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WANNON FALLS GATES & RESERVE

Location Glenelg Highway and Morgiana Road WANNON, Southern Grampians Shire File Number 148 Level Stage 2 study complete

[1/5] 23208 Wannon Falls [2/5] 23208 Wannon Falls memorial [3/5] 23208 Wannon Falls memorial [4/5] 23208 Wannon Falls Reserve [5/5] 23208 Wannon Falls Reserve

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
The Wannon Falls Reserve is located on the south side of the Henty Highway, about 18kms north-west of Hamilton where the highway crosses the Wannon river. The total area reserved is about 174 acres or 71 hectares and comprises bushland, some exotics and recreational facilities. Nearby is the township of Wannon, formerly called Redruth, which was established at a ford as a coaching stop. The Wannon Inn, now demolished, provided accommodation for visitors to the Falls from the 1840s. The Wannon Falls have been the consistent subject of significant art including works by some of Australia's most celebrated colonial artists, such as Nicholas Chevalier, Eugen von Guerard, Louis Buvelot, S. T. Gill and Thomas Clark. The township of Redruth and the Wannon Falls Reserve were gazetted in the mid 1860s. Much of the reserve was originally owned by local publican John Quigley. It has been managed jointly with the Nigretta Falls Reserve under a committee of management. The Reserve has been extended and developed over the years, with changes reflecting different values and fashions, including a Pine plantation for the local State School and football and cricket pitches. In the twentieth century there has been an emphasis on native plantings. The Reserve has a significant post-World War Two entrance incorporating large boomerangs on crazy-stone piers. Most recently, the facilities have been modernised with a contemporary concern for environmental values. The Reserve is substantially intact and in good condition.

How is it significant?
The Gates of the Wannon Falls Reserve are of historical, social and aesthetic significance to the Southern Grampians Shire. The Wannon Falls Reserve is a Significant Landscape, and should be included in the Southern Grampians Planning Scheme as a Significant Landscape Overlay.

Why is it significant?
The Wannon Falls Reserve is of historical significance as one of the earliest beauty spots and tourist destinations established in the Western District. It is of social significance as a recreation reserve. It is of aesthetic significance for its long association with Picturesque sensibility, the dominant aesthetic in colonial Victoria, which continued well into the twentieth century. It is the subject of much important and popular art. The Wannon Falls Reserve is of significance as a comparative pair with the nearby Nigretta Falls Reserve. The gates of the reserve are particuarly significant, as an important and dramatic entrance to a suitably dramatic reserve.