Tuesday 19 February 2008

Abandoned at Pleasant Creek

The Pleasant Creek Centre was the site of the first local hospital in Stawell, which was opened in 1850 (the only hospital in western Victoria between the South Australian border, Ballarat and the Murray River). Local landowners and miners subscribed to its construction. It was reserved in 1861 and again in 1883. Part of the building remains on the site, there were more elaborate alterations in 1881, it featured a Benevolent Ward for elderly miners. The area has a long history of community use, initially as a health service and subsequently as the Pleasant Creek Training Centre, an area where people with intellectual disabilities were accommodated and educated and participated in day programs.

For many years a school was located on the site as well as accommodation for children, teenagers and latterly disabled adults. Following changes to the way the intellectual disabled were housed, the Department of Human Services transferred the clients from the Pleasant Creek Centre into community housing.

Many ideas for the land by the council include a retirement village; a backpackers facility; hospitality facilities; restaurants; corporate offices; a transit facility for use by V/Line and other coach lines; a fast food outlet; a commercial laundry; a museum; and even a brewery.
Now parliamentary legislation has removed the final reservation on the land and the 13 hectares of land has been identified as having no further public purpose and has been made available for public sale.

2 comments:

  1. I think you could of put a pit more info on ur site about it. I am doing an assmet on the place and when i looked got on to your site there was not much to go on like all the othere

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  2. The aim of the post like the other abandoned buildings, was primarily to show the photos, and to give a brief overview of the history to provide more meaning to the photos. If you require more information on Pleasant Creek I suggest you consult "Shepherd's gold" by C.E. Sayers, "Good country for a grant" by Robert Kingston,"Pleasant Creek Special School" by Lorraine Simpkin, "The golden years of Stawell" by Robert Murray, the reports by Northern Grampains Shire, and the parliamentary papers and reports by the Department.

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