DORFSTEDT

Dorfstedt, a farm complex at 2785 Main South Road, Poowong, constructed in 1898, is significance. This farm site includes the homestead, the barn and dairy, the buggy house, and the smokehouse/ workshop. 
Transitional Homestead - The homestead is of timber construction with large, ridged gip with two projecting hips at the rear. There is another off-centre gable to the West of the property. There is a straight roofed return verandah supported by simple square posts. The windows are single double hung windows with other exterior decorations including a shingle board dado and one chimney with rendered moulding and terracotta pots. Internal panelling on walls and ceilings are made of Californian Redwood and Kauri timber. Other decorations include dado panel friezes and ceiling coves. 
Milking Shed/Large Barn – This is a symmetrical gable weatherboard structure with central aisle with loft, supported by hewn timber. The milking bays are set along the aisles with very low side eaves. The milking shed includes a stud frame, central end doors ledged and braced vertical boards, and small gable end door. 
Buggy House and groom room – Positioned north of the open area, the Buggy House is a gabled structure, with a straight verandah partially covered by the south entry. The western end of the building contains the groom’s room with a simple corbelled chimney, the harness room is in the centre of the building, and the buggy room is at the eastern end of the house. An early wagon is housed at the rear of this building. 
Workshop/Smokehouse – The workshop is to the north of the house, in line with the buggy house to the east, with a gable roof and iron roof. These is an old dray and imported German farm wagon housed in this building. 
Non-original alterations and addition are not significant.

The Dorfstedt farm complex is of local historic and aesthetic significance to the South Gippsland Shire.

Historically, Dofstedt is a locally rare example of an intact early farm complex and is one of the oldest farm complexes in the Poowong area. The property is significant in illustrating and interpreting the rural history of the South Gippsland Shire, and demonstrates the early settlement and development of the Poowong area. (Criterion A) Aesthetically, this site is a substantially intact farm complex, including a former milking shed of European origins. The significance of the property is enhances by the early horse-drawn farm vehicles that are stored on the site and are linked to the origins of the farm. (Criterion E) 
Dorfstedt has been owned by the same family, the Staben's, continuously since its construction in 1898. Henning Staben built the property in that year after selecting an area of 320 acres in 1877, twenty years after arriving in Victoria. Dorfstedt is one of only a handful of properties in South Gippsland have is still occupied by the same family as the original selector. (Criterion H)