BUTCHER'S SHOP

The butcher's shop at number 138 High Street, Kangaroo Flat is a small single-storey brick building with a prominent parapet. The parapet has a dogs tooth cornice and curved pediment, stepped in a reverse 'S' profile down to the side walls. Extensive works were carried out to the shop frontage in the 1940s or '50s, including the renewal of the shop front, incorporating a chromium-plated trim. The brickwork to the High Street facade has also been overpainted. The cantilever awning is an addition, being anchored to the lower parapet by two capped I-girders. At the rear, the building has been extended, and has a low pitched roof clad in corrugated galvanised steel covering two parallel wings toward the backyard. These have asbestos-cement sheet walls and timber-framed windows, being probably of similar age to the shop front renewal (1940s or '50s). 

The butcher's shop at Kangaroo Flat is of local historical and social significance.

The butcher's shop at number 138 High Street, Kangaroo Flat (built 1882) is historically significant (Criterion A) as the first butcher's shop in Kangaroo Flat, and for its ability to recall the late-nineteenth century development of Kangaroo Flat. The shop, which remains in use for its original intended purpose, was established by William Sparks Petherick, who was also a successful harness racing horse owner and trainer. It is believed that Petherick paid for the construction of his nearby house Bonhaven (KF11) from the winnings of the champion trotter Glideaway. 

The butcher's shop at 138 High Street, Kangaroo Flat was later taken over by his sons, and remained in the Petherwick family until the 1950s. The butcher's shop is of local social significance (Criterion G) as a commercial property that has been used for its original purpose for over since construction in 1882. Its social significance is enhanced by its location on Kangaroo Flat's main retail strip. 

In its general scale, proportions and restrained decorative detail the butcher's shop at 138 High Street, Kangaroo Flat is typical of many similar nineteenth (and early) twentieth century, single-storey and single-fronted retail/commercial buildings in Victoria (Criterion D).