Recommendation of the Executive Director and Assessment of Cultural Heritage Significance Under Part 3, Division 3 of the Heritage Act 2017
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1 Recommendation of the Executive Director and assessment of cultural heritage significance under Part 3, Division 3 of the Heritage Act 2017 Name Old Lead Diggings, Dunolly Location Dunolly-Rheola Rd Provisional VHR Number PROV H2402 Provisional VHR Categories Registered Place and Registered Archaeological Place Hermes Number 206182 Existing Heritage Overlay Central Goldfields Shire, HO34 (Old Lead Dam German Gully Mine Workings) Loddon Shire, HO19 (Old Lead diggings German Gully) Old Lead Diggings, Dunolly (aerial view) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RECOMMENDATION TO THE HERITAGE COUNCIL: That the Old Lead Diggings, Dunolly be included as a Registered Place and a Registered Archaeological Place in the Victorian Heritage Register under the Heritage Act 2017 [Section 37(1)(a)]. STEVEN AVERY Executive Director Recommendation Date: Monday 16 March 2020 Advertising Period: Friday 20 March 2020 – Monday 18 May 2020 This recommendation report has been issued by the Executive Director, Heritage Victoria under s.37 of the Heritage Act 2017. Name: Old Lead Diggings, Dunolly Hermes Number: 206182 2 RECOMMENDED REGISTRATION All of the place shown hatched on Diagram 2402 encompassing all of Crown Allotments 10, 11C, 12, 18A, 18B, 21, 26 and 26A, Section 13 Parish of Painswick; all of Crown Allotments 13 and 19, Section B Parish of Painswick; all of Crown Allotments 15D, 17A and 17B Section F, Parish of Painswick; and parts of Crown Allotments 1, 4, 5A, 5B, 11, 11B, 13A, 13B, 14, 14A, 15A, 15B, 15D, 15E and 17A Section 13 Parish of Painswick; parts of Crown Allotments 7 and 17B Section B Parish of Painswick; and parts of Crown Allotments 15, 15A, 15C, 15E, 16A and 17 Section F Parish of Painswick. The recommended extent of registration of the Old Lead Diggings, Dunolly in the Victorian Heritage Register affects the whole place shown on Diagram 2402 including the land, remnant mining shafts and historical archaeological features. Name: Old Lead Diggings, Dunolly Hermes Number: 206182 3 RATIONALE FOR EXTENT The eastern side of the Old Lead Diggings, Dunolly is defined by the Dunolly – Rheola Road. On the western side, there are no cadastral or property boundaries that closely accord with the area that contains the remnant mine shafts and other archaeological features. There are also no fence lines or other visible features that define the western edge of the place. The clearest visible feature at the place is the area of historic mine workings which overlies the line of the buried lead. Away from the line of the mine workings, much of the land has been filled, levelled and repurposed as pasture for grazing. The contrast between the area of historic mine workings and the cultivated pasture is clear and visible on site. Accordingly, it is proposed that the western edge of the registered extent be defined as an area 50 metres away from the western edge of the mine workings. These 50 metres will provide a suitable buffer zone. The buffer zone will also apply around the two gullies (Pensam Gully and Barrett’s Gully) that extend westward from the main lead. EVIDENCE OF CULTURAL HERITAGE VALUES AT THE PLACE HOW ARE THE CULTURAL HERITAGE VALUES EXPRESSED AT THE PLACE? The Old Lead Diggings, Dunolly is highly intact and allows the cultural heritage values of the place to be clearly understood. Several thousand remnant mining shafts clustered close together demonstrate the nature and scale of technology used on an early Victorian deep-sinking goldfield. The spacing of the shafts indicates the small size of claims to which miners were restricted, allowing for large numbers of miners to dig for the gold nuggets that characterised the field. AERIAL PHOTO OF THE PLACE SHOWING PROPOSED REGISTRATION Name: Old Lead Diggings, Dunolly Hermes Number: 206182 4 WHAT IS AT THE PLACE? The Old Lead Diggings, Dunolly comprises several thousand remnant mining shafts relating to alluvial deep sinking along the main lead and tributary gullies. The site extends three kilometres north to south and is about one hundred metres wide. Preserved shafts are generally one-two metres deep and are typically five-ten metres apart. They were originally deeper but have been filled in or have collapsed. The place also includes other archaeological features including artefact scatters, a store and house site and extensive evidence of historical, post-gold-rush ring-barking and tree-felling in the form of stumps and coppiced eucalypts. WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF THE PLACE? Gold was first discovered in Victoria in 1851. The Old Lead Diggings, Dunolly is the site of one of the largest and richest gold rushes in Victoria and possibly Australia. Discovery of large nuggets in 1856 drew 30,000–50,000 miners to the lead, who worked in small parties to dig shafts down ten-twenty metres to hit the auriferous ‘gutter’. Numerous large nuggets of more than twenty ounces were discovered. The scale and