The following is a submission from the Caldera Environment Centre to the Tweed Shire Council in regards to the recent Heritage study.
The Tweed has several remarkable characteristics which make certain buildings in the region of special or heritage significance.
CLIMATE, SOILS AND TIMBER
The high rainfall combined with warm subtropical climate and highly mineralized soils has given rise to very biodiverse and luxuriant rainforests producing the country’s very best building timbers. Forest timbers like red cedar, white beech, crows ash/teak, bumpy ash, silverash, cudgerie, hoop pine, brown pine, blackwood and wet sclerophyll timbers like tallow wood, red and grey ironbark, red and white mahogany, blackbutt, flooded gum, brushbox, turpentine are world class building timbers which offer a huge range of colours and properties far greater and of a higher standard than other parts of Australia and arguably the world.
WORKFORCE: Timber Industry , carpenters and joiners
Red cedar logging was one of the very first industries on the north coast because cedar was prized for its luster and colour and because it was easy to cut and transport (soft and light). This industry developed into the milling of both rainforest softwoods and wet sclerophyll hardwoods. Much of the Tweed’s timber was exported to other parts of Australia and the British Empire.
BUILDING INDUSTRY AND VERNACULAR STYLE
The timber industry also gave rise to many skilled artisans such as carpenters, joiners, wood turners and finishers and polishers. The standard of carpentry in the Tweed Shire is generally quite high and many fine examples of the North Coast and South East Queensland vernacular style still exist. This style typically employs highest stumps of timber to provide undercroft space and accommodate sloping sites, veranda (often on all sides), pyramid or hip roofs of corrugated galvanised iron create simple but well framed structures with wooden joinery of the very best timbers available ( now unprocurable).
The Tweed was one of the closest settled parts of Australia, largely because the highly fertile soils allowed for small dairy farms of 200 acres to be viable because of the high price Britain was able to pay for colonial butter. A little later cane farming on the flat flood plain became established and crops like bananas and tomatoes etc. gave rise to intensive horticulture on small allotments. The social structure of the Tweed was fairly egalitarian and based on self-sufficient small farms of various types.
BUILDING TYPES OF HERITAGE VALUE
Due to the combination of various climatic and social factors (described above) two building types arguably have heritage values:
1.The elevated timber house with classical Georgian roots, modified to suit the sub-tropical climate
2.The Community Halls/Mechanics Institutes/School of Arts built of local timber in a simple, basic style without ceilings and serviced with a kitchen/buffet area for refreshments.
3.The local vernacular utilitarian/industrial buildings like milking sheds, cream stores and farm outbuildings, Norco Butteries and Milk Processing Factories, Colonial Sugar Refinery buildings etc.
4.Government Buildings such as Police Stations, Lock-ups, and Court Houses and School Buildings
In particular the elevated timber house of the 1900’s-1930’s or colonial “Queenslander” is remarkable and well adapted to our sub-tropical climate. Many good examples exist in Tweed Shire and many exist as groups in precincts. We
would like to see some recognition of these vernacular houses.
The other notable building type, the Community Halls throughout the Shire which are basic but well-built with teak floors and gable roofs. These halls though plain and simple from the outside are often very pleasant and generous spaces inside. Some good examples can be seen at Uki, Stokers Siding, Burringbar, Tyalgum, Crystal Creek and Chillingham etc. The best example was the Murwillumbah School of Arts building in the Main street which is now the mundane Plaza next to the Court House a travesty losing our built heritage.
URBAN DESIGN & HERITAGE ISSUES FOR TYALGUM AND COOLAMON (MAIN) STREET PARTICULARLY.
In my capacity as a resident of the area for past 37 years, as an Architect and an Urban designer, I have been asked by some local residents and a couple of owners of properties in Coolamon St. to prepare a submission for the consideration of Tweed Shire Council.
