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AUDLEY HOMESTEAD COMPLEX

Other Name EUREMETE, EURAMEET, ENEREMETE, LYNE Location Branxholme-Byaduk Road BRANXHOLME, Southern Grampians Shire File Number 96 Level Stage 2 study complete

[1/4] 23191 Audley Homestead house [2/4] 23191 Audley Homestead house [3/4] 23191 Audley Homestead [4/4] 23191 Audley Homestead

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
Audley Homestead is located six kilometres east of the township of Branxholme. The property consists of a homestead of two wings (with further modern additions), outbuildings including a rare, circular brick meathouse, a stables, a workman's cottage and a woolshed. A substantial garden surrounds the house, with some of the original plantings incorporated into a newer garden. There is an orchard with a fine row of olives. A sheepwash also existed some distance from the house but little trace of it remains. The original wing of the main homestead and probably the outbuildings were constructed as early as 1852 when George Wyndham Elms took over the property in his own right or in 1855 when Geoffrey Coldham purchased Audley. The new Italianate wing of the main house built soon after 1862 when George C. Darbyshire purchased Audley. No architect has been associated with the new wing but Darbyshire, a surveyor, may have designed it himself. A timber extension behind the main house, of unknown date but probably from the early twentieth century, has been removed. Modern additions were completed in the 1970s, designed by the Warrnambool architect Nick Griffin, which linked the original wing, the meat house and the new wing. The whole of the main house is in excellent condition. The stables are in very poor condition, the workman's cottage is ruinous, and the woolshed is in good condition.

How is it significant?
The Audley Homestead Complex is of architectural and historical significance to the community of Branxholme and to the shire of Southern Grampians.

Why is it significant?
The Audley Homestead complex is of historical significance as an example of an early squatting run in continuous occupation with important associations through its various owners. It is of architectural significance for its sequence of development from early forms of construction, particularly the rare circular meathouse, through typical additions in the nineteenth century, and later additions in the twentieth century. This is enhanced by its garden setting, the orchard and its position in the landscape.