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DAYLESFORD SCHOOL OF MINES
100 VINCENT STREET DAYLESFORD, HEPBURN SHIRE
DAYLESFORD SCHOOL OF MINES
100 VINCENT STREET DAYLESFORD, HEPBURN SHIRE
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Statement of Significance
What is significant?
The Daylesford School of Mines comprises the Laboratory Building with Chimney and the Art Department Building dating from 1890, and the Technical School Addition of 1914.
Both the Laboratory Building with Chimney and Art Department Building were designed by architects Figgis and Molloy and built by John Patterson. The Laboratory Building contains the metallurgical laboratory and the chemical laboratory. Each laboratory has a hipped corrugated iron roof with lantern providing daylight. The metallurgical laboratory is particularly intact with unplastered walls, furnaces, fume cupboards, and a part flagstone floor. It is serviced by a substantial, tapered brick, dichromatic chimney with bracketed capping on its western wall. The chimney is a fine example of its type and a landmark in Daylesford.
The Art Department Building features a slate mansard roof, and a corrugated steel skillion roof which enable daylight to be provided to the interiors through banks of timber framed windows that project into the mansard, and through glazed roof bays. The Technical School Addition designed by architect F.A. Horsfall and built by G. Clayfield forms the street facing frontage of the school. It is a simple red brick structure with rendered horizontal bands, lintels and sills, and a capping to its parapet. Cupboards and workbenches from the 1890s, featuring diagonal boarding, is present in several rooms of the complex.
Both the Laboratory Building with Chimney and Art Department Building were designed by architects Figgis and Molloy and built by John Patterson. The Laboratory Building contains the metallurgical laboratory and the chemical laboratory. Each laboratory has a hipped corrugated iron roof with lantern providing daylight. The metallurgical laboratory is particularly intact with unplastered walls, furnaces, fume cupboards, and a part flagstone floor. It is serviced by a substantial, tapered brick, dichromatic chimney with bracketed capping on its western wall. The chimney is a fine example of its type and a landmark in Daylesford.
The Art Department Building features a slate mansard roof, and a corrugated steel skillion roof which enable daylight to be provided to the interiors through banks of timber framed windows that project into the mansard, and through glazed roof bays. The Technical School Addition designed by architect F.A. Horsfall and built by G. Clayfield forms the street facing frontage of the school. It is a simple red brick structure with rendered horizontal bands, lintels and sills, and a capping to its parapet. Cupboards and workbenches from the 1890s, featuring diagonal boarding, is present in several rooms of the complex.
How is it significant?
The Daylesford School of Mines is of historical and architectural significance to the State of Victoria. It satisfies the following criterion for inclusion in the VHR:
Criterion A
Importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria’s cultural history.
Criterion D
Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural places and objects.
Criterion A
Importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria’s cultural history.
Criterion D
Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural places and objects.
Why is it significant?
The Daylesford School of Mines is historically significant as a forerunner of the technical schools that were a key part of the Victorian education system for many decades. Gold mining was foundational in the rapid development and economic growth of Victoria in the mid-nineteenth century and created the need for post primary school education, and education that was more technical in nature than that provided at the university. The Daylesford School of Mines, along with others in Victoria, filled that gap in the education system and later became a Technical School and High School that complemented the neighbouring State School. The Daylesford School of Mines building demonstrates the sequential development of technical education in Victoria with the School of Mines laboratories and art department at the rear and the later technical school addition facing Vincent Street.
(Criterion A)
The Daylesford School of Mines is architecturally significant as it retains a combination of fine features that are characteristic of an early technical school - roof lanterns for daylighting, distinctive brick assay chimney, furnaces, fume cupboards, and 1890s joinery. The Art Department Building retains its roof and window forms which provided the lighting necessary for its function in the teaching of subjects such as drawing, casting and dressmaking. The combination of the three building phases on the site show all the characteristics of a new higher education system in which both the arts and sciences are taught within the one building complex. The Technical School Addition provides classrooms that support or supplement the older buildings and demonstrates the further expansion of the technical and high school curriculum in the twentieth century.
(Criterion D)
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DAYLESFORD SCHOOL OF MINES - History
Daylesford
The area now known as Daylesford was occupied by the Dja Dja Wurrung people prior to European colonisation.
From the late 1830s several European squatters arrived in the Daylesford area. They included Captain John S. Hepburn who established his Smeaton Hill homestead in 1838, and the ‘Corrinella’ Run of J.W. Berry and Co. in 1840-43.
