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LIME-BURNING KILN

Location PRINCES HIGHWAY AND 110 LEMINS ROAD (REAR) WAURN PONDS, GREATER GEELONG CITY File Number HER/2003/000200 Level Registered

[1/4] LIME-BURNING KILN SOHE 2008 [2/4] LIME-BURNING KILN SOHE 2008 [3/4] 1 lime burning kiln waurn [4/4] H0866 h0866 plan

Statement of Significance

SOURCE: REPORT TO MINISTER

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

LIME BURNING WAS CARRIED ON FROM ABOUT 1835 ON THE NEPEAN PENINSULA AND AT
LIMEBURNERS POINT GEELONG, WHILE THE INDUSTRY PROVIDED THE BASIS FOR
SETTLEMENT AT PORTSEA, RYE AND SORRENTO. FROM THE 1860S LIMEBURNING CAME TO BE
CONDUCTED ON A MORE PROFESSIONAL BASIS. LARGER AND MORE SUBSTANTIAL KILNS WERE
BUILT AND IT IS THE REMAINS OF THESE WHICH COMPRISE THE BULK OF THAT WHICH
SURVIVES OF NINETEENTH CENTURY LIMEBURNING BUSINESSES.

THE WAURN PONDS KILN IS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN BUILT IN 1882 IN AN AREA NOTED
FOR LIME PRODUCTION AND QUARRYING ACTIVITIES. IT WAS KNOWN FIRST AS
HOLDSWORTH'S KILN AND LATER AS MCCANN'S LIME KILN.

THE MCCANN FAMILY AND NOTABLY, NICHOLAS MCCANN, THE CELEBRATED STONEMASON,
ENTREPRENEUR AND QUARRYMAN, AND HIS SON, PETER, PLAYED A SPECIAL ROLE IN
VICTORIA'S LIME INDUSTRY AND BUILDING TRADE. PETER MCCANN WAS BORN IN
PARRAMATTA, NEW SOUTH WALES, AND CAME TO VICTORIA IN 1837. IN 1844 HIS FATHER,
NICHOLAS, OPENED A QUARRY UNDER THE NAME OF MCCANN AND SONS AT HIS PROPERTY,
FAIRVIEW FARM, AT CERES. IT WAS REPUTED TO HAVE GIVEN A VERY GOOD QUALITY
FREESTONE. WITH THE HELP OF HIS SON, PETER, MCCANN AND SONS PROVIDED STONE FOR
ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL AND WESLEY COLLEGE IN MELBOURNE AS WELL AS BUILDINGS IN
MANY OTHER PARTS OF THE COLONY. PETER MCCANN WAS THE OWNER OF THE CELEBRATED
WAURN PONDS QUARRIES. HE ALSO OWNED A QUARRY AT BATESFORD. PETER MCCANN WAS AN
IMPORTANT CERES CITIZEN, A MEMBER OF THE LOCAL ROAD BOARD AND A JUSTICE OF THE
PEACE.

THE MCCANN FAMILY WAS ASSOCIATED WITH LIMEBURNING ACTIVITIES AT FYANSFORD,
BATESFORD AND WAURN PONDS. DURING THE 1880S, LIME PRODUCED FROM KILNS AT LARA
AND WAURN PONDS WAS CONSIDERED SUPERIOR FOR BUILDING PURPOSES TO THAT FROM
LIMEBURNERS POINT. TODAY, NO LIME KILNS SURVIVE AT LARA. THE WAURN PONDS LIME
KILNS OPERATED UNTIL THE 1970S. THE EXTANT KILN SURVIVES, ALTHOUGH COVERED BY
OVERBURDEN FROM ADJACENT QUARRYING OPERATIONS CARRIED OUT BY CR WILTSHIRE, WHO
OWNS BOTH THE PRESENT QUARRY AND THE OLD KILN.

THE WAURN PONDS LIME KILN IS OF STATE IMPORTANCE FOR A NUMBER OF REASONS:

THE KILN IS AN IMPORTANT SURVIVING INDUSTRIAL STRUCTURE IN AN AREA NOTED FOR
LIME PRODUCTION AND QUARRYING ACTIVITIES. FROM THE 1880S, WHEN IT WAS BUILT,
LIME PRODUCED BY KILNS AT WAURN PONDS AND LARA WAS CONSIDERED SUPERIOR TO THAT
OF LIMEBURNERS POINT FOR BUILDING CONSTRUCTION IN THE WESTERN DISTRICT.

THE WAURN PONDS KILN IS ONE OF A VERY FEW SURVIVING 19TH CENTURY VICTORIAN
KILNS, IT IS RELATIVELY INTACT AND DATES FROM A MOST IMPORTANT PERIOD IN THE
HISTORY OF THE LIME INDUSTRY. ONLY SEVEN SURVIVING KILN SITES HAVE BEEN
POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED, TWO OF WHICH (FOSSIL BEACH AND FYANSFORD) CONTAIN
RELICS ONLY, AND ONE OF WHICH (LIMEBURNERS POINT, GEELONG) CONTAINS FOUR KILNS
IN VARYING STAGES OF DERELICTION.

THE BRICK WAURN PONDS KILN IS AN EXAMPLE OF TRADITIONAL 19TH CENTURY
TECHNOLOGY USED IN THE LIMEBURNING INDUSTRY IN VICTORIA. IT IS OF PARAMOUNT
IMPORTANCE TO INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY IN VICTORIA.

IT IS OF HISTORIC IMPORTANCE FOR ITS ASSOCIATIONS WITH THE NOTABLE MCCANN
FAMILY, WHICH FROM THE LATE 1830S PLAYED A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN THE QUARRYING,
LIMEBURNING AND BUILDING TRADES IN THE WESTERN DISTRICT, IN MELBOURNE AND,
INDEED, THROUGHOUT VICTORIA.