Back to search results »

Back to search page »

Former Railway Goods Shed

Location Railway Place, Off Bank Street,, PORT FAIRY VIC 3284 - Property No B7207 File Number B7207 Level State

[1/2] B7207 Railway Goods Shed [2/2] B7207 Railway Goods Shed

Statement of Significance

What is significant? The Railway Goods Shed, located in the Railway Reserve between Regent and Bank Street, Port Fairy , was constructed under contact by Mr. W. Blackwood in 1890 during construction of the Warrnambool to Port Fairy railway. It is aligned at an angle reflecting the original line of the tracks. It complemented the Railway Station, demolished after the closure of the line in the 1970s when the entire railway infrastructure was also removed. The stationmaster's residence survives on a separate title. The goods shed is a standard 20ft wide Victorian Railways late nineteenth century design, built of heavy timber framing, clad with unpainted corrugated iron on the walls. The original corrugated iron roof and stormwater drainage system has been replaced by unpainted corrugated asbestos cement sheets and plumbing. Timber trims and details are painted. Six large timber sliding doors along each side of the building provided easy access for loading and unloading goods. The platforms are sheltered by substantial overhanging eaves. Apart from minor signalling some distance to the north, now on private land, and a storage shed located on the Port Fairy wharf, the Railway Goods Shed is the only infrastructure remaining of the terminus of the Melbourne to Port Fairy line via Warrnambool and Koroit. In its day, the railway represented an important form of transport to and from Port Fairy, both for passengers and cargo. In the past, the shed was critical for the transport of local fish and wool. The building survives with an excellent degree of integrity and its condition is generally good but some localised parts of the fabric are in poor condition.
How is it significant? The Railway Goods Shed is significant for historic, social, and architectural reasons at the State level.
Why is it significant? The Railway Goods Shed is historically significant as a potent historical landmark that is the last substantial evidence of the terminus of the important and much anticipated railway built from Melbourne to Port Fairy via Warrnambool and Koroit. It also reflects the construction of regional railways which linked the competing Victorian Western District ports to the hinterland, and the subsequent competition between the Victoria Railways and coastal shipping.
It is of social significance as a reminder of past commercial activity associated with railway transport and a particular way of life now lost.
It is of architectural significance as the best surviving large example of a Victorian Railways standard 20 ft wide, timber framed, corrugated iron clad goods shed constructed throughout Victoria during the rapid expansion of the railway system between 1876 and 1907. It demonstrates the architectural high-point in corrugated galvanised iron sheds designed by the Victorian Railways; a design that balanced the need for an economical, functional building while retaining pleasant aesthetic qualities not found in subsequent designs. Three characteristics of this industrial style shed contribute strongly to its aesthetic qualities;
(1) the geometric nature and symmetry of the design based on rectangles and triangles created by the gabled roof cantilevered over the loading platforms along both sides of the shed;
(2), the visual strengthening of the underlying structural geometry by the exposed painted timber elements of the frame, battens, doors and ventilators, enhanced by the diagonal metal supports under the eaves; and
(3), the repetitive pattern formed by the alternation of unpainted iron wall panels and painted wooden doors along the sides. The Port Fairy goods shed demonstrates better than any other shed of its type today, the impressive appearance of a long shed both externally and internally, created by the visually enhanced repetitive geometric patterns resulting from the standardised modular nature of the structural design. Three larger sheds of the same type survive at Warrnambool, Bairnsdale and Horsham, but these are highly modified, particularly the first two which bear little resemblance to their original design.
Classified: 10/11/2003