*Pic: 18 Margaret St, Launceston
16 Margaret St, Launceston
In Launceston, Heritage Tasmania has about 3% of building listed – this means that over 95% of the buildings are not registered. Many of these probably shouldn’t be registered – but in truth, the history of many of our old buildings is largely unknown.
Once a developer has put in a DA to demolish a building that is not registered, no history is researched.
Councils are largely unable and unwilling to add to any developers red tape in case the developers take their cash elsewhere.
Large buildings continue to be lost slowly, but more often the buildings being lost are small modest dwellings – the loss of which collectively radically change the look of a city. In Launceston we are currently called the “Heritage City” – at some point, at the rate we are going, the LCC will have to change its glossy brochures to “Carpark City”.
This latest development includes the removal of 4 old buildings in one go – to replace them with another carpark – ironically to cater for people wishing to look at the history of the bushrangers display and reproduced windmill at the Penny Royal complex. Clear the actual history to make parking spaces for people to see reproduced history !
The block of Patterson/Margaret St. and Brisbane St was firstly the site of “Kirks Brewery”, followed by “Cornwall Brewery” (not to be confused with the other Cornwall Brewery in William St.) After a few years the two breweries amalgamated into one.
272 Brisbane St (the least impressive looking of the 4 buildings due for demolition incidentally) was built in the early 1850s. In 1854 it was home to Henry Button, mayor of Launceton (his father Thomas Button was Launcestons first Mayor).
During the 1880s James Boag Junior moved into 272 Brisbane St. to half run the brewery on the site. He moves out of the place to team up with his father and moves across to William St. to the current Boags site. The beginning of Boags Brewery.
Later it was home to Gilbert tenant McKinlay, of McKinlay store.
The 2 houses in Margaret St. were built in the 1880s by James & Edwyn Reading – and would probably also have some history considering the goings on of the brewery and the running and eventual demolition of the female factory & Gaol across the road to make way for the Launceston High School (now collage) early last century.
The fact that these buildings are being demolished without having had any kind of history assessment is an often repeated problem in Launceston – and all over Tasmania.
With the new Statewide planning Scheme” soon to come into effect – this is our chance to add a clause that means that if a building over a certain age (maybe 75 years) is likely to be extensively compromised (or demolished all together) by a development application, a heritage assessment is also done as a matter of course, as part of the DA procedure. This may reduce the number of lost opportunities into the future.
Who knows – we may not even have to invest in new stationary sporting the “Carpark City” logo after all!”
*Concerned Resident of Launceston is known to the Editor