intactness of the place reveals the magnitude of the rush, the techniques used by the diggers and how the lead persisted as a ‘small man’s diggings’. WHO ARE THE TRADITIONAL OWNERS/REGISTERED ABORIGINAL PARTY(IES) FOR THIS PLACE? This place is located on the traditional land of the Dja Dja Wurrung people. The Registered Aboriginal Party for this land is the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation. STATEMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE WHAT IS SIGNIFICANT? The Old Lead Diggings, Dunolly includes a dense aggregation of several thousand remnant mining shafts that resulted from the search for nuggety gold. The place contains other archaeological features including artefact scatters a hotel and house site. HOW IS IT SIGNIFICANT? The Old Lead Diggings, Dunolly is of historical and archaeological significance to the State of Victoria. It satisfies the following criterion for inclusion in the Victorian Heritage Register: Criterion A Importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria’s cultural history. Criterion C Potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Victoria’s cultural history. Criterion D Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural places and objects. WHY IS IT SIGNIFICANT? The Old Lead Diggings, Dunolly is significant at the State level for the following reasons: The Old Lead Diggings, Dunolly is significant as the site of one of the largest and richest nineteenth century gold rushes in the history of Victoria, and possibly Australia. The scale and intactness of the place is highly evocative and reveals the magnitude of the rush and the mining techniques used by the diggers. The pattern of remnant shaft holes, located in close proximity to one another, demonstrates Name: Old Lead Diggings, Dunolly Hermes Number: 206182 5 how the place functioned as a ‘small man’s diggings’ in the aftermath of the Eureka uprising. The lead was rushed in 1856, when 30,000-50,000 miners were on the Old Lead Diggings and in Dunolly itself. The goldfield yielded dozens of large nuggets more than twenty ounces (0.6 kg) in weight. The area between Dunolly, Inglewood and Wedderburn forms part of the Golden Triangle, which has produced more large nuggets than anywhere else on earth. [Criterion A] The Old Lead Diggings, Dunolly is significant as an extensive and well-preserved historical and archaeological landscape characterised by a dense aggregation of thousands of mine shafts that resulted from the search for nuggetty gold. The place also contains the archaeological remains of a store and house site that operated during the gold rush. Scatters of historical archaeological artefacts are visible across the site and are contained within many of the shaft holes. The place has the potential to yield important information about the scale and technological history of gold mining, the cultural history of gold mining, the material culture of the gold fields, and the gold seekers themselves. [Criterion C] The Old Lead Diggings, Dunolly is significant as a characteristic and well-preserved example of places associated with early deep sinking on the Victorian goldfields. The site includes several thousand closely spaced mining shafts that indicate the scale, intensity and technology of deep sinking from the early years of the gold rush in Victoria. The remains also indicate the small claim nature of early goldfields in Victoria, where limited size claims allowed larger numbers of miners to dig for gold. [Criterion D] Name: Old Lead Diggings, Dunolly Hermes Number: 206182 6 RECOMMENDATION REASONS REASONS FOR RECOMMENDING INCLUSION IN THE VICTORIAN HERITAGE REGISTER [s.40] Following is the Executive Director's assessment of the place against the tests set out in The Victorian Heritage Register Criteria and Thresholds Guidelines (2014). CRITERION A Importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria’s cultural history. STEP 1: A TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION A The place/object has a CLEAR ASSOCIATION with an event, phase, period, process, function, movement, custom or way of life in Victoria’s cultural history. Plus The association of the place/object to the event, phase, etc IS EVIDENT in the physical fabric of the place/object and/or in documentary resources or oral history. Plus The EVENT, PHASE, etc is of HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE, having made a strong or influential contribution to Victoria. Executive Director’s Response The Old Lead Diggings, Dunolly is the site of one of the largest and richest 19th-century gold rushes in the history of Victoria, and possibly Australia. The lead was rushed in 1856 by tens of thousands of diggers, with large numbers of nuggets discovered by deep sinking shafts down to the auriferous gutter. The place has a clear association with the discovery and mining of gold in Victoria, and the impact this had on the development of Victoria. These associations are evident in the physical fabric of the place, including several thousand remnant mining shafts along the main lead and tributary gullies, and associated surface artefact scatters.