My first stop was the Blak Dot Gallery and as I turned the corner into Saxon Street, I was met by the larger than life image of an indigenous child on the Saxon Street frontage of the gallery. It was created by artist Matt Adnate in 2016 as part of the Sydney Road Street Party.
Photo taken by me, today, 4 March 2018
I've seen Adnate's work before - at Sheep Hills in the Wimmera.
Photo taken by me, Sheep Hills, Yarriambiack Shire in the Wimmera,
2 January 2017
The Wimmera Mail Times published two interesting articles in 2016 as the artwork was going up. You can read them here and here.
I’ve been
lucky enough to visit the Brim, Sheep Hills and Rupanyup silos – all part of
the Silo Art Trail.
Here are
some of the photos I took at Rupanyup and Brim.
Rupanyupsilo, 12 July 2017, taken in fading light.Artist Julia Volchkova.
Brim silo,
2 January 2017. Artwork by Guido van Helten.
Wandering around the 33 Saxon Street site, I could see so many possible uses for the site: an artists' space, a writers' retreat, a Moreland-based museum (as a local historian, I'd like to see that!), community classes in things like growing your own food or art and craft classes, writing workshops.
A potters' workshop or ceramics gallery would be a fitting tribute to Alfred Cornwell, who established his pottery on the site in 1859. Legendary local Brunswick historian Les Barnes wrote that Cornwell's Pottery (also known as the Brunswick Pottery) flourished in the land boom years of the 1880s and reached its peak in 1914. But then its clay pits gave out and it had to rely on imported clay. He says that the Pottery closed between 1919 and 1935 and then came up against opposition to the pollution it created. It struggled on until 1959 when the works closed down and were demolished.
The site then operated as a school before being bought by Moreland City Council in 2010.
Cornwell
Pottery (known as Brunswick Pottery), date unknown, but probably 1860s or 1870s. Lantern slide no.63, courtesy
Moreland City Libraries.
Cornwell’s
Pottery Display, no date, but probably during the Duke of Cornwall’s visit in
1901. Lantern slide no. 334, courtesy Moreland City Libraries.
Cornwell’s pottery, early photo, circ. 1860-1870.
Lantern slide no.155, courtesy Moreland City Libraries.
Cornwell's ornate, Italianate house remains, however.
The Victorian Heritage report states that the house at 33 Saxon Street, Brunswick, is of local historical and architectural significance. It is the last remaining building of the pottery and brick making enterprises of Alfred Cornwell, an important Brunswick pottery proprietor. Architecturally, it is a good example of a polychrome Italianate mansion, and an example of the type of residence built by an industrialist overlooking his own works. The significance of the house has been greatly reduced by various alterations, in particular the connecting walkway between the balcony and the adjoining school building. The impact of the house on the streetscape has been completely lost by the surrounding school buildings, which date from the 1960s onwards.
Photos taken by me, 4 March 2018
The heritage value of the original building may have been compromised by the alterations that have taken place in the last 50 years or so, but we are fortunate that it survives and that it is not in the hands of developers who would no doubt rip it down and put up an apartment block.
Sources:
Brunswick: One History,
Many Voices, ed. Helen Penrose, City of Brunswick, Victoria Press, 1994.
Les Barnes notes.
Moreland Libraries images
collection, accessed via the Local History Catalogue.
Fighting the Kaiser blog http://fightingthekaiser.blogspot.com.au
Moreland Council http://www.moreland.vic.gov.au/about-us/projects/completed-projects/completed-projects-2015/33-saxon-street-public-open-space/
Blak Dot Gallery website: http://www.blakdot.com.au/ and http://www.blakdot.com.au/painting-it-blak/
Wimmera Mail Times, 22
November 2016
Wimmera Mail Times, 9
December 2016
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