The much-travelled Old Shire Offices

Posted on Tuesday, 25th August 2020 by Janine Rizzetti

This photo from 1982 shows the former Shire Offices in their previous location beside the Austin Hospital. They may look familiar, because over their history they have been remarkably well-travelled buildings.

They were first built in 1889 in Heidelberg Gardens, opposite the present Old Court House Museum occupied by Heidelberg Historical Society.

In 1909 they were shifted by horse and dray up to this site on the corner of Studley Rd (Barkly Place) and Burgundy Street with additions by H. Desbrowe Annear, who designed several buildings in the Heidelberg and Ivanhoe area. Other wings were added over time.

When the present Mercy Hospital was constructed, they were shifted down to the Banyule Flats in the early 2000s, where they still stand today as a community building.

Behind the Shire Offices you can see the Leslie Jenner Nurses Home, which was built in 1955 and named after a former Austin Hospital Board Vice President and President between 1930-1952. The nurses home was built on the site of the vegetable garden that provided vegetables for the hospital. It was demolished in 2001 as part of the Austin/Mercy Hospital development.

Photo source: Graeme Butler Heidelberg Conservation Study. https://www.flickr.com/photos/7849945@N02/38835483932/in/album-72157670455708935/