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Outlet Tower, Stony Creek No.1 Reservoir

Location DURDIDWARRAH VIC 3342 - Property No B7048 File Number B7048 Level State

[1/1] B7048 Outlet Tower

Statement of Significance

The Stony Creek No.1 Reservoir Outlet Tower, built 1869-1870, is of architectural, historical, and scientific (technical) significance at the State level.
Aesthetically and architecturally, it is significant as a large, early and rare pre-fabricated cast-iron structure. It is also a rare structure in terms of its functional type, and its lighthouse-like form. The octagonal plan, and particularly the ornamental gazebo-like appearance of the winch room, with its ogee profile roof, are particularly notable elements.
Historically, it is an intact major component of an early dam in Victoria. It is an original part of the first major water supply scheme built to serve the major city of Geelong. It was designed by Henry O. Christopherson, the Victorian Engineer in Chief of Water Supply. The pre-fabricated cast-iron outlet tower and works were manufactured by the important colonial engineering works Langlands Foundry Co.Ltd. This company traced its origins to the company established by Robert Langlands and Thomas Fulton in Melbourne in 1842. The Langlands' company progressed from manufacturing agricultural equipment and drays, to flourishing as a manufacturer of railway locomotives and equipment, mining machinery, and cast-iron pipes for Melbourne's water supply system.
Technically, the Outlet Tower would appear to be a rare, perhaps unique, example of a reservoir outlet tower constructed of cast-iron in Victoria. The manufacture of a large prefabricated iron structure in Melbourne is a imposing testament to the development of engineering in Victoria by the late 1860s.
Classified: 03/07/2000