CONTEXT:
GEOGRAPHIC
Tyalgum lies in the upper or western part of the Caldera towards The Pinnacle and near the junction of the Oxley River and Brays Creek and Hopping Dick creek. The Border Ranges to the west, Limpinwood Nature Reserve to the north, Mt. Warning to the east and The Sphinx and Blue Knob to the south are all clearly visible from and exert a strong influence on the village of Tyalgum. The Oxley River running to the north and parallel to the Main St. is also a dominant feature. The surrounding ranges form part of the World Heritage listed Gondwana Rainforest Reserve lands and it can be said that Tyalgum has World Heritage views.
The lower flood prone or swampy land towards the River, north of the Main road has sensibly been left and open space including sporting and showgrounds. This open outlook allows inspiring views to the ranges and slopes to the north and lends a strong and pleasant character to the village and Main St.
HISTORIC
Tyalgum was probably an important meeting place for the original inhabitants who were known to gain access to the Border Ranges and beyond via ridges to the north west of Tyalgum village. The junction of the three large creeks would have been important for Koori people.
The geographic context and the access roads to the north to Chillingham, to the east to Murwillumbah and to the south to Uki and Lismore via Kunghur made Tyalgum a logical place to establish a village based on timber milling and milk and cream processing. The NORCO butter factory at the east end of Coolamon St. is an important feature as is the Hotel on the opposite (south) side of the street.
As the village grew from the turn of the century other significant buildings were established. Moving up the south side of the street from the east there is the Tea Shop/Tearooms, the General store and residence, the Butchers shop, the Bakery and residence, the Garage, The Tyalgum Hall and Mechanics Institute, The Post Office and residence as well as several well-built elevated timber houses and finally the Headmasters house opposite the Tyalgum school.
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
Some of the buildings are typical wooden north coast of NSW structures of considerable size and virtue. The Butter Factory is constructed of rendered brick and is probably the most significant building in the Main St. The General Store and owner’s residence are both buildings of merit as is the Hall/Mechanics Institute.
The Butchers and Bakers shops and Bakery owner’s residence are buildings which along with the Hotel and the other buildings mentioned above fit the north coast character of locally grown, milled and built structures. These buildings, like many of the timber residences erected in neighbouring streets in the 1920’s and 30’s may not tick all the boxes (or any) of the Heritage Commissioners brief but they are all built of first grade (and now unprocurable) local rainforest and sclerophyll timbers by local carpenters of considerable skill and integrity. It would be fair to say that the skill and knowledge of the carpenters of the day (early 20th century or Federation) was far more profound than those today.
All the buildings were built with simple but well-made tools using only hand labour and they have a unity and vernacular character which could be called “Wooden Federation”.
It is this vernacular timber character which deserves recognition and encouragement. The extensive use of verandas is an exemplary characteristic.
The universal use of galvanised corrugated iron for roofs and rainwater tanks also acts as a unifying element. The hip and gable roofs usually have a generous pitch of about 25 degrees which also gives unity and visual amenity.
Yours Sincerely,
Hop.e Hopkins,
Coordinator, Caldera Environment Centre
General comments (by Sam Dawson Secretary)
In the past few years there have been several examples of a “whittling-away” of local heritage values at several sites. A recent example is the demolition of the Norco buildings on the Tweed Valley Way, this was a travesty and the site will now be blighted by the erection of a McDonald’s restaurant and a supermarket, both of which are completely redundant.
Another example is the removal of the pressed tin awnings from the Murwillumbah Hotel, and along Queen Street. These awnings compliment the early 20th century art-deco architecture of the Murwillumbah CBD, but have been forever lost. (Ref: SHI No. 2520176)
The listings of significant trees are a nice effort but again have not manifested in any meaningful way, as the TSC (or private landholders) seems to gradually rationalise the destruction of one tree after another. For example, the Harry Hatton Fig at Byangum is now a pathetic eye-sore, a limbless grey stump covered in some of the region’s worst environmental weeds.
Some of the more notable buildings that have been demolished over the past forty years include the two storey Uki store, the two storey Murwillumbah School of Arts, the two storey Barry and Roberts store, now Palm Court.
Some regretable alterations include the Art Deco entrance, corner of Queen and Main St. Murwillumbah and the pressed metal ceilings of the Murwillumbah Hotel.
