FORMER QUEENSFERRY TOWNSHIP SITE
146 QUEENSFERRY JETTY ROAD QUEENSFERRY, BASS COAST SHIRE
-
Add to tour
You must log in to do that.
-
Share
-
Shortlist place
You must log in to do that.
- Download report
Statement of Significance
This record has minimal details. Please look to the right-hand-side bar for any further details about this record.
-
-
FORMER QUEENSFERRY TOWNSHIP SITE - History
Alexander Stewart:
Born 1831. Arrived Melbourne 1852. Labourer St. Kilda, Ballarat Gold fields in 1855. Married same year. Partner in John O'Groats Hotel Ballarat. Sold share in 1857. Started agency business. Unsuccessful. Market gardening in Ararat then various bush jobs. 1860 he was in Mornington District most likely at or near Queensferry.honey collecting, skinning animals and wife making clothes. Then worked hauling blackwood timber logs from Bass River. Labourer to Manager then began working for himself some time in 1870s. Built sawmill near glen forbes. Built timber tramway from Glen forbes to Queensferry. Tramway selected CA 162 and boutght lOa ofCA 162A Tramway construction 1874-1876. Timber transported on tramway pulled by horses. Water at Queensferry may have been too shallow to allow transport of timber. And Bass Landing may have been used instead. Built a two-masted 75 foot schooner at Queensferry called the "Tyro" which sailed in Westernport until 1906. Local Councillor who was replaced when visiting forests in Borneo in 1885.
Mill 1877-1888
Stewart's Mill was re-opened and operated 19??-19?? to supply timber to the Wonthaggi Mines. Further research required on the origins of the town. First mention in local newspapers is from 1881 by which stage it was clearly a thriving community. Occupants of the town had associations with early timber and coal industry. Anecdotal evidence points to bark stripping to supply the tanning industry and the cutting down of mangroves for soap making. Queensferry was an obvious port for access to French Island, and the prison there in particular. Small scale fishing and farming are likely to have taken place. The town is thought to have been essentially relocated in the 1920s to the present site of Queensferry on the outskirts of nearby Grantville. Various land amalgamations and subdivisions since this time partially obscure the original outlay of the town however further research and analysis of aerial imagery is likely to provide further information.
FORMER QUEENSFERRY TOWNSHIP SITE - Interpretation of Site
Interpreted as a late 19th Century coastal village with associations to timber and coal mining industries.
FORMER QUEENSFERRY TOWNSHIP SITE - Archaeological Significance
This site has been assesed as having high archaeological significance as it contains a range of above ground and sub-surface archaeological features including intact occupation deposits and structural features. Exposed artefacts are largely fragmentary as intact artefacts have been "collected" by land occupier and visiting bottle collectors; however, there is a very high potential for assemblages of intact artefacts dating from the late 1800s and early 1900s to be present in a sub-surface context. The site is extensive and has potential to provide excellent spatial and temporal data.
FORMER QUEENSFERRY TOWNSHIP SITE - Historical Significance
A number of 19th Century historical figures are associated with the settlement. Occupants included individuals associated with the timber industry (Alexander Stewart), early pastoralism (the squatter James Cuthbert) as well as an architect who submitted a plan for the national capitol at Canberra (Edward Cracknell). Three coal companies had connections with the settlement (Westernport Coal Company, Glen Alvie Coal Company and Great Victoria Colliery) and the Stewart Sawmill enjoyed a second heyday supplying timber to the State Coal Mine at Wonthaggi during the early 1900s.
Heritage Inventory Description
FORMER QUEENSFERRY TOWNSHIP SITE - Heritage Inventory Description
Site consists of a number of archaeological features and artefacts. These include the following:
. Piles of basalt ballast and both hand-made and machine-pressed bricks
. Introduced trees including a mature pine with coal deposits in root system
. The cut for a substantial coastal road ("The Esplanade) with associated features including post-holes
. A timber "Sea Wall" displaying a number of diffent construction techniques
. a possible wharf
. A complex drainage system displaying a number of different construction techniques
. Pylons associated with a Jetty
. A linear feature which may indicate location of earlier wharf
. late 19th/early 20th century artefacts visible all along the current shoreline
. A timber floor (cellar?) in eroding context on shore with surviving floor surface, demo material and probable occupation deposits. Metal, glass, pottery and textile visible.
. A large metal vessel (broken) next to a bore
. Numerous rectangular and linear features visible on aerial imagery indicating potential for remains of former structures and evidence of past land-use practices.
. One of the land occupiers has gathered large quantities of artefactual material into self-described "collections".
-
-
-
-
-
FORMER QUEENSFERRY TOWNSHIP SITEVictorian Heritage Inventory
-
-