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BANEMORE HOMESTEAD COMPLEX & WOOLSHED

Other Name

OLD STOCKYARD RUN

Location

Twomey's Bridge Road, GAZETTE VIC 3289 - Property No 0100

File Number

856

Level

Stage 2 study complete

Statement of Significance

What is significant
Banemore Homestead Complex, located about 6 kilometres west of Penshurst, on Twomey's Bridge Road was formerly the 'Old Stockyard' pastoral lease. The lease was taken up by William Buckley, a shepherd and then purchased by the important Western District squatters, the Twomey family. The woolshed is the only nineteenth-century building remaining of what was once a substantial complex of bluestone structures. The woolshed is likely to have been built after 1866 when Timothy Twomey took possession of the run at the height of the late 1860s wool boom in Western Victoria. It is a long bluestone building of two rectangular wings radiating from a central hexagonal 'board'. It is built of particularly fine coursed basalt using fine details. The wings are paved with bluestone cobbles. The original board had 14 stands, with 14 exit holes and ramps, most which have been closed. Most importantly, the woolshed is similar in plan and construction to the Kolor woolshed, another property owned by the Twomey family. The roof was replaced after it was burnt in the 1939 bushfire and the floor of the western wing has been removed. The woolshed, with its yards still partly paved with bluestone, functions as originally constructed.

The original homestead was completely razed in the 1939 bushfire with only the detached service wing servicing. The present red brick house was built on the original foundations in 1942. It incorporates some unusual Art Deco features and an unusual water tank tower. The house is surrounded by a garden at the front and rear (which includes a greenhouse), an orchard and various sheds.

How is it significant?
The Banemore Homestead Complex is of historical and architectural significance to the community of Penshurst and the Southern Grampians Shire.

Why is it significant?
The Banemore Homestead Complex is of historical significance through its association with the Weerangourt and Old Stockyard squatting runs and with the Twomey family. The woolshed is of architectural significance for the quality of its workmanship, its distinctive design, as a comparison with the Kolor woolshed and for the likely association with the prominent architect, Joseph Reed.

Group

Farming and Grazing