Heritage is what we inherit, appreciate today and think is important to protect for future generations.

Welcome – Wominjeka

Thanks for coming back for the 5th Edition of the Heritage Council's quarterly newsletter. If you're a new subscriber, thanks for signing up!

Before you read on, if you would like more information about the Heritage Council of Victoria and what we do, check out our website.

📷: Andy May | Camperdown Clocktower | The Finlay Avenue of Elms, Manifold Clock Tower and Public Monument Precinct, Camperdown (H0647)

Contents:

1. Recent inclusions in the Victorian Heritage Register
2. Ray Tonkin Heritage Volunteer Award​
3. Custodian Interview: Jonathan Crowther, The Dax Centre
4. Women in the VHR
5. If this place could talk...
6. If you missed it...
7. Can you guess what/where this is?
8. Updates from Heritage Victoria
9. Upcoming

1. Recent inclusions in the Victorian Heritage Register

The Victorian Heritage Register, established under the Heritage Act 2017, includes the state’s most significant heritage places, objects and historic shipwrecks. The role of the Heritage Council of Victoria is to ensure that our diverse cultural heritage is enjoyed, managed and protected for current and future generations; so the Heritage Council decides which places and objects are included in or removed from the Victorian Heritage Register.

O'Dell's Hut, Odells Track, Brookville, East Gippsland Shire (H2411)

At its April 2022 meeting, the Heritage Council of Victoria determined to include O’Dell’s Hut in the Victorian Heritage Register as a Registered Object. O’Dell’s Hut is located within the Mt Delusion State Forest west of the township of Swifts Creek in East Gippsland. It is a single room, stud-framed structure, approximately 4 metres long and 2 metres wide, clad with weatherboards. It has a segmentally arched corrugated iron roof branded with a Morewood & Co ‘Star’ stamp on the underside. The hut has a timber door, projecting sheet iron chimney and a single glazed window. The whole structure is mounted on a pair of timber skids shod with iron straps which run the full length of the skids and are attached to tow hitches at one end.

Timber or bark huts have been utilised by Aboriginal people throughout Victoria for many thousands of years. They were also the predominate form of housing used by Europeans during the early years of colonisation. Little is known about the history of O’Dell’s Hut and no direct reference to the hut has been found in documentary resources. However, several indications of its history are evident in the physical fabric. Its overall form, particularly the arched roof, is similar to portable huts designed for workers such as shepherds which were popular in Britain and seen on pastoral properties in Victoria in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. It may be possible that O’Dell’s Hut is an adapted former shepherd hut or road crew hut. Skids such as those found on O’Dell’s Hut were commonly used in logging activities in Victoria and would have enabled it to be moved to different locations within the forest and would have suited logging activities.      

O’Dell’s Hut is rare and uncommon within Victoria as a small portable hut. While portable huts were known to have been used by mobile workforces such as shepherds and road crews, there are no known surviving similar examples in Victoria. There are no other known examples of a Morewood & Co Star brand roof in Victoria, adding to the object’s rarity.

2. Ray Tonkin Heritage Volunteer Award

The Heritage Council of Victoria recognises individuals for outstanding volunteer service to heritage with the Ray Tonkin Heritage Volunteer Award. We would like to congratulate the recipient of this year's Award:

John Hulm

for his herculean efforts in protecting, preserving and promoting the Camperdown Clocktower for current and future generations.

You can visit the Finlay Avenue of Elms, Manifold Clock Tower and Public Monument Precinct in Camperdown (H0647) today! Or to find out more, read the VHR record.

Did you know for a place or object to be included in the VHR it only needs to meet one of the Heritage Council of Victoria’s criteria for assessment?

These criteria are used to determine the importance of a place or object to the history and development of Victoria. You can read about the criteria on our website.

📷: The Dax Centre, 2021, Curator Jonathan Crowther with works from current collection exhibition 'Creature Comforts', Cunningham Dax Collection (H2201)

3. Custodian Interview – Cunningham Dax Collection (H2201)

We interviewed Jonathan Crowther, new Curator and Collections Manager at The Dax Centre.

