Wooden Catholic Church Reefs built about 1865. Part of a collection of Photographs by Mr. O.G. Armstrong as commissioned by the Shire of Stawell for the Inter-colonial and Paris Exhibition in Melbourne in 1866. This wooden building was built about 1865 on a site held by minors right, near the present Stawell Courthouse. It was situated on a track later to become Patrick St. The present St Patricks church is built of granite, quarried in the nearby Black Range with facings of Grampians Freestone and was opened in 1873. Wooden Church with large bell tower with door at front. The edge slope of Big Hill can be seen at right.stawell religion

Presbyterian Church Reefs Pleasant Creek. Built 1860. Part of a collection of Photographs by Mr. O.G. Armstrong as commissioned by the Shire of Stawell in 1866 for the Inter-colonial and Paris Exhibition in Melbourne in 1866. This first Presbyterian church was built in Church Street and was of a modest design as it was to be only a temporary house of worship. The first services were held here on Sunday, August the 23rd, 1860. The present church, St Matthews Uniting Church is situated in Scallon Street and the first service were held there in 1869. House on left with picket fence and striped verandah roofing. Wooden Church Building on right.stawell religion

Wesleyan Church Main Street Reefs. Opened 1863. Part of a collection of Photographs by Mr. O.G. Armstrong as commissioned by the Shire of Stawell for the Inter-colonial and Paris Exhibition in Melbourne in 1866. This brick church, later known as the Wesley Centre, was opened for service on Christmas Day 1863. It was situated in the Main Street alongside the Town Hall which was constructed in 1872. The church was demolished for a car park in the 1980’s. Brick church building with two ornate towers beside front doors.stawell religion

Common School Pleasant Creek 502. Part of a collection of Photographs by Mr. O.G. Armstrong as commissioned by the Shire of Stawell for the Inter-colonial and Paris Exhibition in Melbourne in 1866. The site for the school pictured was reserved in October 1864 and the building was opened in 1865. The brick building is still in use and is at the rear of the current 502 Primary School buildings, Barnes Street. Large brick and stone school building with students and teachers at front.stawell education

Saw Mills Halls Gap (Childe’s Glenbower Creek). Part of a collection of Photographs by Mr. O.G. Armstrong as commissioned by the Shire of Stawell for the Inter-colonial and Paris Exhibition in Melbourne in 1866. During the years of gold, the hardwood forests around Stawell were ravaged to provide timber for the mines. It was used undergrounds to shore up workings, and millions of feet of it were fed into furnaces and kilns in which the quartz was roasted. In the years after the gold boom, hardwood from the Grampians was milled for building timber. Wherever there are large tracts of natural bushland, fires are always a danger. A huge fire in January 1939 caused havoc in the Grampians, burning out towns and sawmills such as the one pictured. There have been no sawmills in the Grampian since that fire. stawell industry

Grampians Halls Gap (Barney’s Castle). Part of a collection of Photographs by Mr. O.G. Armstrong as commissioned by the Shire of Stawell for the Inter-colonial and Paris Exhibition in Melbourne in 1866. In 1880 a branch line from Stawell Railway Yards was built to Heatherly Quarry, to carry stone for part of Parliament House Melbourne, the GPO in Elizabeth St, the Harbour Trust buildings, additions to the Melbourne Town Hall, the Stawell Courthouse Patrick Street and the Stawell Catholic Church in Patrick St. The line was taken over by the Railways Department in June 1905 and was closed in March 1949. It has since been removed but remnants of the machinery and buildings are visible at the quarry site. stawell

Fountain Head Brewery Armstrong's. Part of a collection of Photographs by Mr. O.G. Armstrong as commissioned by the Shire of Stawell for the Inter-colonial and Paris Exhibition in Melbourne in 1866. The brewery, a three-storey high building, was established close to two streams which joined the Concongella Creek near Armstrong, although the water required to run the brewery was obtained from a natural underground spring which is still visible. Further findings of Gold in Victoria around 1859-1860 brought a large rush of miners to the area. Some stayed on to become merchants, farmers, etc. Jens Kofoed, a shipwright from the Netherlands, was one who came to the area at this time. He and his family move to Armstrong in 1860, establishing the Fountain Head Brewery, which employed quite a number of people for about 40 years. stawell industry

