Summerhill is a prefabricated iron cottage at 155 Mount Duneed Road,
Mount Duneed
Mount Duneed is a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. It is divided between the City of Greater Geelong and Surf Coast Shire local government areas. Mount Duneed itself is an extinct volcano and the remains of the crater can be seen in the ...
a
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
of
Geelong
Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...
,
Victoria,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. It is notable because it demonstrates British technical accomplishment in the history of prefabricated building construction.
History
The development of a
galvanising
Galvanization or galvanizing ( also spelled galvanisation or galvanising) is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron, to prevent rusting. The most common method is hot-dip galvanizing, in which the parts are submerg ...
process in the 1840s, the fabrication of rolled sections of wrought iron from about 1850, and the use of grooved or fluted rollers to improve the production of
corrugated iron in 1844 enabled construction of this building. It demonstrates the innovative solutions provided by the use of imported prefabricated buildings to cope with housing shortages caused by the gold rushes in Australia and
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
in the early 1850s.
It is a rare example of a two-room prefabricated iron cottage and one of only a small number of this type of building remaining which date from the early 1850s. It is the only known curved roof single storey cottage extant in Victoria. It provides an example of the simple living conditions of some of the early settlers in Victoria. It is listed on the
Victorian Heritage Register
The Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) lists places deemed to be of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria, Australia. It has statutory weight under the Heritage Act 2017. The Minister for Planning is the responsible Minister. H ...
number H1131. It consists of two rooms and is believed to have been brought to Australia by Mr Joseph Williams with his family from England and lived in until a weatherboard house consisting of four rooms was erected in 1860 with further additions in the 1870s. It measures 24 feet by twelve feet and is 9.5 feet high to the top of the segmental arched roof.
Mr and Mrs Joseph Williams and their two sons George and James with their niece Elizabeth Frear arrived in Melbourne by sailing ship 'Lochiel' in 1853, and the cottage was erected in 1854.
[Mount Duneed School Centenary 1878-1978]
References
{{coord missing, Victoria (Australia)
Buildings and structures in Geelong
Prefabricated buildings