"The Dax Centre is run by Sane Australia, and we are the custodians of the Cunningham Dax Collection. The collection was originally developed by psychiatrist Dr. Cunningham Dax. It is one of the few collections in the world of its type and is an important collection for raising awareness and reducing stigma toward mental health issues."

📷: The Dax Centre, 2021, Curator Jonathan Crowther with works by Bruce Doyle and Rehana Dowler in current collection exhibition 'Notes on a Still Life', Cunningham Dax Collection (H2201)

a) What are your main responsibilities for this collection?

"As the Curator and Collections Manager at The Dax Centre, I am personally involved in the conservation, preservation, and presentation of the collection. My main goals are to respect the past through preservation and education while developing a future that builds on the original vision of Dr. Cunningham Dax and gives a visual voice to those with lived experiences of mental health issues and psychological trauma."

b) What do you think is most significant about this collection’s history?

"One of the most significant things about this collection is the man who began it, Dr. Cunningham Dax. Dr. Dax was a leader in the field of psychiatry and social change. Bringing ideas he developed in England to his role in Victoria as the Chairman of the Mental Hygiene Authority, he was responsible for the systematic implementation of art programs into psychiatric hospitals during the 1950s and 60s. These programs were to serve a twofold purpose. They were actively therapeutic for the patient, while artwork produced was believed to give deeper insight into the nature of the illness for treating doctors. It is work from these programs that make up the bulk of the collection."

📷: The Dax Centre, 2021, artworks by Graeme Doyle in current collection exhibition 'Creature Comforts', Cunningham Dax Collection (H2201)

c) What is your favourite aspect of the collection?

"My favourite aspect of the collection is that it deals with the education and destigmatisation of mental illness through art. I have been a professional practicing artist for over a decade and have a lived experience of complex mental health issues. Art became a focus for me after becoming unwell and has been an integral part of my recovery and health. This collection and its purpose are interwoven with the themes of my own life. Through the Dax Centre’s curated exhibitions, displays, and education programs, we provide a meaningful space for people to engage with the dialogue of mental health, trauma, art, and the lived experience of all these things."

📷: The Dax Centre, 2021, artworks by Barbara Joyce in current collection exhibition 'Creature Comforts', Cunningham Dax Collection (H2201)

d) Do you have any favourite facts about the collection? Is there something surprising you have found out about the collection and its history by working with it? 

"For me it was interesting to learn about their initial interest in the art by Dr. Dax and that he termed it, and wrote about it, as ‘Psychiatric Art’. This was driven by the belief that the artwork created by patients could be interpreted as symbols and signs of their underlying illness. The artwork was part of a larger diagnostic assessment. That is why work in the collection from a certain time period and place, is considered to be part of a patient’s health record. I found this fascinating and insightful into how much society has developed in such a short timeframe."

e) How do you think this collection’s heritage status and history interacts with its current purpose?

"At the core of the collection is the legacy of  Dr Cunningham Dax and his desire to educate and destigmatise mental illness. Under Sane Australia, the Dax Centre is dedicated to this same vision. We exhibit and educate through art, always interested in sharing the knowledge and stories of those with lived experience of mental health issues and psychological trauma. Our education programs are popular because of this, as they give insight and a different perspective to important and contemporary relevant social issues."

📷: The Dax Centre, 2021, artworks by by Rehana Dowler in current collection exhibition 'Creature Comforts', Cunningham Dax Collection (H2201)

f) If you could personify the collection, what words would you use?

"I would say that it is personifies someone who is both a survivor and a carer; compassionate, resilient, vulnerable, with unlimited depth."

g) What did you know about cultural heritage and its protection before you started working with this collection? And what has it taught you?

"My main training and interest is in the visual arts, and knowledge related to cultural heritage and collection was limited to this field. I now have a deeper appreciation of the historical context surrounding a collection, not just the preservation and the conservation of the objects inside it. The telling and interpretation of history are incredibly nuanced and are determined by multiple perspectives. These perspectives also change over time. I have learned what is important is the dialogue around a collection and its purpose, not the perspective one takes."

h) How has being a custodian of this heritage collection influenced your life and your outlook?

