PLAISTOW HOMESTEAD AND STORE
324 RODBOROUGH ROAD JOYCES CREEK, MOUNT ALEXANDER SHIRE
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Statement of Significance
What is significant?
Plaistow Pastoral Run was taken up the Joyce brothers George and Alfred in 1844. The Joyces, who were from England, emigrated to the Port Phillip district with little knowledge of sheep farming. George, who had arrived in 1840 with £500 from his father to establish himself and later his brother as pastoralists, was initially a tailor but later became a partner in a sheep station at Mount Macedon. Alfred had been apprenticed as a mechanical engineer in London, and migrated in late 1843.
The 10,000 acres (15 square miles) that comprised the Plaistow run were acquired from Charles McKinnon in 1844 for £50. The purchase price included the run, and improvements being two very primitive huts, a log sheep-yard, fifty hurdles and a watch-box. None of these structures survive.
The surviving early two-room section of the homestead with cellar was possibly built as an extension to the original 1840s slab hut. It may date from c1846. In 1850 the Joyces decided to commence the building of a proper brick house of four or five rooms, to be made from bricks produced on site. The commencement of the Mount Alexander gold rush momentarily postponed completion of the house whilst the brick makers tried their luck at the diggings. Further additions in the nineteenth century extended the house to its present size.
The house is single storey with a hip roof and verandah overlooking Joyces Creek. A nearby water supply was an essential prerequisite to station life for washing sheep as well as drinking, cooking and washing.
The structure known as the store, or overseers building, is a double height building constructed of bricks on a foundation of bluestone rubble. It is supposed to have been erected in c1846. The roof is clad with shingles, visible internally below a later covering of corrugated iron sheeting. The larger part of the building is a storage area with loft space. Steps lead down to an underground cellar. The cellar is located beneath the second, much smaller space with a fireplace and chimney, believed to have been quarters for an overseer. Internally much of the house is decorated in the style the late Edwardian period, including an unusual Chinoiserie style wallpaper with a crane theme.
George and Alfred Joyce applied for the pre-emptive right to 640 acres of freehold land at Plaistow in September 1852, and the application was approved in April 1853. Shortly before this Alfred Joyce married the daughter of a neighbouring squatter, and the brothers divided the Plaistow run into two parts, Alfred’s run being known as Norwood.
The Joyces did not suffer as a result of the early gold rushes, but rather were able to prosper by supplying stores, vegetables, meat and wheat and hay to the diggers. Their paddocks provided pasture for horses whilst owners tried their luck at nearby Mt Alexander. The process of alienation and subdivision of the run was begun in the 1850s and by the end of the nineteenth century much of it was sold off to become productive agricultural land.
None of the outbuildings from Plaistow survive.
How is it significant?
Plaistow is of architectural and historical significance to the State of Victoria.
Why is it significant?
Plaistow is architecturally significant an early example of a pastoral homestead building. Stylistically it is representative of the colonial period in Victoria, particularly for the unadorned brickwork and the verandah with simple timber quadrant brackets to the posts. The store is an early surviving structure. The manufacture of bricks on a property was standard practice before the railways provided an efficient means of distributing the mass-produced product to rural areas.
Plaistow is historically significant as evidence of the importance of pastoralism in central Victoria before the gold rush. It is significant for its associations with the Joyce brothers and their family. The Joyces were representative of educated middle class men from Britain who came to the Port Phillip district, with capital but little or no experience of sheep or cattle farming, to try and establish their fortune in pastoralism. Alfred Joyce’s letters and his later reminiscences written in the 1890s were first published in 1942 as ‘A Homestead History’.
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PLAISTOW HOMESTEAD AND STORE - History
10,000 acres (15 square miles) acquired from Charles McKinnon in 1844 for £50. Purchase price included the run, and improvements being two very primitive huts, a log sheep-yard, fifty hurdles and a watch-box. Sheep were moved up to the run in May 1844 (G F James, A Homestead History; being the reminiscences of and letters of Alfred Joyce of Plaistow and Norwood, Port Phillip 1843-64 (Melbourne) 1969, p 56).
