Campbells Creek 19th Century Main Road Heritage Buildings Walk
In the latter half of the 19th century, (Campbells Creek was a bustling township catering for the needs of its hundreds of miners and their families from all over the world with numerous hotels, breweries, shops and dwellings. Many can still be seen today. The township has a predominance of 19th century architecture, much of which is intact and in good condition. A selection of buildings and sites is described below.
The focus is on historic buildings on the Main (see map) because it is home to a diverse range of examples that can easily be seen from a car as you travel south, referring to the numbered sites on the map, from 47 Main Road through to the Five Flags Hotel area and back again to number 44. You can, of course, do the tour on foot if you want to. Only buildings that are visible from the road, intact and in good repair and without unsympathetic additions or alterations, are included.
William Campbell 1810-1896
Campbells Creek takes its name from the Scottish squatter, William Campbell (1810-1896) who took up the Strathloddon run, and built a homestead at what is now Yapeen, in 1840. The boundaries of the run included the whole creek valley, stretching from the junction of Barkers and Forest Creeks to Guilford.
Through sound management, improved stock breeding and a talent for finance William Campbell became one of the country's wealthiest pastoralists, with holdings in Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland. He was also a successful financier, with substantial investments in tramways, gas and meat chilling and freezing companies.
The Australian Dictionary of Biography describes William Campbell thus: `[he fought] to preserve the interests of the old squattocracy, and in this he belonged to the past. However in knowledge of the pastoral industry and financial talent he was very much a man of the moment.'
Early history
The township of Campbells Creek takes its name from a tributary of the Loddon River and is named after William Campbell, an early squatter. (see separate note above).
The Dja Dja Wurrung or Jaara people were the traditional owners of the land upon which the township of Campbells Creek is situated. However, in the early 1840s squatters moved into the area with their flocks of sheep and displaced the indigenous people. The squatters were attracted by Major Mitchells's glowing reports on the land he passed through on his third inland exploration in 1836. This land, which he named Australia Felix, was later named Victoria.
In order to protect the indigenous people from these newcomers the Colonial Office in England appointed a Chief Protector and four Assistant Protectors to look after the rights and interests of the local indigenous people. From 1841-1849 Edward Stone Parker, an Assistant Protector, was given the responsibility of managing the Loddon Protectorate in North Central Victoria. Campbells Creek township was close to the border of the Protectorate, which finished to the south near Franklinford. Following the closure of the Protectorate, some Dja Dja Wurrung remained in the area and today there are still indigenous people living in the vicinity.
Initially the township of Campbells Creek ran from the junction of Forest and Barkers Creeks to the Loddon River. After the discovery of gold in the district in 1851, there was an influx of people seeking their fortunes, one estimate being 3000 people. Shortly, canvas and bark structures began appearing along the banks of the creek. While initially all activities including marriages and schooling were conducted in tents, by 1858 roads had improved and solid brick and wooden structures - churches, shops, hotels, breweries, schools and homes - were erected. Some of these structures have survived until the present day, as described in this brochure.
Campbells Creek 19th Century Main Road Heritage Buildings Map
Notable buildings in Main Road EAST SIDE, FROM NORTH TO SOUTH
47 Main Road, Campbells Creek
Book Heaven
Previously known as Bath Arms Hotel, Standard Hotel, Standard Tap Hotel, Smith's Country Bazaar
This former hotel demonstrates some original design qualities typical of early Victorian commercial buildings. It is especially associated with the Bath Arms, an early hotel established on this site in 1854, and later with a local industry. The Standard Brewery, which purchased the Bath Arms in 1863, rebuilt part or all of it in brick in 1864 and named it the Standard Hotel.
61 Main Road, Campbells Creek
The Digger's Store
Previously known as The Vine Inn, Brynmawr House
This building demonstrates some original design qualities typical of Victorian commercial buildings. It is associated with the early development of the Campbells Creek township following the discovery of gold in the district and with the need to provide services to a rapidly growing community. Storekeeper William Wood erected the two-storey brick building on this site in 1858 and called it 'The Diggers' Store'.