"As mentioned before, art, psychiatry, and mental health have been pillars in my own life. Being the custodian of this particular collection has aligned my personal experience with a professional role. It has also given me a deeper appreciation of the past, the way things were, and how far we have come. Dr. Dax, and the collection he began, is an integral part of this larger social story, and an important part of its future."

i) What words of wisdom would you give to others who are either current custodians of heritage or looking to get involved?

"As mentioned before, art, psychiatry, and mental health have been pillars in my own life. Being the custodian of this particular collection has aligned my personal experience with a professional role. It has also given me a deeper appreciation of the past, the way things were, and how far we have come. Dr. Dax, and the collection he began, is an integral part of this larger social story, and an important part of its future."

j) Do you ever get feedback from visitors about the collection? What do people think?

"We get a lot of feedback from visitors, as it is a space that deals with an important social issue and history. It is also a beautiful space for reflecting on these issues. People are always interested in the stories of the artist behind the work. For many reasons, these stories are not always available, but when they are visitors feel like they get a deeper appreciation of the art, the artist, and what their lived experience might have been."

📷: Heritage Victoria, 2008, 'Decorated Jacket', Cunningham Dax Collection (H2201)

We would like to thank Jonathan Crowther for his time and work at The Dax Centre.

If you would like to find out more, you can read about this place in the Victorian Heritage Database or head to their website.

📷: The Dax Centre, 2021, current collection exhibition 'Notes on a Still Life' , Cunningham Dax Collection (H2201)

Did you know you can search for heritage places in the Victorian Heritage Database using architectural style?

4. Women in the Victorian Heritage Register

By Dr Marina Larsson, Senior Heritage Officer (Assessments), Heritage Victoria

The Heritage Council of Victoria has recently funded Heritage Victoria to undertake a project to enrich the Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) by identifying under-represented groups which may have been overlooked in the past. One of the first tasks has been to conduct an audit of the VHR and compile a list of Women in the VHR. 

Victoria’s history has been powerfully shaped by the contributions of women. Their experiences and achievements can be read in the heritage fabric all around us – including places and objects in the VHR. But sometimes VHR statements of significance do not tell the full story, particularly for places primarily registered for their architectural values. 

When we look a bit deeper, there is sometimes a history of women who have changed the course of Victoria’s history associated with our VHR places and objects. One of these places is Storey Hall (VHR H1498) at 342–344 Swanston Street, Melbourne.

📷: Postcard - Senate Election, Vida Goldstein, 1910, Museums Victoria, Item HT 36235

Storey Hall (formerly the Guild Hall, built 1887) was the home of the Women's Political Association (WPA) from 1903 to 1919. Its president, Vida Goldstein, was one of Australia’s most significant women's suffrage campaigners and the first woman in the British empire to run for parliament.

The WPA demanded votes for all adults, equal pay for equal work, legal equality and amendment of laws regarding children through public rallies and its newspaper the Woman Voter. During the 1917 Wharf Labourers' strike it renamed its headquarters the ‘Guild Hall Commune’ and assisted wharfies and their families.

During World War I (1914-18) the WPA joined forces with the anti-war and anti-conscription Women's Peace Army, founded in 1915 by Goldstein, Cecilia John (1877-1955) and Adela Pankhurst (1885-1961). 

Stay tuned for future Heritage Newsletter editions to find out more about this project. In the meantime, learn about more examples of 'Women in the VHR' here:

📷: JT Photography, Flikr, Coop’s Shot Tower (H0067)

5. If this place could talk...

Coop's Shot Tower and flanking building - Melbourne (H0067)

Coop's Shot Tower (H0067) was erected in 1889-90 and stands 50 meters high (Visit Melbourne). There are only three 19th century shot towers remaining in Australia—the tallest of the three is just 5kms away in Clifton Hill and the oldest one is in Hobart, Tasmania (Melbourne Central Heritage). For over a hundred years, this Shot Tower has watched Melbourne and its residents as the bustling sprawl of the city expanded and transformed into the urban hotspot of business and entertainment that it is today. If this place could talk, I wonder what stories it would tell?