Only huts are mentioned before 1850 - no mention of stone and brick buildings until then. "My brother’s family increasingly found the original dwelling hut, even with the additions, extremely inconvenient, and decided to commence the building of a small brick house of four or five rooms, and set the brick makers to work to make the bricks. Here we were somewhat unfortunate again. The following winter turned out so extremely wet that the floods were overwhelming us every few days, and a more than unusually heavy one carried away 18,000 bricks that were ready for burning; and when the bricks were at last made and we commenced to build, the Mt Alexander diggings, which were just discovered drew away many of our hands, bricklayers included, but ot was not long before the brickmakers came back, disgusted wit their ill success, and the building then proceeded quietly to the finish". (p 125)
George and Alfred Joyce applied for the pre-emptive right in September 1852. The decision was communicated in April 1853.
Associated People: Alfred and George JoycePLAISTOW HOMESTEAD AND 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:General Conditions:
1. All alterations are to be planned and carried out in a manner that 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 Executive Director shall be notified as soon as possible.
3. If there is a conservation policy and plan approved by the Executive Director, all works shall be in accordance with it.
4. Nothing in this declaration prevents the Executive Director from amending or rescinding all or any of the permit exemptions.
5. Nothing in this declaration exempts owners or their agents from the responsibility to seek relevant planning or building permits from the responsible authority where applicable.
House Exterior
* Minor repairs and maintenance which replace like with like.
* Removal of extraneous items such as air conditioners, pipe work, ducting, wiring, antennae, aerials etc, and making good.
House Interior
* Painting of previously painted walls and ceilings provided that preparation or painting does not remove evidence of the earlier paint or other decorative scheme.
* Refurbishment of bathrooms, toilets and or en suites including removal, installation or replacement of sanitary fixtures and associated piping, mirrors, wall and floor coverings.
* Installation, removal or replacement of kitchen benches and fixtures including sinks, stoves, ovens, refrigerators, dishwashers etc and associated plumbing and wiring providing there is no adverse impact or damage to the fabric of the kitchen structure.
* Removal of paint from originally unpainted or oiled joinery, doors, architraves, skirtings and decorative strapping.
* Installation, removal or replacement of carpets and/or flexible floor coverings.
* Installation, removal or replacement of curtain track, rods, blinds and other window dressings.
* Installation, removal or replacement of hooks, nails and other devices for the 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, push buttons or power outlets are retained in-situ. Note: if wiring original to the place was carried in timber conduits then the conduits should remain in-situ.
* Installation, removal or replacement of bulk insulation in the roof space.
* Installation, removal or replacement of smoke detectors.
* Installation, removal or replacement of security locks to doors and windows.
* Installation, removal or replacement of security systems provided all wiring is fully concealed
Brick Store/overseer’s building
* Minor repairs and maintenance which replace like with like, including maintenance and replacement of downpipes, and guttering in same half-round profile
* Repainting of timber work, fascia boards, doors and windows in existing colours
Garden/landscape
* The process of gardening and maintenance, mowing, hedge clipping, bedding displays, removal of dead plants, disease and weed control, emergency and safety works to care for existing plants and planting themes
* Removal of vegetation that is not significant to maintain fire safety and to conserve significant buildings and structures
* The replanting of plant species to conserve the landscape character and plant collections and themes
* Any works undertaken in accordance with an agreed conservation plan or objectives
* Management of trees in accordance with Australian Standard; Pruning of amenity trees AS4373
* Removal of elements not identified as being significant, and not within the registered area * Removal of plants listed as noxious weeds in the Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994
* Installation, removal or replacement of garden watering and drainage systems
* Non-commercial signage, lighting, security, fire safety and other safety requirements, provided no structural building occurs
* Plant labelling and interpretative signage
* Repainting in the same colour of previously painted surfaces such as fences, gates etcPLAISTOW HOMESTEAD AND STORE - Permit Exemption Policy
The purpose of the permit exemptions is to allow works that do not impact on the significance of the place to occur without the need for a permit. Repairs and maintenance which replace like materials with like are permit exempt.
Plaistow homestead and store are structures that date their earliest period of construction to the mid 1840s, and are amongst the oldest surviving brick buildings in the state. Particular attention is required to maintaining and preserving as much of the early fabric as possible. Repairs to mortar require particular care and should not be undertaken without reference to Heritage Victoria. The c1910 wallpaper (with the heron theme) at the end of the passageway should be preserved in situ.
The service areas have been updated to modern standards and future refurbishment of the kitchen and bathrooms does not require a permit, as per the exemptions and conditions attached.
The brick store should not be painted without a permit.
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