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HEATHERLIE QUARRY
GRAMPIANS NATIONAL PARK HALLS GAP, NORTHERN GRAMPIANS SHIRE

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Statement of Significance
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Statement of Significance

In 1861 or 1862, Francis Walkins, stonemason of Stawell discovered an outcrop of freestone in the Mount Difficult range while on a shooting trip and realised that the stone was extremely durable. By the 1870s the stone was being quarried for use in Stawell. But, such was the potential of the quarry that a tramway was built to link it to the main railway at Stawell, and a township was gazetted adjacent to the quarry. In 1879, the Stawell freestone was unanimously recommended for the construction of Parliament House. The stone was also used for the Melbourne town hall and various other important buildings. The construction of the tramway link from Stawell to the quarry had facilitated the use of the stone in areas other than just locally.

The quarry is significant because of its association with several important Melbourne buildings. It is also of local importance in that the stone from the quarry was extensively used in the rebuilding of Main Street in Stawell after a major fire in the 1870s. The quarry is also important because there remains a fund of tangible evidence of the operations of the quarry in the form of buildings, machinery and worked rock faces.

[Source: Victorian Heritage Register]

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- History
  
  HEATHERLIE QUARRY - History
  Heritage Inventory History of Site: Discovered in the 1860s. By the 1880s the stone was accepted as being of a high quality and later a tramway was built from Stawell to the quarry by the Public Works Department. Control was later transferred to the Victorian railways.The production of the stone peaked in the 1880s. In 1886/7 over 100 men, many were Italians, were employed at the quarry and lived in crude stone and timber huts adjacent to the quarry. The township of Heatherlie was declared and surveyed, and in 1888 a schoolhouse was moved from Darra to cater for 33 children , although by October the following year there were only 4 children remaining and the school was closed. It seems most of the families were established in Stawell. The quarry closed in 1893, was later reopened at the turn of the century, and closed again in 1938, and only minor extractions have been made since. The rail line was closed in 1949 and all but a few pieces were removed in 1951.
  
  Heritage Inventory Description
  
  HEATHERLIE QUARRY - Heritage Inventory Description
  
  The quarry site consists of three stone houses, machinery and foundations at the quarry siding, a boiler, boiler setting and chimney stack, the quarry, powder magazine, sections of a railway line and the foundations for a crane or a derrick.
  
  Heritage Inventory Significance: Historical significance - provided a high quality building stone used in many public buildings in Melbourne.Scientific significance - intactness and rarity of the site.Archaeological significance - possible.Natural values - part of the Grampians National Park.
  
  Recorded by: David Bannear
  
  Heritage Inventory Site Features: House 1 - restored with galvanised iron roof. One doorway and windows in all the other walls. Remains of a stone forge near the house.House 2 - restored with galvanised iron roof. Window and doorway on the north wall, stone chimney on the east wall, south wall has two windows. The house probably had two rooms.House 3 - restored with galvanised iron roof. A two roomed house, adjoining doorways on the south wall, also has adjoining fireplaces. Single window on the west wall.Machinery and foundations at the quarry siding.Boiler - out of situ, 23 ft long egg shell boiler which rests on a demolished engine bed.Boiler setting and chimney stack - intact double stone boiler setting, 18 ft square and standing 7 ft. On the north west corner of the boiler setting is an intact flue and a 4 ft square stone chimney stack (approximately 25 ft high). The boiler setting has two different types of boilers, a multi tubular and Cornish boiler. The Cornish boiler was inspected first in 1908 and last in 1933.Quarry - large quarry with vertical faces and lots of stone debris. The vertical faces have well defined bore holes.Powder magazine - collapsed dug out which has a wooden lintel.Railway - sections of a railway, cutting and embankments.Crane - 12 ft square concrete foundation for crane or derrick.
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- HEATHERLIE (MT DIFFICULT) QUARRY
  
  Victorian Heritage Register H1556
- HEATHERLIE QUARRY
  
  Victorian Heritage Inventory