📷: Steve Koukoulas Photography, Flikr, Coop’s Shot Tower (H0067)

The history of lead shot:

Coop’s Shot Tower was originally used for the manufacture of lead shot and other lead products such as lead piping for the first Melbourne electricity system and stair grips for Melbourne’s (Melbourne Central Heritage). At the height of its productive life, the Tower was producing six tons of shot per week and was in use until closing in 1960 (VHD).

Lead shots are small balls of lead which were used as ammunition for shotguns. The first shot tower was invented in 1782 by an English plumber named William Watts who figured out that molten lead would form into spheres if it was dropped from a certain height and fell through the air into water (Engines of Our Ingenuity). Legend has it that Watts made the discovery accidentally by watching lead fall into a puddle from the burning roof of a local church and having a ‘eureka moment’ (Engineering Clicks). Watts built multiple more storeys on top of his own house and dug a well beneath it so that he could start manufacturing lead shots (Amusing Planet). There is a fairly complicated mathematical formula required to calculate the required drop height of the molten lead to perfect the process and size of the shots (Engineering Clicks). 

📷: State Library of Victoria, How Shot Is Made – Parts 1-4, Melbourne, David Syme and Co., Dec. 1, 1891, Acc No. IAN01/12/91/12-13a to 13d

The Coop business:

When James Coop started his business, the population of Melbourne had grown from 30,000 to 130,000 in only 5 years because of the gold rush, and as his business became more popular he was able to move it to the current spot at Knox Place which was at the time the manufacturing precinct (Melbourne Central Heritage).

“The network of lanes that once snaked between Swanston and Elizabeth, Lonsdale and La Trobe streets was home to ironmongers, clothiers, cigar makers, hoteliers, tailors, jewellers, confectioners, furniture makers, coach builders and much more besides. This was the working heart of the city at the time, and the Coops were right at the centre of it.” – Melbourne Central (Melbourne Central Heritage).

📷: State Library of Victoria, Public Library of Victoria, Mahood, Thomas O.G., 1920, Acc no. H84.387/12

Expansion of the Coop business:

At the time, the Coop’s Shot Tower was several meters over the city’s height limit, so it became the tallest building in Melbourne (VHD). The Coop’s business continued to boom, and they were able to buy the Clifton Hill shot tower, making the Coop family the largest manufacturer of shot in the southern hemisphere (Melbourne Central Heritage). The tallest shot tower ever built is still the Clifton Hill Shot Tower (Amusing Planet).

The business was passed through the Coop family. In 1919 James Coop’s daughter, Ellen, assumed control becoming one of the very few women who ran businesses at the time – it was even more rare for women to be involved in heavy industry (Melbourne Central Heritage). Ellen was also awarded custody of her son whilst she ran the business, following divorce from her husband– this was also incredibly rare for women at the time (Melbourne Central Heritage).She ran the business for 20 years until she died falling off the back of a tram while commuting between the two shot towers (Melbourne Central Heritage).

📷: State Library of Victoria, Melbourne. Shot Tower, Knox Place, Collins, John T., Dec. 25, 1963, Acc no. H98.252/1028-1029

The shot tower today:

As industry developed, the toxic properties of lead meant it fell out of favour. Coop’s Shot Tower remained unoccupied after its closure in 1961 and was saved from demolition in 1973 (Amusing Planet). It was then incorporated into the Melbourne Central shopping centre in the late 1980s-early 1990s (VHD), under a protective 20-story-high glass cone, designed by renowned Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa (Only Melbourne).

Coop's Shot Tower and Flanking Building are of historical significance to Victoria as a reminder of the character of the 19th century city, in which residential, commercial and industrial uses existed in close proximity (VHD). There are now few remaining traces of central Melbourne’s industrial past, giving the shot tower added importance (VHD)

📷: Scott Savage Photography, Flikr, Coop’s Shot Tower (H0067)

To find out more, you can visit the Coop's Shot Tower in Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, or you can check out the VHR record now.

