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Ballarat School Of Mines System Garden

Other Name

Allotment 9A, Section Ixa, Parish Of Ballarat, County Of Grenville

Location

Lydiard Street, BALLARAT VIC 3350 - Property No G13138

File Number

G13138

Level

State

Statement of Significance

The former Ballarat School of Mines (now Ballarat University) is an institution of great historical significance for its role in mining education in one of Victoria's most important mining centres. The site has been developed over many years and includes many significant buildings, including the former Wesleyan Church (1858), former gaol (1859-63), former Supreme Court (1868), Administration building (1899), Arts Building (1914-16) and former plumbing and wiring classrooms (1918-19).

The former Ballarat School of Mines System Garden, established in 1879 for use in conjunction with the teaching of pharmacy and botany and as a small botanic garden, modified c.1899-1919 when the new school buildings were erected, and maintained as a courtyard garden as part of the current Ballarat University campus, is of cultural significance:

- historically (at a state level), as one of very few system gardens developed in Victoria; the only other known examples were at the Melbourne Botanic Gardens (1857 - now destroyed) and the University of Melbourne (1856-75, substantially altered);

- for the manner in which it influenced the layout and development of the Ballarat School of Mines, and for the manner in which the current garden recalls the original need for a garden in connection with teaching; this school was a product of the quest for technical education following the consolidation of Victoria's gold rush into a stable phase of mining development based on large scale company mining rather than the serendipitous adventures of individual miners;

- for its complementary role as part of Ballarat's outstanding network of public gardens and for the way in which its demonstrates the confidence shown, especially in the nineteenth century, by Ballarat's citizens in their city; and

- for its aesthetic qualities which derive from the steeply sloping terrain (and consequent use of terracing and steps), compact and constricted site, layout with steps and cross paths, mature trees (such as the Norfolk Island Pine, Canary Island Date Palm, Weeping Elm, cordylines and tree ferns) and vistas across the Yarrowee Creek valley and up the escarpment to the early School of Mines buildings.

Classified:12/12/`1995

See also: B284

Group

Parks, Gardens and Trees