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PETER AH SEN SAWMILL
LocationSPLITTERS RANGE TRACK TONGIO, EAST GIPPSLAND SHIRE LevelHeritage Inventory Site |
Statement of Significance
What is significant? How is it significant Why is it significant? Peter Ah Sen’s Sawmill is archaeologically important for its potential to yield evidence about the technological history of sawmilling, and the cultural history of Chinese workers at a forest settlement. [Source: Victorian Heritage Register]
Peter Ah Sen’s Sawmill was among the first mills to be established in the Omeo district, and the only known sawmill in Victoria to have been licensed to a Chinese-born person. The site is also the only example known in Victoria of a sawmill powered by an overshot water wheel which has significant remains. Peter Ah Sen operated the mill between 1881 and 1886. The site includes a dam on Gap Creek and a simple earthen channel to deliver water to the mill. The pit for the water wheel is nine metres long and three metres deep, with a tail race connecting the wheel pit with the creek. Stone chimney mounds represent the remains of three dwellings on the site.
Peter Ah Sen’s Sawmill is of historical and archaeological significance to the State of Victoria.
Peter Ah Sen’s Sawmill is historically significant as the first and only sawmill site licensed to a Chinese-born person in Victoria. Peter Ah Sen was born in China around 1827. He emigrated to Australia at an unknown date and was among the first Chinese to arrive in Omeo. Ah Sen achieved success as a gold miner, hotel-keeper, sawmiller and storekeeper, and was headman in his local community. The site has the potential to provide significant information about the Chinese in the Omeo district in particular and in Victoria more generally.
Group
Forestry and Timber Industry
Category
Sawmill