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STONE MILEPOSTS - WARNNAMBOOL-CARAMUT ROAD

Location

WARRNAMBOOL-CARAMUT ROAD CARAMUT, WOOLSTHORPE AND MINJAH, MOYNE SHIRE

File Number

603345

Level

Registered

[1/16]
DIAGRAM 1700 Letters
[2/16]
DIAGRAM 1700a 20m
[3/16]
DIAGRAM 1700b 10m
[4/16]
DIAGRAM 1700c 20m
[5/16]
DIAGRAM 1700d 20m
[6/16]
DIAGRAM 1700e 20m
[7/16]
DIAGRAM 1700f 20m
[8/16]
DIAGRAM 1700g 20m
[9/16]
DIAGRAM 1700h 20m
[10/16]
DIAGRAM 1700i 20m
[11/16]
Milepost F 2020
[12/16]
Milepost D 2020
[13/16]
Milepost C 2020
[14/16]
Milepost E 2020
[15/16]
Milepost H 2020
[16/16]
Milepost G 2020

Statement of Significance

WHAT IS SIGNIFICANT?
The nine nineteenth-century basalt mileposts located along the Warrnambool-Caramut Road, on KeillorsRoad and within the property Wooriwest at 4014 Warrnambool-Caramut Road between the townships of Caramut and Woolsthorpe.

HOW IS IT SIGNIFICANT?
The Stone Mileposts- Warrnambool-Caramut Road are of historical significance to the State of Victoria.They satisfy the following criteria for inclusion in the Victorian Heritage Register.

- Criterion A Importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria?s cultural history.

- Criterion B Possession of uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of Victoria?s cultural history.

- Criterion D Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural places and objects.

WHY IS IT SIGNIFICANT?

The Stone Mileposts - Warrnambool-Caramut Road are historically significant for their association with the development and use of the road transport system in Victoria in the mid-nineteenth century. Local shire ordistrict roads boards erected mileposts along popular roads to assist travelers with wayfinding and navigation. They were a necessity for coach travel between and beyond railway stations into remoter areas of Victoria. As a collection of mileposts, they allow the use of the road network in mid-nineteenth century Victoria to be better understood than most other places or objects with the same association. The fine design and solid construction of the Warrnambool-Caramut Road mileposts represent the economic prosperity of Western districts pastoralists in the era. They are an evocative reminder of the experience of road travel in rural Victoria in the mid-nineteenth century. (Criterion A)

The Stone Mileposts- Warrnambool-Caramut Road are historically significant for their association with the preparations in Victoria for a potential land invasion during World War II. After the fall of Pearl Harbour in 1942, the mileposts were buried to limit navigation and wayfinding information available to a potential invading force. Some mileposts were subsequently re-erected following the war. (Criterion A)

The Stone Mileposts - Warrnambool-Caramut Road are significant as a rare surviving example of a group of stone mileposts from the mid-nineteenth century. Stone mileposts were once common throughout western Victoria but were gradually replaced by cast iron and cast concrete alternatives, or otherwise lost or damaged. Although there are other individual examples of stone mileposts, there are few examples of roads that retain multiple mileposts. As a collection of nine stone mileposts, the Warrnambool-Caramut Road mileposts are extremely rare within Victoria (Criterion B).

The Stone Mileposts - Warrnambool-Caramut Road are a notable example of roadside mileposts. Demonstrating construction techniques and materials of the 1860s-70s, they encapsulate a key evolutionary phase in the development of the class. They are fine, being substantial, highly visible and demonstrating the skill of the stonemason's craft in their finely dressed stone and precise lettering. The location of the mileposts allows the role of the class to be easily understood. (Criterion D)

Group