MARETIMO
8-28 DANIEL STREET PORTLAND NORTH, GLENELG SHIRE
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Statement of Significance
What is significant?
Maretimo was built c1854 for John Norman McLeod, who was born in Scotland in 1816, succeeded his brother as Chief of Talisker in the same year, and migrated at four years of age to Van Diemens Land with his parents. In 1837 he travelled with a mob of sheep to Port Phillip and took up a station on the Moorabool River. He procured several more runs in western Victoria over the following years, including what became his principal station, Tahara, near Portland. He became a magistrate in the 1840s, was a Member of Legislative Assembly in 1856-61, and was known for his humane treatment of the local Aborigines. He and his wife had seven children, and in 1854 he obtained fifty acres of land on Portland Bay just north of Portland, and built a grand house for him to live in while his sons ran Tahara. The architect of Maretimo was probably John Barrow (probably also known as James Barrow), who designed the similar house Burswood (H0240) at Portland for Edward Henty at about the same time. He was the Government Engineer in Portland, and also practised privately as an architect. In 1874, after McLeod's death, the house was bought by Robert Matheson, whose family was associated with the still prominent Asian company Jardine Matheson. In 1895 it was bought by Hugh Campbell, a Portland merchant. In 1921 the land was subdivided, with all but ten acres sold, and in 1925 it was bought by sisters Eleanor Downing and Edith Smith, who lived there with their children and ran it as a guest house in summer.
Maretimo has been called one of the most beautiful houses of its period in Australia. It is a twenty-two room symmetrical house in a colonial Georgian style, sited on a bluff facing east towards the bay. The east and south walls are of coursed dressed basalt, the other walls of random rubble, and the roof is of Welsh slate. It has a U-plan, a form unusual in Britain but which was adopted particularly for country houses in colonial Australia, with a courtyard, once enclosed with a high wooden fence on the fourth side, between the two rear wings. The main part of the house is single-storey and contains the principal rooms and the bedrooms. Across the front of this are a fine parapet and a broad verandah with delicate open timber work, which returns part way down the sides, past a conservatory enclosed within one end. The Regency interior of the house is impressive, particularly the plaster cornices, the cedar skirtings, and the shutters on the front windows which fold into box compartments contained within the jambs. The two rear wings are two-storey: one is a large service wing, with a stone flagged kitchen, the other a schoolroom and nursery wing, both with servants' bedrooms upstairs. An enclosed verandah surrounds the courtyard, and provides a covered walkway between the various rooms around it. At the rear of the house are stables of bluestone rubble.
How is it significant?
Maretimo at Portland is of architectural and historical significance to the State of Victoria.
Why is it significant?
Maretimo is of architectural significance as probably the finest colonial Georgian style house in Victoria. It is significant for its well-proportioned facade and for its finely crafted interiors. It is also significant as a fine example of the single storey verandah U-plan country house, a form uncommon in Britain and which is considered typically Australian.
Maretimo is historically significant as one of the oldest gentleman pastoralist's houses in western Victoria. It is significant for its association with the early European settlement of western Victoria, and particularly with the distinguished Scottish-born gentleman pastoralist and parliamentarian John Norman McLeod. It is significant as a reminder of the wealth and the lifestyle of the wealthy Victorian pastoralists of the nineteenth century.
[Online Data Upgrade Project 2004]
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MARETIMO - History
Maretimo was built c1854 for John Norman McLeod, who was born in Scotland in 1816, succeeded his brother as Chief of Talisker in the same year, and migrated at four years of age to Van Diemen’s Land with his parents. In 1837 he travelled with a mob of sheep to Port Phillip and took up a station on the Moorabool River. He procured several more runs in western Victoria over the following years, including what became his principal station, Tahara, near Portland. He became a magistrate in the 1840s, was a Member of Legislative Assembly in 1856-61, and was known for his humane treatment of the local Aborigines. He and his wife had seven children, and in 1854 he obtained fifty acres of land on Portland Bay just north of Portland, and built a grand house for himself to live in while his sons ran Tahara. The architect of Maretimo was probably John Barrow (probably also known as James Barrow), who designed the similar house Burswood (H240) at Portland for Edward Henty at about the same time. He was the Government Engineer in Portland, and also practised privately as an architect. In 1874, after McLeod’s death, the house was bought by Robert Matheson, whose family was associated with the still prominent Asian company Jardine Matheson. In 1895 it was bought by Hugh Campbell, a Portland merchant. In 1921 the land was subdivided, with all but ten acres sold, and in 1925 it was bought by sisters Eleanor Downing and Edith Smith, who lived there with their children and ran it as a guest house in summer.
MARETIMO - Permit Exemptions
General Exemptions:General exemptions apply to all places and objects included in the Victorian Heritage Register (VHR). General exemptions have been designed to allow everyday activities, maintenance and changes to your property, which don’t harm its cultural heritage significance, to proceed without the need to obtain approvals under the Heritage Act 2017.Places of worship: In some circumstances, you can alter a place of worship to accommodate religious practices without a permit, but you must notify the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria before you start the works or activities at least 20 business days before the works or activities are to commence.Subdivision/consolidation: Permit exemptions exist for some subdivisions and consolidations. If the subdivision or consolidation is in accordance with a planning permit granted under Part 4 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 and the application for the planning permit was referred to the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria as a determining referral authority, a permit is not required.Specific exemptions may also apply to your registered place or object. If applicable, these are listed below. Specific exemptions are tailored to the conservation and management needs of an individual registered place or object and set out works and activities that are exempt from the requirements of a permit. Specific exemptions prevail if they conflict with general exemptions. Find out more about heritage permit exemptions here.Specific Exemptions:General Conditions: 1. All exempted alterations are to be planned and carried out in a manner which prevents damage to the fabric of the registered place or object. General Conditions: 2. Should it become apparent during further inspection or the carrying out of works that original or previously hidden or inaccessible details of the place or object are revealed which relate to the significance of the place or object, then the exemption covering such works shall cease and Heritage Victoria shall be notified as soon as possible. Note: All archaeological places have the potential to contain significant sub-surface artefacts and other remains. In most cases it will be necessary to obtain approval from the Executive Director, Heritage Victoria before the undertaking any works that have a significant sub-surface component.General Conditions: 3. If there is a conservation policy and planall works shall be in accordance with it. Note:A Conservation Management Plan or a Heritage Action Plan provides guidance for the management of the heritage values associated with the site. It may not be necessary to obtain a heritage permit for certain works specified in the management plan.
General Conditions: 4. Nothing in this determination prevents the Executive Director from amending or rescinding all or any of the permit exemptions. General Conditions: 5. Nothing in this determination exempts owners or their agents from the responsibility to seek relevant planning or building permits from the responsible authorities where applicable. Minor Works : Note: Any Minor Works that in the opinion of the Executive Director will not adversely affect the heritage significance of the place may be exempt from the permit requirements of the Heritage Act. A person proposing to undertake minor works must submit a proposal to the Executive Director. If the Executive Director is satisfied that the proposed works will not adversely affect the heritage values of the site, the applicant may be exempted from the requirement to obtain a heritage permit. If an applicant is uncertain whether a heritage permit is required, it is recommended that the permits co-ordinator be contacted.
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