FORMER KAMAROOKA ROAD SCHOOL (NEILBOROUGH NORTH) NO.1726
CA 5A ELMORE-RAYWOOD ROAD, NEILBOROUGH - PROPERTY NUMBER 198958, GREATER BENDIGO CITY
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Statement of Significance
The former school is also significant (Criterion B) for being a rare surviving example of a standard timber school and basic quarters, with capacity for 40 pupils, dating to the 1870s. The model was drawn up by the Colonial Architects in 1872, and in 1875 alone at least 75 were built across Victoria. No other examples of its type are known to survive in the Bendigo area, although further research is required to confirm this.
The former Kamarooka Road School no. 1726 is also of aesthetic/architectural significance (Criterion E). It is a small and simply detailed building, and a surviving example of a once common standard school building design of the 1870s. Although in poor condition, and with some structural problems, the school room, lean-to quarters and porch retain a comparatively high degree of intactness (i.e. have been only minimally modified) to the original design. The building has some picturesque qualities, due to the gabled form and steep roof pitch; and a high degree of visibility from Elmore-Raywood Road where it is seen in an open and informal landscape setting complemented by sugar gums to the east, south and west boundaries of the reserve, vestiges of an early wind break.
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FORMER KAMAROOKA ROAD SCHOOL (NEILBOROUGH NORTH) NO.1726 - Physical Description 1
undulating farmland approximately 8km east of Raywood. The single-storey gabled timber building is in the approximate centre of a large rectangular allotment on the south side of the Elmore-Raywood Road. The building is oriented north-west to south-east. As well as the timber school building, with attached porch and lean-to quarters, the site includes a concrete water tank. Sugar gums to the north-east, south-east and south-west boundaries of the reserve are vestiges of an early wind break. The property was not inspected internally. Descriptions of internal elements in the following derive from the 1998 survey.9
The school room, lean-to quarters and porch are clad in weatherboard fixed to a stud frame and raised on stumps. The school room and porch have gabled roofs, the quarters is a skillion. All roof areas are clad with corrugated galvanised sheet steel. However, the battens, exposed to the north end of the school room, suggest that the roof was originally shingle. The stumps of timber finals, at both ends of the school room roof, are extant. A rectangular brick chimney with corbelled cornice is located to the south-west side of the schoolroom. The school is entered by a door to the north-east of the porch. A second door, presumably to the quarters, is located to the south of the rear elevation of the school room. The window openings to the school room and porch appear to be in their original locations, and are double sashes hung with glazing bars to the sashes. Only the lower section of the window to the north-west (front) elevation of the school, next to the porch, has not been sheeted over. The two windows to the south-west wall of the quarters are of a later date. There a rectangular timber louvre vents, cambered at the top, to the front and rear gable ends of the school room. Inside, there is a fireplace, beaded timber linings, a coved ceiling with tie rods and diagonal braces.
The former school is in poor condition. The school room and quarters have subsided by several degrees, resulting in the base plate being twisted, and the porch has settled c. 3 or 4 degrees to the east, partially separating it from the north-west face of the school room, and pulling away seven courses of weatherboard. Two more courses of weatherboard have fallen off the north-west wall of the quarters, and there is some weatherboard damage above and below the gable vent on the north-west elevation. Roof sheeting at the north end of the south-west face of the school room is missing. Guttering is in place on each side of the classroom and quarters and is connected to a PVC downpipe on the north-east face of the school room. The chimney appears to be almost perpendicular, and the base plate and footings appear intact, with stumps sitting level on the entry side and fitted with intact steel ant caps. The weatherboard has not been painted for some decades. There are some signs of recent maintenance, including protective blue sheeting that has been fed into the open wall cavity between the porch and the main entry-side wall, below the opened roof area
The school building has a high degree of intactness in terms of its original design. However, this is tempered by extensive water damage, the twisting subsidence of the building frame and removal of areas of the weatherboard cladding to reveal the inner frame and walling.
Heritage Study and Grading
Greater Bendigo - Heritage Policy Citations Review
Author: Lovell Chen P/L
Year: 2011
Grading: Local
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