The Milltown Police Station - Bathurst
I have driven past the old Milltown Police Station located at 8 Piper Street, Bathurst (corner of Havannah Street) many times and I finally got a chance last weekend to pull over and take some photos of this beautiful building. The Station was designed by James Barnet the Colonial Architect for Colonial New South Wales, serving from 1862 to 1890. The kitchen and two cells were built in 1885 by John Dunkley, and the main house was built the following year.
The station played a pivotal role in the functioning of the tight-knit railway and milling community of Milltown for over a century and is an important part of Bathurst’s history. It was used as a police station until the 1970s, after which it was used for accommodation for senior Bathurst Police Officers. The building was sold in 1991, with the area of land reduced to one acre.
As it is Christmas time I haven’t been able to get to the bookshop, library or the Bathurst Historical Society to find out more about Milltown and the Police Station so I have done most of my research online on good old google.
If my information is incorrect or I have missed a key fact about this building please let me know by commenting below to this blog post and I can amend it.
The old Milltown Police Station located at 8 Piper Street, Bathurst (corner of Havannah Street).
On the Bathurst Regional council website they have a PDF available for free (Please click here to be linked to the PDF) called the “Historic Milltown Walking Tour” this is where I have found most of my information about the Milltown area. A piece from the PDF that gives you. a brief insight about Milltown.
As the railway expanded agricultural country was opened up and the west became a large wheat-growing area leading to demand for both commercial and residential land close to the rail and flour mills. By the late 1800s the Milltown community had sprung up with its own pubs, stores, police station, schools and churches. The mill and railway workers and their families gave the area its own identity and character. The working class atmosphere has disappeared but reminders of the Milltown community and its former residents can still be glimpsed today.
Photo taken in 1914.
Number 6 on the “Historic Milltown Walking Tour” list is the Police Station. Between 1875 and 1890 there were complaints about the activities of ‘larrikins’ (Larrikin is an Australian English term meaning "a mischievous young person, an uncultivated, rowdy but good hearted person" or "a person who acts with apparent disregard for social or political conventions") in the area were frequent. In 1876 it was announced in the press that "A Police station is to be erected at Milltown, near the goods shed, and put under the charge of a married police officer.". The Old Police Station apparently still has its barred cell that can be seen from Cole Street.
The former Milltown Police Station is a National Trust classified building.
The former Milltown Police Station is now a B&B where travellers stay and enjoy spending the night where Larrikins of the past would not have had the same experience.