Mount Macedon DUNEIRA October 2015 39

(Extract from Macedon Ranges cultural heritage and landscape study. 4 v. 1994.).

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Henry Suetonius Officer reputedly aquired the Duneira site from

1872-1877 (Blocks 4,5,10,11,14) paying some £84 for 38 acres but

rate listings give Robert Officer as the owner. .

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Suetonius Henry Officer (1830-1883).

Officer was born in Hullgreen, New Norfolk, Tasmania 1830, the

son of Sir Robert & Lady Officer. He was educated in Edinburgh

with his brother, Charles, and returned to the colonies, seeking

gold in Victoria but eventually settling for pastoralism in

company with his brothers and Charles Miles{ ibid.}. They managed

stations in the Wimmera and the Riverina, James marrying in 1866

and commencing construction of a 20 room homestead at Murray

Downs & Willakool, two adjoining properties fronting the Murray

River. After experimentation with irrigation, via steam pumps and

windmills, he was able to develop extensive orchards and crops. He was also, like his brother, interested in

acclimatisation, having developed an ostrich farm on his property

(Charles was a council member of the Zoological & Acclimatisation

Society for 10 years, president in 1887). .

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Blighted by illness, Suetonius reputedly moved to Leighwood,

Toorak (Melbourne) in 1881, having erected the first stage of

Duneira at Mount Macedon, but died two years later. However his son, Henry jnr. was

born at South Yarra in 1869 and his next child, Jessie, was born

at Macedon in 1877, indicating that he was in residence at both

places prior to the dates previously supposed..

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Suetonius probably commissioned the first stage of Duneira to be

erected as a summer house between c1874-6. The architect Levi

Powell is thought to have designed a house for him there around

that date. The first improvements listed on the site were

stables in 1874 when Robert Officer was rated as owning the site. The house was reputedly not occupied regularly

until c1881 when Suetonius moved to Toorak.

However it appears he and his family were in residence at Duneira

by 1877..

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When Suetonius died in 1883 his wife, Mary Lillias Rigg Officer

(nee Cairns), of Glenbervie, Glenferrie Road, Toorak was the

co-executor of the estate, with merchant Robert Harper; she is

the rate occupier in 1888. Mrs Officer was the

sister of Mrs Robert Harper (Huntly Burn) and Mrs John C lloyd

(Montpelier, later Timsbury): all three houses were reputedly

built in the same period... .

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The house bricks for the first stage were said to have come from

the Macedon Brick Kiln (once near the Macedon railway station,

set up in c1888-9?) with external walls built in 14" Flemish bond

from slop-moulded bricks (9 inch by 2.1/2). The bricks were reputedly carted

from Macedon by Cogger. The footings were of bluestone

and reputedly dressed sandstone blocks also survive, suggesting

that the first stage was face brick with stone quoins and the

next renovation c1888 added wings and a cement coating to the

whole complex. Floor frames were reputedly supported on stone

dwarf walls and joists were 6x2.1/2 inch jarrah, with flooring

being 6 inch pine}. Seaweed was apparently used for

ceiling insulation..

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The servants' wing verandah was skillion in form with timber

posts with classical capitals. The main verandah had coupled

posts (rebuilt with single posts) a panelled frieze and slimmer

capitals set just under the frieze rail}. The

balustrade may have been of single cast-iron balusters..

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Just prior to the sale to the speculator, James Smith Reid in

1890, and during the occupation of Edward Dyer, major additions

were made to the house complex and a reputedly a caretaker's

lodge was placed at the gate (survives, altered c1920s) but this

appears to have been added by Reid in the early 1890s. .

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The added rooms were reputedly: billiard (32'x24') and dining

rooms, kitchen, servants bathroom, service block with 5 rooms

(engine room, dairy, pantry, store, boiler room, built of

Northcote machine made 9" brickwork). Damp proof coursing was

used in these additions compared to the slate of the first stage

and acetylene gas (engine room) was thought used for lighting

from this period, as reticulated in 1.1.2" mains and 1/2 inch

branches to internal and some external verandah lights.

Cast-iron elaborately detailed water radiators were also used,

with hot water pumped from the boiler room, and later a duplicate

boiler allowed hot water to be reticulated taps in the house{

ibid.}..

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The description in rate books expands to villa and cottages (on

37 acres) for the first time under Reid in c1893 but the annual

valuation had already peeked in 1888 at £200 in the occupation of

Edward Dyer. An Edward Dyer was listed at that time as a fruiterer in

Burwood Road, Hawthorn..

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The water supply is from a concrete tank fed by a spring.

Outbuildings include timber clad stables, storerooms,

blacksmith's shop, coachman's room, milking bails, hay shed and a

green house. The stables (extended) were described as having had

a shingled gabled roof (rear skillion) with loft entered via an

external stair at the north end. It had a blacksmith's

shop (altered for garage c1941), carriage and coachman's rooms,

two stores and vertically boarded main doors{ ibid.,p24}. The

milking and hay sheds had hipped roof forms and timber cladding

and frame. The interior was white-washed. The greenhouse

in the secret hedged garden is of a later date, with a timber

frame built up on 11" cavity brickwork walls, with a brick floor

and heated water pipes under each shelf. The boiler is near the

entry..

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The `Gisborne Gazette' reported on Duneira in 1903 under the

heading of `A Popular Health Resort':.

`Duneira certainly merits a few remarks though beautiful

residences and grounds are by no means rare in that locality..

