Historical information
The Shire of Warrnambool operated toll gates from 1866 to 1869 as a means of raising revenue for road construction. There were three toll gate locations – on the main Belfast (Port Fairy) Road at Dennington Bridge, on the Woodford Road at Russells Creek and on the Geelong Road at the Allansford Bridge. The toll gates were unpopular and unprofitable for the lessees as travellers were able to avoid the tax by skirting around the gates. They had toll houses besides the tollgates. The printers of these tickets, William Fairfax and Henry Laurie, were the lessees at the time of the Warrnambool Examiner newspaper. This paper, founded by Richard Osburne and John Wilkinson, and published with some gaps from 1851 to 1880, is a key source today of Warrnambool’s history at the time.
Significance
These toll gate tickets are significant because:-
1. They date back to the 1860s and were only issued from 1866 to 1869
2. They are the only artefacts we hold of the time when toll gates were operating in our local district
3. They are the best example of how the Shire of Warrnambool in its early history raised revenue for road building and maintenance.
Physical description
These are eleven toll gate tickets, ten for the Belfast (Port Fairy) Road toll gate and one for the Woodford Road toll gate. One is mounted on a Swintons store label (6 pence) and four are mounted on cardboard (2 shillings, sixpence, and two shillings and sixpence) and six are loose (three shillings, two shillings and sixpence and threepence). The Belfast Road tickets are yellow, green, blue and cream and the Woodford Road one is white. All have black printing. There is also an undated newspaper cutting with information on the toll gate tickets.
Inscriptions & markings
Belfast Tickets: Shire of Warrnambool, Main Belfast Road, Toll Gate and the price
Woodford Road: Shire of Warrnambool, Woodford Road, Toll Gate, 1s 6d
Six of the eleven tickets also have ‘Fairfax and Laurie, Printers’
The sixpence ticket on card has the name R P Christian in ink written on the back of the card.
