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WATT'S GARAGE

Location 65 Whyte Street, COLERAINE VIC 3315 - Property No 1028 File Number 1673 Level Stage 2 study complete

[1/1] 23482 Watt s Garage 65 Whyte

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
Watt's Garage is located on the south side of Whyte Street, in the centre of the township of Coleraine. Since the late 1850s it has operated as transport orientated commercial site, first as a blacksmith, possibly under a Mr. McLeod, and since about 1920, as a motor garage. The garage is a large, single storey brick building with a substantial cantilevered front verandah. The building is symmetrical about a wide central entrance and has shop fronts on either side. There is an important petrol vending machine surviving on the western pier of the facade. The main interior beyond the shop fronts is a large workshop with a metal trussed corrugated iron roof. There has been no architect or builder identified as being associated with the building. The building is in good condition with a very high degree of integrity.

How is it significant? Watt's garage is of historical significance to the southern Grampians Shire and to the township of Coleriane.

Why is it significant?
Watt's Garage is of historical significance for its demonstration of the sequence of development and adaptation on the site which has been associated with road transport from the mid-nineteenth century. It is of further historical significance for its association with the Stephen George Henty, of the pastoral pioneer Henty family, and for its long association with the Watt family. It is of further historical significance for the coin operated petroleum meter on the facade of the building, which is a very rare surviving example of a petrol meter at a garage. It provides us with evidence of a previous method of payment and service delivery.