In August 1851 John Egan discovered gold at Wombat Flat and Thomas Connell at what became known as Connell’s Gully. By 1852, 200-300 diggers had converged on the Daylesford area, with the first rush on the alluvial deposits occurring in 1853.
These early gold rushes did not yield great returns, but the town grew steadily as diggers worked claims along the creeks and gullies. In 1854, the Township of Wombat was surveyed, and in 1855 it was officially named Daylesford. A municipality was established in 1859 with a population of 1232 people.
From the late 1850s to mid-1860s, shallow alluvial mining occupied most of the district’s mining population. Due to the provisions of The Amending Land Act 1865 small-time miners were able to acquire land and farm the rich volcanic soils, as well as pursue shallow alluvial mining, making the district very appealing.
By the mid-1860s alluvial mining was dwindling with interest turned to deep lead mining in which shafts were sunk down through the basalt. The population of Daylesford was still growing and reached a peak of 4696 in the early 1870s.
By the 1880s quartz reef mining became prominent. In 1885, the Leader newspaper reported that mining showed ‘a revival’ at Daylesford ‘owing to the North [Cornish Mining] company striking a reef which at the last crushing yielded over an ounce to the ton.’
In 1888, a year prior to the establishment of the Daylesford School of Mines, the township was described as ‘…the centre of a rich agricultural fruit-growing, and mining district, the gold being obtained from quartz, and also by sluicing and tunnelling in the hills.’
As techniques for gold mining shifted from alluvial to deep lead and reef mining, technical knowledge and skill became increasingly important and suitable mining education became a key concern.Technical Education in Victoria
Provision of education for adults began in Melbourne in 1839 with the establishment of the Melbourne Mechanics Institute. The foundation of the State Library and the University of Melbourne occurred in 1854, and a network of Mechanics Institutes and philosophical, literary, and other learned societies developed across the state. Mechanics' Institutes quickly spread throughout Victoria with 130 institutes built between 1851 and 1874.
Industrial development in Victoria had been accelerated by gold mining and by the 1870s the provision of a complementary system of technical education was regarded as essential. In 1869 the Victorian Technological Commission was founded with the purpose of developing technical education and saw schools of mines established at Ballarat in 1871 and at Bendigo in 1873. These were in effect the first technical schools in Victoria.
The Education Act 1872 bought into effect ‘free, compulsory and secular’ education for children between the ages of 6 and 15. It also excluded drawing as a subject to be provided free in the State schools. This led to much disgruntlement amongst the enthusiasts for technical education, who argued that technical drawings, or drafting, formed the foundation of training in many branches of industry. Many of the mechanics institutes consequently offered drawing classes and, some then developed into local schools of art and design; some later evolved into schools of mines.
There was some criticism throughout the 1870s and 1880s of the failure of the government education system to provide secondary schools. There was advocacy for a system that connected primary students to their adult working lives through the establishment of high schools and colleges of practical science.
The Melbourne Working Men’s College, later renamed RMIT, opened in 1887. The institution was largely funded from the benefactor Francis Ormond, who envisaged that non-University higher education would greatly benefit the needs of a growing industrial city. Although it claimed to be the first technical college, its curriculum differed little from that of the longer established schools of mines at Ballarat and Bendigo.
The number of schools of mines in Victoria reached a peak in the late 1880s and early 1890s.Twelve new schools of mines were established between 1887 and 1891:- Castlemaine opened in 1887.
- Kyneton, Creswick, Maryborough and Sale in 1888-89.
- Ararat, Bairnsdale, Clunes, Daylesford, Harrietville, and Stawell in 1890.
- St Arnaud in 1891.
Most of these later school of mines were simply technical schools that taught mining subjects, and also offered generalist art and science subjects. The growth of schools of mines in this period does owe something to their broader subject base which attracted a wider range of students, and to a significant rise in government funding for technical education which grew three-fold between 1887 and 1891.
With the depression of the early 1890s and decline in mining, schools of mining were adversely affected. The large number of small short-lived schools of mines that had emerged is indicative of the desperate measures that were being taken to reinvigorate the mining industry. The Ararat School closed by 1891. The Clunes School closed within a couple of years of its opening in 1890. The Creswick and Harrietville schools also closed in the early 1890s.
