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Voyage Petite to Geelong
17 March 2013
And now for something completely different. Clu
b member Salman Chaudhry has discovered a hidden gem just outside Geelong.
It’s called the Geelong Cement Museum, which sounds pretty mundane, but the 1835 building is one of Victoria’s earliest mansions and saw the evolution of the Industrial Revolution. It was built as a Protestant orphanage. But a limestone quarry opened up next door and by 1939 the building was bought by Geelong Cement, becoming the management office until 2001.
The quarry and cement works have now closed and the old orphanage has been turned into a museum, with a sporting club for former employees next door.
The bluestone mansion has 27 rooms housing a collection of 10,000 items, including fossils from the quarry as well as mechanical and carpentry tools.
The museum is in McCurdy Street,, Melway 451, C2. From Melbourne, take the Geelong bypass and take the Newtown-Hamilton turnoff and turn left onto the Hamilton Highway, cross the Moorabool River then veer left at Hyland Street and turn right at the top of the hill into McCurdy Street. We will meet there at 2pm and entry is by a gold coin donation.
* If you want to make a day of it, we have booked a table at the Fyansford Hotel at noon. (The hotel is next to the Moorabool River bridge.) Entrees are about $15 and mains range from $25 to $30. This part of the event is entirely optional and places are limited, so you must call Paul Watson on 0427 203 206 before 13 March if you wish to join us for lunch.