A Sample of the Buildings and Goldfields Architecture in Dunolly

London Chartered Bank
Broadway
The London Chartered Bank was opened in Dunolly in 1856. Except for short periods during rebuilding, the bank has always been at 87 Broadway. Initially it was a corrugated iron building, shown below left. This was relpaced in 1862 by a wooden building. The brick building that still stands in Dunolly was commenced in 1868 and opened the following year.
John Jesse had only been recently appointed as manager when John Deason and Richard Oates brought in the Welcome Stranger nugget on Tuesday February 9th 1869. The worlds largest gold nugget went in through these doors and was never publically seen again.
For the story of what is known about the nugget:  Welcome Stranger
The bank was extended in 1875 by adding more to the rear of the building. During the bank crash of 1893 the London Chartered Bank closed its doors but was able to restructure the company and reopen again as the London Bank of Australia. In 1921 the London Bank was amalgamated with the E S & A Bank and took its name. The Dunolly E S & A Bank was closed in 1932.
 
 
 
  		 
Bendigo Hotel Broadway
 
Purchased from the Crown by G. Simpson 9th July 1857.
The hotel was built 1857. The billiard hall built 1858. Two storey lodgings at rear built 1860s. Stables built 1873. The picture at left was taken in September 1861.
This is the oldest surviving building in Dunolly. The street frontage was built in 1857 and consists of the bar, billiard room and Cobb & Co booking office. At the rear are the hall (1858), two storey lodgings (1868) and impressive stables (1873). The first council meetings in Dunolly were held here.
The hotel closed in the 1920s and was purchased by Patrick Daly. Since then it has been used as a storeroom for Daly’s shop. The old hotel still has gas fittings, bar, booking office fixtures and some original wallpaper. In the period 2007 to 2009 the facade has undergone considerable conservation work. it is one of the most complete goldrush  hotel complexes in Victoria. The picture shows the hotel in 2006.

 
 
Bendigo Hotel Stables Barkly Street
 
The two-storey red brick building in Barkly Street behind the Bendigo Hotel was Tatchell’s Stables. Tatchell built these in 1873 to stable Cobb & Co horses as he owned the Bendigo Hotel at the time. This extension to the Bendigo Hotel complex was a failure because in 1874 the railway arrived; an example of bad timing.
 W.R. Samers took over the hotel and stables; his name is still faintly visible along the wall along with a hand pointing to the original rear entrance behind the tree. This complex of buildings, right through to and including the Bendigo Hotel in Broadway, is one of the most intact goldfields hotel complexes still in existence, right down to the original wallpaper and gas light fittings.
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
Chauncy Cottage in 1865
 
 
   During Chauncy’s time at the cottage, he added four rooms of brick and stone and built stables and outhouses. He has recorded, that those six years at Dunolly, were among the happiest days of his life.
 
 
Chauncy Cottage Havelock Street
 
Chauncy Cottage, in Havelock Street, was built in 1859 as an inn and extended in 1864. Phillip Chauncy held the position of Land Surveyor, in charge of Dunolly Survey District, which covered a vast area extending to the Murray River. He left a set of memoirs detailing Dunolly in the 1860s. The modern Chauncy Cottage is remarkably similar to the 1865 picture in the museum collection. Chauncy bought the cottage in 1861 and set about moving his family in. However, there was a problem as Chauncy described in his memoirs:
…while we were getting in the furniture it was jumped by a ‘petty-fogging’ lawyer, who sent up a well known character known as ‘Fighting Jack’ to take possession of it… The fact of my having bought the house gave me no title to the ground on which it stood, and it was quite possible ‘Fighting Jack’ held a Miner’s Right and so had better title to the land than I had. However, I sent for two constables and gave the man in charge [arrested]. Next morning he was brought before the Police Court, where I adduced proofs that I had bought and paid for the house, but it being a question of title, the court was not competent to deal with the case and dismissed it, which, however, was, in fact, all that I wanted, for I remained in undisturbed possession until I so narrowed the street as to exclude the house, and then purchased the land on which it stood from the Crown.
And that is why Havelock Street is the narrowest in Dunolly.
Chauncy then extended the building with extra rooms and said of the site, which overlooked the town. The position is beautiful and commanding.
 

  		Court House
Market and Bull Street Corner
 
This was the original Town Hallbuilt in 1862, which became the second Court House. It became the second court house in 1887 and operated as such until 1979, when all court dealings were then taken to Maryborough. It was fully restored in 1990.
 
 

  		Court House Interior
 
The Court House still contains all its original splendour, furniture, fittings and a book case of Government Gazettes commencing in 1856.
 
 
Police Stables and Police Lockup
Lawrence and Bull Street Corner
 
In the paddock behind the Police Station is an old red brick building. This was the police stables and dates from 1863. Further back from the police stables there is a similar building with barred windows, partially hidden behind a fence. This was the police lockup built 1861-1862 and is in the yard of the present police residence. The residence occupies the site of the police barracks.
 
