Recommendation of the Executive Director and assessment of cultural heritage significance under s.32 of the Heritage Act 1995

Name Stone Mill Location 123 Carboor Everton Road, Markwood, Wangaratta Rural City Hermes Number 199821 Heritage Overlay Number Wangaratta Rural City HO199 (Individual)

Stone Mill, July 2017

This recommendation report has been issued by the Executive Director, Heritage Victoria under s.32 of the Heritage Act 1995. It has not been considered or endorsed by the Heritage Council of Victoria.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RECOMMENDATION TO THE HERITAGE COUNCIL: • That the place NOT be included in the Victorian Heritage Register under Section 32 (1)(b) of the

Heritage Act 1995.

STEVEN AVERY Executive Director Recommendation Date: 21 July 2017

Name: Stone Mill Hermes Number: 199821

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EXTENT OF NOMINATION Date that the nomination was accepted by the Executive Director 6 July 2016 Written extent of nomination The nominated extent is shown on the diagram below. Nomination extent diagram

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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 local heritage significance of the Stone Mill is reflected in its inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of the Wangaratta Rural City Planning Scheme HO199 (Individual).

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RECOMMENDATION REASONS REASONS FOR RECOMMENDING INCLUSION IN THE VICTORIAN HERITAGE REGISTER [s.34A(2)] 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 BASIC 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 Stone Mill has a clear association with the process of flour milling in Victoria in the mid nineteenth century. Between 1840 and 1880, more than twenty flour mills were constructed in north east Victoria, and more than 237 were constructed throughout Victoria. Of those erected in north east Victoria, six were water driven. Stone Mill was a water driven flour mill and was constructed in the mid 1860s. Its association with the process of flour milling is evident in the physical fabric and in documentary resources. Criterion A is likely to be satisfied. STEP 2: A BASIC TEST FOR DETERMINING STATE LEVEL SIGNIFICANCE 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 Stone Mill does not allow the clear association with the process of flour milling to be understood better than most other places or objects in Victoria with substantially the same association.

The intactness and integrity of the Stone Mill is compromised. The mill building was part of a complex which included a stone house, kitchen and stables, as well as an orchard and stockyard. The mill building is now the only surviving nineteenth century building on the site, but no milling equipment is evident and the water wheel no longer survives. There are other mill sites in Victoria which are more intact as complexes or which are still in working order, including Anderson's Mill Complex (VHR H1521) and Day’s Flour Mill Complex (VHR H1523). These places allow the process of flour milling and the operation of water powered mills to be better understood than Stone Mill does.

Criterion A is not likely to be satisfied at the State level.

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CRITERION B Possession of uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of Victoria’s cultural history. STEP 1: A BASIC 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 Stone Mill has a clear association with the process of nineteenth century flour milling. The association is evident in the physical fabric of the place and in documentary resources.

Stone Mill is rare as the last of six water driven mills known to have operated in the Wangaratta region in the nineteenth century.

Criterion B is likely to be satisfied.

STEP 2: A BASIC TEST FOR DETERMINING STATE LEVEL SIGNIFICANCE FOR CRITERION B

The place/object is RARE, UNCOMMON OR ENDANGERED within Victoria. Executive Director’s Response There are more than forty known flour mills in Victoria and nine on the Victorian Heritage Register. They were powered by water, wind or steam, and most survive in a similar condition to Stone Mill; as buildings with little or no milling equipment or means of power. There are at least ten known water driven flour mill sites throughout Victoria. Most of these are ruins, but two survive in a more intact condition and one, Anderson’s Mill (VHR H1521) remains in working order. Stone Mill may be considered rare as a surviving example of a nineteenth century water driven flour mill, however under Exclusion Guidelines for Criterion B (XB2) of the Victorian Heritage Register Criteria and Threshold Guidelines, this is dependent on too many qualifiers. Criterion B is not likely to be satisfied at the State level.

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CRITERION C Potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Victoria’s cultural history. STEP 1: A BASIC TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION C

The: • visible physical fabric; &/or • documentary evidence; &/or

• oral history, relating to the place/object indicates a likelihood that the place/object contains PHYSICAL EVIDENCE of

historical interest that is NOT CURRENTLY VISIBLE OR UNDERSTOOD. Plus

From what we know of the place/object, the physical evidence is likely to be of an INTEGRITY and/or CONDITION that it COULD YIELD INFORMATION through detailed investigation.

Executive Director’s Response The visible physical fabric of the place indicates a likelihood that Stone Mill contains physical evidence of historical interest that is not currently visible or understood. It is possible that detailed investigation could yield additional information.

Criterion C is likely to be satisfied.

