Archive: July 2015

Congratulations to the members of the Dunolly Historic Precinct committee, formerly know as the Dunolly Town Hall and Court House Committee, on the launch of its new website and the tour of the precinct for prospective users. The work which has been carried out at the courthouse, stables, police station and lock-up is a credit to you all and the workmen involved.

Great care has been taken with the repairs to the brickwork and Fiona Lindsay, during the tour of the courthouse before the launch, commended the workmanship and skill of the craftsmen, who completed the work on the lock-up and stables. Care has also been taken to use authentic colours; for example, the unusual colour of the police station, research showed that it was the original colour. The aim was not to “whitewash” everything into looking too new, as can sometimes happen in the refurbishment of old buildings. 

 
Although I had been to the Court House many times, until last Friday I had no idea that there was a lavatory hidden away off the kitchen, behind the jury box. The lavatory was added when building was changed from being used as the Town Hall to the County Court House. It takes up part of the original reading room with its glass ceiling that is quite unusual, but very practical for an interior lavatory; although Fiona did mention that originally is was an earth closet.

After the tour we adjourned to the Town Hall where the website was launched by Kathryn Mackenzie, City of Greater Bendigo Tourism Executive. Kathryn congratulated the committee and said what an asset the precinct was, not only to Dunolly, but also to the whole region.
The precinct is now open for business and it is to be hoped that it will be well used and appreciated by people far and wide. Well done to all involved.

Coral Christensen
The Welcome Record, Dunolly
29 July 2015

As part of their Humanities studies students from Dunolly Primary School went on a local excursion to discover the origins of historical buildings in the town. 

They were fortunate enough to run into Fiona Lindsay on the way who generously took the time to show the students the restoration of the stables, the jail area and through the Court House. The students then moved down to TP Daly where Peter Daly also was very generous with his time in showing aspects of Daly’s shop, the Coach House and Billiards room. 

The students wrote an account of their experience.

We went to Dunolly we went to the old Dunolly jail. It was fun and we went to where the police horses were kept but there weren’t any police horses there. We went in the court house. The people in the court house had just cleaned the floor! We went to the shop called TP Daly in Dunolly. They have tools. It was interesting to see how things have changed.
​Sam Spink

We went to the first Mayor’s house, Mr Bell. We also went to the first jail and to the court house. We went to TP Daly’s. We looked at the ledger books that were used to record sales, the Coach Office/Billiards rooms where people went to buy tickets for the Cobb and Co coach.
​Millie Adcock

On Wednesday 5 September grade 3/4 went on a trip around Dunolly to look at the local historical buildings. We went to go to TP Daly but we bumped into Fiona Lindsay. She just happened to have the key to the stables, jail and the BIG old court house. First we went into the stables where the horses were kept. There was an upstairs place where they had lots of hay and they dropped down to the horses. We went in the old jail cells and we got to have a look around. We went in the Court House. It was AWESOME! We went to TP Daly. Peter Daly showed us how they recorded the sales. We went next door to see where they sold tickets for the Cobb and Co coach.
​Georgie Milburn, Annie Harman and Hope Johnston

When we went on our walk, we went in the jail cells. We saw scratched walls. The court house was fun inside because we could use the gavel. Peter Daly showed us the old buildings including the tent as part of the roof which was the original building.
​Declan Farrar

The Dunolly Historic Precinct is celebrating the launch of it’s new website.

The site promotes the heritage values, stories and uses of some of Dunolly’s most prized goldfields architecture; the town hall, court house, police station, stables and lock up. These stunning buildings are now available for touring, events, weddings, exhibitions, school excursions and meetings.