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Railway Station - Coburg

Location Victoria Street,, COBURG VIC 3058 - Property No B4932 File Number B4932 Level File only

[1/1] B4932 Coburg Railway Station

Statement of Significance

Coburg Railway Station is part of the Upfield Railway Line Classified 22.5.89 (File Number 5973) Upfield Railway Line Statement of Significance: The Upfield railway line was opened in 1884 to provide transport for the predominantly industrial and working class northern suburbs of Melbourne. Established industries such as the brickworks and potteries took advantage of the line by constructing sidings to their works. Hoffman's brickworks, Cornwell's pottery, Miller's ropeworks and Coburg grain sheds, all of which are significant in their own right, prospered in part thanks to the railway. This line is intrinsically connected to the financial and building boom of the 1880s and was built as a consequence of the railway construction bills known as the "Octopus Acts" which facilitated much of the speculation and housing development in Melbourne's suburbs.
While most suburban lines have been modified and updated, the Upfield line retains a unique collection of hand and wheel operated railway gates, and their associated buildings and installations, reflecting a safe working procedure more typical of the nineteenth rather than the twentieth century. These include the biggest group of hand operated gates and gate-keepers cabins in Victoria.
The original stations on the line - Jewell (originally South Brunswick), Brunswick, Moreland and Coburg - are built of brick in a late Victorian Gothic style to a similar, standard plan. Although other examples of the plan exist (eg Maldon) this grouping of four in such close proximity is unique adding a cohesion to the precinct.
The classified precinct is from Park Street to Coburg Station and includes the four stations, as well as gates, gatehouses, signal boxes, foot bridges and other railway structures as marked on the accompanying sketch plan.