STEP 2: A BASIC TEST FOR DETERMINING STATE LEVEL SIGNIFICANCE FOR CRITERION C The knowledge that might be obtained through investigation is likely to MEANINGFULLY CONTRIBUTE to an

understanding of Victoria’s cultural history. Plus

The information likely to be yielded from the place/object is not already well documented or readily available from other sources.

Executive Director’s Response The information which Stone Mill could yield through investigation is unlikely to meaningfully contribute to an understanding of Victoria’s cultural history. The operation of water driven flour mills is already well documented and understood through the Anderson's Mill Complex (VHR H1521) which is in working order, and through various publications.

Criterion C is not likely to be satisfied at the State level.

CRITERION D Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural places and objects. STEP 1: A BASIC TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION D

The place/object is one of a CLASS of places/objects that has a clear ASSOCIATION with an event, phase, period, process, function, movement, important person(s), custom or way of life in Victoria’s history.

Plus The EVENT, PHASE, etc is of HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE, having made a strong or influential contribution to

Victoria. Plus

The principal characteristics of the class are EVIDENT in the physical fabric of the place/object.

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Executive Director’s Response Stone Mill has a clear association with the process of nineteenth century flour milling in Victoria. Although some of the principal characteristics of the class, including remnant buttresses for the water wheel and the three storey building itself, are evident in the physical fabric of the place, no known milling equipment or the water wheel survives. The cultural heritage values of the place as a flour mill and nineteenth century agricultural complex are difficult to read in the extant fabric.

Criterion D is not likely to be satisfied.

CRITERION E Importance in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics. STEP 1: A BASIC TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION E

The PHYSICAL FABRIC of the place/object clearly exhibits particular aesthetic characteristics. Executive Director’s Response The Stone Mill exhibits particular aesthetic characteristics through its physical fabric of stone and brick, and its setting within a rural landscape. Internally, the large adzed posts and beams with chamfered edges, and the rough rendered stonework contribute to the aesthetic attributes of the place.

Criterion E is likely to be satisfied.

STEP 2: A BASIC TEST FOR DETERMINING STATE LEVEL SIGNIFICANCE FOR CRITERION E The aesthetic characteristics are APPRECIATED OR VALUED by the wider community or an appropriately-

related discipline as evidenced, for example, by: • critical recognition of the aesthetic characteristics of the place/object within a relevant art, design,

architectural or related discipline as an outstanding example within Victoria; or • wide public acknowledgement of exceptional merit in Victoria in medium such as songs, poetry,

literature, painting, sculpture, publications, print media etc. Executive Director’s Response The aesthetic values of Stone Mill are readily appreciated, however there has been no critical recognition of the aesthetic characteristics of the place within a relevant art, design, architectural or related discipline as an outstanding example within Victoria. There has been no wide public acknowledgement of exceptional merit in Victoria.

Criterion E is not likely to be satisfied at the State level.

CRITERION F Importance in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period. STEP 1: A BASIC TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION F

The place/object contains PHYSICAL EVIDENCE that clearly demonstrates creative or technical ACHIEVEMENT for the time in which it was created.

Plus The physical evidence demonstrates a HIGH DEGREE OF INTEGRITY.

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Executive Director’s Response Stone Mill is similar in design and construction to other mills, and water driven mills in particular. There is no physical evidence that clearly demonstrates creative or technical achievement for the time in which it was created.

Criterion F is not likely to be satisfied.

CRITERION G Strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. This includes the significance of a place to indigenous people as part of their continuing and developing cultural traditions. STEP 1: A BASIC TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION G

Evidence exists of a DIRECT ASSOCIATION between the place/object and a PARTICULAR COMMUNITY OR CULTURAL GROUP.

(For the purpose of these guidelines, ‘COMMUNITY or CULTURAL GROUP’ is defined as a sizable group of persons who share a common and long-standing interest or identity).

Plus The ASSOCIATION between the place/object and the community or cultural group is STRONG OR SPECIAL, as

evidenced by the regular or long-term use of/engagement with the place/object or the enduring ceremonial, ritual, commemorative, spiritual or celebratory use of the place/object.

Executive Director’s Response There is no direct association between Stone Mill and a particular community or cultural group.

Criterion G is not likely to be satisfied. CRITERION H Special association with the life or works of a person, or group of persons, of importance in Victoria’s history. STEP 1: A BASIC TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION H The place/object has a DIRECT ASSOCIATION with a person or group of persons who have made a strong or

influential CONTRIBUTION to the course of Victoria’s history. Plus

The ASSOCIATION of the place/object to the person(s) IS EVIDENT in the physical fabric of the place/object and/or in documentary resources and/or oral history.

Plus The ASSOCIATION:

• directly relates to ACHIEVEMENTS of the person(s) at, or relating to, the place/object; or • relates to an enduring and/or close INTERACTION between the person(s) and the place/object.

