1350 SOMERTON ROAD CIRCULAR CISTERN
1350 SOMERTON ROAD, OAKLANDS JUNCTION
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Statement of Significance
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1350 SOMERTON ROAD CIRCULAR CISTERN - History
The circular cistern was recorded in the south-eastern corner of the property at 1350 Somerton Road. In the 1850 land sales, the original Allotment 4 was brought by Anne Greene (Figure 5). The site appears to have been part of the post-Gold Rush settlement of Oaklands Junction when this area saw the subdivision of the original allotment at the north-eastern corner of Oaklands and Somerton roads into smaller allotments. The cistern with an accompanying building is shown on the 1916 Sunbury map of the area (Figure 6), reappearing on the 1938 Sunbury map (Figure 7). By 1968, aerial photograph of the site shows that the house/building is no longer present, but a dark circle indicates that the cistern/well was present at that time (Figure 3). This suggests that the building was demolished at some point between 1938 and 1968.1350 SOMERTON ROAD CIRCULAR CISTERN - Interpretation of Site
The site was first purchased in 1848/1850 by Anne Green (one of the original owners of the Woodlands estate) and was subsequently subdivided. It does not appear to have been occupied in the 1850s-1870s, although it may have been cleared and used for farming/grazing. The first confirmation of a building and cistern at the site is the 1916 Sunbury map where both are shown in the south-eastern corner of the site (Figure 6). Both features are also shown on the 1938 Sunbury map (Figure 7). It appears that the building was most likely a farmhouse given its location close to the road and the presence of a water source or storage feature close by (the circular cistern). This type of cistern was part of an early type of domestic water supply practice used in rural areas around Melbourne from the 1860s to the early 20th century. It represents a type of water management no longer in use and that was common in the Bulla and greater Melbourne rural areas. The circular cistern usually had a domed cover and was connected to downpipes to collect water run-off from roofs of houses and other outbuildings on rural properties. There was most likely a pump attached to the cistern to draw the water out when needed. (Moloney, Rowe and Jellie, 2006) The building was demolished by at least 1968 (Figure 3). The property has continued in use as a farming land, since that time. There was a driveway from the gate on Somerton Road that angled diagonally from south-east to north-west through the paddock, passing very close to the well-cistern (Figure 4).
Heritage Inventory Description
1350 SOMERTON ROAD CIRCULAR CISTERN - Heritage Inventory Description
The site is within an open, grassed paddock and the archaeological features are located at the south-eastern corner of the paddock, close to Somerton Road and a gate into the paddock. The main archaeological feature is a circular brick well or cistern, visible as a deep circular depression 2.85m in diameter and outlined by red clay machine made bricks (Figure 8 and Figure 9). This feature was recorded as F017. The ground surface visibility is low and the ground was damp-wet around and within the cistern. Has the appearance of a domed brick cistern but with the top dome missing. Close by was a scatter fo bluestone rubble (broken or roughly hewn stones) and gravel and some red brick fragments (Figure 10). There is a dam close by to the west.
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