History and Culture

Avoca Police Camp

The police camp at Avoca is built upon the Traditional Lands of the First Nations people, the Dja Dja Wurrung, who have cared for and nurtured this land for tens of thousands of years.

A plan of the Township of Avoca in 1865. The police Camp and police paddock are shown towards the bottom of the plan. Source: Public Records Office Victoria.

The Victorian gold rush of the 1850s saw a rapid growth of population in the Colony, as people from around the world travelled to Victoria seeking fortune on its goldfields. The expansion of settlements, and the creation of new towns where gold was discovered, placed enormous demands on the young Colony, which had only recently separated from New South Wales. With the social upheaval caused by the gold rush, the Government faced major challenges in enforcing law and order.

In many places, including Avoca, police camps were established to help maintain peace and safety. It is here, on this rise in the township, that Avoca’s police camp was situated. At first, it consisted of crude timber slab buildings, but as the settlement became permanent, more substantial brick and stone buildings were erected. These included two police residences, a lock-up, a gunpowder magazine, and a courthouse on High Street. A large Police Paddock, where the constabulary kept their horses, stretched between the Avoca River and Rutherford Creek.

The enforcement of law and order by the fledgling Colony of Victoria was often harsh and brutal, resulting in conflict across the goldfields. The Eureka Stockade rebellion at Ballarat in 1854, the same year this police camp was established, is one example. Marginalised groups, including the Dja Dja Wurrung and Chinese miners unfamiliar with British laws and customs, were often subjected to unfair laws and violence.

Photograph by Andrew Curtis.

Police Residence and Lock-up Avoca Police Camp

This police residence is one of two built at the camp. In the nineteenth century, police and other people in positions of responsibility, such as teachers and bank managers, were often provided with accommodation.

Built in 1859, the house is constructed in brick laid in an English bond pattern, where courses alternate between the long and short sides of the brick. This creates a distinctive patterned effect on the exterior walls. Like many Colonial-era houses, the residence features a verandah that adds shade and charm. Its light brickwork contrasts strongly with the sombre bluestone lock-up beside it.

Photograph by Andrew Curtis

Two earlier portable timber lockups were replaced in 1867 by this more substantial bluestone building. Its central entrance porch gives the small structure a formal and authoritarian appearance. Inside, two cells are accessed from the porch, with small, barred openings providing ventilation and light. The finely detailed bluestone walls demonstrate the skill of the building’s stonemasons.

Over the decades, many people found themselves detained within these cells. In 1874, nine-year-old Alfred Greenhill was charged as a neglected child after running away from home because of his father’s beatings. He spent time in this lock-up before being sent to the Sunbury Industrial School for four years. Greenhill later described this difficult childhood during a later court case in Melbourne, where he stood trial for theft.

Gunpowder Magazine Avoca Police Camp

As deposits of alluvial gold declined, miners increasingly turned to deep quartz reef mining. Gunpowder was used to blast the reefs, and because of its dangerous nature, the Victorian Government passed legislation in 1857 regulating its storage and handling. Gunpowder magazines were then constructed across Victoria, including this example at Avoca, completed around 1859.

Although similar in scale to a small house, the magazine was strongly built with thick brick walls reinforced by diagonal buttresses. Inside, an arched brick ceiling was designed so that, in the event of an explosion, the blast would travel upwards rather than outwards, reducing harm to people and nearby property. Designed by the Public Works Department of Victoria, similar gunpowder magazines were also built at Ararat and Dunolly.

By the late twentieth century the building had fallen into disuse and neglect. Conservation works undertaken by Working Heritage have helped preserve its architectural character, including repairs to the slate roof. Today, the gunpowder magazine remains an important reminder of the infrastructure that supported Victoria’s gold mining industry and is recognised as a place of State significance by the Heritage Council of Victoria.

The alternating bands and colours of the bricks create an effect similar to a pixelated image. Can you spot the outline of a person, animal, or object in the brickwork of the police residence or gunpowder magazine?

Photograph by Andrew Curtis