McCrae Homestead facts for kids
The McCrae Homestead is a very old house in McCrae, Victoria, Australia. It was built in 1844 by Andrew McCrae, a lawyer, and his wife Georgiana Huntly McCrae, who was a talented artist. The house is located at the bottom of Arthurs Seat, a small mountain, close to the water of Port Phillip. Today, the National Trust of Australia looks after the homestead. You can visit it and learn about its history from friendly volunteers.
This homestead is one of the oldest houses in Victoria. It shows us how early settlers built homes and farms using materials they found nearby. The walls are made from strong wooden slabs cut from local trees. People like Tuck, who worked for the McCraes, used mud, bark, and wood shingles to build the house.
Georgiana McCrae designed the house herself, including special features like the fireplace. Bricks for the fireplace were brought by boat from Williamstown. The house is small but well-planned, with a separate kitchen to prevent fires. Georgiana's drawings from 1850 show the house almost exactly as it looks today.
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History of McCrae Homestead
After the McCrae family lived there from 1844 to 1851, the Burrell family moved in. They lived in the homestead for 74 years, from 1851 to 1925. The inside of the house stayed mostly the same during their time. A descendant of the Burrells, John Twycross, remembered where everything was, even 75 years later! He recalled where his bed was and where his aunt roasted scallops in the kitchen fireplace.
After Kate Burrell passed away in 1925, the Williams family bought the house in 1927. They made some changes, like covering the original walls. They also turned the outside kitchen into a small apartment. From 1938 to 1947, the homestead was used as a private nursing home. Later, from 1952 to 1955, it was split into two apartments for holiday rentals.
In 1961, George Gordon McCrae, Georgiana's great-grandson, bought the house back. After he died, his son Andrew gave it to the National Trust of Victoria in 1970. By then, the land around the house was much smaller, and the inside was quite run down. But the homestead was still standing, making it the oldest wooden building in Victoria!
When the National Trust restored the house, they found the original wooden roof shingles hidden under a newer metal roof. This newer roof had actually protected the old shingles since 1844.
Local Building Materials
Many early buildings in the area used materials found nearby. For example, Heronswood, a large house built in 1874, used a special green granite from the original McCrae property. Both McCrae Homestead and Heronswood had roofs made from local messmate timber.
The McCrae Family's Life
The McCraes were among the first European settlers in Victoria. Andrew arrived from England in 1839. Georgiana followed him in 1841 with their four young sons. They were one of the first families to settle on the Mornington Peninsula. They built their new home near where the McCrae Lighthouse would later stand, looking out over Port Phillip. The McCraes also knew Arthur's Seat by its Aboriginal name, Wango, given by the Bunurong people.
Georgiana's eldest son, George Gordon McCrae (1833–1927), wrote about his experiences at Arthur's Seat in his diary and made sketches. In 1934, Georgiana's grandson, the poet Hugh McCrae, published her own diaries as "Georgiana's Journal." This journal tells the story of her life from 1838 to 1865, including her time at Arthur's Seat from 1844 to 1851.
Letters in the diary show how excited her children were when they arrived at Arthur's Seat before their parents. They helped build huts, fished from the beach, and explored the wild environment. They also became friends with the Bunurong people, who taught them their language and songs. The boys learned to fish with wooden spears. In 1847, George wrote a detailed description of a Corroboree, a traditional Aboriginal gathering.
The McCrae sons received a good education from their tutor, John McClure. One of the original huts on the property was even called "The University of Arthur's Seat."
Building the Homestead
In her diary, Georgiana described the house:
"It is more than a year since we squatted, or as the aborigines say, Quambied (camped) on Arthur's Seat... Our house is built of gum-tree slabs supported, horizontally, by grooved corner-posts... The biggest room has been furnished with a table and chairs, but no pictures - long lines of actual landscape appearing in interstices between the planks, instead! In addition to the house proper, we have recently erected a suite of wattle and daub rooms, which only need plastering"
The inside rooms of the homestead show Georgiana's artistic touch and good taste. The house is filled with original items and furniture that belonged to Georgiana and her family.
The Amazing View
Georgiana also wrote about the beautiful view from their home:
"......Situated on a terrace of sandy soil, about two hundred yards up from the beach, we command a view of Shortlands Bluff lighthouse , the two points...Nepean and Lonsdale...and, in clear weather, Cape Otway, faintly sustained in the west."
Today, buildings block much of this view. However, you can still see it from Seawinds, a park higher up on Arthurs Seat mountain.
A Pioneer Woman's Daily Life
Georgiana's diary entries give us a glimpse into her daily life:
"July 22nd, 1845 Dead calm. The bay like a mirror. Lanty and Neale went out to fish. Tuck fastened the two halves of our door to the hinges, thus excluding the dogs and geese; also Master Tommy. Obliged to give up my last packet of ... candles, otherwise the school-hut will have to close on account of darkness."
