The Murtoa Stick Shed,a wartime grain storage facility being restored by Heritage Victoria and Period Restoration Services,is open to the public on Sunday,October 2,for the Murtoa Big Weekend celebration. Built in 1941,the shed has 560 unmilled poles supporting its roof and is 270 metres long,60 metres wide and 19 metres tall.Credit:John Woudstra
The''stick shed''- named after the 560 unmilled poles that support its roof - was built in just a few months during World War II to deal with a wheat glut. It may have been built during wartime on a budget,but the dimensions of the shed are staggering:270 metres long,60 metres wide and 19 metres tall.
For almost 50 years it stored grain before it was closed in 1989. Over the next 20 years it fell into disrepair.
The Stick Shed was finished by 1941.
Stand inside it and it is easy to see why some consider it the''Cathedral of the Wimmera''. Light spills in through the skylights above (and the nearby holes),the middle rows of tall''sticks''create a central aisle and draw your eyes upwards,while the roof's steep pitch is reminiscent of a cathedral.
But there are no candles,incense or hymn list. Instead,there is a carpet of pigeon poo,a scattering of broken birds'eggs and a pile of old roofing iron. Yet these are minor cosmetic issues to be rectified compared with some of the major repair works already completed.
The works are being done by Period Restoration Services. The company's owner,Greg Owen,says the brief was pretty straightforward.''Basically we were contracted to stop the place falling down,pretty simply. Most of the work we have been contracted to do is structural stabilisation,''he says.
The timber poles,which make the inside of the shed look like a forest of nude trees stripped of bark and branches,had sunk. Mr Owen says the poles were not durable against rot and termites when stood in the ground.