Push to honour our fab prefabs
A COLLECTION of Geelong prefabricated buildings could soon be listed alongside the Taj Mahal and the Great Pyramids.
An ambitious campaign launched by former federal MP Barry Jones would see almost 100 19th century Australian portable buildings named as UNESCO World Heritage sites. Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula, home to 15 of the buildings on the list, have more homes on the list than any other region in the country.
The campaign is aimed at raising awareness of the huge number of prefabricated buildings shipped to Australia from across the world in the 19th century.
Eastern Beach’s Corio Villa — constructed in 1856 and overlooking the waterfront — is one of the best-known additions to the list.
Campaigner Tony Isaacson said the heritage bid paid tribute to Australia’s “extensive and best-preserved” collection of prefabricated buildings and their contribution to history.
“A World Heritage listing is an important thing for the country concerned,” he said.
“Two-thirds of the buildings in this proposal are in Victoria, and it will be a bonanza for the state and for all states that get on board.”
Mr Isaacson said Corio Villa’s history and grandeur gave it pride of place among the other buildings listed.
“Corio Villa is a very beautiful, recognisable Victorian building,” he said.
“It’s quite ornate and complex and it’s got a wonderful story about it.”
Prefabricated in Germany in the 1850s, The Heights in Newtown is another grand home on the list that is wellknown to locals.
Among the other local buildings are several cottages originally imported from Singapore — one of which forms part of the Portarlington Bakehouse — and private homes on Wellington Street and Swanston Street in Geelong.
Former orderly rooms on Eastern Beach Road and the old Brown Brothers store on Mercer Street are also places of note.
Campaign organiser Miles Lewis called on the state government to adopt the proposal and recommend it to the federal government.
“The huge importation of buildings from overseas is a really exciting aspect of Australian history,” Professor Lewis said.
“There has been nothing comparable in scale elsewhere in the world.”