Old grain store or stone cellar? Traditional Cache
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Old grain store or stone cellar?
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(regular)
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No thumping V8's, pulsating Harleys or exhaust brakes, not to mention loud, floorboard rattling farts or similar disturbances please and if you don't approach this by the recommended route then you'll have no idea what I'm talking about.
Pull off the Highway at S36 44.735 E145 35.024, if Northbound (which is in the Northern end of Euroa)
and S36 41.785 E145 39.433 if Southbound.
Take the road that runs parallel along the western side of the highway and you can resume your journey at the opposite co-ords.
You'll be seeing the "Old Grain Store" and the info below is a couple of excerpts from the Euroa Gazette
Recent announcements that the Old Grain Store at Balmattum is about to be restored have sparked suggestions that the heritage signage for the building be reviewed.
Although it has been known as the Old Grain Store for many decades, the building is unlikely ever to have been used as its name suggested. It is set well into the ground, to half the height of its interior, with access via several steps.
The land on which the building is situated was originally part of the farm "Glenroyne", which was bought by Daniel McKernan on his return from successful gold prospecting in Victoria and New Zealand. Daniel married a neighbour's daughter, Christina Gordon, and their youngest son, John, married Bernice Ford, a teacher at Kelvin View. Their first-born was Alfred Ford McKernan, usually known as Ford, who established an engineering works in Euroa while living on the family property with his wife, Valmai, and sons Stephen and Roger.
Although "Glenroyne" has always been a farm, it was also the site of the Royal Oak Hotel, built by a Mr St John Oakshot in 1859. Later named "The Royal Hotel" and then "Hawthorn House", it was run as a combined hotel, post office, general store and residence by the McKernans for some forty-five years. By the mid nineteen-eighties, dairy farming was at its height in north-east Victoria and Adam Wakenshaw's very successful Cheese and Butter Factory was in operation at Barn Lane, Balmattum. Cellars were commonly dug to keep dairy produce cool, and it is most likely that the stone cellar at "Glenroyne", which was lined with wooden shelves, was designed as a storage or processing facility for milk or cream, although it may have had many other uses in later years.
Grain store going to court
The fate of the partly demolished stone structure known as the Old Grain Store, at Balmattum, is heading for a court decision.
The building was struck by a large transport vehicle several years ago and has been the subject of a liability dispute between the Shire of Strathbogie and the transport companies insurers. Because it is heritage listed, the stonework must be repaired by suitably qualified or experienced craftsmen, and so far no one has been willing to accept responsibility for what might be an expensive undertaking.
It is believed that estimates are now being prepared for submission to the legal hearing of the case.
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