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ELPHINSTONE RAILWAY PRECINCT

Other Name MURRAY VALLEY RAILLWAY, MELBOURNE TO ECHUCA Location PYRENEES HIGHWAY ELPHINSTONE, MOUNT ALEXANDER SHIRE File Number 607907 Level Registered

[1/3] ELPHINSTONE RAILWAY PRECINCT [2/3] 1 elphinstone railway precinct [3/3] H1782 H1782 plan

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
The Elphinstone railway precinct forms part of the Murray Valley Railway (Melbourne to Echuca line). Opened in five stages from February 1859 to September 1864, the Murray Valley Railway was the largest of the Colony's first two main trunk lines. The inability of the lines original private promoters - the Melbourne, Mount Alexander and Murray River Company - to raise sufficient funds to construct the line, led to the government purchasing the company and embracing a public railway system. The Government's decision to construct the line in 1856 was accompanied by the formation of the Victorian Railways Department. The building of the line during the early 1860s reflected the strategic economic issues of the day: servicing the important goldfields of Castlemaine and Bendigo, and capturing the Murray River and Riverina trade for the Port of Melbourne. With a labour force of more than 6,000 men, the Melbourne to Echuca line was the Colony's largest capital works project of its time. The line is still used today for public transport and freight services and comprises a very large number of structures and facilities of varying ages, conditions and degrees of operational and business significance.

How is it significant?
The Elphinstone railway precinct is of historical and scientific importance to the State of Victoria.

Why is it significant?
The Elphinstone railway precinct (comprising the Elphinstone tunnel, eight culverts, one rail-underbridge, one large dam, a deep cutting and several high and lengthy embankments) is historically, archaeologically and scientifically significant as an integral part of the railway line and is an important representative sample of one of the earliest and grandest capital works projects in Victorian history. The identified features comprising the precinct are all substantially intact and provide a crucial reminder of the adoption of English engineering and architectural standards and the role of the Victorian Railway Department in developing the Colony's engineering expertise.

The Elphinstone tunnel is also very significant as an one the largest construction undertakings on the line, involving a 385 metre tunnel, 18,500 cubic feet of masonry, 65,000 cubic yards of brick work, and excavation of what was then the deepest cutting in Victoria. The eight culverts, bridge, dam and high embankments are excellent examples of the range of materials, building techniques and design types used on the Kyneton to Bendigo section of the line. The precinct also has the potential to contain buried evidence of the huge workers camp that accommodated the massive workforce undertaking the major works.

The Elphinstone railway precinct makes an important contribution in defining the character of the Victorian railway network.