HEATHCOTE PRECINCT

The Heathcote Precinct comprising both sides of High Street (McIvor Highway), between Jennings and Mitchell Streets and including the former Barracks Reserve and the Government Camp is significant. It includes representative groups of houses on one side of Wright Street and in Playne Street. Within the precinct there are a number of key buildings that have individual citations. The trees on Barracks Reserve, believed to be c.1880, including Ulmus procera x hollandica (Dutch Elm), Pinus radiata (Monterey Pine), Quercus robusta (English Oak), Eucalyptus botrioides (Southern Mahogany) or Melliodra (Yellow Box), Credus deodara (Deodar Cedar), Pinus canariensis (Canary Island Pine), Cupressus lusitanica (Mexican White Cedar), Cedrus libani (Cedar of Lebanon), and Arbutus unedo (Irish Strawberry Tree) are also significant. 

The Heathcote precinct is of local historic, aesthetic, scientific and social significance to the City of Greater Bendigo.

The Heathcote precinct includes places associated with the major historic themes including the government camp that initially demonstrates the role of government regulations associated with gold mining, and then later with the establishment of local government. High Street includes places associated with agricultural industries and later commercial activity derived from agriculture. High Street also contains the key buildings for recreation, education and religious worship, as well as a number of private residences. It also contains a number of contributory residential and commercial buildings that provide a context for the key buildings. The Barracks Reserve trees are historically significant as a reminder of early recreation activities in Heathcote. Criterion A

Heathcote contains a number of buildings associated with the establishment and continuation of government activities. The Government Surveyor's office of 1853 by James Crowle is the earliest example of government buildings in Heathcote, and this was continued with the establishment of the Government Camp containing the hospital, police station and the second lock up. The powder magazine provides evidence of government regulation associated with mining as it served the purpose of safely storing explosives necessary for deep lead mining. The further development of government activities is demonstrated by the council offices and courthouse of 1863 for the newly constituted Shire of McIvor. Criterion A

Heathcote contains evidence of gold mining sites and mining technologies that provided the impetus for the growth of the town, initially from the alluvial gold mining along the McIvor Creek and the later gold sluicing operations at Pink Cliffs immediately to the west of the town in the 1860s.Although not in the Heathcote precinct, Pink Cliffs gold sluicing site and Sawpit Gully gold puddling sites are of scientific significance in understanding different mining technologies as they evolved in trying to extract gold from clay. Criterion F

Heathcote contains examples of buildings that demonstrate the town's links with agriculture of the region. This is best demonstrated by the former Christie's flour mill built by James Crowle, and several large stone stores in High Street. High St contains a number of examples of commercial buildings with distinctive in their design with splayed corners, such as 72 and 105 High Street. High Street presents an intact commercial streetscape of the late nineteenth century. The streetscape consists of a line of shops and a group of basically intact nineteenth century public buildings (Heathcote Hall, McIvor Shire Offices, Court House, Commercial Bank, Wesley Uniting Church and Post Office). Very few streetscapes in Victoria possess such continuity of scale and setback with a number of nineteenth century shopfronts and posted verandahs. The Heathcote precinct also contains examples of a variety of housing styles including small timber and masonry cottages and larger houses from the later nineteenth and early twentieth century. There are representative examples of Victorian, Edwardian and Inter War housing. Criterion D

The Heathcote Precinct is associated with Government Surveyor Philip Chauncey and with stonemasons and builders James and John Crowle and with Dr. Alfred Esler, a renowned surgeon who resided at Helenslee. Criterion H