MOUNT MACEDON MOUNT MACEDON ROAD 220, DREAMTHORPE -MRHLS 1992-3 sheet 30 2 (1)
Graeme Butler images from the 1992 survey for the Macedon Ranges Cultural Heritage and Landscape Study published 1994
Dreamthorpe was part of Nathanial Ronalds' (Melbourne florist) house and nursery, set on 22.1/2. acres purchased from the Waterfalls Estate, prior to 1887{ RB1886, c101 no Ronalds; RB1887,283 1st entry}. Reputedly Ronalds sent flowers daily from Macedon to his Swanston Street shop, `Ronalds' Central', while his residential address was in New Street, North Brighton. This shop was later called simple `RONALDS' and was managed by a Miss Fawcett{ WD1899-1900}. By 1893 Mr & Mrs David T Davies had purchased the nursery and added the brick butter factory there{ RB1893,68 NAV increase to 1894 in Mrs DT (Susan) Davies' name; Milbourne, p.76}. The factory was opened in 1893 and was stated by dairying expert, a Mr Wilson, to be `..one of the best equipped factories in the colony' but it was closed in the following year and purchased by the Pioneer Dairy Co{ ibid.; M Hutton pers.com.}. From 1895, Ronalds leased 4.1/2. acres of the Lillies Leaf estate from G Bevis on Brougham Road{ RB1895,644}. He was joined there by his wife, Agnes Ronalds, in 1896 who had a cottage on lot 10 of the same estate (now Apsley){ RB1896-7,889}. Nat died in 1898 but Agnes remained there for many years with a large family, becoming known in the area as Granny Ronalds{ M Hutton pers.com. cites GMM&DHS files}. One of Nat's daughters, Mary, also opened a nursery on the other side of the road (Brookdale, q.v.) in c1927. Meanwhile Dreamthorpe nursery and house had been purchased by gardener, Richard Healy (or Healey) from the Davies estate{ RB1909-10,731; RB1898,718}. Healy ran the nursery there until it was acquired by Judge Henry Edward Hodges, then care of the High Court, c1912-13. The house was enlarged (front rooms) for Judge Hodges (knighted 1918, died at Dreamthorpe 1919) in c1914 and was rated in his wife's name (Alice B Hodges) by c1917. The added rooms had art-metal ceilings and seaweed in the walls for insulation Visitors to the garden in the 1920s described it so: `..apparently careless profusion of trees and flowers. Amongst the ash elm and maple trees, resplendent golden oaks caught the eye and viburnum and clematis harmonised with the alluring colour scheme. Here one saw miniature lakes, winding paths decked with forget-me-nots, shady nooks beneath noble trees and an appealing play of light and shadow through the leaves of myriad tints{ `Gisborne Gazette' 20.11.25}. The name `Dreamthorpe' was recorded in rate books of the 1940s when the property was owned by Catherine M Walker and the house still stood on 22 acres{ RB1945-6,952}. However it was reputedly named so much earlier, by Mrs Hodges, who was also responsible for much of the garden's development, after it ceased to be a nursery{ Gisborne & Mount Macedon District Historical Society- M.Hutton typescript Dreamthorpe 1987}. The garden was also the venue for many community occasions during Lady Hodges' tenure, with many fetes raising money for a variety of charities. Judge Hodges (1844-1919) Hodges was born in Liverpool, England, the son of a ship's captain, and came to the colony in 1854 seeking gold{ JM Young ADB V9}. He took up teaching on the Bendigo goldfields. He obtained a BA at Melbourne University in 1870 and took up private tutorship of the familes of JG Francis and Sir William Stawell. Reputedly, he was also the tutor for the Hamilton children and subsequently came back to the Macedon area, older and more successful. He was called to the bar in 1873 and quickly established a lucrative practice, being appointed an acting Judge of the supreme Court in 1889 (permanent by 1890){ ADB V9}. Here he established a reputation for logical but a sometimes severe demeanour in court, being sometimes prone to sarcasm and emotional outbursts which led to an unprecedented resolution in 1913 from the bar criticising his behavour in court. Alice Hodges was his second wife (m 1909), the widow of Robert Chirnside of Caranballac. As Lady Hodges she lived on at Dreamthorpe there until her death in 1942.
