Historic dry-stone walls that were demolished to make way for new lanes on Epping Road have been rebuilt at three sites in Wollert.
The Major Roads Project Victoria (MRPV) Epping Road upgrade team called in specially-trained experts to rebuilt the walls using traditional methods.
The painstaking process involved fitting together the variously sized stones to rebuild the walls without using wet binding materials such as grout or mortar.
Each of the walling specialists involved was qualified for the job with an international certificate of craftsmanship in dry-stone walling.
One of the rebuilt walls is 90-metres long and is on the north side of Lehmanns Road, while the other two, 60m and 20m long, are on the south side of Pine Park Drive.
MRPV program director Dipal Sorathia said the project team were pleased to have been able to rebuild the walls.
“Conserving local heritage for generations to come is an important part of our work as we deliver safer, more-reliable travel with the Epping Road upgrade,” he said.
Dry-stone walling is regarded as one of the oldest trades in the world.
Victoria’s dry-stone walls are considered European heritage because they reflect aspects of the agricultural, economic and social life at the time of settlement.
The walls began appearing in Australia following the arrival of European migrants, who were typically from countries with long histories of dry-stone walling, such as England, Scotland, Ireland and Germany.
Dry-stone walls were commonly used in the past to form land allotment boundaries or to contain livestock, reducing the need for shepherds on pastoral estates.
Dating back to the 1840s, the builders of dry-stone walls in the Wollert area used weathered basalt found on the ground’s surface.
Along with providing building material, the use of the surface stones helped clear paddocks to increase livestock feed growth, made land more arable for planting, and conserved timber for fencing.