(when Reid purchased it, it was `little better than a wilderness'

and he had spared no expense to restore it).. After passing the

lodge at the main entrance, a broad serpentine drive leads up to

the house and from there the grounds are laid out in broad

sloping lawns surmounted with choice borders and fringed with

trees which however do not interfere to any great extent with the

view. There is of course no lack of flowers which grow

luxuriantly on the mount but the great feature of Duneira is the lawns, those open green expanses which delight the eye at all times of the year. the secret of this perennial verdure is to be found in the copious water supply with which Macedon is blessed (spring at rear of house, tapped by tunnelling 40m into the hill, ie. grass grows up to base of Monterey pines)..

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During Reid's time there, the valuation increased marginally in

1899-1900 and again soon after, with Reid's address being given as care of Rosstrevor Magill, South Australia, in c1909-10. JS Reid died in 1922, leaving the property to the management of JS Reid jun (a chemist) and the merchant GL Dewez of Sydney,

his widow Martha Turnbull Reid and William Riggall.

Reid was the son of the Rev. James Reid of Queensland but gained success as a journalist, starting newspapers in gold mining areas such as Gympie, Charters Towers, Etheridge and Wilcannia, NSW. He was at Broken Hill when the Broken Hill P/L commenced, printing their prospectus. He became a director of BHP. His occupation was listed as `speculator' in the early 1900s.

 

In the 1920s Mrs Martha Reid's `little Eden' was described by a touring group of horticulturalists, thus:

`.. a trim green lawn with magnificent Japanese cypress which was voted the finest in Australia; nearby a splendid weeping elm caught the eye; the maples, beech and the horse chestnuts supply fresh tints; majestic Oregons tower towards heaven...

Everywhere soft tinted rhododendrons and azaleas bloomed in the sunshine and near a rock garden decked with flowers of every conceivable hue, myriad tinted tulips thrust up their heads.'.

Again, in 1927, the Victorian Nurserymens & Seedmens Association noted of Duneira:

`...where probably the finest display of rhododendrons is to be seen; these and a magnificent specimen of `Cupressus lawsoniana'

"Aurea" caused us to linger longer than the specified time. The rock garden dotted with a remarkable collection of alpines, several linden trees and pendulous birches were considered to be a feature unparalleled elsewhere in the State Mrs Reid owned it until 1941, selling to Dr Alfred & Betty Alcock (nee Nicholas) of Toorak, being reputedly a gift from Alfred Nicholas.

The auction was in December 1940 when Duneira was described as a substantially constructed brick villa with slate roof containing spacious return verandah, entrance hall, sitting, morning and dining rooms, an excellent billiard room, large glazed vestibule, 5 main bedrooms, two well appointed bathrooms, 4 maids bedrooms, maids' sitting room and bathroom, well appointed kitchen, store rooms and septic sewage, central heating,

private gas service and extensive outbuildings on 38 acres. The 500 metre elm-lined drive was said to be the longest (privately owned?) elm avenue in Australia.

 

Extensive renovations followed the Alcock purchase including electricity, removal of the concave and skillion roof timber verandahs, enlarging of openings, conversion of the billiard room to a lounge, new bathrooms in bedrooms, servants rooms converted, larger kitchen and improved connection to dining, more water storage, covered way to link service wing with house, creation of a new entry point from the courtyard, enlarged stable for cars with barn for machinery store, removal of trees, and the replacement of previously gravelled paths and roads (with open brick drains) with concrete and asphalt. Mrs Alcock remarried (Stuart Wickens) but maintained her interest in the garden, reputedly having created the `secret garden'.

 

Mrs Alcock resold to Keith Allen and R.Lowe in c1977. Keith Allan presumably replaced the verandah, following his reported intention to do so in 1978.

 

Mr & Mrs Laurie Matheson purchased it in 1981, just prior to Matheson's involvement in the Ivanov, Combe affair which caused some controversy in Australia and the 1983 Hope Royal Commission.

In the same period he was noted for a high speed dash in his Ferrari to save Duneira from the 1983 fires.

Matheson was a trade commissioner to eastern Europe (1968-) and later via Heine Brothers (1972-) and his own Commercial Bureau, he negotiated extensively with Russia over trade links. Prior to this, while in the navy, Matheson (then aged 33) had commanded the unit in search of Prime Minister Holt who disappeared at Cheviot beach in 1963. He had been educated at Burnside orphanage and later Yenco agricultural college, NSW. Matheson is credited with having built the reproduction porch entrance from the court yard.

Until recently it was still owned by the widow of Laurence Matheson whose memorial (q.v.) at the Macedon cemetery is so distinctive. The same artist (for the memorial) had provided two statues for the garden depicting the Mathesons but after the recent sale, these were removed.

The East and West Lawns are of central importance to the aesthetic significance of the property, being the major landscaping feature through which the Elm Avenue runs. This comprises approximately ninety Dutch Elms (Ulmus X hollandica) underplanted with bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) and is one of the best surviving examples of a private formal avenue in Victoria. Another strong aesthetic feature of the property are the two northern avenues of sycamores and oaks, and the hedges of mature rhododendrons, holly and Portuguese laurels.

 

The collection of significant trees, includes many large and rare conifers, rhododendrons and other cool climate plants. Besides the avenue of Dutch Elms (Ulmus x hollandica), other significant trees include the Ilex kingiana (Himalayan Holly), Abies procera (Noble Fir), Prunus serrulata 'Shirotae' (Japanese Flowering Cherry). Other important trees include the many Douglas Firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii), Giant Fir (Abies grandis), Caucasian Fir (Abies nordmanniana), an unusual form of the Norway Spruce (Picea abies), Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), Linden (Tilia X europaea), Montpelier Maple (Acer monspessulanum), Antarctic Beech (Nothofagus moorei) & Cut-leaved Walnut (Juglans regia 'Laciniata') which is extremely rare in cultivation.

 

Done