive Direct
      or, all works shall be in accordance with it.
      4. Nothing in this declaration prevents the Executive Director from amending o
      r rescinding all or any of the permit exemptions.
      5. Nothing in this declaration exempts owners or their agents from the respons
      ibility to seek relevant planning or building permits from the responsible aut
      hority where applicable.

      Exterior
      * Minor repairs and maintenance which replace like with like.
      * Removal of extraneous items such as air conditioners, pipe work, ducting, wi
      ring, antennae, aerials etc, if in existence, and making good.
      * Installation or repair of damp-proofing by either injection method or groute
      d pocket method.
      * Repair or replacement of timber paling fences and gates.
      * Erection of small, plain (not "period") outbuildings including sheds, aviari
      es, kennels, poultry sheds and the like provided that they are no closer to th
      e designated registered structures than 2.0 metres and provided that no new ou
      tbuilding is larger than 10 square metres in floor area or 2.8 metres in heigh
      t.
      * Regular garden maintenance.
      * Laying or repair of gravel/toppings to the driveway.

      Interior
      * Removal of paint from originally unpainted or oiled joinery, doors, architra
      ves, skirtings and decorative strapping.
      * Installation, removal or replacement of flexible floor coverings.
      * Installation, removal or replacement of hooks, nails and other devices for t
      he hanging of mirrors, paintings and other wall mounted artworks.
      * Installation, removal or replacement of electrical wiring provided that all
      new wiring is fully concealed and any original light switches, pull cords, pus
      h buttons or power outlets are retained in-situ. Note: if wiring original to t
      he place was carried in timber conduits then the conduits should remain in-sit
      u.
      * Installation, removal or replacement of bulk insulation in the roof space.
      * Installation, removal or replacement of smoke detectors.

Public contributions

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