Allanvale Home Station. Part of a collection of Photographs by Mr. O.G. Armstrong as commissioned by the Shire of Stawell for the Inter-colonial and Paris Exhibition in Melbourne in 1866. Allanvale was taken up about 1841 by John Allen, who was the son of George Allan of Allanvale, near Launceston in Van Diemen's Land. He selected 80,000 acres between present day Stawell and Ararat. The property was gradually reduced in size, with the first split occurring in the 1840s with the annexation of Concongella Selection due to a land dispute. J.S. Davidson was the occupier of Allanvale at the time this photograph was taken. The homestead pictured here was destroyed by fire at the end of the First World War and replaced by a new building around 1923. The present owners of Allanvale are the Kilpatrick family A note on the Allan family. On the 15th of March 1845, John Allen's 26 year old wife died at the birth of their third child, a daughter, who also died several weeks later. Elizabeth Allen had been a dear friend of Mrs Horatio Wills of neighbouring Lexington station. Eliza and her daughter were buried side by side in the garden of Lexington homestead. She was said to have been the first white woman to have died in the district. Homestead and stables on left with people on verandah and orchard in foreground.stawell great western

Upper Main Street looking East. Poppet Heads in Background. Oriental Bank second on left then Quartz Reef Timber Yards. Intersection is Layzell St Main Street. Advertiser Office on right in front of Earlier Mechanics Institute. Part of a collection of Photographs by Mr. O.G. Armstrong as commissioned by the Shire of Stawell for the Inter-colonial and Paris Exhibition in Melbourne in 1866. View of the top end of Main Street 1866 with the Commercial Hotel in the left foreground. On the right is the Advertiser Newspaper office an Ararat newspaper before one was started in Stawell. The building on the right with the ladder in front was the Mechanics Institute later burned down twice. Upper Main street with Poppet Heads in the background, the Oriental Bank second on left & then Quartz Reef Timber Yard 1867. Lots of people and wagons in street. Advertiser Office on right and earlier Mechanics Institute with ladder at front.Upper Main Street Reefs 1867stawell mining streetscape

Pleasant Creek Stawell from Church Hill. Shire Hall at left under construction. Pleasant Creek Court House visible at centre. Part of a collection of Photographs by Mr. O.G. Armstrong as commissioned by the Shire of Stawell for the Inter-colonial and Paris Exhibition in Melbourne in 1866 This is a photo of what was known as Pleasant Creek but was officially Stawell 1866. It is taken from Church Hill in front of the then Church of England. This would have been at what is now about 27 Seaby Street. Note: the Pleasant Creek Courthouse about centre of the picture. Buildings at centre distance with bare ground and a few trees in foreground. Pleasant Creek Courthouse at centre of image.stawell

Telegraph Office Pleasant Creek Stawell. Part of a collection of Photographs by Mr. O.G. Armstrong as commissioned by the Shire of Stawell for the Inter-colonial and Paris Exhibition in Melbourne in 1866. The first post was office was erected at Commercial Street, Pleasant Creek in the goldfields, in June 1858, by J Harding and was a portable one. In October 1860 the first permanent Telegraph Office was erected by Cormick and Irvine for £329. In the same month the Post Office was removed from Commercial St in the Goldfields to the rear of the Telegraph office in Stawell. In February 1862 Edmond Johnson was appointed manager of Electrical Telegraph, Collector of Imposts and acting Postmaster. This building was later used as a private dwelling. It is situated in Lesley Street at the rear of the Pleasant Creek Courthouse although the right-hand wing has been removed. stawell

Court House and Cells Pleasant Creek Stawell. Part of a collection of Photographs by Mr. O.G. Armstrong as commissioned by the Shire of Stawell for the Inter-colonial and Paris Exhibition in Melbourne in 1866. The first courthouse was built at Pleasant Creek Stawell by William Scobie for the sum of £1975 in September 1858. A further sum of £1832 was spent on the building by J. Francis in January 1860. Pleasant Creek Court House was used as a court of Petty sessions, County Court, Court of Mines, and a Court of General Sessions before the newer Stawell Court House in Patrick Street was built. Later it was used as a police barracks then private home. stawell government

Upper Main Street Reefs looking East towards Big Hill taken from front of Joyce's Hibernian Hotel . Part of a collection of Photographs by Mr. O.G. Armstrong as commissioned by the Shire of Stawell for the Inter-colonial and Paris Exhibition in Melbourne in 1866. This scene was taken in 1866 in Main Street from in front of Joyce’s Iberian Hotel on the left, the site of the present townhall. It is looking uphill and eastward with Big Hill in the far background. The Hibernian Hotel was built on Commercial Street Pleasant Creek Goldfields in 1858 and was moved to Main Street Reefs, the present site of the Town Hall by Mr. & Mrs. Joyce. It was later destroyed by fire and the Town Hall built on its location. Street scene with buildings in distance and Big Hill in far distance.stawell streetscape

This coloured postcard with a photograph of the Exhibition Building in the centre with crossed hands above & the flags of Australia & the United States on either side was a souvenir of the visit of the Great White Fleet in 1908. There is also a representation of the Statue of Liberty on the left & the Australian Coat of Arms on the right. The sender of the postcard had travelled to Melbourne to shop at Foy's and to see the Great White Fleet.Addressed to Miss Bennett, Campbells Creek, Castlemaine. armed services - navy, celebrations, great white fleet