CITY OF GREATER SHEPPARTON HERITAGE STUDY STAGE II HERITAGE PLACE DATASHEETS Ossario, Murchison Cemetery (HO64) VOLUME 4 DATASHEETS Murchison -Z CITY OF GREATER SHEPPARTON HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 11 HERITAGE PLACE DATASHEETS VOLUME 4 DATASHEETS Murchison-Z Allom Lovell & Associates Conservation Architects 35 Little Bourke Street Melbourne 3000 February 2004 This report is Volume 4 of a six-volume set, comprising: Volume 1 Introduction and Recommendations Volume 2 Environmental History Volume 3 Heritage Place Datasheets: A-Mooroopna Volume 4 Heritage Place Datasheets: Murchison –Z Volume 5 Heritage Overlay Precincts Volume 6 Heritage Place Datasheets: Log Structures and Scotch Kiln City of Greater Shepparton Heritage Study Stage Two DATASHEETS MURCHISON-Z Allom Lovell & Associates 5 City of Greater Shepparton Heritage Study Stage Two 6 Allom Lovell & Associates City of Greater Shepparton Heritage Study Stage Two Current Name Prisoner of War Camp No. 1 Reference No. 58 (HO55) Former Name Grade A Address Camp Road, Murchison Construction Date 1940 Map Reference Ownership Survey Date August 2002 Intactness Condition Good Fair 9 Poor Good Fair 9 Poor Heritage Listings Curtilage Maintain a curtilage as per the Heritage Victoria nomination form for the site. Existing Existing Recommended VHR 9 RNE 9 Planning Scheme 9 National Trust (Vic) Allom Lovell & Associates 7 City of Greater Shepparton Heritage Study Stage Two History Financed by Great Britain and administered by the Australian Army, there were 19 prisoner of war camps established throughout Australia during World War Two, where approximately 25,720 prisoners of war were held. The Tatura group of camps held approximately 12,000-13,000 men, women and children of 23 nationalities, both prisoners and internees. Compound A, Camp No. 1 was established in 1940 on land owned by John B Noonan near the Waranga Basin Inlet. Sixty three German internees were transferred 5km from ‘Dhurringile’ to the camp containing 14 huts, two mess halls, and open wash house, shower room and latrine. One hut was used as an orderly room and another, the temporary camp hospital. By 1943 sanitation was connected and the camp became the Australian Army Administration Camp and Hospital. Later additions and amenities were established, including lush stone-terraced gardens. The Germans were also joined there by Italians. Compound B was later established to the east when 640 local German internees were transferred from across Australia. Following Germany’ surrender in 1945, the camps were decommissioned and by 1948 all buildings had been removed. Description The flowing description is based on the Heritage Victoria nomination form for the place. Little remains in terms of above ground structures at the Prisoner of War Camp No. 1, Camp Road, Murchison, all buildings having been removed or demolished following the closure of the camp. The site now only contains various concrete foundations, timber posts and stumps, remnants of stone walling, fencing wire, coils of barbed wire and garden bed remnants. In addition there are the remnants of the concrete skittle alley, a tennis rebound wall, tennis court and a stone gateway at the entrance. Thematic Context Thematic Environmental History 13.0 Internment Australian Heritage Commission 7.6 Administering Australia 7.7 Defending Australia Significance Prisoner of War Camp No. 1, Camp Road, Murchison is of state historical significance. Constructed in 1940, the remains of Camp No. 1 demonstrate the importance and scale of the internment operations of the Tatura group of camps to the Australian War effort. References Joyce Hammond. Walls of Wire. Heritage Victoria file. Recommendations • Further investigation should be carried out into the significance of this place. • Recording of remaining structures and archaeological investigations should be undertaken. Identified By SOMA Design Partnership, June 2001. 8 Allom Lovell & Associates City of Greater Shepparton Heritage Study Stage Two Current Name Murchison East Railway Station Reference No. 59 (HO56) Former Name Grade B Address Cassidys Road, Murchison East Construction Date 1881 Map Reference Ownership VicTrack Survey Date August 2002 Intactness Condition 9 Good Fair Poor Good 9 Fair Poor Heritage Listings Existing Existing Recommended VHR RNE Planning Scheme 9 National Trust (Vic) Allom Lovell & Associates 9 City of Greater Shepparton Heritage Study Stage Two History In June 1874 a deputation had waited on the Minister for Railways to agitate for a line from Avenel to Murchison. A railway survey party commenced work in the same year, however it took three years to reach a point 1½ miles (2.4 kilometres) from Murchison. A contract was signed in February 1879 and by November the line had been