NAREEN HOMESTEAD COMPLEX

Coleraine-Nareen Road NAREEN, Southern Grampians Shire

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Southern Grampians Shire

23195 Nareen garden facade 0285

Statement of Significance

• Additional Place Information

  • Physical Conditions

    NAREEN HOMESTEAD COMPLEX - Physical Conditions

    All the buildings are in excellent order.

    Physical Description 1

    NAREEN HOMESTEAD COMPLEX - Physical Description 1

    The homestead at Nareen is a long, single-storey, weather board building with a timber verandah along the facade. It is approached by a gravel drive with a turning circle with an Evergreen Oak, Quercus ??, planted in 1952, at its centre and a modern trellis at the far end of the facade. The use of trellis in the valence of the verandah, with its shallow arches, is unusual and is repeated on the side porch and the rear verandahs. The principal entrance is marked by a small gable in the verandah roof. The front door is a typical late Victorian type with side lights and fan lights. The facade fenestration is simple, being tall double hung sash windows. The hipped roof is low-pitched and covered with corrugated iron. The building's form could be described as a bungalow, and in this sense, anticipates early twentieth century domestic architecture and the Colonial revival style.
    
    The plan of the house is unusual for its period, having a wide but short main hall with a fireplace, and a long transverse passage. The principal rooms are 'en-filade', which has been strengthened by the conversion of two end rooms into one. One of these rooms was Malcolm Fraser's study when he was Prime Minister. The original details, joinery and mantelpieces survive in the principal rooms but no early decoration. The transverse passage ends at a side entrance. Service and smaller rooms open off the passage at the rear. The service rooms have all been modernised.
    
    Behind the front wing there are smaller, possibly earlier, timber buildings now used for bedrooms. These have 12-pane double hung sash windows, which, with other details, suggest a possibly earlier date. On the other hand, all the red brick chimneys (now painted) are uniformly detailed in a late nineteenth-century style. Beyond the homestead in the rear garden there is a meat house, and underground water tank and timber coach house and stables converted into a garage. There are also more modern facilities including a larger water tank on a mound and a tennis court.
    
    The homestead looks eastwards across a well cultivated garden with hedges as its boundary and beyond into the broader landscape. Much of the garden dates from the early 1960s. Although "there were 24 palms in the garden and a small Australian planting to the left of the [Cupressus macrocarpa] hedge" in 1946, few major earlier plantings survive (Fraser). Those which do include an Atlantic Cedar, Cedrus atlantica glauca and key trees which mark the corners of the garden's rectangular plan. A small copse of trees was planted on axis with the front door. Two rose gardens were established and later a new rose garden with David Austin roses. The garden is further sub-divided into compartments, including a citrus grove and orchard to one side and a kitchen garden and herb garden on the other. At the rear of the house there is a modern tennis court with facilities. One of the rarer trees is a Dawn Redwood, Metasequoia glyptistroboides, rediscovered in China in 1943.
    
    There is an extensive collection of outbuildings behind the homestead. The most impressive of these is the woolshed, which was built in stages, and includes what appear to be the 1888s original shed and the post World War 2 extension. This extension is a large corrugated iron building on a steel frame with a semi-circular section similar to a 'Nissan hut". It is said to have been used as a hanger at the original Hamilton airport at Pedrina Park. (The new Hamilton airport was critical for the Prime Minister's easy access to and from Canberra.) The machinery shed is also of significance. There are several worker's cottages, the most important of which is the cookhouse known as Jack Willougby's Cottage after a stockman who worked on the property. Others date from the 1950s and 1960s.
    
    One of the most distinctive aspects of Nareen is the main drive off the Nareen Chetwynd Road. It is lined with Radiata Pines, Pinus radiata, which are not rare, but the way the drive deliberately weaves between them is perhaps a unique design in the Western District. For the most part the planting comprises three rows of trees, with sometimes a fourth and fifth. The drive shifts between the rows creating a sense of picturesque intrigue and anticipation. The date of the drive is not known but it may have been planted early in the twentieth century.

    Historical Australian Themes

    NAREEN HOMESTEAD COMPLEX - Historical Australian Themes

    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 land

    Usage/Former Usage

    NAREEN HOMESTEAD COMPLEX - Usage/Former Usage

    Continuing as a pastoral property

    Integrity

    NAREEN HOMESTEAD COMPLEX - Integrity

    Excellent degree of integrity

    Physical Description 2

    NAREEN HOMESTEAD COMPLEX - Physical Description 2

    James Graham, first owner
    Frederick Lionel Graham, second owner & builder of homestead
    Fraser family, owners from 1946
    Malcolm Fraser, Prime Minister of Australia, 1975-1983

    Heritage Study and Grading

    Heritage Study and Grading

    Southern Grampians - Southern Grampians Shire Heritage Study

    Author: Timothy Hubbard P/L, Annabel Neylon
    Year: 2002
    Grading:

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