General News
7 December, 2022
Icon set for facelift
THE iconic clock tower at the Terang Post Office is set for a facelift over the coming weeks.
THE iconic clock tower at the Terang Post Office is set for a facelift over the coming weeks.
From this Saturday each of the four clock faces will be removed from this Saturday with the assistance of a crane, and restoration works will begin locally through Currell Signs in Camperdown.
Terang Post Office owner Scott Dennis said the process was expected to take around four to six weeks.
“We’re restoring the clock faces back to the original Roman numerals, which is how the clocks were originally numbered when first built in 1904,” he said.
“They seem to have been repainted sometime around the 50s or 60s, but they just painted over the Roman numerals in large dashes.
“It’s going to be good because it’s something we’ve wanted to do for a while; it annoys me when I look at it, as an owner of the building the clock faces, the rust isn’t appealing on what is a focal point of the town.
“Once the new faces are in, it’ll give it a bit of a face lift. It’s exciting for the town.”
The long-term vision is to completely restore the clock tower, including getting each clock face back to working order.
“We’re hoping we’ll be able to get some of the tiles redone, and there is going to be a bit of roof restoration work while we can get to the top of the clock tower,” Mr Dennis said.
“Some of the trimmings and gutters need to be replaced or restored.
“Being a Victorian heritage listed property, we’re limited in what we can do.
“We’ve got to pretty much bring it back to what it originally was, and we can’t really make major alterations or anything like that.”
Mr Dennis said the process originated around a year ago when he had approached a Melbourne-based company about potential renovations.
“They wanted to charge astronomical figures even to just assess the clocks, without doing any works, so we put it on the backburner a little bit,” he said.
“The Lions club approached us in the hope it could help get some grants or funding to finance it, but unfortunately they couldn’t find anything and there was no grants through the shire.
“Jodie and I ultimately decided to go it alone with Ian (Currell), who assessed it and gave us some ideas.
“John Hulm has been doing a fair bit of work with me in the last few months in getting the clock compartments all up and running again, so we’ve pretty much got it right.”
Mr Dennis said the total costs of the renovations were expected to cost around $15,000 to $20,000.
“It’s not cheap or easy to get it all restored, but Jodie and I will wear those costs,” he said.
“We couldn’t get a grant from Heritage Victoria unless we spent closer to $40,000 on a dollar-for-dollar basis.”
Temporary covers protecting the interior while the clock faces are removed have also been decorated by students at the Terang Children’s Centre.
“The children at the Terang Children’s Centre have had the wonderful experience of designing and painting murals on these temporary boards,” early childhood teacher Sue Currell said.
“They will go into the clock tower this weekend and will be in for about four weeks.
“Two of the designs represent love, this could be for community, family or friends.
“One depicts family and the fourth captures aspects of the farming community.”
The Terang Post Office was built in 1903/04 on the design of Victorian Public Works Department architect JH Marsden, according to Heritage Council Victoria.
The design was based on a mixture of arts and crafts and American Romanesque styles in red brick with arched windows, a prominent roof, timbered gables and bracketed eaves.
The most iconic aspect of the building is the attached clock tower, which was financed via public subscription at a cost of ₤300.
It was the first publicly financed clock tower to be installed in a Commonwealth building in Australia.