 
Post and Telegraph Office
Market Street
 
This brick building with verandah and counter style windows, was a postal and telegraph office built in 1872. It was used until 1891 then service was moved to the present site in Broadway. The brick building replaced the 1859 weatherboard version that was on the adjacent street corner. Prior to 1859 the Post Office was moved several times in the hectic gold rush town. To add to the confusion the Post Office had retained the official name of Goldborough, which did not change as it was moved with each new rush; the Borough of Dunolly requested a name change in 1859. The nearby location of Goldsborough township has a different spelling.
 
 

 

 The Court House in 1861
 
  		 
The First Dunolly Courthouse
 Burke Street- Alice Street
 
Now a Freemasons Lodge, this was the first public building in Dunolly. It was built in 1858 as the County Court, but used for all sessions including mining matters. Dunolly had four buildings that served as courthouses and three of those same buildings served as Town Halls at varying times. The post Eureka Stockade era brought in the Local Court System because one of the problems under the old Gold Licence system was the inflexibility of mining regulations. Different goldfields have different mining problems or methods best suited to mining. The Local Court system produced ‘local regulations to suit local conditions’. The Local Court system was replaced by Mining Boards in early 1858, which better separated the powers of the enforcing Wardens and the powers of making regulations.
The present site of Dunolly arose in 1856, the year after the introduction of the Miner’s Right, and did not suffer the upheavals of the Gold License era. However, it was years before all the camp facilities and officials moved from the old site. There is conjecture that mistrust was rife; the diggers did not want the officials in their midst and the officials were concerned about possible further digger uprising, preferring their isolation.
 

  		Gold Office
Burke Street
 
This building, next to the Surveyors Office, was the Gold Office and dates from 1861. This Gold Office replaces the first Gold Office that was out of town, located at the government camp adjacent the fourth site of Dunolly. (Dunolly was moved five times) Both Gold Offices were served by a gold escort and while the escort operated from November 1856 to January 1867. 758,112 ounces of gold were shifted from Dunolly – that is 23,580 kilograms of gold. This does not include what the diggers carried away themselves.
 
 

  		Surveyors Office
Burke and Market street corner
 
The building on the corner of Market and Burke Street was the Lands and Survey Office built in 1861. Philip Chauncy worked here. Chauncy described the walk between his house and the new office as being 3 minutes. That must have included opening and shutting doors and so forth as the office and his cottage are with sight of each other, This office was kept very busy as the district grew. It then became the Forest Officer’s home. 
 

  		Gold Wardens Office and Residence
 Alice Street
 
The Gold Wardens Office and house was built in 1859. The Warden system commenced in mid 1855 along with the Miner’s Right, which respectively replaced the hated Gold Commissioners and the Gold License system. The miners elected the Local Court members then from 1858 the Court of Mines members. Wardens were Government apointed with considerable powers to resolve mining disputes.
 
 

 
 

 
 
1861 picture 
 
  		James Bell's Grocery Store Broadway
 
All 8b & 9 Sec 12. Grocery section built 1861 (left half). Licensed section built 1865.
George Thompson & Alexander Turnbull started a general store here in 1856. Turnbull’s nephew, James Bell worked here and by 1861 had taken over the business. The grocery (left) half of the shop was built in 1861 and the licensed section added by Edmund Clark in 1865. Business was good for James Bell and he invested well in mining and land. He had Bell’s Mansion built for him in Bull St. James Bell was on the local council and became a MLA in the Victorian Parliament.
  After James Bell the store was run by Langler & Glover 1881-1885, James McAra Glover 1885-1925 & A Cairns & Son 1925-1970s. It is current a food and wine outlet and retains the longest continually operating licensed grocery in Victoria.
 
 

  		Bell's mansion
Market and Bull 
The two-storey Georgian building is Bell’s Mansion, built in 1869 for James Bell. Bell ran a grocery store in Broadway, was a mining company director, Mayor of Dunolly five times and elected to the Victorian Legislative Council and for a time the Minister for Mines. Thomas Tyrer, who had a fancy goods and tobacconist shop in Broadway, designed the mansion. 
 

  		Peter McBride's Ironmongers
Broadway
 
 McBride’s Ironmongers was built for Peter McBride in 1863 replacing a wooden store from the 1856 rush. McBride was another of the successful and community minded entrepreneurs. McBride’s Ironmongers was designed by Thomas Tyrer. The Golden Way information board out front of the building shows an 1866 view of Broadway including Tyrer’s tobacconist shop, which also provided building supplies.
 
