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KYNETON RAILWAY STATION COMPLEX

Location 1 MOLLISON STREET KYNETON, MACEDON RANGES SHIRE File Number 13/008673-01 Level Registered

[1/13] KYNETON RAILWAY STATION [2/13] KYNETON RAILWAY STATION [3/13] KYNETON RAILWAY STATION [4/13] KYNETON RAILWAY STATION [5/13] KYNETON RAILWAY STATION [6/13] KYNETON RAILWAY STATION [7/13] KYNETON RAILWAY STATION [8/13] KYNETON RAILWAY STATION [9/13] Railway Station Goods Shed & [10/13] Kyneton Station North View [11/13] railway station goods shed & [12/13] railway station goods shed & [13/13] kyneton railway station plan

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
Kyneton Railway Station, Goods Shed and Water Tower were constructed in 1862 by W. Murray (upside building) and R Turnbull & Co. (downside building), on the Melbourne-Echuca Line, for the Victorian Railways. The complex comprises an upside basalt station building, with a slate roof, which includes former refreshment rooms, purveyors and stationmaster's residences and office/passenger facilities. The downside basalt building consists of a former refreshment room, passenger/office facilities and adjoining six door goods shed. The water tower structure consists of a 20,000 gallon, riveted, iron water tank on a square basalt base with round arched openings with string course and quoining. Other structures include a timber signal box and basalt faced platforms.

How is it significant?
Kyneton Railway Station, Goods Shed and Water Tower are historically and architecturally significant to the State of Victoria.

Why is it significant?
The Kyneton Railway Station Goods Shed and Water Tower are historically significant, being among the earliest railway buildings to be built in Victoria. Built during the period of the 'main trunk lines', c.1857 - c.1869, these were the formative years of railway development in Victoria. The water tower at Kyneton Railway Station is historically significant as an important reminder of the steam railway era.

Kyneton Railway Station complex is architecturally significant as the largest surviving example of basalt railway station facilities on the network. A member of the 'Carlsruhe' style of railway station buildings, a group of stylistically similar buildings, Kyneton is unusual for the large size of the complex. The 'Carlsruhe' style was a direct derivation of the 'English style'; a type of railway station design common in England in the 1840s and 1850s, based on classically derived planning principles and details. The 'Carlsruhe' style was the first standard design developed by the Railways Department, and is further characterised by the architectural composition of all the buildings on the site as a cohesive whole, with the principal buildings commonly constructed of basalt. Kyneton Railway Station buildings are architecturally significant also for their demonstration of fine stonemasons' workmanship of the mid-nineteenth century.