📷: Keppet Photography, Flikr, Coop’s Shot Tower (H0067)

6. If you missed it...

Sacred Spaces – 'Public Toilets of Melbourne' with Professor Andy May

The Heritage Council of Victoria has supported Sacred Spaces for many years providing a unique forum to explore architecture and design across the state.

The HCV sponsored episodes have covered a wide range of places from cemeteries and cathedrals to houses, halls and Murtoa’s stick shed.

For the newest episode, Professor Andy May, Heritage Council Deputy Chair, takes us on a tour around Melbourne CBD to learn about heritage public toilets.

Professor May is an expert in Australia’s urban history focusing on the social experience of the Australian city, public spaces, communal rituals, suburban qualities, and its cosmopolitan cultures.

“He gave me a fascinating tour of the first public toilets for women and men in Melbourne and the social and historical significance” – Glenford Noble, Host/Producer of Sacred Spaces

5 locations are visited – Russell Street – est 1902, Flinders Street – est 1918, Elizabeth Street – est 1910/c1927, Queen Street – est 1905 and Elizabeth/Victoria Streets – est 1907.

Learn things you never knew about Melbourne’s first public toilets and why these communal spaces are protected for their cultural heritage significance.

📷: HIN LIM AIPP 2021 | Hin Lim Photography | Num Pon Soon Society Building (H0485)

7. Can you guess what/where this is?

Can you guess which Victorian Heritage Register place this close-up belongs to? Here are some clues:

A major cultural institution in Victoria. 

Also significant for its Foundation Art Collection established in the early 1970s.

A prominent element of Melbourne's skyline.

The answer will be in the next edition of the newsletter.

📷: HIN LIM AIPP 2018 | Hin Lim Photography 

8. Updates from Heritage Victoria

Heritage Victoria, in the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, administers the Heritage Act 2017. Heritage Victoria makes recommendations to the Heritage Council in relation to places and objects nominated to the Victorian Heritage Register, assesses permit applications to make changes to heritage places and objects, and manages the enforcement and compliance provisions of the Heritage Act 2017. It is also responsible for the operation of the Living Heritage Program, and managing historical archaeological sites across Victoria and maritime heritage in State and Commonwealth waters.

Emergency and Bushfire Recovery Program

In April, the Emergency and Bushfire Recovery team visited Gippsland to continue with condition assessments in the wake of the Black Summer fires. We visited archaeological sites at Deptford, Cabbage Tree Creek, and in the Snowy River National Park. Most of the archaeological features, like the heavy mining machinery, had withstood the fires. However, earlier in April another storm and flood event had hit the region and the team noted the increasing risk that heritage places could be irreversibly damaged with every extreme weather event they endure. 

📷: Multi-tubular boiler, Deptford (Photographs Emergency and Bushfire Recovery Program, April 2022) 

Community Shipwreck Monitoring renewed for another year 

The Community Shipwreck Monitoring program has had another successful year and will continue in 2022-2023! This program commenced in November 2018 and now includes four Australian Volunteer Coast Guard (VCG) Flotillas (Queenscliff, Werribee, Port Albert and Port Welshpool) and Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club.  

Participants provide fantastic assistance to our Maritime Archaeology team. They monitor and report boating activity around six shipwrecks in Protected Zones where boats cannot enter without a permit, as well as reporting any suspicious diving activity around eight other sensitive shipwrecks. Two VCGs also monitor diving vessels entering their ports for illegally collected material. A total of 130 site visits were undertaken in the 2021-2022 program year. 

This work is funded by Heritage Victoria and the Commonwealth Australian Underwater Cultural Heritage Program. It falls within our Maritime Heritage at Risk Program by helping us understand human threats to sites and react rapidly to illegal interference, especially in regional areas where our Maritime Archaeology team cannot regularly patrol. Having the presence of VCGs on sites also provides a visual deterrent to illegal activities. 

