How the Study was conducted
Background to the study
In commissioning this study the City of Don caster and Templestowe sought to:
- identify, evaluate and document historic places within the City of Doncaster and Templestowe
- assess the importance of the cultural heritage as a State and community resource
- develop a heritage plan for the conservation of historic places within the City of Doncaster and Templestowe.
The study was funded jointly by the National Estate Grants Program (Project No. 526) and the City of Doncaster and Templestowe. The total budget was $35,000, allowing 50 days for research, investigation and reporting, plus costs. The historical societies were paid for their research time within this budget.
The two historical societies within the municipality - Doncaster Templestowe Historical Society and Warrandyte Historical Society - made a valuable contribution as members of the study team.
A Steering Committee supervised the conduct of the study. It comprised two Councillors and one officer from the Council, community representatives from the Doncaster Templestowe Historical Society, Warrandyte Historical Society, Doncaster and Templestowe Conservation Society, Warrandyte Advisory Committee, and a representative of the Heritage Branch, Department of Planning and Housing.
This report documents the significant places identified in the study and makes recommendations on their protection. A technical volume, containing some additional information on each significant place, is held by Council.
Stages
The project was divided into two stages. In Stage 1 a Preliminary Survey involved an initial review of the nature and types of historic places in the municipality, and what was already known about these places.
The degree to which the project would cover the natural environment was also examined during Stage 1, and the extent of existing studies on natural values determined. It was agreed with the Steering Committee that to include the natural environment would limit the depth of the study on historic places, and that separate funding should be sought for such work.
Based on the preliminary survey, it was decided to focus the study on:
- 1. The pre-suburban period in the history of the municipality, with particular attention to be paid to places associated with town survey and settlement, pastoral, agricultural and orchard uses, gold, and environmental appreciation.
- 2. Landscape elements such as landmark trees, plantings, windbreaks, the river environment, that create the valued character of the municipality.
- 3. The work of individual architects and the architectural values of buildings.
- 4. Examples of changes in town planning and suburban design.
After the acceptance of the results and con clusions from the Preliminary Survey, the consultants commenced work on Stage 2 of the project.
Stage 2 involved three main elements:
- community information
- analysis and documentation: history and environment
- heritage plan
Each of these is described below.
Community information
Keeping the community informed of the progress of the study and allowing opportunities for input was a small but important aspect of the Study. Our aims were to:
- to provide information to the community about heritage conservation at a local level - what it is, why it might be valued, and ways of achieving conservation
- to encourage people to express their views about the municipality's heritage - what they value, their views on statutory conservation measures, what information or assistance they are seeking to assist them conserve their own properties
- to provide information and feedback to help in developing an on-going heritage strategy for the municipality.
The Council took the first steps by establish ing a Steering Committee with wide community representation and in publicising the project and seeking ideas from the community through the Council's newsletter "Update".
During the study we continued to use these two avenues to meet the community information aims.
In November 1989 Council sought people's views on the "five things I/we like or value most in Doncaster and Templestowe area" through a survey in Update. The returned survey forms indicated that those responding valued the natural environment, parks and re serves most highly, with historical buildings being the next most valued. Buildings mentioned included old churches, Smith's house, Sheahan's house, "White House", Zerbe's house, Schramm’s cottage, and gold mining sites. Other valued aspects of the municipality were the community itself, and the range of available facilities.
During the study, articles in Update aimed to keep local people informed about the progress of the work.
Four public meetings were held during June 1991 to enable discussion of the draft report. All affected owners were invited directly, and notices in the Doncaster and Templestowe News invited the general public to attend. A total of 107 people attended the meetings, and fourteen written submissions were received. All the issues raised have been considered by the consultants in the preparation of the final report.
Analysis and documentation: history and environment
Understanding the municipality's history and how aspects of the past can be seen in the environment, involves research and survey work.
This task involved a number of steps. The first was to prepare a list of published books, manuscripts, maps, photographs and other sources of information on the municipality's history. A chart of the main historical themes (see Section 3) was prepared to enable analysis of the places already recognised as signifi cant (e.g. places on government or the National Trust Registers). This helped us iden tify some themes where no historic places had been recognised, and to work with the historical societies to identify possible places to ex amine further.
Our theme-based analysis of the physical development of the municipality paid particular attention to the broad development sequence of the locality and patterns of land use likely to still be evident. Our results are also presented in this report in terms of these themes.
Because of the size of the municipality, we decided to compare early and current aerial photographs to locate buildings and plantings remaining from the pre-suburban period.
These places were mapped, along with others already identified.
To help us identify buildings of architectural merit, we searched through a number of sources, such as the Australian Architectural Index and a number of architectural journals. We used this list of buildings as a basis for contacting a number of architects to find out more about these buildings, and any others of merit that they felt we should examine.
Each place or area identified was visited, photographed and a description prepared; this information was linked to other available information on its history or its significance. Finally, the relative significance of each place was assessed and the documentation compiled into this report. A technical report was also produced for the Planning Department of Council.
The expertise and skills of team members, including the historical societies, was drawn on as needed, along with information from a number of other individuals.
Heritage Plan
While the previous task looked at which historic places in the City of Doncaster and Templestowe are significant, the heritage plan task involved working out how these significant places could be best protected.
A heritage plan needs to take account of the impact of existing policies and practices on conserving historic places, and the level of community support for such measures. It would incorporate goals and a variety of statutory and non-statutory measures for achieving conservation. Recommendations on a heritage plan for the municipality have been identified in Section 4 of this report.
To give effect to the heritage plan Council will need to add the heritage controls to the Planning Scheme, inform and seek the participation of the community, and set policies to guide the works programs of Council and of government agencies.
Source: City of Doncaster and Templestowe Heritage Study (Context Pty Ltd, Peterson R & Stafford B, 1991) Published online with permission of Manningham Council (May2020)
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