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SYMONS' HOMESTEAD COMPLEX

Location

off Billywing Track, GLENISLA VIC 3408 - Property No 0510

File Number

607

Level

Stage 2 study complete

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
The Symon's Homestead complex is located off the Billywing Track about 4.5kms to the west of Glenisla homestead. It was developed by the large Symons and Pooley families, who appear to have acted as tenant farmers to the Carters of Glenisla before becoming selectors and land owners in their own right. The complex is situated beside a small creek which has been dammed for domestic and irrigation purposes. The house is a rude timber-framed building of mixed materials including board and batten, weatherboard and corrugated iron. There is a range of linings including hessian and paper, lining boards and, where the structure was extended, weather boards. All of its parts are roofed with simple skillions. There is a simple timber verandah along the high side of the bedroom wing. The house is in a ruinous condition but retains an excellent archaeological potential. The outbuildings include an early stables and machinery shed and a structure now collapsed of later date. The stables and shed are both built with rude timber frames, using the forks in tree trunks to support timber-in-the-round beams. A light sawn frame sits above these to form the roofs. Both structures are partially demolished and are now roofless. There is one Cupressus sempervirens planted adjacent to the house, several fruit trees downstream from the dam and senescent Radiata Pines. The house is surrounded by Elm suckers.

How is it significant?
The Symon's Homestead complex is of historical and archeological significance to the Southern Grampians Shire.

Why is it significant?
The Symons Homestead complex is of historical significance for its primitive rude construction technique and materials reflecting both the living conditions and resourcefulness of early settlers. It is of further historical significance for its association with the Symons and Polley families, who were early small scale farmers operating in the Glenisla area from about the 1850s. The homestead complex has the potential to assist us to understand how people lived in the second phase of European land occupation in this remote area through archaeology.

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