Murtoa - Stick Shed and Silo...

Australia Day being a Friday this year meant we had a long weekend...Saturday it was nice weather so I went for a short excursion to Murtoa to the Stick Shed.  I've been meaning to go for so long, it's not far away, but it used to only be open about once a month on a weekend for a few hours so it wasn't easy to manage but now it is open every day.  It is an amazing structure...the last of its kind...the only remaining emergency grain store built during WWII.

 

Even from the outside the sheer size of the structure is amazing...too long to get the whole building in one shot with the camera...

Inside, even knowing that it is big, doesn't prepare for the impact of just how BIG...

That is all natural light filtering in, it isn't lit by artificial lighting...

 

About 260 metres long, 60 metres wide and 19 metres high along the ridge, the shed was built from 560 unmilled poles or "sticks" in 56 rows of 10 to support the corrugated iron roof.  The floor area of 1.6 hectares is concrete with three metre wide wooden bulkheads running along either side.  And constructed in just four months from 25 September 1941 and being ready to receive wheat in January 1942!

 

Hoppers and conveyor belts remain and there are information boards around the shed...

There is also a video presentation that runs on a loop which is quite interesting and worth the time to sit and watch/listen to...I think it was only about 10 minutes...I just loved the wooden screen stand and seats that had been constructed for the video viewing area...

Closed in 1989 it is now heritage listed and protected having being added to what is now called the Victorian Heritage Register (it was the Historic Buildings Register) and is no 101 on the highest heritage listing for the country, the Australian Heritage List. A very important piece of history which has been the subject of an extensive conservative program using historical repair methods and as much as possible retaining the integrity of the original structure.

 

Separate to the Stick Shed, but nearby, there is a painted silo...

Lots of lovely birds on this one...

 

Happy Stitching...