Executive Director’s Response There is no direct association between Stone Mill and a person or group of persons who have made a strong or influential contribution to the course of Victoria’s history.

Criterion H is not likely to be satisfied.

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ASSESSMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S ASSESSMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE [s.34A(2)(d)] Stone Mill is significant as a good example of a small scale, regional flour mill.

RELEVANT INFORMATION Local Government Authority Wangaratta Rural City

Heritage Overlay HO199 (Individual)

Heritage Overlay Controls External Paint: Yes

Internal Alteration: Yes Tree: Yes

Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Register No

Other Listings No

Other Names Ovens River Flour Mill HISTORY Stone Mill is located in Markwood near Wangaratta in an area which was first settled by Europeans in the late 1830s. Like other parts of rural Victoria, grain crops were established, and mills were constructed to produce flour. This became particularly important during the gold rush when the need for provisions increased significantly. Between 1840 and 1880, more than twenty flour mills were constructed in north east Victoria, and more than 237 were constructed throughout Victoria. Of those erected in north east Victoria, six were water driven.

Stone Mill was originally known as the Ovens River Flour Mill and was constructed as a water driven mill near Tea Garden Creek, a tributary of the Ovens River. It was constructed in the mid 1860s for Jonathan Thomas Bell, who had formed a partnership with James Henley by 1869.

Jonathan Thomas Bell had arrived in the area during the gold rush and worked as the Clerk of Petty Sessions, Warden’s Clerk and Gold Receiver at Buckland. He became postmaster at Buckland and also had some success at gold mining before establishing himself as a baker and flour merchant at Bright and Wandiligong. By the mid 1860s, he had constructed the flour mill at Markwood.

James Henley was born in England and migrated to the United States when he was nine years old. In the 1850s, he followed the gold rush to Buckland where he became a miner. He built the Emu Hotel in Milawa in 1860 and established a farm at Markwood near Stone Mill where he was one of the first to plant tobacco and hops.

The Ovens River Flour Mill was advertised for sale in 1870 ‘due to a dissolution of partnership’. The mill was described as ‘a new, substantial and commodious water-power mill’. The sale was postponed due to flooding, and Henley and Bell appear to have remained in partnership as they are reported as representing tobacco growers opposing a duty on tobacco in 1875.

In January 1879, the Ovens River Mill was again advertised for sale. The sale notice advised that ‘J T Bell is leaving for Europe’, suggesting that he was the sole owner at this time. As well as the mill, the entire property including buildings, furniture, drays and wagons, farm equipment, animals and 100 tons of finest old flour was for sale. The advertisement also notes the race dams, and that the ‘water power is sufficient for working the mill all the year round in ordinary seasons, and the Steam Machinery, three pairs Stones and

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Gear, are of the very best description.’ The buildings included a weatherboard house, large stone kitchen, store, servants room and new stone stables, none of which survive.

The mill was still for sale in March 1879 but by April it was owned or leased by Jeremiah Thomas White. In 1880 Bell was still in the area and stood as candidate for Ovens River. Henley also appears to have retained an association with the mill and although he was described as a former partner in the milling business, he was blamed for the lack of fish in the rivers due to a stone dam constructed across the Ovens River to divert water into his mill race.

The mill and land was purchased in 1920 by the current owner’s grandfather, James Gilbert Ward. The mill building was used to dry hops, and then tobacco and millet for brooms. When hops were no longer grown on the property, the poles used in the fields for the hops to grow up were moved to the mill and laid down as flooring on the upper levels. The tobacco was dried lying on the hop poles. The current owner has lived on the property since 1953 and does not recall any equipment or grinding stones in the building. A stone house and a stone barn were destroyed by storms in 2000, and no other nineteenth century buildings survive on the property.

CONSTRUCTION DETAILS Construction started date: mid 1860s Construction ended date: mid 1860s PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Stone Mill is a stone building with a corrugated iron gable roof. The site slopes steeply away at the rear building where the stone buttresses which once supported the water wheel are located on either side of a shallow depression. The building is constructed of stone with red brickwork framing door and window openings. The front elevation has a centrally located double leaved timber door, with windows on either side. A similar window is located immediately above the door, and a round window is located in the peak of the gable above. There are windows at each level on the side elevations and multiple windows and openings at the rear of the building. Internally the building is a single open space, divided into three levels. The stone walls are rendered and the floors are supported by substantial adzed posts and beams. Each post has chamfered corners. The ground floor is laid with timber boards and the upper two floors comprise an open framework on which hop poles are laid. Access to each floor is via a ladder. INTEGRITY/INTACTNESS Intactness – The intactness of Stone Mill as a nineteenth century agricultural complex is compromised through the loss of the associated nineteenth century buildings. The intactness of the mill building is compromised through the loss of the water wheel and the internal milling equipment although the fabric of the mill building itself, both internally and externally is good. (July 2017) Integrity – The integrity of Stone Mill is fair due to the loss of milling equipment and the water wheel. The cultural heritage values of the place as a flour mill and nineteenth century agricultural complex are difficult to read in the extant fabric. (July 2017) CONDITION Stone Mill is in good condition. Apart from some deterioration of the mortar to the foundations, the fabric of the building, both internally and externally is in good condition. It is well cared for and well maintained. (July 2017)