71 Main Road, Campbells Creek
'The Stables' house and converted outbuilding
This is the site of a Victorian brick house with front verandah located directly on the street frontage. The rest of the site is fronted by a rubble stone fence behind which there is a treed garden and the former stables building behind the house. The buildings, stone wall, and garden are prominent elements in the Main Road streetscape.
89 Main Road, Campbells Creek
Olivet Christian College
Previously known as Campbells Creek Methodist Church, Wesleyan Church
The chapel at Olivet Christian College (formerly the Wesleyan Methodist Church) is an example of the Victorian Decorated Gothic style designed by the prolific church architects, Crouch and Wilson and erected in 1862 replacing the first Wesleyan Methodist Church at Campbells Creek built in 1856.
95 Main Road, Campbells Creek
Former Clifton Brothers Store and house
Previously known as the Wesleyan Methodist Parsonage and The People's Store
This house displays original design qualities of the Victorian style, as does the attached store although it has had its front facade altered. It is associated with the early years of the Campbells Creek township and demonstrates the characteristic 19th century business practice of building a shop and residence as part of the same building. The Clifton brothers, Max and David, erected the building in 1858 and ran the People's Store there with their relatives.
105 Main Road, Campbells Creek
Former Holy Trinity Church
Previously known as Cutlack Antiques, now a private residence
This recently painted former chapel is an example of the Victorian Early English Gothic style. It is associated with the development of the Episcopalian and Church of England denominations having their origins in 1860 on an earlier site near the Five Flags Hotel. Construction commenced for a temporary church, but this timber building was blown down in 1861. At a public meeting in June of 1861, it was decided to erect a 'substantial stone or brick edifice at a total cost of 600 pounds', on an alternative site.
117 Main Road, '141 Campbells Creek
Brick House
This brick house is associated with the early years of the settlement of the Campbells Creek township and demonstrates the characteristic 19th century business practice of building a shop and residence under the same roof. It is associated with Martha Woodfield, a storekeeper, who built a combined house and store in the early 1860s, and slightly extended the building in 1867.
127 Main Road, Campbells Creek
Campbells Creek Primary School No. 120
Campbells Creek Primary School began its life in 1853 in a brown calico tent erected on Block 19 on the west side of the Midland Highway (Main Road). It became a National School in February 1854. In 1856, a wooden building was erected on the same site. The school-ground was fenced and divided into two paddocks; one for use as a playground, the other for use as a vegetable garden. The latter section was leased to Chinese miners in 1861 for a sum of 100 pounds per annum. The current building was opened in 1878.
145 Main Road, Campbells Creek
Ferguson's Bootrnakers and house
The land on which this house is located was granted to R. Ferguson in October 1860. The first rates made by the Campbells Creek Roads Board were recorded in November 1863 when Robert Ferguson is rated for a three-room 'wood' house and shop. This would seem to be the rear part of the present building. The combining of a shop and residence under one roof was a common 19th century business practice. The entry for Ferguson's property in the 1872 Mount Alexander Shire Rate Book records his occupation as `bootmaker', for the first time.
149 Main Road, Campbells Creek
Former Traveller's Rest Inn
James Kinkead established himself in the township c.1854 as the owner of a licensed premises called the 'Traveller's Rest', which was little more than a shanty. Kinkead may have replaced his early premises with the present building in 1859, when he took out a mortgage for 300 pounds. He died in January 1862 and Mary Kinkead took over until May 1870 when the property was purchased by Hans Muller.
151 Main Road, Campbells Creek
The former Five Flags General Store
Although the name 'Five Flags' was used from the 1850s to describe this area in Campbells Creek, the origins of the name are uncertain. However, it is likely that it dates back to at least the mid-1850s and a storekeeper called R. Barnes who used five blue flags to draw attention to his business. It is not known where Barnes' store was located, but the sites of the present residence and former General Store were granted to William Place and Robert Blair Roden respectively in 1857, with Place selling his allotment to Roden a year later. The store closed in October 2015.
