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BOCHARA FARM HOMESTEAD COMPLEX

Other Name

BOCKHARA

Location

Clayton's Road BOCHARA, Southern Grampians Shire

File Number

843

Level

Stage 2 study complete

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
Robert Tulloh, a Scot of distinguished birth established the Bochara squatting run in 1840 although his tenure was brief. Lt. Governor Charles Latrobe withdrew the lease because Tulloh was implicated in atrocities against local Aborigines. The next owner was William Kippen Junior who sold to Donald Cameron of Mount Sturgeon Plains and Morgiana and in whose name the Bochara pre-emptive right was issued in 1858. The improvements at that time included a three-roomed cottage, a detached kitchen, and a woolshed valued at 1,200 pounds. The current house is likely to have been built either by Donald Cameron because he had security of tenure or by the next owner, Alexander Cameron of Penola, South Australia, who held the property from 1861 to 1868. No architect has been associated with the design. The outbuildings, and possibly the woolshed, also date from this time. The next owner, Donald McKellar was bankrupted by the sale of his runs Bochara and Knebsworth under Grant's Land Selection Act of 1865. The Trangmar family who had associations with nearby Morgiana purchased Bochara from the National Bank. Much of the land, including a distant woolshed, was sold in 1901 and more in 1925 for Closer Settlement firstly when Donald McKellar's son, John McKellar and then when H L M Beggs of Bushy Creek owned Bochara. The house has been much altered with major renovations occurring at the turn of the twentieth century and, to its detriment because of demolition, in the early 1960s under the Armytage's ownership. The house was substantially renovated again in 2001. It is now in excellent condition but of very low integrity. The outbuildings and woolshed retain a higher degree of integrity. There is a significant old Oak tree in the rear yard and the Pine drive planted about 1901 is also significant.

How is it significant?
The Bochara Farm Homestead complex is of historical significance to the Southern Grampians Shire.

Why is it significant?
The Bochara Farm Homestead complex is of historical significance for its long, intricate and representative sequence of associations with important pioneering individuals and families, including the Tullohs, notorious for their treatment of Aborigines, the Camerons, a family which became 'clan', the McKellars, and the famous Armytages of Como.

Group

Farming and Grazing