St. Joseph’s Catholic Complex

St. Joseph’s Catholic Church complex comprising the church, presbytery, convent and school at 4 Guys Road, Korumburra is significant. 

St. Joseph’s Church, designed by P.J. O’Connor and opened on 10 December, 1939 is a substantial red brick Interwar Gothic church with a steeply pitched unglazed terracotta tile roof with ridge capping. The church also has a square buttressed tower with tall windows and rendered castellated parapet, and a gabled wing containing the sacristy and the octagonal apse. St. Joseph’s features stained glass lancet windows paired between brick buttresses and accent render around the windows to the buttresses, below the roofline and intricate decorations around entry. The main entry from the south includes a decorative architrave surmounted by a large three-part window with vertical tracery. The roof is lined with timber, supported by collar tie trusses and large fretted brackets.
St. Joseph's Presbytery, designed by Patrick Poer and opened in 1911, is a substantial red brick and render Federation bungalow with an unglazed half hipped terracotta tiled roof with projecting gables and a verandah on three sides. The terracotta roof includes ridge cresting and cross finials and the large corbelled and tabbed chimneys with terracotta pots. The verandah has substantial turned verandah posts with neck moulds and bracket capitals. The projecting gable has battened half-timbered gable ends and features single and paired timber sash windows which continue throughout the building. A foundation stone still features on the property.
The former Good Samaritan Convent, designed by Robert Harper and built in 1914, is a small, simple Federation domestic scale convent with red brick walls with an upper section frieze, an iron hip roof and a projecting gable distinguished by a blind Gothic bow window with an inset rendered cross below 'The Good Samaritan Convent' in rendered letters. To one side of the projecting gable is a low-pitched verandah supported by brick piers. The windows are timber frame sash and the doors have arched windows above three panels. The main entry has sidelights and highlights and the door to the left has a toplight only.
St Joseph's Catholic School, designed by Robert Harper and built in 1914, is a simple brick half hipped structure with symmetrical projecting gables to the east enclosing a straight verandah with turned posts and fret brackets. The northern end has a raised section (formerly a stage?) with a storage undercroft below. The roof is of unglazed terracotta tiles. 
Non-original alterations and additions and other buildings on the site are not significant.

St. Joseph’s Catholic Church complex, Korumburra, is of local historic, aesthetic and social significance to the South Gippsland Shire.

Historically, the complex demonstrates the development of St Joseph’s in the early twentieth century after it was elevated to Parish status. This scale of this complex demonstrates the status of Korumburra as a regional hub within South Gippsland. (Criterion A)
It is significant as a representative Catholic Parish centre based around a place of worship, with an associated residence, convent and school. The convent and school demonstrate the importance of education to the Catholic Church and the expansion of Catholic education in the early to mid-twentieth century. (Criterion D)
Aesthetically, St Joseph’s is the finest Interwar church in the Shire. It is notable for its substantial scale and fine detailing to both the exterior and interior, which reflects the skill of the architect, P.J. O’Connor. Situated on one of the highest points in Korumburra it is a prominent landmark. It is complemented by the presbytery, which is a fine example of a Federation bungalow with characteristic form and detailing including the dominant hipped roof and fine detailing to the verandah, gable ends and chimneys, and the convent and school, which collectively form a distinctive grouping. (Criterion E)
St Joseph’s has social value for its strong and enduring associations with the local community through its use as a church, school and parish centre, which has been a focal point of the Catholic congregation for up to 100 years. (Criterion G)