MCNAB'S HOMESTEAD RUINS
10 MCNABS ROAD KEILOR, HUME CITY
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Statement of Significance
Data has been updated as a result of the Outer Western Metro Project, Context, March 10.
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MCNAB'S HOMESTEAD RUINS - History
John and Duncan McNab bought land in the Tullamarine area about 1849. John held the Oakbank property and Duncan had Victoria Bank. These were 640 acre blocks to the north, but the brothers leased or bought other blocks in the area. They bred Ayrshire cattle which achieved Australia-wide renown (Moloney 2003: 200). The ruin at the site may represent the McNabs' first homestead on the banks of the Maribyrnong river, in which case the site would date to before the McNabs' other properties and must have been built during a period of leasing land, although there is no clear documentary evidence to confirm this. The homestead was apparently pulled down in 1970.
MCNAB'S HOMESTEAD RUINS - Interpretation of Site
This site contains the ruins of an early original homestead positioned just above the floodplain on the inside of a bend of the Maribyrnong River, so benefitting from good soil and fresh water - factors that determined original European settlement. The structures compare with several other early homestead sites in the Maribyrnong Valley, one of the nearest being the Millbrook Homestead at the Organ Pipes (H7822-0092).
At the top of the landform are bluestone foundations of the house with some walls surviving to about a metre in height. The stonework is of considerably weathered field-stone and mud mortar, indicating alikely early date. A modern water-tank stands to the west of the house ruin.
Beneath the house a small terrace is defined by a retaining wall of large bluestone boulders, to the south west of which lies a surface of flag stones and the bluestone foundation of a smaller outbuilding. Further down the slope a bluestone wall forming a deeper terrace appears to represent the revetment wall of a barn or cellared structure constructed into the slope.
MCNAB'S HOMESTEAD RUINS - Archaeological Significance
The ground surface above the deeper blustone terracewall is covered with a layer of lime or plaster suggesting an internal floor. A large number of artefacts were observed on the surface between these features and the house. The suggestion is of a farm yard area extending down the slope, overlooked by the house at the top of the landform.
To the west of the house, a large pile of stones could possibly represent an external toilet although the Hume Heritage Review (Moloney 2003) mentions an in-filled brick-lined well, and this may be that feature.
Remnants of drystone walls are also located nearby.
The site does not appear to have been disturbed since the homestead was demolished, apparently in the 1970s. Although ruinous, the site retains several elements including various structural forms, sufficient of the floor plan to help interpret the function of various parts of the complex, together with considerable artefact material relating to nineteenth century occupation.
MCNAB'S HOMESTEAD RUINS - Historical Significance
The homestead ruins are of regional historical significance as one of the earliest European occupied sites in the Maribyrnong Valley. The site demonstrates the vernacular building methods and the early historical settlement pattern on the basalt plains in the site location on the edge of the basalt escarpment and river floodplain.
Heritage Inventory Description
MCNAB'S HOMESTEAD RUINS - Heritage Inventory Description
Bluestone ruin with walls standing to c.1 metre in height overlooking a bend in the Maribyrnong River. Further down the slope are a small stone lined terrace, a revetment wall, small areas of paving and an artefact scatter.
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MCNAB'S HOMESTEAD RUINSVictorian Heritage Inventory
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