Declining student numbers and other inefficiencies led to the appointment of a Royal Commission on Technical Education in 1899. Chaired by Theodore Fink, the Commission recommended that technical education be improved and extended. It examined Victoria’s ten schools of mines, five schools of arts, and the three technical colleges and found that only five were certifiable as science schools – the Melbourne Working Men’s College, and the Schools of Mines at Ballarat, Bendigo, Stawell and Bairnsdale. The 13 remaining institutions, including the Daylesford School of Mines were redefined as technical schools. The Commission also recommended bringing the smaller technical schools then managed by independent councils under the control of the Education Department.
The Royal Commission led to the Education Act 1910 which created junior technical schools as part of a new and complete reorganisation of secondary education. These were designed as ‘feeder schools’ to bridge the gap between the State schools and the senior technical classes and schools of mines.Daylesford School of Mines
While education for Daylesford’s junior student population had been well-established by the 1870s at State School No.1609 Daylesford, this was not the case for students older than 15 years or those seeking a technical education.
In the 1880s, students from Daylesford were prevented from attending the nearest Schools of Mines at Ballarat and Maryborough due to the distance. Several meetings of local citizens were held during the latter part of 1887 seeking to solve this problem, and in 1889 a deputation waited upon the Minister of Education to seek establishment of the school.
In 1889 a public meeting was held to form a School of Mines at Daylesford, and the Daylesford Borough Council granted a portion of the Market Reserve fronting Vincent Street for the construction of a School of Mines. In the same year the Daylesford District School of Mines, Industries and Science (as named in the first Annual Report of the School on 30 June 1890) was officially established, and it opened in January 1890 on Vincent Street with 84 students.
As Daylesford had its origins in the gold diggings the proposed school had great interest for all connected with mining in the town. The subjects offered reflected this interest – classes in mining, metallurgy, assaying, and petrology were conducted by the Director. Telegraphy, magnetism and electricity, mathematics, botany, Latin and French, bookkeeping and art were taught concurrently.
The school became Daylesford Technical School No. 30 in 1907 as a result of the Royal Commission on Technical Education.
In 1912 post primary classes were added to State School No. 1609 Daylesford, which adjoined the Daylesford Technical School (former School of Mines), and it was then renamed Daylesford Higher Elementary School.
In 1914 the Junior Technical School was added to the Daylesford Technical School (former School of Mines). The close proximity of the two schools led to a sharing of subjects and teachers.
In 1915 the main building of the Daylesford Technical School was extended forward to front Vincent Street.
In 1944 the Higher Elementary School was incorporated into the Junior Technical School and became The Daylesford Technical-Higher Elementary School. This was a unique amalgamation of academic and technical education and in 1946 the name was again changed to Daylesford Technical and High School. This name persisted for twenty years until in 1965 the name was contracted to Daylesford Technical High School.
In 1961 the school had outgrown the original buildings and moved to the Smith Street site.
The building is owned by the State Government and managed by the volunteer Daylesford Museum Reserve Committee of Management. The building’s key tenants are the Daylesford Community Brass Band and the Daylesford and District Historical Society. Both are long term tenants (over 50 years) and are active and important cultural institutions in the town.
The property is Crown Land managed on behalf of the Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Change by the Daylesford Museum Reserve Committee of Management.Design Process and Development Phases
1889
• The Executive Council of the School of Mines prioritised the need for the construction of a chemical and metallurgical laboratory in addition to the adaptation of Market House in the Market Reserve into four classrooms.
1890
• Henry Michell, Cornish mining manager and Councillor of the School of Mines, prepared a design for the Laboratory Building.
• Suggestions were given by G.G. Simpson and J. Dennant, Inspectors for Science and Art, Victorian Education Department, for the design of the Art Department Building.
• The initial drawings by Michell, Simpson and Dennat were supplied to Ballarat architects Figgis and Molloy who developed the preliminary concepts into designs for the Art Department and Laboratory Buildings over a two-week period. Alterations to the plans were requested by Dennant, possibly following a review by Henry Bastow, Chief Architect of the Public Works Department. This was possibly due to financial constraints imposed on the construction of the building.
• By September, Figgis and Molloy, and the Daylesford School of Mines, separately called tenders for the erection of the Laboratory Building and the Art Department Building. Requests were made to tenderers for separate costings for each building.
• The tender to construct the Art Department and Laboratory Buildings (including the assay chimney) was awarded to John Patterson (of Ballarat) at a cost of £2048.
1892
• The Daylesford School of Mines was officially opened by Sir Fredrick Sargood, Minister of Public Instruction. The School comprises of the Laboratory and Art Department Buildings with the earlier brick market building fronting Vincent Street being used as additional classrooms and later the School’s museum where student work was displayed.
