BOCHARA FARM HOMESTEAD COMPLEX
Clayton's Road BOCHARA, Southern Grampians Shire
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Statement of Significance
Robert Tulloh, a Scot of distinguished birth established the Bochara squatting run in 1840 although his tenure was brief. Lt. Governor Charles Latrobe withdrew the lease because Tulloh was implicated in atrocities against local Aborigines. The next owner was William Kippen Junior who sold to Donald Cameron of Mount Sturgeon Plains and Morgiana and in whose name the Bochara pre-emptive right was issued in 1858. The improvements at that time included a three-roomed cottage, a detached kitchen, and a woolshed valued at 1,200 pounds. The current house is likely to have been built either by Donald Cameron because he had security of tenure or by the next owner, Alexander Cameron of Penola, South Australia, who held the property from 1861 to 1868. No architect has been associated with the design. The outbuildings, and possibly the woolshed, also date from this time. The next owner, Donald McKellar was bankrupted by the sale of his runs Bochara and Knebsworth under Grant's Land Selection Act of 1865. The Trangmar family who had associations with nearby Morgiana purchased Bochara from the National Bank. Much of the land, including a distant woolshed, was sold in 1901 and more in 1925 for Closer Settlement firstly when Donald McKellar's son, John McKellar and then when H L M Beggs of Bushy Creek owned Bochara. The house has been much altered with major renovations occurring at the turn of the twentieth century and, to its detriment because of demolition, in the early 1960s under the Armytage's ownership. The house was substantially renovated again in 2001. It is now in excellent condition but of very low integrity. The outbuildings and woolshed retain a higher degree of integrity. There is a significant old Oak tree in the rear yard and the Pine drive planted about 1901 is also significant.
How is it significant?
The Bochara Farm Homestead complex is of historical significance to the Southern Grampians Shire.
Why is it significant?
The Bochara Farm Homestead complex is of historical significance for its long, intricate and representative sequence of associations with important pioneering individuals and families, including the Tullohs, notorious for their treatment of Aborigines, the Camerons, a family which became 'clan', the McKellars, and the famous Armytages of Como.
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BOCHARA FARM HOMESTEAD COMPLEX - Physical Conditions
The main house, the workshop and stables are all in good condition.
BOCHARA FARM HOMESTEAD COMPLEX - Physical Description 1
The Bochara Homestead complex, located 13kms north-west of Hamilton, is situated on a high bank facing south. It overlooks the junction of McKinnon Creek and the Grange Burn and the Bochara Falls immediately upstream on McKinnon Creek. Nearby to the west is Sandy Creek, which also has falls. Neither waterfall is visible from the house. The complex includes the main house, now much altered and partially demolished, with its detached service wing, the stables and workshop nearby and, at a distance, the relocated woolshed. The rear of the house is approached by a straight drive of Monterey Pines, Pinus macrocarpa apparently planted at the beginning of the twentieth century. There is an English Oak, Quercus robur in the rear yard, which is of a great age and possibly dates from the establishment of the homestead. Remnants of the early garden survive at the front, sides and rear of the house.
The single storey main house was built in stages but the exact sequence and dating are not clear. It may be that most of the surviving carcase of the house is original. It is built of brick rather than bluestone, which is unusual. From its plan, form and detailing the oldest part appears to date from the late 1850s or early 1860s. The plan of the front wing appears to have been symmetrical with two large rooms on either side of the central hall. Historical photographs show a central front door with narrow windows on either side lighting the hall. These survive intact. The front rooms had eight-paned double hung sash windows, now replaced, in the front and side walls. A chimneybreast survives on the inner wall opposite the facade in the south-east front room. The central section of the facade was rendered. Projecting polygonal bays were either original or, more probably, were added soon afterwards to the ends of the original facade. Their windows are similar to the central section if not identical, suggesting that they may have been reused if the bays were added. The walls were built of brick with stone quoins, sills and lintels. There was a simple timber verandah between the two bays. The roofs, including that of the verandah, were slate. The roof structure is said to be constructed from red gum sawn on the property. Pressed metal ceilings, dating from the beginning of the twentieth century, survive in the front rooms and hall. The polygonal bays, which survived until at least 1949 have since been demolished.
Behind this front wing there is an attached wing of early but uncertain date. It too is probably original, judging from the architraves and doors and its integration with the front wing. The ceilings are lining boards. It has a hipped roof matching the front wing. Internally a simply detailed archway links the hall with a transverse passage giving access to the rear rooms and the back yard. At a much later date, possibly the early 1960s, a finely crafted metal and glass door, said to have been imported from France, was introduced into the archway. A timber verandah with a convex corrugated iron roof was added, probably in the 1870s, on the north and east elevations at least. The floor was timber. It had conventional but simple timber brackets set above simulated capitals and terminating with small finials. The last bay on the eastern elevation and all of the north elevation were filled in with glazing above a timber dado. This verandah was replaced completely in the early 1960s and again in 2002 so that the new verandah now effectively encircles the house.
Attached to the rear of the main house and extending north, there was a large service wing built of bluestone. It is reputed to have been the original homestead, a three roomed cottage built in 1840. It was demolished in 1952. Another smaller detached service wing, of uncertain date, extended to the west, which may be the detached kitchen referred to in 1858. It survives but is now much altered.
Some distance north-west from the rear of the main house there are two single storey stone buildings. Both have gable roofs of corrugated iron. One was used as a workshop or coach house, the other as stables. The former was converted into a garage and has since been further altered to become a studio. The stables have been stripped of their internal fittings. A modern steel shed now links these buildings. In a paddock well to the north of the main house there is a timber woolshed. It is timber framed and clad with weatherboard and corrugated iron. It was a large blade shed with nine stands and may only date from the 1920s. It was relocated and rebuilt after a storm in 1935 to its present site from a position closer to the Grange Burn. A shepherd's hut associated with the earlier site has been demolished with only rubble remaining. Another woolshed, almost certainly connected with Bochara, survives on the west side of the Morgiana Road near the Wannon Falls.BOCHARA FARM HOMESTEAD COMPLEX - Historical Australian Themes
Theme 2: Peopling Australia
2.5 Promoting settlement
2.6 Fighting for land
2.6.1 Resisting the advent of Europeans and their animals
2.6.2 Displacing Indigenous people
Theme 3: Developing local, regional and national economies
3.5 Developing primary production
3.5.1 Grazing stock
3.5.2 Breeding animals
3.5.3 Developing agricultural industries
Theme 5: Working
5.8 working on the landBOCHARA FARM HOMESTEAD COMPLEX - Usage/Former Usage
Continuing as a pastoral property
BOCHARA FARM HOMESTEAD COMPLEX - Integrity
The main house has a very low degree of integrity. The workshop and stables have a fair degree of integrity. The woolshed has not been inspected.
BOCHARA FARM HOMESTEAD COMPLEX - Physical Description 2
Robert William Tulloh, first licence holder
William Kippen, Junior
Donald Cameron
George Younger
Donald McKellarHeritage Study and Grading
Southern Grampians - Southern Grampians Shire Heritage Study
Author: Timothy Hubbard P/L, Annabel Neylon
Year: 2002
Grading:
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