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COMPARISONS Flour mills in the VHR (Heritage Places) Anderson's Mill Complex, Smeaton (VHR H1521) Anderson's Mill Complex is a highly intact mill complex with excellent integrity and readability. It comprises a large bluestone mill building, water wheel, mill race, brick chimney, bluestone office, stables, granary, blacksmiths shop and residence. It is located in an intact landscape setting which includes the Anderson family home and its garden within the context of the creek valley and surrounding farm land. It was built for the Anderson brothers from 1861 and the 28-foot (8.5 metre) diameter water wheel was built by Ballarat engineering firm Hunt and Opie. In 1895 David Anderson, one of the second generation of millers, invested in new roller milling equipment. The mill continued to operate for another sixty years as a flour and oatmeal mill before it closed in the late 1950s. Members of the Anderson family lived continuously in the residence on the site up until 2008. The Andersons Mill Complex is of historical significance as highly intact and representative example of a rural industrial landscape associated with the early period of wheat growing activity in Victoria and as a place which has been in continuous occupation and use by the same family from the 1860s to 2008. It is of scientific (technical) significance as a rare and highly intact water powered nineteenth century flour mill. The waterwheel and the water turbine provide outstanding opportunities to demonstrate how water power was used in the nineteenth century.

Anderson's Mill Complex, Smeaton (VHR H1521)

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Day’s Flour Mill Complex, Murchison (VHR H1523) Day's Mill is an important example of a mid-nineteenth century steam-powered flour mill, particularly for its physical integrity and the retention of original mill technology and artefacts. This large complex established by William Day c.1865 provides an outstanding record of an important manufacturing process at a particular stage of its regional and technological development. The growth of the metropolitan market and the railway system, and also the extension of wheat growing regions further north, provided the basis for the concentration of mills in Melbourne and other major centres. Day's Mill is therefore a rare and remarkable relic of an important nineteenth century manufacturing process. A tree-lined drive with gatehouse leads to the complex which comprises the three storey brick mill with ancillary boiler structure and brick chimney. There is a two storey brick manager's residence and several brick, timber and iron buildings. All the original mill machinery and equipment remains. Day’s Mill remained in the Day family from 1865 until 1986 and has played an important role in the early development of the area. The large complex, complete with its original machinery, provides an outstanding historic record of nineteenth century milling methods. The local handmade bricks, the tree-lined driveway, the gatehouse and outbuildings are distinctive features. The manager's residence with its fine cast iron decoration and unusual rendered decoration is also important.

Day’s Flour Mill Complex, Murchison (VHR H1523)

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SUMMARY OF COMPARISONS Anderson’s Mill and Day’s Mill are both intact agricultural complexes with the mill buildings as well as outbuildings. They also retain milling equipment which demonstrates the process of flour milling. Anderson’s Mill is in working condition and is able to actively demonstrate a working water wheel. In comparison, Stone Mill is much less intact as the associated outbuildings, milling equipment and water wheel no longer survive. While the mill building itself is in good condition, it is not able to as clearly demonstrate the process of flour milling as Anderson’s Mill and Day’s Mill. Both of these places also remained in the ownership of descendants of the founding families well into the twentieth century. KEY REFERENCES USED TO PREPARE ASSESSMENT C & MJ Doring Pty Ltd (2004) Rural City of Wangaratta Heritage Study Context (2013) Rural City of Wangaratta Heritage Study Review Jones, L & P (1990) The Flour Mills of Victoria The Flour Millers’ Council of Victoria

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ADDITIONAL IMAGES

2017, Front (north) view of Stone Mill.

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2017, Western side of Stone Mill.

2017, Stone buttress at the rear (south) which would

have supported the water wheel.

2017, Rear (south) of the mill building.

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2017, Front entrance doors.

2017, Front entrance doors (interior).

2017, Interior showing three levels. 2017, Interior, adzed posts and beams.

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c. 1879 Parish map showing lots advertised for sale.

The red circle is the site on which the mill building is located. The other coloured circles indicate associated buildings and infrastructure that were built at the same time

as the Stone Mill. Black and Purple = Site of Water Race

Blue = Homestead and Stables Orange = Land

These structures are no longer extant.

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