completed to Murchison East. It was ready for use in January 1880, at which time it was also extended to Shepparton. The contract for the station building at Murchison East was awarded to builders Pritchard and Blackwood on 11 February 1881. Description The Murchison East Railway Station, Cassidys Road, comprises a single-storey weatherboard station building on a L-shaped plan with a gabled roof clad in corrugated galvanised steel, which is punctuated by three rendered brick chimneys with moulded caps. The platform side and southern end are screened by a skillion-roofed return verandah supported on timber posts with timber lining boards to the gable ends. The verandah has a central timber-framed segmental pediment. The main elevation of the station contains three single door openings with 4-panelled timber doors and moulded architraves and two timber-framed double-hung sash windows. Most openings have been sheeted over. A large opening in the north end contains a non-original steel roller shutter in place of the original chimney. Adjacent to the station building are the signal levers, a cast iron lamp standard with modern luminaire and recent prefabricated steel shed. To the west of the building is a line of mature Pepper trees (Schinus molle). Thematic Context Thematic Environmental History 6.3 Railways Australian Heritage Commission 3.6 Establishing lines and networks of communication 3.7 Moving goods and people Significance The Murchison East Railway Station, Cassidys Road, Murchison East, is of local historical and aesthetic significance. As one of the few remaining structures associated with the Murchison East railway complex, it provides evidence of the expansion of the railway into the Goulburn Valley region in the late nineteenth century. Aesthetically, it is a modest, yet substantially intact, example of a small regional weatherboard Victorian station. References William Bossence. Murchison, p. 75-80. Miles Lewis. Australian Architectural Index. Recommendations • Reconstruct missing and conserve original doors and windows • Preferably remove steel roller door and reconstruct missing chimney to north elevation • Rationalise surface mounted services and lighting • Investigate original external paint scheme • The trees should be assessed on a 1 to 2 year basis by a qualified arborist. Identified By SOMA Design Partnership, June 2001. 10 Allom Lovell & Associates City of Greater Shepparton Heritage Study Stage Two Current Name Prisoner of War Camp No. 13 Reference No. 60 (HO57) Former Name Grade A Address Crawford Road, Murchison Construction Date 1941 Map Reference Ownership Entrance gates German Memorial Gaol Italian Memorial Survey Date August 2002 Intactness Condition Good Fair 9 Poor Good Fair 9 Poor Heritage Listings Curtilage Existing Existing Recommended VHR 9 RNE 9 Planning Scheme 9 National Trust (Vic) Allom Lovell & Associates 11 City of Greater Shepparton Heritage Study Stage Two History Prisoner of War Camp No. 13 was established hurriedly in 1941 on 2.5 square kilometres of land, owned by the Hammond family, to accommodate thousands of Italian and German POWs captured in North Africa and Greece. They were later joined by Japanese POWs from Cowra, NSW and, in addition, ‘Dhurringile’ was operated as German Officer POW accommodation as part of Camp No. 13. The first prisoners, 4,000 Italians, arrived in early 1941, prior to the camp’s completion and were housed in tents. They were joined by Germans and later Japanese in 1944. Many of the Italians were released in 1944 for local employment. Description Little remains in terms of substantial above ground structures, of the former Camp No. 13, Crawford Road, Murchison, although the site potentially has archaeological evidence and artefacts. The high security camp consisted of an octagonal shaped plan, divided into four compounds. The entrance is marked by a stone gateway, consisting of two coursed rubble piers, approximately 1.8 metres high, hung with a pair of non-original Cyclone wire gates. Nearby, is located a small single-storey coursed rubble sentry box with gabled roof clad with corrugated galvanised steel. The only other extant structures above ground are two gaol and a concrete machine gun emplacement. The gaol each comprise two rows of cells flanking a central passage with only the off-form concrete walls remaining. The site also contains numerous concrete slabs (remains of the kitchen and ablution blocks and garrison areas); a stone and concrete culvert, a small octagonal concrete fountain, a large below ground concrete tank, a sunken fishpond, constructed of random rubble in a figure of eight composition and memorials constructed by the German and Italian prisoners. The German memorial, erected by the crew of the raider Kormoran for their fallen comrades,