📷: 'Amazon monitoring photos from Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club (November 2021)

Two Living Heritage Program projects shortlisted for 2022 Victorian Architecture Awards

The Australian Institute of Architects has revealed the shortlist for the 2022 Victorian Architecture Awards. The shortlist includes two projects funded in part by the Victorian Government’s Living Heritage Program, administered by Heritage Victoria.  

Shortlisted in the heritage category is the restoration of Keilor Police Hut (Andronas Conservation Architecture). Funding from the Living Heritage Program was provided to Brimbank City Council who also contributed additional funds, and worked with a specialist team, including a heritage architect, advisor and experienced builders using traditional trades to rebuild the dismantled gold rush building.  

Shortlisted in the public architecture category is the rebuild of La Mama Theatre in Carlton (Meg White and Cottee Parker Architects). A grant of $200,000 was provided to La Mama Theatre towards the remediation and conservation works of the original theatre building following the devastating fire in 2018. This grant was a contribution towards a larger rebuild funded by State Government, philanthropic donors and the broader community. This enabled the rebirth of a cultural icon.

Congratulations to the teams involved in delivering these projects. You can browse the full list and read more about the projects on the Australian Institute of Architect’s website

📷: Keilor Police Hut (Heritage Victoria)

3D photogrammetry of shipwrecks 

Collaboration has continued with the Maritime Archaeology Association of Victoria to 3D record shipwrecks within Port Phillip Bay. Training attempts have been undertaken on the shallow sites of Barbara, Adieu and Eivion off Rye, followed by a deeper attempt at Tommy Dodd in the West Channel. While none of these have had perfect results, many lessons have been learned and our technical ability is developing.  

Lessons in underwater photogrammetry include:

• Sometimes shipwrecks need a ‘haircut’ to shorten moving marine growth that interferes with the software’s photo matching 
• Sunny days are not ideal! On shallower sites, it can cause light dappling which also interferes with matching 
• Too many divers spoil the seabed, reduce visibility on site and accidentally photo-bomb 

The end goal of this training is to record the deep and large wreck of City of Launceston then systematically work through other Victorian shipwrecks. When done well, photogrammetry is an excellent and rapid tool that will help us record and monitor shipwrecks as well as provide visual accessibility to the sites for non-divers. 

📷: Diver giving Barbara a ‘haircut’ (Marcia Riederer) 

9. Upcoming

MAY

• Ballarat Heritage Festival: until 29th May 2022
• South Australia's History Festival: until 31st May 2022

JUNE

• WORKING OUT THE (HI)STORY OF SITES AND LANDSCAPES - Indigenous knowledge, archaeology, geomorphology & 3D modelling working together : 1st June 6pm
• Out of the Blue - Collaborative and community-based history in Australia: 2nd June 5:30
• Colonial Trivia Night: 2nd June 6:30pm
• The Rise and Fall of the Iron Bridge: 30th June 5:30pm

JULY

• Open House Melbourne: 30th – 31st July 
• The Heritage Address: stay tuned for dates

📷: HIN LIM AIPP 2018 | Hin Lim Photography | Brighton Bathing Boxes and Dendy Street Beach (H2369)

As a peak heritage body, we acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the Country that we call Victoria, as the original custodians of Victoria’s land and waters, and acknowledge the importance and significance of Aboriginal cultural heritage in Victoria. We honour Elders past and present whose knowledge and wisdom has ensured the continuation of Aboriginal culture and traditional practices.

Note: The statutory scope of the Heritage Act 2017 covers places and objects of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria, but does not apply to a place or object that is of cultural heritage significance solely on the ground of its association with Aboriginal tradition. In this newsletter, the terms ‘cultural heritage’ and ‘heritage’ are used generically and interchangeably to refer to the ‘heritage’ to which the Heritage Act 2017 applies, recognising that heritage places and objects may have multiple attributes and values.

To find out more information about Aboriginal Cultural Heritage and Traditional Owner responsibilities, see the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council.

📷: HIN LIM AIPP 2018 | Hin Lim Photography | Forward Surge (H2378)