Convict Lumber Yard

The Convict Lumber Yard site, including the Station Master's residence and Paymaster's office, is of outstanding heritage significance for the following reasons:

• Its rare evidence of a convict industrial workplace and of convict structures thought to have been lost;
• Its potential to reveal, through archaeological excavation, further evidence of convict occupation and the later history of the site;
• Its evidence of the major themes of Newcastle's history, particularly convict history and railway and port history;
• Its contribution to the townscape of Newcastle and Newcastle East;
• Its potential to interpret Newcastle's history and for its association with its community;
• Its evidence of Aboriginal occupation which is now rare in the urban Newcastle area.^[3][1]

Convict Lumber Yard was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999 having satisfied the following criteria.^[1]

The place is important in demonstrating the course, or pattern, of cultural or natural history in New South Wales.

The site is significant for:

• Its major evidence of the convict period of Newcastle's history, when Newcastle was the place for secondary punishment of convicts.
• Its evidence of a convict workplace and possibly the oldest physical evidence of an industrial workplace in Australia.
• Its evidence of the role of NSW Railways in the development of Newcastle and its port.
• Its evidence, in the stationmaster's residence, of the practice of government instrumentalities of providing accommodation for its employees.
• Its evidence of operation of the NSW Railways as an institution, particularly in relation to payments of employees and its care of buildings.^[4][1]

The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.

The site is significant for:

• Its aesthetic accomplishment as evidenced in the design and form of the Stationmaster's residence, which is a good example of a late Victorian residence.
• The contribution the extant buildings make to the townscape, much of which comprises buildings connected with the railways of the past.
• The view which it provides of the harbour and the foreshore, both from within the site and from Parnell Street.^[5][1]

The place has strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group in New South Wales for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.

The site is significant for:

• The association of the site with the Newcastle Community, particularly through its involvement in and support for the archaeological excavation and for the conservation of the site.
• The potential of the site, combined with documentary and oral evidence, to interpret major aspects of the history of Newcastle from convict settlement to the present.^[5][1]

The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.

The site is significant for:

• Its evidence of the technical accomplishment of convict buildings in early 19th century Newcastle.
• Its potential to yield information, not available through documentary sources, about the convict occupation of the site.
• Its potential to yield information about uses of the site after the closure of the convict stockade.
• Its evidence of Aboriginal occupation which is now rare in the urban Newcastle area.^[6][1]

The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.

This site provides: rare evidence of a convict stockade/convict workplace; rare evidence of an early industrial site and physical evidence (now becoming uncommon) of payment practices of large organisations.^[5][1]

The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural or natural places/environments in New South Wales.

The Stationmaster's residence is representative of the standard of design and accommodation provided for important employees in the NSW railways in the 1870s and 1880s.^[7][1]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Convict Lumber Yard.

• AHMS. 88-90 Scott Street, Newcastle NSW - Historical Archaeological Assessment & Research Design.
• Attraction Homepage (2007). "Newcastle East Heritage Walk". Archived from the original on 22 April 2011. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
• Bairstow, Damaris (1990). Newcastle Lumber Yard - Station Master's House Paymaster's Office - (Report); and - Addendum to 1989 Excavation Report.
• Bairstow, Damaris (1987). The Newcastle Lumber Yard.
• Edward Higginbotham & Associates (1998). Report on the Archaeological Test Excavation of the Convict Lumber Yard & Stockade, Newcastle, NSW.
• Edward Higginbotham & Associates (1997). Historical & Archaeological Assessment of the Convict Lumber Yard & Stockade, Newcastle, NSW.
• Fenwick, P., Midler, D., Lavelle, S., NPWS, Awabakal Land Council (2004). Interim Report - Disturbance of Convict Lumberyard Site, Newcastle.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Fenwick, Peter (1992). Newcastle Customs House - Report on the location, excavation and conservation measures related to the archaeological remains exposed on the eastern boundary of the Customs House Site, 27/10/1992.
• Mackay, Godden (1994). Newcastle East Convict Lumberyard Site - Archaeological Advice for Design Development.
• Meredith Walker, Dr D. Bairstow, Dr J. Turner and Eckford Johnson and Partners (1989). The Convict Lumber Yard, the Stationmaster's Residence and the Paymaster's Office: A Conservation Policy.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Newcastle City Council (2000). The Convict Lumber Yard - a place of convict history under the ground (brochure).
• Newcastle City Council (1994). Urban Design Strategy for Newcastle Convict Lumber Yard Precinct.
• O'Brien, Christine - Natural & Cultural Heritage P/L (1994). Convict Lumber Yard Site - Interpretation Report.
• Tourism NSW (2007). "Convict Lumberyard".
• Visit Newcastle (2006). "Newcastle East Heritage Tourist Walk".
• Walker, Meredith (1989). The Convict Lumberyard Site: a Preliminary Report on its Future Use and Interpretation and Implications for the Development of the former Railway Lands.
• Suters Architects; et al. Newcastle Archaeological Management Plan.
• Suters Architects Snell (1996). Newcastle City Wide Heritage Study.

This Wikipedia article was originally based on Convict Lumber Yard or Stockade Site, entry number 00570 in the New South Wales State Heritage Register published by the State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) 2018 under CC-BY 4.0 licence, accessed on 2 June 2018.