1903
• The name of the Daylesford School of Mines was changed to the Daylesford Technical School (the title of School of Mines being reserved for those schools offering full courses in mining subjects).
• Over the twentieth century, numerous alterations and additions were made as a result of changes of use, repair and maintenance, and connection of services.
1914
• Foundation stone laid by the Premier of Victoria, Sir Andrew Peacock, for single storey Technical School additions at the front of the former School of Mines. The additions were designed by F.A. Horsfall, architect, and engineer of the Daylesford Borough Council, and were constructed by G. Clayfield at a cost of £1135/18s/6d.
• Sheet metal and other work rooms (now demolished) were constructed to the west of the Laboratory Building.
• Dressmaking and millinery classes commenced in the former elementary art room (Room 4).
• In 1914, substantial alterations and additions were carried out as a consequence of the impending establishment of the Daylesford Junior Technical School under the auspices of the Daylesford Technical School. An expanding curriculum and student enrolment required additional classrooms and workshops. This was to secure the future of the Technical School.
1916
• Opening of the Daylesford Junior Technical School at the expanded Daylesford Technical School. Boys attending the Higher Elementary School in the industrial and junior classes were transferred to the new school.
1961
• Building decommissioned as the Daylesford Technical High School. The School transferred to a new campus.
1961-64
• Occupation of the Daylesford Technical School building by the Spa Community Youth Club. The galvanised steel and trade workshops to the west of the Laboratory Building were demolished during this time.
1964-1969
• Occupation by Letwin Knitting Mills. This tenancy appears to have resulted in the installation of the underground petrol tank and associated petrol pump.
1970
• Former Technical School set aside for museum use and a Committee of Management appointed (comprising members of the Daylesford Historical Society).
• Meeting between the Daylesford and District Historical Society and the Daylesford and District Municipal Brass Band. The Band was given exclusive occupancy for its own purposes of a large room and two small rooms on the north side (west end) of the building.
1971
• Opening of the Daylesford Museum by the Daylesford and District Historical Society.
Selected bibliography
Daylesford, VIC. (n.d.). Retrieved from eGold A Nation's Heritage: https://www.egold.net.au/biogs/EG00099b.htm
Department of Natural Resources and Environment. (1999). Victorian Goldfields Project. Historic Gold Mining Sites in Hepburn Mining Division. Melbourne.
Doyle, H. (2000). Establishing schools and places of higher education : an historical survey of education in Victoria : a cultural sites network study. Melbourne: Victoria. Historic Places Section.
Education Department of Victoria. (1973). Vision and Realisation A Centenary History of State Education in Victoria. Melbourne: The Government Printer.
Federation University Australia. (2023, September 26). Daylesford School of Mines. Retrieved from Ballarat and District Industrial Heritage Project: https://bih.federation.edu.au/index.php/Daylesford_School_of_Mines
Fraser Brown, Quadratum Architecture. (July 2019). Daylesford Museum Condition Report.
Hepburn. (2021). Retrieved from Goldfields World Heritage: https://goldfieldsworldheritage.com.au/place/hepburn/
Hunter, C. (2023, October 4). From Daylesford to Villers-Bretonneux. Retrieved from Australian War Memorial: https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/blog/from-daylesford-to-villers-bretonneux
Jean, A., & Sheehan, M. (2000). Clunes School of Mines Conservation Management Plan.
Jones, P. (1994). Education, Enlightenment and Entertainment A History of the Mechanics Institute Movement in Victoria. Melbourne: Monash University.
Rowe, D., & Jacobs, W. (2021 (Amended 2022)). Daylesford Museum Reserve Conservation Management Plan.
Rushbrook, P. (n.d.). Adult Education. Retrieved from eMelbourne the city past & present: https://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00035b.htm
Spaull, A. (n.d.). Education, Technical. Retrieved from eMelbourne the city past & present: https://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00510b.htmDAYLESFORD SCHOOL OF MINES - 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:The works and activities below are not considered to cause harm to the cultural heritage significance of the Daylesford School of Mines subject to the following guidelines and conditions:
Guidelines1. Where there is an inconsistency between permit exemptions specific to the registered place or object (‘specific exemptions’) established in accordance with either section 49(3) or section 92(3) of the Act and general exemptions established in accordance with section 92(1) of the Act specific exemptions will prevail to the extent of any inconsistency.
2. In specific exemptions, words have the same meaning as in the Act, unless otherwise indicated. Where there is an inconsistency between specific exemptions and the Act, the Act will prevail to the extent of any inconsistency.
