GREENSBOROUGH STATION MASTER'S RESIDENCE

If preserved beneath the asphalt car park surface, significant remains of the former Station Master's house may include house footings and associated features, deposits of historical artefacts, and remains of other associated features, such as outbuildings, sheds, and possibly cesspit deposits.

The Station Master’s House at Greensborough Railway Station is significant because of its association with the earliest years of the station’s daily operations. Any archaeological remains have the potential to provide valuable insight into the development of public transportation to the area, as well as into the daily life of the Station Master and his family over a period of approximately 60 years duration.

The Station Master’s Residence at Greensborough Railway Station meets two of the themes in the Victorian Framework of Historical Themes: 3.3 Connecting Victorians by Transport and Communications – Linking Victorians by Rail and 6.3 Building Towns, Cities and the Garden State - Shaping the Suburbs (Heritage Council of Victoria 2009). 

Theme 3.3 Connecting Victorians by Transport and Communications – Linking Victorians by Rail. The Station Master’s Residence is representative of the mass construction of housing for Station Masters across Victoria in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which was considered a necessity to keep Victoria’s railway system functioning. Station Masters were deemed the ‘front line soldiers’ of the Victorian railway system by Harold Clapp, Chairman of the Comissioners of Victorian Railways (Lee 2004, p. 154). As a former residential dwelling, the site has the potential to provide information about the nature of early 20th century domestic life in Greensborough, especially the life of the Station Master and their family. The site may also possess social values for Greensboroughresidents as the Station Master was often a noteworthy figure in the local community (Old Treasury Building Museum 2022). 

Theme 6.3 Building towns, Cities and the Garden State - Shaping the Suburbs. The location of the Station Master’s Residence would have made the site a prominent landmark in Greensborough, located as it was close to the station itself. The construction of the Station Master’s Residence, and of the station, would have a direct influence on the accelerating growth of Greensborough, which was stimulated by the construction and electrification of the railway.