The appallingly bad recent offerings on the north side of Wollumbin Street, east and west of Brisbane St. and the IGA supermarket/McDonald’s development on the old Norco milk processing site are so poorly designed that we wonder how Council could allow them to be built?
Comparison of 2007 Heritage study to the 2011 study
How much has been lost in this time? We note with some regret that items have been removed from the heritage list since it has been put out for public comment, and furthermore some heritage has been destroyed in the name of ‘progress’ (elements of the Murwillumbah Hotel for instance).
So the question is; what authority does this register have?
The future is made up of little bits of the past
The future is not something that will happen, but is something that we make happen now by our actions and decisions. Australia does not have a particularly good record of preserving its natural or cultural legacies, and so our present is made up of exotic species of plants and animals and newly designed buildings that have no reference to our previous culture.
The effort to attempt to protect the heritage of the Tweed Shire is to be applauded, but it is also needs to have some meaningful authority. Otherwise the register is merely a catalogue of things that we have been demolished.
The Caldera Environment Centre considers this to be a draft submission and would like to meet with the respective council planners or the general manager to discuss the issue of Tweed Shire’s heritage.
Yours Sincerely,
Samuel K Dawson BAS (Hons),
Secretary Caldera Environment Centre.
Appendix
Below is a supplement supplied by Andrew Stewart illustrating the significance of old sheds and yards as items of heritage
SHEDS AND YARDS
In conjunction with the Tyalgum Centenary celebrations, the Tyalgum District Community Association commissioned a set of twenty archival exhibition prints from Brays Creek photographer Andrew Stewart. These prints now belong to the Tyalgum community and join the other photographic documents preserved here at the Hall. The images were chosen by the TDCA from a larger selection of the photographer’s work.
Photographer’s Notes
I have been photographing around farms for a number of years. There is an emphasis in this selection on Brays Creek because that is where I live and where I have most opportunity but it is an ongoing project. As farming in the Tweed declines, much of the distinctive visual character of the district is disappearing. My aim is to commemorate the unpretentious beauty of many of the structures found in rural areas and to try to create a moment of stillness about them which will encourage contemplation. Perhaps people will be reminded that old sheds and yards – and some of the way of life they signify – are worth preserving.
I thank all the people who have allowed me to photograph on their farms and who have been so helpful with information. I have also relied on Norm Smith’s book Under the Pinnacle and the two Tyalgum history books published in the 1980s.
01 BRAYS CREEK DIP, BRAYS CREEK, 2001
Brays Creek Dip, at the junction of the Brays Creek Road and Byrrill Creek Road, was first used in 1924. Like most dips it was built next to a creek for easy access to water and its layout and construction are typical.
On the far side of the holding yards in the foreground is the race leading to the dip bath, protected by a corrugated iron roof. Adjoining is the chemical shed containing the tickicide (arsenic in the early days and later a succession of other chemicals). It also housed the records and the tick dodger’s equipment: broom, long and short handled shovels and rope and stirring board. Some tickies dispensed with the stirrer, merely sending the first batch of cows through twice to agitate the bath.
02 OBERON DIP, BRAYS CREEK, 2004
This dip towards the end of Brays Creek Road was built in 1954 on lot 51 Parish of Tyalgum, Jack Kane’s selection originally, by then owned by Tom Knight. The timber and posts were split by the farmers who were to use the dip: Frank Tagget, Tom and Gerald O’Connor and Tom Knight. The Tick Department built the bath.
The animals enter the dip from a forcing yard to the right of the chemical shed and have no option but to jump into the bath. The splash walls running the length of the bath are clearly visible. The bath ramps up to help the cows clamber out into a concrete-paved draining pen, which allows the chemical to flow back into the bath. Behind are water tanks for topping up the bath.
03 PASCOES DIP (FORMERLY KELLYS DIP) AND THE PINNACLE, BACK CREEK, 2004
Cattle ticks were a problem from the beginning of settlement and dipping became a necessity. One of the earliest dips was built in 1917 on Kelly’s selection, lot 32 Parish of Tyalgum on Back Creek, now Pascoes’ farm. The dip was 32 feet 3 inches long, 3 feet 3 inches wide and 8 feet deep. It was first used in November 1918.
