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Shrine redevelopment to use original granite

In preparation for next year’s ANZAC Centenary, the Shrine of Remembrance, located in Melbourne, is currently undergoing a $45 million facelift. The Galleries of Remembrance project involves the redevelopment of the undercroft space beneath the shrine and the construction of a southern extension. The expansion will create a new gallery and education space with facilities for exhibitions, community research and school programs.
 
Although it would have been cheaper to import stone for the redevelopment’s exterior cladding, ABC TV’s Landline program reported that the shrine’s trustees wanted to maintain the monument’s integrity. As such, they opted instead to use stone from the town that supplied granite for the original monument – Tynong in Gippsland in Victoria’s southeast. 
 
Unique granite
About 6000 tonnes of stone was quarried from Tynong’s Granite Hill for the construction of the shrine in the late 1920s. The granite was said to have been selected for its distinctive silvery colour and its exceptional hardness, which was ideal for a long-lasting monument. Current quarry owner Peter Hams added that the stone’s density and the fact that it “split straight” were also factors that were considered. 
 
The Granite Hill quarry, which has long been out of operation, is now listed as a site of state significance but the granite belt extends north where another open-cut quarry has been established. Holcim Australia, the operator of the Tynong North quarry, previously donated stone for the redevelopment of the shrine’s visitor centre in 2003, and is once again donating material for the two courtyards being built as part of the current project. 
 
Holcim Australia’s Murray Murfet told Landline, “I think, all up, this time around, we’ve donated round about 300 tonnes … which probably is only going to make 100 tonnes of tiles … but it’s just great to be able to hold that Tynong image and the association with the shrine.”
 
Shrine of Remembrance chief executive Denis Baguley added, “The stone is magnificent. It will weather over time like the stone on the shrine has … It’s got the iron pyrites in the stone that rust, and so [the granite] is unique to Tynong.”
 
Former Tynong resident Jeff Gillard, whose father and uncle worked at Granite Hill to quarry the shrine’s original stone, highlighted the importance of the quarry to the town. “Tynong, as a place on the map, would be entirely the most insignificant town in Australia if it weren’t for the Tynong quarry,” he said.
 
The new Shrine of Remembrance galleries are expected to open later this year.
 
Source: ABC Landline, Victorian Government, Shrine of Remembrance
 

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