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Thatched Shed, Trotters Road, BANYENA

Location Trotters Road BANYENA, NORTHERN GRAMPIANS SHIRE Level Rec for other form of protection

[1/1] BA 09 - Shire of Northern

Statement of Significance

The thatched shed on the farm property is a rare survivor of a building technique used in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A group of thatched barns in the Wimmera were found to have been built in the period after the selection act of 1869 and before the arrival of the railway in 1879 however they continued to be built through to the twentieth century as they did not require the purchase or delivery of materials. They were typically made of three or more rows of columns, spaced according to the timbers available and made typically of grey box or bull oak. The columns were nearly always cut with a natural fork at the top to carry a beam and the beams were commonly of whole or split bull oak or of Murray pine from which the smaller branches were stripped. The roof pitch was typically a low 17½ degree pitch to avoid the straw sliding off but still adequate to shed rain. Often the straw was placed in its original sheaves and held down with wire netting which was weighted by tying on a log to hang just over the edge of the eave. This place retains many of the attributes of a characteristic place of its age and style. Further historical research and detailed site inspection may indicate that the place be considered for upgrading to local significance. Support for retention of the place should be given where possible.