Recommendation of the Executive Director and assessment of cultural heritage significance under Part 3, Division 3 of the Heritage Act 2017 Name Former ABC Studios, Ripponlea Location 8 Gordon Street, Elsternwick, City of Glen Eira Hermes Number 166052 Heritage Overlay Number HO156 (proposed) Former ABC Studios, Ripponlea, December 2018 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RECOMMENDATION TO THE HERITAGE COUNCIL: • That the Former ABC Studios, Ripponlea NOT be included in the Victorian Heritage Register under Section 37(1)(b) of the Heritage Act 2017. STEVEN AVERY Executive Director Recommendation Date: 9 May 2019 Advertising Period: 20 May 2019 – 18 July 2019 This recommendation report has been issued by the Executive Director, Heritage Victoria under s.37 of the Heritage Act 2017. It has not been considered by the Heritage Council of Victoria. Name: Former ABC Studios, Ripponlea Hermes Number: 166052 Page | 1 EXTENT OF NOMINATION Date that the nomination was accepted by the Executive Director 14 September 2018 Written extent of nomination The entire site known as 8 Gordon Street, Elsternwick as indicated on the plan below, indicated in red, being the entire site being bound by Gordon Street, the Sandringham railway line, 2 Gordon Street and Rippon Lea estate. Nomination extent diagram Name: Former ABC Studios, Ripponlea Hermes Number: 166052 Page | 2 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RESPONSE SUMMARY It is the view of the Executive Director that this place should not be included in the Victorian Heritage Register for the reasons outlined in this report. The information presented in this report demonstrates that the ABC Studios may be of potential local significance, rather than state level significance. A proposed amendment to the Planning Scheme of the City of Glen Eira to apply a heritage overlay to the Former ABC Studios, Ripponlea is currently being considered. BACKGROUND WHAT IS AT THE PLACE? The Former ABC Studios, Ripponlea are located on a parcel of land bounded by the Sandringham railway line to the west, Rippon Lea Estate to the north and Gordon Street to the east. A recently constructed unit block is located to the south. Entrance is via two driveways from Gordon Street. A carpark with mature trees and other plantings is located at the front of the main building. The brick building in the southern corner was the first building constructed on the site. The main building faces Gordon Street with a curtain wall of aluminium frames and red infill panels to the front façade. An addition in a similar style is located at the north end of this building and a four storey addition is located in the north-western corner of the place. The broadcast tower is located above the scenery workshop, adjacent to the railway line. Internally the entrance opens into a reception area with corridors leading to a staff canteen, dressing rooms and studios. The two main studios (studios 31 and 32) are centrally located in the building. They are double height with walls lined with hessian and timber battening. Numerous panels with numbered electrical outlets hang from the ceiling, but all lighting and other equipment has been removed. The rear of each studio opens into the scenery walkway where props were moved from the workshop to the studios. This in turn opens into the scenery workshop which has a saw tooth roof. The upper floors contained production rooms, offices and the costume department. Some fixtures survive but all equipment and furnishings have been removed. What is the history of the place? The Former ABC Studios, Ripponlea are located on land which was formerly part of Rippon Lea Estate. In 1954, the land was acquired from the Estate by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) for the intention of constructing a television studio which was to open in time for the broadcasting of the 1956 Olympic Games. The first regular television transmission in Australia began on 16 September 1956 by TCN9, Sydney. The first ABC broadcast in Australia took place on 5 November 1956 in Sydney, followed by the first ABC broadcast in Victoria on 19 November 1956. At the time of the Olympic Games, the Ripponlea site was still under construction broadcasts were made from temporary locations around Melbourne and from an outside broadcast (OB) van. The second stage of the ABC studios was formally opened on 21 May 1958 and comprised two studios (including Studio 31 where most well-known programs were produced), production areas, a scenery workshop and offices. Stages Three and Four were constructed in 1961 and 1968 respectively and comprised additional office space. Major changes to allow for colour TV were made to the Ripponlea site in 1975 and there was also expansion to multiple sites across Melbourne at this time. In the 1990s a new ABC facility was constructed at Southbank. This initially housed ABC Radio and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra but was later expanded to include Radio Australia and ABC TV, thereby consolidating Melbourne-based staff and operations on a single site. This occurred on 4 May 2017 when the new ABC premises were officially opened at Southbank. Name: Former ABC Studios, Ripponlea Hermes Number: 166052 Page | 3 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 Former ABC Studios, Ripponlea have a clear association with the development of television in Victoria which has had an impact on Victorian and Australian culture and identity. Opened in 1956 as one of the first television stations in Victoria, the Former ABC Studios, Ripponlea has contributed to this. The ABC relocated from the Ripponlea site to Southbank in 2017. All equipment associated with filming and producing television programs was removed from Ripponlea at this time. The association between the site and the process of television production remains somewhat evident in the physical fabric of the place through the broadcasting tower and the layout and relationships between the creative, functional and administrative areas of the place. Criterion A is likely to be satisfied. STEP 2: STATE LEVEL SIGNIFICANCE TEST FOR CRITERION A The place/object allows the clear association with the event, phase etc. of historical importance to be UNDERSTOOD BETTER THAN MOST OTHER PLACES OR OBJECTS IN VICTORIA WITH SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME ASSOCIATION. Executive Director’s Response As the location of the first purpose built ABC television studio in Victoria, the Former ABC Studios, Ripponlea has played an important role in the development of television in Victoria. There is a strong association between Victorians (and Australians more broadly) and the ABC as an entity. Victorians have relied on the ABC for news and weather reporting as well as entertainment since its first broadcast in 1956. Television programs such as Bellbird, Adventure Island, Countdown and Seachange have had an impact on the cultural identity and social history of Victoria. While the Former ABC Studios, Ripponlea are a physical and tangible reminder of the ABC, the connection between Victorians and the ABC is more closely related to the concept of the ABC as the nation’s Name: Former ABC Studios, Ripponlea Hermes Number: 166052 Page | 4 broadcaster (fondly referred to as ‘Aunty’), and to the programs themselves which are viewed primarily in homes and other venues away from the studio. The buildings and the broadcast tower survive at the ABC Studios. However, all equipment associated with filming and producing television programs, tools and equipment for making stage sets, the sets themselves and props and costumes were removed from the Ripponlea site when the ABC relocated to Southbank in 2017. The association with the development of television in Victoria is now difficult to understand at the place. Television production and broadcasting in Victoria can now be understood better at the ABC Studios (Southbank), and at Network 10 (South Yarra), and Channel Nine and Channel Seven (Docklands), and through the ABC archives and archival footage. Criterion A is not likely to be satisfied at the State level. CRITERION B Possession of uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of Victoria’s cultural history. STEP 1: A TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION B The place/object has a clear ASSOCIATION with an event, phase, period, process, function, movement, custom or way of life of importance 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 place/object is RARE OR UNCOMMON, being one of a small number of places/objects remaining that demonstrates the important event, phase etc. OR The place/object is RARE OR UNCOMMON, containing unusual features of note that were not widely replicated OR The existence of the class of place/object that demonstrates the important event, phase etc is ENDANGERED to the point of rarity due to threats and pressures on such places/objects. Executive Director’s Response The Former ABC Studios, Ripponlea have a clear association with the early development of television broadcasting in Victoria. Television broadcasting studios by definition are rare or uncommon as few are required.