 
 
Footers Mansion
 
    
Broadway
 
Footers Mansion was built in1865, by William Footer, builder & architect. When William Footer died on 29th Oct 1868 aged 60 he was buried in the Dunolly Cemetery. The building was bought by Walter Thomas Hansford of Queen's Birthday Mine Fame at Goldsborough. Each week Hansford would fly a red flag from a pole in the front yard for each 100-ounces of gold from the mine; there were a lot of red flags flown. From 1920-1923 it was Somerset House Private Hospital run by Miss Wilson with Dr Crooke as resident doctor. Mr Davies, Land Officer, lived here 1920s. Eddie Coombes, painter of Town Hall backdrop lived here in the 1930s. It is now a bed and breakfast.

 
 

  		Post Office Broadway
 
The Post Office was built in 1891. The clock was installed in 1949 as a WW2 memorial. In the front wall is a WW2 soldiers plaque and nearby a freestanding memorial to WW1 soldiers. There is a Golden Way information board in front of the adjacent shop that shows the Post Office before the clock was installed.
 

 
The Dunolly manual telephone exchange was removed from the Post office in 1982 and is now in the museum. It still has hand written notes on it from its last day in use.
 
 

 
Railway Hotel
Broadway
 
The Hotel was built in 1863 by Ernst Ernstsen as the Criterion replacing the more modest Criterionshown in the 1861 picture. Ernstsen also made a lot of money from the Belgian Reef Mine near Goldsborough. In 1874, when the railway arrived, Francis Fearn owned the hotel and changed the name to Railway Hotel. 
 
 

  
Royal Hotel Broadway
 
 There has been a hotel on this site ever since the great rush of 1856. The first hotel was Isaac Ray’s Live and Let Live, a canvas affair that burnt down in 1857, burning down the neighbours on either side as well. It was rebuilt in weatherboard, shown below, and renamed Royal Hotel before being replaced by Jane Ray with the present building in 1894.
 

 
 
 

  		Dunoll Town Hall
Broadway
 
The Dunolly Town Hall was built in 1884 as a Courthouse with the hall added at the rear in 1892. At the time the Town Hall was located on the corner of Market and Bull Streets, the building now called the Court House. In 1890 the use of both buildings was swapped over. A marble plaque on the front wall of the Town Hall commemorates Queen Victoria’s reign and a monument in front commemorates her death. There is a plaque on a pillar noting the success of a peace loan in 1919. On November 1st 1921 the Borough of Dunolly merged with the Shire of Bet Bet.(The town area and Shire were separatly governed)
 
 

  		Town Hall Interior
 
Painter of the Town Hall backdrop was Eddie Coombes.With its depiction of Dunolly Castle in Scotland, it lay under the stage of the hall gathering dust before being rehung in the front section in 2006. The rear section of the hall is frequently used for local events and is available for hire, as is the front section.
 
 

  		Tidswell Saddler
Broadway
 
William Tidswell’s was a saddlery for many years employing five people in the 1880s. Here, during the rush of 1856, was the tent of Julius Vogel. Vogel was a chemist and went on to become the Premier of New Zealand. 
 

 

 
 
  		Anglican Church and Hall
Corner of Market and Thompson 
St John’s Anglican Church was completed in 1869 with the roof finished with a ₤300 loan from the discoverers of the Welcome Stranger nugget, John Deason and Richard Oates.  The picture below far left shows construction in 1868. The stained glass window had small panels added as a WW1 memorial. Inside is an 1879 Fincham organ, original except for its motorised blower.  The smaller building at right rear is the Anglican Hall, opened in May 1858 as a Church of England School. Picture below left shows the school in 1861. The hall became a common school after the May 1862 Common Schools Act provided government funding, provided that religious instruction was not compulsory.  The Vicarage in adjacent Market Street is gothic in style and built prior to the church in 1865, to attract a suitable person.
 
 

  		Catholic Church
Corner of Alice and Hardy
 
St. Mary’s Catholic Church was opened in 1871 and is built of sandstone quarried in the nearby hills and granite from Mt. Hooghly. The steeple on this attractive building was only added in 1980.
 
 

  		Weslyan Church (Uniting Church)
Corner of Market and Tweeddale
 
There are three buildings in this church complex. The Wesleyan Church was opened in 1863. The Weslyans were early arivals in Dunolly, as they were on many goldfields. The early timber church building was errected beore the town survey of 1857 and was somewhere where the adjacent crossroad is now. In front of the church is a Golden Way information board. The grounds are used for a car boot sale held on the 2nd Saturday of each month.
 

  		Jubilee School and Infant School
 
The Wesleyan Jubilee Sunday school built in 1887 is now the Uniting Church op-shop. If the op-shop is open, have a look inside; there are small alcoves along each side that could be closed off as classrooms. The Wesleyan Infant School was opened in 1905. Both school buildings have marble plaques set in the walls comemorating prominant citizens of the town and church. 
 

  		 
The RSL Hall Corner Hardy and Barkly
 
  The RSL Hall was originally built as the Presbyterian Church and opened on October 25th 1865. William Footer designed the church.To the right, not shown, is the manse built in 1868. In front of the hall is a pine tree grown from the Lone Pine of Gallipoli fame.