"Since the flour sacks are full of holes, I have removed my dresses from the tinned chest and filled it with flour instead."
"While the boys were away at the beach, I heard somebody shout excitedly, five or six times, and, on going out of the house, I noticed Mr McLure ahead of me, running towards the saw-pit. I followed as fast as I could and was astonished to see our dray, tipped up, with the two shafter-bullocks hanging by the bows from the pole which had become caught in a native "cherry"."
Her Family's Heights
On June 6th, 1849, Georgiana recorded her family's heights on the dining room wall:
"Fanny-Two years old, less 14 days, 2 feet 8 inches
Poppety-Five years, less 19 days, 3 feet 4 inches. Lucia- Seven years and a half, 4 feet Perry- Ten years,seven months, 4 feet 3 3/4 inches Willie-Fourteen and a half, 4 feet 7 inches Sandy-Twelve and a half, 4 feet, 11 1/2 inches George -Sixteen years, 5 feet 2 1/2 inches I, myself, me-5 feet 3 1/2 inches Mr. McLure- 5 feet 7 inches
Mr. Courtney, and Mr. McCrae- 5 feet 10 inches"
Leaving "The Seat"
Georgiana felt sad to leave her home:
"Arthur's Seat, October 6th, 1851. Yet a deeper sorrow has now arrived when I must say good-bye to my mountain home, the house I have built, the garden I have formed.".
The Burrell Family at the Homestead
In 1851, the Burrell family arrived from England and bought the Arthur's Seat property from the McCraes. They lived there and raised cattle and sheep until 1925. You can still see old newspapers from England lining one of the bedroom walls inside the homestead, showing the Burrells' connection to their old home. The house was quite drafty in winter because it was so close to the bay.
George Gordon McCrae, who had spent his childhood at the homestead, continued to visit the Burrells. Both the McCrae and Burrell families loved the Arthur's Seat property. The National Trust of Australia now owns the homestead, which helps keep its history alive for everyone.
McCrae Homestead Visitors Centre
Next to the old homestead is a special gallery called the McCrae Homestead Visitors Centre. It holds collections from both the McCrae and Burrell families. After a tour of the house, these galleries help visitors understand more about the homestead's history and what life was like back then.
The McCrae Gallery
The McCrae Gallery has been recently updated. It displays Georgiana McCrae's original sketches and drawings, old costumes, and other items. These help tell the story of Georgiana's amazing life. You can learn about her journey from being a young art student in London to moving to Melbourne and living as a pioneer artist at her "mountain home."
Georgiana kept a diary where she wrote about society in Victoria. Many of her lively letters are kept at the State Library of Victoria. You can see her paint box and brushes, and a Scottish kilt made for one of her sons. There are also examples of her beautiful miniature paintings, including a self-portrait and pictures of her children. One painting shows Eliza, a member of the Bunurong tribe. There's also a childhood drawing by George Gordon McCrae showing a local corroboree.
The Burrell Twycross Gallery
The Burrell Twycross Gallery shares the story of the Burrell family, who lived at the homestead for 74 years. This gallery has videos, original items, and furniture.
A rare old photograph of the Burrells, taken in 1857, is a highlight. It shows the eight family members living at the homestead six years after they moved in. Later, Charlotte Burrell married John Twycross, a wool merchant, at the homestead in 1870.
The Visions of Port Phillip exhibition shows photographs by their son, John William Twycross. He was a banker who took many photos of the Mornington Peninsula before it changed a lot. His pictures combine art with a love for nature. These old photos are very important for understanding the history of the area. They show how early families depended on the bay for travel, fishing, and fun.
The Victorian Community History Awards celebrate important local history. In 2010, the "Visions of Port Phillip: The Burrells of Arthur's Seat 1851–1925" won an award. The judges praised the project for using a large family photo album and stories to show how this historic holiday area developed. The images include black and white photos by John William Twycross and color slides from the 1950s by his son, John Twycross.
Information for the DVD came from family papers, spoken stories, and historical societies. One part of the DVD, "Once Were Wetlands," used old books and maps from the Twycross family. It also used an article from 1940 that described the natural history of Arthur's Seat, as remembered by George Gordon McCrae.
John William Twycross was related to other interesting people, like William Scoresby Routledge, an anthropologist, and John Milne, who invented the modern seismograph.
Old papers and quotes from Alfred William Howitt, a family friend, also share his thoughts on the beautiful bay and land at "The Seat." He wrote about the bay being "smooth as a pond" and seeing "the heads and a blue broken ridge of hills" six miles away.
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