This view shows part of the yards associated with the original Kelly’s Dip. In the middle left is the forcing yard, which opens into the race leading to the bath. On the right is the holding yard. Presiding over the scene is Brays Creek’s dominant landmark, the Pinnacle.
04 PASCOES RACE AND GUM, BACK CREEK, 2004
Under an old gum is the race and headlock built by current owners, John and Roz Pascoe, on what was originally Kelly’s selection, lot 32 Parish of Tyalgum, to connect with the yards of the old Kelly’s Dip. The race is of traditional post and cap construction like the race in the old yards.
This picture is approximately the reverse view of the photograph of Pascoes’ (Kelly’s) Dip and the Pinnacle.
05 POLLOCKS DIP, JUNCTION OF BRAYS CREEK AND PUMPENBIL ROADS (HALLS CREEK), 2002
Pollock’s Dip takes its name from John Pollock who settled the nearby lot 36 Parish of Tyalgum in 1912. The locality is popularly known as Halls Creek (or Halls Crossing prior to the opening of the bridge in the 1920s) after James Hall who owned lot 7 Parish of Tyalgum, on the bank of what is actually Pumpenbil Creek, and managed the mail receiving office there in the early 1900s.
This detail of the race shows the post and cap construction which ties the posts together against the outward pressure of the stock forcing through. The double post arrangement in the foreground allows a gate to slide in and out.
06 TYALGUM SHOWGROUND, 2002
Building programs from the 1960s through to the 1980s under the auspices of the Tyalgum Park Trust increased the size and functionality of the pavilion to allow for catering to large events. The announcer’s box was added in the 1980s.
The Showground is the venue for numerous sporting and equestrian events and for the long-running Tyalgum Diggers Sports, the Wollumbin Festival and the outdoor concert component of the nationally famous Tyalgum Music Festival.
07 SMALL SHED, BRAYS CK, 2002
This shed was built in the 1950s on lot 50 Parish of Burrell when it was Frank Tagget’s farm. It was originally a chook house and there is a similar shed a few metres away which is a chook house still. The four solid corner posts of tallowood or yellow stringybark have seen termites come and go without doing serious damage.
This is the classic style of small shed, with the roof sloping back from the front, and they are still often seen, particularly as pump houses. The chemical sheds in the dip yards are essentially the same design.
08 EVERESTS FRUIT STALL, EUNGELLA, 2002
Beginning a couple of years earlier with one table and an umbrella, Everests’ Fruit Stall soon demanded more spacious accommodation. What appears, at first glance, to be a charmingly makeshift outgrowth of the overhanging trees is in fact a highly elegant design with the roof braced and cantilevered off a single row of posts.
Alas, this delightful structure quickly proved as inadequate as the table and umbrella and was replaced by a sensible lock-up shed.
09 GALLARD FARM, BACK CREEK, 2003
Lot 31 Parish of Tyalgum was known as Fisher’s for about forty years from 1916 when it was acquired by Samuel T. Fisher, although for most of that time it was leased or share-farmed. Gary and Robyn Gallard now own the southern half.
On the right are pigsties and a loading ramp dating from the early 1960s when Bruce and Lorna Hill owned the farm. It was still producing cream, with pigs as an adjunct, until the late 1970s. The silos and sheds on the left have been erected by Gary Gallard since1986.
In the background is Mt Warning as it appears from Back Creek and Brays Creek. To the right and closer is Brummies Lookout.
10 SILOS, GALLARD FARM, BACK CREEK, 2003
This is a close-up of the silos which appear in the wider view of Gary and Robyn Gallard’s farm on Back Creek. They were built to hold grain for pigs.
Visible on the left of the ten ton corrugated iron silo is the ladder giving access to the cap on top, which opens to allow the silo to be filled with a spiral auger. The silo on the right is made of fibreglass and holds two tons. Grain is removed from each silo by means of a chute at the bottom. The old horse has no trouble giving it a bit of nudge to let a couple of mouthfuls trickle out.
= = = = = = =
