Kyneton Railway Station October 2018 .Kyneton Railway Station, Goods Shed and Water Tower were constructed in 1862 by W. Murray (upside
building) and R Turnbull & Co. (downside building), on the Melbourne-Echuca Line, for the Victorian Railways.
The complex comprises an upside basalt station building, with a slate roof, which includes former refreshment
rooms, purveyors and stationmaster’s residences and office/passenger facilities. The downside basalt building
consists of a former refreshment room, passenger/office facilities and adjoining six door goods shed. The water
tower structure consists of a 20,000 gallon, riveted, iron water tank on a square basalt base with round arched
openings with string course and quoining. Other structures include a timber signal box and basalt faced
platforms.
How is it significant?
Kyneton Railway Station, Goods Shed and Water Tower are historically and architecturally significant to the
State of Victoria.
Why is it significant?
The Kyneton Railway Station Goods Shed and Water Tower are historically significant, being among the earliest
railway buildings to be built in Victoria. Built during the period of the ‘main trunk lines’, c.1857 – c.1869, these
were the formative years of railway development in Victoria. The water tower at Kyneton Railway Station is
historically significant as an important reminder of the steam railway era.
Kyneton Railway Station complex is architecturally significant as the largest surviving example of basalt railway
station facilities on the network. A member of the ‘Carlsruhe’ style of railway station buildings, a group of
stylistically similar buildings, Kyneton is unusual for the large size of the complex. The ‘Carlsruhe’ style was a
direct derivation of the ‘English style’; a type of railway station design common in England in the 1840s and
1850s, based on classically derived planning principles and details. The ‘Carlsruhe’ style was the first standard
design developed by the Railways Department, and is further characterised by the architectural composition of
all the buildings on the site as a cohesive whole, with the principal buildings commonly constructed of basalt.
Kyneton Railway Station buildings are architecturally significant also for their demonstration of fine stonemasons’
workmanship of the mid-nineteenth century.(Heritage Victoria database)
