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KOLOR-PURDEET HOMESTEAD (FORMER SITE)

Location

Penshurst-Warrnambool Road, PENSHURST VIC 3289 - Property No 0006

File Number

Level

Stage 2 study complete

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
The original Kolor or Purdeet homestead site was established in the early 1850s after the closure of the Mount Rouse Aboriginal Protectorate and the settlement of Penshurst either by John Joseph Twomey, an Irishman or by David Hutton, an Englishman. One or other built a timber house, stables and, presumably, other working buildings probably by the end of 1851. It may be that the Hutton family lived in the homestead until a new house, called Cheviot Hills was built for them on the land which they had secured as freehold. Alternatively, the Twomey family may have occupied it because John Twomey purchased the freehold including the old homestead site. He and his son Joseph built the present Kolor homestead in 1868. Who occupied the house after this time is not known but Joseph Twomey owned the land until it was sold in 1928 after he died. It was then purchased by the Morton family who lived in the house until a new cream brick house was built after the Second World War. The old house was moved to Penshurst where it survives at 11 Burchett Street. Little remains above ground at the original site.

How is it significant?
The original Kolor or Purdeet homestead site is of historical significance to the community of Penshurst and to the Southern Grampians Shire as a Heritage Inventory Site.

Why is it significant?
The original Kolor or Purdeet homestead site is of historical significance for its connections with the Huttons and the Twomeys, both important and influential pastoral families in the area, and for providing a contrast to their later more substantial homesteads. It reflects the unusual subdivision of the land around Penshurst and its sale under the Land Selection Acts. The place has further significance for its subsequent subdivision and sale under the Closer Settlements Act and conversion to a dairy farm under the Morton family's ownership which continues to the present.

Group