1 Introduction 1.3
Methodology and Definitions
The structure and contents of this report have been written with reference to the key relevant cultural heritage documents in Australia. These are: The Australia ICOMOS charter for the conservation of places of cultural significance (the Burra Charter) 1999. Peter Marquis-Kyle & Meredith Walker. The Illustrated Burra Charter, Good Practice for heritage Places. Australia ICOMOS, Sydney 2004. James Semple Kerr, The Conservation Plan. A guide to the preparation of Conservation Plans for places of European cultural significance, National Trust of Australia (NSW), Sydney, Fourth Edition 1996.
Figure 3. A pitched bluestone channel in a laneway.
Definitions: The paving of a road with set stones is called pitching and a stone used for paving is called a pitcher. 1 The typical key features of kerbs, channels and laneways are indicated in the figures below.
kerb channel
Figure 4. A pitched bluestone laneway. Blinding/binding: Filling surface gaps with stone sweepings and sometimes sand or tar this was particularly used for macadam road construction.
pitchers
Figure 1. Bluestone kerb and five pitcher channel.
kerb channel crossing
pitchers Figure 2. Bluestone kerb and channel with four pitcher.
Bluestone: Form of stone that was quarried and cut into standard sized blocks for masonry use. Cement: In modern civil engineering usage this term refers almost always to ‘Portland’ cement: a fine powder made by heating a mixture of clay and crushed limestone in a rotating furnace and grinding the resulting nodules. When this cement is mixed with water a chemical reaction takes place forming a brittle solid.2 Portland cement, effectively the same material we use today, was also imported, but was not made in Victoria until 1890m and at almost exactly the same date in the adjoining colonies. It is important to understand that Portland cement was used very little for structural purposes like mortar and concrete before 1890. Its main function was cosmetic: it could be used to face buildings in a texture and colour resembling the better English sandstones (like Portland stone hence the name), and it was resistant to weathering even when moulded or cast in elaborate shapes.3 Channel: Open trench for water, sewerage on the side of the road, early form of sewage disposal and drainage for roads, which remains next to the kerb. Courses: The quantity of pitchers to be used was specified as courses; one pitcher equals one course. 2