Back to search results »

Back to search page »

STOCK SELLING RING

Other Name CASTERTON SALE YARDS, THE CORPORATION SALEYARDS Location Saleyard Road,CASTERTON, Glenelg Shire Level Included in Heritage Overlay

[1/1] 52408 Cattle Selling Ring

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
The Casterton Stock Selling Ring Building is located in the municipal sale yards off Saleyards Road about one kilometre south of the town centre on the floodplain of the Wannon River. It is surrounded by extensive newer fenced yards. The building probably dates from the early 1920s when the new municipal sale yards were opened. There had been a steadily increasing but frustrated demand for better, larger, publicly owned yards away from the town centre. Typically, the regular stock sales became an important social event when sellers and buyers mix with their agents. The building is notable for its octagonal plan and traditional form with its suggestion of mediaeval vernacular building types reinforced by its sturdy construction and detailing in local timbers. The central (internal) octagonal ring is surrounded by a fence of timber planks 1.2m high subsequently increased by steel rails to prevent animals escaping. Rough timber benches in tiers surround the internal ring on five sides, the other three remaining open. An auctioneer's box is positioned in the middle of the three open sides, while gates on either side provide access and egress to the yards. Importantly, a monitor roof supported on posts at each corner of the ring and with glazing on all of its eight sides provides excellent light for the selling of stock. Stock agents could contact sellers and buyers by means of a phone in the surviving red phone box. The building was only used for selling bulls or pedigree cows and, sometimes, for selling horses. The building was almost certainly designed by the long serving Shire Engineer, Claude Alexander Mickle and built by local contractors, John and Ernest Spurrell. Although apparently once common, this may be one of the few surviving examples of such a stock selling ring. It can be contrasted with the Wimmera Stock Bazaar which is rectangular in plan, later in construction, grander in style and used more for the sale of horses. The building retains a very high degree of integrity and is in good condition. It is no longer used for selling stock.

How is it significant?
The Casterton Stock Selling Ring is of historical and architectural significance to the State of Victoria.

Why is it significant?
The Casterton Stock Selling Ring is of historical significance for its association with the sale of animals in the further Western District, especially reflecting the increasing market of the selection and closer settlement periods and the post-War prosperity of the 1920s. The selling ring demonstrates the importance of Casterton as a source of quality breeding stock for the pastoral industry.

The Casterton Stock Selling Ring is of architectural significance for its traditional, possibly mediaeval octagonal form, for its monitor roof to provide good lighting and its vernacular construction and detailing.

It is significant as an excellent representative example of a building type once common in the State of Victoria and as a comparison to larger, grander stock bazaars which adopted a rectangular or basilica form.