3. Nothing in specific exemptions obviates the responsibility of a proponent to obtain the consent of the owner of the registered place or object, or if the registered place or object is situated on Crown Land the land manager as defined in the Crown Land (Reserves) Act 1978, prior to undertaking works or activities in accordance with specific exemptions.
4. If a Cultural Heritage Management Plan in accordance with the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 is required for works covered by specific exemptions, specific exemptions will apply only if the Cultural Heritage Management Plan has been approved prior to works or activities commencing. Where there is an inconsistency between specific exemptions and a Cultural Heritage Management Plan for the relevant works and activities, Heritage Victoria must be contacted for advice on the appropriate approval pathway.
5. Specific exemptions do not constitute approvals, authorisations or exemptions under any other legislation, Local Government, State Government or Commonwealth Government requirements, including but not limited to the Planning and Environment Act 1987, the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006, and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth). Nothing in this declaration exempts owners or their agents from the responsibility to obtain relevant planning, building or environmental approvals from the responsible authority where applicable.
6. Care should be taken when working with heritage buildings and objects, as historic fabric may contain dangerous and poisonous materials (for example lead paint and asbestos). Appropriate personal protective equipment should be worn at all times. If you are unsure, seek advice from a qualified heritage architect, heritage consultant or local Council heritage advisor.
7. The presence of unsafe materials (for example asbestos, lead paint etc) at a registered place or object does not automatically exempt remedial works or activities in accordance with this category. Approvals under Part 5 of the Act must be obtained to undertake works or activities that are not expressly exempted by the below specific exemptions.
8. All works should be informed by a Conservation Management Plan prepared for the place or object. The Executive Director is not bound by any Conservation Management Plan and permits still must be obtained for works suggested in any Conservation Management Plan.
Conditions
1. All works or activities permitted under specific exemptions must be planned and carried out in a manner which prevents harm to the registered place or object.?Harm includes moving, removing or damaging any part of the registered place or object that contributes to its cultural heritage significance.
2. If during the carrying out of works or activities in accordance with specific exemptions original or previously hidden or inaccessible details of the registered place are revealed relating to its cultural heritage significance, including but not limited to historical archaeological remains, such as features, deposits or artefacts, then works must cease and Heritage Victoria notified as soon as possible.
3. If during the carrying out of works or activities in accordance with specific exemptions any Aboriginal cultural heritage is discovered or exposed at any time, all works must cease and the Secretary (as defined in the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006) must be contacted immediately to ascertain requirements under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006.
4. If during the carrying out of works or activities in accordance with specific exemptions any munitions or other potentially explosive artefacts are discovered, Victoria Police is to be immediately alerted and the site is to be immediately cleared of all personnel.
5. If during the carrying out of works or activities in accordance with specific exemptions any suspected human remains are found the works or activities must cease. The remains must be left in place and protected from harm or damage. Victoria Police and the State Coroner’s Office must be notified immediately. If there are reasonable grounds to believe that the remains are Aboriginal, the State Emergency Control Centre must be immediately notified on 1300 888 544, and, as required under s.17(3)(b) of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006, all details about the location and nature of the human remains must be provided to the Secretary (as defined in the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006).
Exempt works and activities
1. Removal and salvage of the tongue and groove timber floor and substructure in Room 4 and 4b. Flooring in Room 4 to be replaced with red tongue floor sheets. Flooring in Room 4b to be replaced with salvaged tongue and groove boards where possible.
2. Removal of the concrete floor in Room 4a. Installation of new floor structure and salvaged tongue and groove floorboards where possible.
3. Repairs to slate roof over Room 4 and replacement with Canadian slate.
4. Removal of concrete drain on the north side of the building and the installation of new stormwater and subsurface drainage.
5. Demolition of the open steel shed on the northern side of the site.
DAYLESFORD SCHOOL OF MINES - Permit Exemption Policy
It is recommended that a Conservation Management Plan is utilised to manage the Place and Objects integral in a manner which respects its cultural heritage significance.
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COURT HOUSE, FORMER POLICE QUARTERS AND LOCK-UPVictorian Heritage Register H1492
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DAYLESFORD BOTANIC GARDENSVictorian Heritage Register H2202
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CHRIST CHURCH SCHOOL BUILDINGVictorian Heritage Register H0045
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"1890"Yarra City
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"AMF Officers" ShedMoorabool Shire
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"AQUA PROFONDA" SIGN, FITZROY POOLVictorian Heritage Register H1687
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"1890"Yarra City
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'BRAESIDE'Boroondara City
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'ELAINE'Boroondara City
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