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St. Arnaud Railway Station, Queens Avenue, ST ARNAUD

Location

Queens Avenue ST ARNAUD, NORTHERN GRAMPIANS SHIRE

Level

Included in Heritage Overlay

Statement of Significance

The St. Arnaud Railway Station building, Lamp Room, platform, railway line, turntable and water tower are architecturally significant at a STATE level. These buildings represent the "St. Arnaud style" railway station complex, with similar "St. Arnaud style" railway complexes erected to cater for the demands of the larger inland towns. The main station demonstrates original design qualities of a mid Victorian Classical style having a standard U shaped plan. These qualities include the hipped roof form and the broad bellcast verandah at the front. Other intact or appropriate qualities include the unpainted brick wall construction, lapped galvanised corrugated iron roof cladding, rendered brick chimneys with dropped corbelling near the top, modest eaves, round cast iron verandah columns with elaborate curving brackets, timber framed, double hung single windows, and masonry window sills.

The lamp room building demonstrates original design qualities of a mid Victorian style. These qualities include the hipped roof form clad in galvanised corrugated iron, gable ridge ventilator clad in galvanised corrugated iron, unpainted brick wall construction, modest eaves, rendered brick chimney with dropped corbelling near the top, timber framed double hung windows and white painted masonry sills, doorway with transom, and the flat-arched voussoirs above the openings.

The timber and steel, and brick retaining walls supporting the platforms, together with the railway line, turntable and water tower also contribute to the architectural significance of the place.

The St. Arnaud Railway Station building, Lamp Room, platform, railway line, turntable and water tower are historically significant at a STATE level. They are associated with the infrastructure development of railway construction, which occurred throughout Victoria during the 1870s and 1880s. The St. Arnaud railway buildings also represent an important phase in the development of rural railway stations to meet the demands of larger inland towns, and in particular the needs of St. Arnaud from 1879 until the closure of the station in the early 1990s. The large size of the St. Arnaud complex reflects the town's former role as a major gold mining centre during the 1880s.

The St. Arnaud Railway Station water tower is scientifically significant at a STATE level. Its hemispherical 5,000 gallon water tank carried by a T iron frame onto a cement rendered brick column, together with the attached jib and hand wheel valve operation, illustrate an early 20th century technological advancement of the steam era no longer extant at other Victorian Railway Stations.

The St. Arnaud Railway Station building, Lamp Room, platform, railway line, turntable and water tower, are socially significant at a LOCAL level. They are still recognised and valued by the St. Arnaud community as an important 19th century and early 20th century infrastructure link with the rest of Victoria.

Overall, the St. Arnaud Railway Station building, Lamp Room, platform, railway line, turntable and water tower are of STATE significance.

Group

Transport - Rail

Category

Railway