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HO93 - Melton South Railway Station

Other Names

Formerly Melton Railway Station, Exford Railway Station , Brooklyn Road, Melton South

Location

Brooklyn Road MELTON SOUTH, Melton Shire

File Number

245

Level

Included in Heritage Overlay

[1/4]
Station
[2/4]
Station
[3/4]
Station
[4/4]
Station

Statement of Significance

The Melton South Railway Station (including the station building, signal boxes and platforms), Brooklyn Road Melton South, is significant as a rare and moderately intact example of the 'Kaniva' style of railway stations of the late nineteenth century for the extension of the western railway to the South Australian border. Originally built in the town of Leeor in 1898, the station building was relocated to Melton South in 1898. The station represents the origin of the township of Melton South, and in particular its former timber and chaff mill industries.

The Melton South Railway Station is architecturally significant at a LOCAL level (AHC D.2). It demonstrates original design qualities of the Victorian 'Kaniva' style of railway station buildings. These qualities include the hipped roof form clad in galvanised corrugated steel, single storey height, horizontal timber weatherboard wall cladding, rendered brick chimney with multi-corbelled top, timber framed double hung windows and timber framed door openings, narrow eaves and the broad skillion post-supported verandahs on the road and platform facades. The bitumen platform and the signal boxes also contribute to the significance of the place.

Melton is the oldest of only two remaining Kaniva type stations, a type that was built for the Western (Adelaide) Line. Further, it is the only Kaniva type station to remain in operation as a railway station.

The Melton South Railway Station is historically significant at a LOCAL level (AHC A4) as the first stage of the direct Melbourne to Ballarat railway, whose opening in 1884 was attended by dignitaries including the Victorian Premier (Duncan Gillies), Minister for Railways (Alfred Deakin), Solicitor General (James Balfour), and the Sir William Clarke MLC. It was an important new development in the Melton district, which facilitated the development of a number of industries in the area, notably timber and chaff milling, and general rural and town growth. In particular it was the cradle of the township of Melton South. Its central role in the establishment and early community life of this hamlet is illustrated by the operation of a post office from the station in the period 1891 to 1918, and in the name of the area's primary school (1911) as the 'Melton Railway School'. The station is one of very few extant early buildings in Melton South and one of only two surviving Melton South public building (the other being the 1923/25 brick school building). It is also also significant for its unusual origins, being transported from the small western town of Leeor in 1898, and completed in 1900.

Overall, the Melton South Railway Station is of LOCAL significance.

Group

Transport - Rail