On our recent trip to Benalla Art Gallery, Nicole and I took the chance to track down some of the town's historic buildings that appear in Collections Online. We wanted to see how they had fared over the years.
The State Electricity Commission (SEC) building was flanked by some impressive automobiles back in 1948:
Glass Negative - State Electricity Commission, Benalla, Victoria, 9 August 1948 (MM 011402)
Source: Museum Victoria
We spotted it on Main Street now housing a second-hand bookstore. A local helpfully shouted, "that's the SEC building!" at us from his ute as he drove by.
Benalla SEC building in 2010.
Image: Nicole Alley
Source: Museum Victoria
This hotel was a little bit harder to find because it looks quite different these days.
Negative - Floodwaters around a Benalla hotel, September 1921 (MM 6159).
Source: Museum Victoria
We spotted it near the railway station. The friendly owner confirmed that it's the same building pictured in the 1921 photograph, but it had a significant facelift following a fire not long after that picture was taken. The basic bones of the building are still there, even though its iron lace verandahs are long gone.
Victoria Hotel in Benalla in 2010.
Image: Nicole Alley
Source: Museum Victoria
We ran out of time before we could locate the Farmers Arms Hotel, but I've since found a recent picture of it on flickr that shows it too has lost its decorative iron lace but is otherwise much the same.
A bullock team and car outside the Farmers Arms Hotel, Benalla, pre-1940 (MM 001773).
Source: Museum Victoria
We'd love to hear any stories about these buildings from Benalla locals. Anyone know the character leading the bullock train?
Links:
Collections Online: search for Benalla