MOUNT MACEDON MOUNT MACEDON ROAD 220, DREAMTHORPE -MRHLS 1992-3 sheet 30 2 (1)
Graeme Butler images from the 1992 survey for the Macedon Ranges Cultural Heritage and Landscape Study published 1994
Dreamthorpe was part of Nathanial Ronalds' (Melbourne florist) house and nursery, set on 22.1/2. acres purchased from the Waterfalls Estate, prior to 1887{ RB1886, c101 no Ronalds; RB1887,283 1st entry}. Reputedly Ronalds sent flowers daily from Macedon to his Swanston Street shop, `Ronalds' Central', while his residential address was in New Street, North Brighton. This shop was later called simple `RONALDS' and was managed by a Miss Fawcett{ WD1899-1900}. By 1893 Mr & Mrs David T Davies had purchased the nursery and added the brick butter factory there{ RB1893,68 NAV increase to 1894 in Mrs DT (Susan) Davies' name; Milbourne, p.76}. The factory was opened in 1893 and was stated by dairying expert, a Mr Wilson, to be `..one of the best equipped factories in the colony' but it was closed in the following year and purchased by the Pioneer Dairy Co{ ibid.; M Hutton pers.com.}. From 1895, Ronalds leased 4.1/2. acres of the Lillies Leaf estate from G Bevis on Brougham Road{ RB1895,644}. He was joined there by his wife, Agnes Ronalds, in 1896 who had a cottage on lot 10 of the same estate (now Apsley){ RB1896-7,889}. Nat died in 1898 but Agnes remained there for many years with a large family, becoming known in the area as Granny Ronalds{ M Hutton pers.com. cites GMM&DHS files}. One of Nat's daughters, Mary, also opened a nursery on the other side of the road (Brookdale, q.v.) in c1927. Meanwhile Dreamthorpe nursery and house had been purchased by gardener, Richard Healy (or Healey) from the Davies estate{ RB1909-10,731; RB1898,718}. Healy ran the nursery there until it was acquired by Judge Henry Edward Hodges, then care of the High Court, c1912-13. The house was enlarged (front rooms) for Judge Hodges (knighted 1918, died at Dreamthorpe 1919) in c1914 and was rated in his wife's name (Alice B Hodges) by c1917. The added rooms had art-metal ceilings and seaweed in the walls for insulation Visitors to the garden in the 1920s described it so: `..apparently careless profusion of trees and flowers. Amongst the ash elm and maple trees, resplendent golden oaks caught the eye and viburnum and clematis harmonised with the alluring colour scheme. Here one saw miniature lakes, winding paths decked with forget-me-nots, shady nooks beneath noble trees and an appealing play of light and shadow through the leaves of myriad tints{ `Gisborne Gazette' 20.11.25}. The name `Dreamthorpe' was recorded in rate books of the 1940s when the property was owned by Catherine M Walker and the house still stood on 22 acres{ RB1945-6,952}. However it was reputedly named so much earlier, by Mrs Hodges, who was also responsible for much of the garden's development, after it ceased to be a nursery{ Gisborne & Mount Macedon District Historical Society- M.Hutton typescript Dreamthorpe 1987}. The garden was also the venue for many community occasions during Lady Hodges' tenure, with many fetes raising money for a variety of charities. Judge Hodges (1844-1919) Hodges was born in Liverpool, England, the son of a ship's captain, and came to the colony in 1854 seeking gold{ JM Young ADB V9}. He took up teaching on the Bendigo goldfields. He obtained a BA at Melbourne University in 1870 and took up private tutorship of the familes of JG Francis and Sir William Stawell. Reputedly, he was also the tutor for the Hamilton children and subsequently came back to the Macedon area, older and more successful. He was called to the bar in 1873 and quickly established a lucrative practice, being appointed an acting Judge of the supreme Court in 1889 (permanent by 1890){ ADB V9}. Here he established a reputation for logical but a sometimes severe demeanour in court, being sometimes prone to sarcasm and emotional outbursts which led to an unprecedented resolution in 1913 from the bar criticising his behavour in court. Alice Hodges was his second wife (m 1909), the widow of Robert Chirnside of Caranballac. As Lady Hodges she lived on at Dreamthorpe there until her death in 1942.