FORMER MORIAC RAILWAY STATION
INTERSECTION OF CAPE OTWAY AND HENDY MAIN ROAD MORIAC, SURF COAST SHIRE
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Statement of Significance
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FORMER MORIAC RAILWAY STATION - History
After the opening of the Geelong to Colac section of the railway line, a village grew around Mount Moriac railway station, which opened on 1 October 1877. The station comprised a bluestone platform and a station building (comprising a stationmaster's office and waiting room) with a lamp room (a room where flammable liquids were housed), toilet and van goods building (a structure where goods, typically comprising small consignments, were stored after offloading from the train's brake van), to the south of the railway line, and a goods platform opposite. Two large pastoral runs around the railway station were subdivided by Geelong estate agent and (later) Shire of Barrabool Councillor, E.E. Hendy, and sold in 1924. This brought people to the new township of Moriac, which was located approximately 2 km south of Mount Moriac (Surf Coast Shire 2010, p. 19; Victorian Places 2015). The name of the railway station was changed from Mount Moriac to Moriac in 1904. Moriac station closed to passenger traffic on 5 October 1982, and by then the lamp room, van goods building, and toilet had been removed. It was then closed as an electric staff station (a station using the electric train token system for railway signalling) on 13 April 1985. The station was located to the west of Cape Otway Road, Moriac, and evidence of the passenger platform, buffer stop, road yard, and goods platform were extant in 2010 (Ward and Donnelly 1982, pp. 310-311; Wong 2018).FORMER MORIAC RAILWAY STATION - Archaeological Significance
The railway station opened on 1 October 1877, to the west of the Cape Otway Road and Hendy Main Road railway crossing. The site had a passenger platform to south of the railway track, with a station building, lamp room, toilet and van goods building, and a goods platform opposite north. The railway station was closed on 5 October 1982. The site has the potential for archaeological remains in the location of the former railway station building, lamp room, toilets and van goods room along the passenger platform, and those associated with the loading platform opposite. Visible features comprise a bluestone passenger platform, goods platform and a timber buffer stop. The former Moriac railway station site is of archaeological significance as the potential remains at this site could provide information on the original layout of the railway station complex, and potential artefact deposits may provide information about the use and operation of the station. The station is of significance as the potential to contain historical archaeological features, deposits and further artefacts.
FORMER MORIAC RAILWAY STATION - Historical Significance
The station is of historical significance as this site relates to the history of the Warrnambool railway line (South West line) and its association with the expansion of the railway network in Victoria. The potential remains at this site are likely to evidence the function and location of the railway station buildings, and the period in which they were used.
Heritage Inventory Description
FORMER MORIAC RAILWAY STATION - Heritage Inventory Description
The passenger platform is structurally sound, although a few of the bluestone blocks and the platform coping stones at either end are out of place. The east end of the platform is comprised of bluestone, although it has been partially dismantled, but is otherwise in good condition. The west end of the platform is in poor condition, with the coping removed entirely, and the timber edge having degraded enough that the platform's core soil is seeping out. The station originally held a Late Victorian timber station building, with a stationmaster's office, waiting room and verandah with four timber posts and a screening wall in the west facing the passenger platform, along with a lamp room, van goods structure and toilet block situated to the west of the station building, and a driveway coming from the east and running behind the station.
The site comprises the following extant features:
. The bluestone passenger platform situated immediately to the south of the main line tracks, predominantly covered with gravel and grass, with a small brick extension at the platform's west end
. The timber goods platform situated to the north of the main line, situated opposite the east half of the bluestone platform
. Timber buffer stop, northwest of the Cape Otway Road level crossing.
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FORMER MORIAC RAILWAY STATIONVictorian Heritage Inventory
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Moriac Avenue of HonourVic. War Heritage Inventory
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