155 Main Road, Campbells Creek
Five Flags Hotel
The Five Flags Hotel is historically significant, being associated with the early development of the Campbells Creek township following the discovery of gold in the district and with the need to provide services to a rapidly growing community. It was associated with the Five Flags area of Campbells Creek from the 1850s when James Hooper established the hotel in 1855. Subsequent owners, particularly Giles Church, Thomas Randle, Hans Appel and Fritz Otzen, all appear to have made significant alterations and additions. The addition in 1864 of a large hall used for concerts, designed by Castlemaine architect, T.F. Kibble, is notable.
WEST SIDE, FROM SOUTH TO NORTH
140 Main Road, Campbells Creek
Barnes House
Previously known as the Schoolteacher's Residence
This single-storey weatherboard house was built in the early I 900s and is of architectural and historic significance to the Campbells Creek township. The building appears to be substantially intact, and its general roof form, overall design and derailing, and the materials with which it has been constructed make it an interesting example of its type.
118 Main Road, Campbells Creek
Former Campbells Creek Road Board Chambers Also known as Newstead Shire Chambers, Campbells Creek Toll House
The property contains a small timber building and a timber flagpole in the front yard. This building, which has been relocated from its original site, was a toll house operated by the Newstead Roads Board, proclaimed in October 1860. The Board operated a toll bar and associated toll house near the Five Flags Hotel in accordance with the 1853 Roads Act which established toll bars on roads throughout Victoria to raise funds for road construction and improvement. The Mount Alexander Mail on 12 December 1860 reported that there was vigorous local opposition to the levying of tolls on a half-formed thoroughfare such as the Campbells Creek Main Road then was. Tolls were abolished in 1863, and some time later the building was moved from its original site near the Five Flags Hotel to its current location, where it is estimated to have been for around 100 years.
An unusual feature of this property is that it is not Crown land but owned freehold by the State Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. There is no evidence of transfer of ownership of the land or the building to the Shire even though it was used for Newstead Shire municipal purposes at one time. The building is heritage listed as it is one of only three former toll houses of its type in the State.
90 Main Road, Campbells Creek
Former Oddfellows Lodge
Also known as Gray's Cordial Factory, Helleweg's Cordial Factory
This building demonstrates some original design qualities of a Victorian style hall. It is associated with the early years of the settlement of the Campbells Creek township, and with the Grand United Order of Oddfellows. This was a friendly society that provided financial support to its members.
86 Main Road, Campbells Creek
Best House
The site is characterised by a single-storey horizontal weatherboard and brick house in the Victorian vernacular style set a short distance back from the street frontage in a garden setting. The land on which this house stands was granted to E. Dando in February 1860. He appears to have been one of the earliest to build along this section of Main Road but did not live in the house for very long.
60 Main Road, Campbells Creek
Former Rechabite Hall, Tent No. 12
This building demonstrates some original design qualities of a Victorian style hall. The Independent Order of Rechabites wits a benefit society formed in England in 1835 to encourage abstinence from all intoxicating beverages. It provided financial support to its members and their families in times of hardship through a type of insurance policy to which each member made regular contributions to the fund. The branches of the order were called 'Tents', Tent No. 12 being a very early branch in Australia. The hall has been in private hands since 1976, with some additions and alterations being made to the original building in later years, when used as a private residence.
42 (Also listed as no. 44) Main Road, Campbells Creek
Phoenix Brewery Residence
This brick house is a significant example of the Victorian Italianate style. The site is associated with the Phoenix Brewery established in 1854 to manufacture beer to sell to the rapidly growing community. The house appears to be associated with the Standard Brewery, as the Phoenix Brewery was renamed in 1862. It was probably erected around this time for the brewery manager, Joseph Myring. An early settler and hotelkeeper in the district, he purchased the Standard Brewery with a syndicate in 1864 and became the sole owner in the early 1870s. This house was his home until his death in 1886 and was associated with the Brewery until the late 1920s.
This walk was prepared by Campbells Creek Community Inc. History and Heritage Group.
Location
47 Main Road, Campbells Creek 3451 Map
