Historical information

The portable lockup at Eltham is not original to the site. The date of construction is unknown, believed from the 1880s. It is a prefabricated design and each of the timber panels are individually numbered on the inside surfaces.

It is amongst a large group of portable lockups, categorised as 'Portable Lock Up - Timber - Later' and also known as the "Casterton style", based on the only known plan for portable lock ups, built for the Casterton Police Station, in 1907. The later portables have been in use since the 1880s. It is not known how many lock ups of this type have been constructed in Victoria. At least 50 examples have been documented around the state. Of these, 42 are known to be extant.

The original 1860s site lockup was a 2-cell bluestone construction. Some of the original bluestone remains. It was used in the 1970s as traffic island edging at the intersection of Main Road and Wattletree Road where it was painted white then later relocated back to this site in the 1980s to be used as edging for a driveway access off Main Road beside the former Police Residence where the Police Station originally stood. Evidence of some of this edging remains in place today leading to the replica Police Station. Other blocks were used to define the garden edging in the carpark at the rear of the residence.

Significance

This lockup used to be located at the Police Station in Pryor Street and was then stored in Youth Road before being acquired for the Local History Centre

Physical description

3 colour photographs