CHARTERISVILLE

Charterisville is historically significant for its strong association with the artists Heidelberg School. In 1887, following the death of banker David McArthur, Charterisville became an important centre and artists colony within the Heidelberg School and went on to become the longest surviving artist camp in Melbourne. Norman and Lionel Lindsay recorded the beauty of Charterisville and in 1893 E. Phillips Fox and Tudor St. George Tucker started Australia's first Summer School at Charterisville. Charterisville is particularly important as the first locale in which women artists painted and produced distinctive works. Works produced at Charterisville by artists such as Violet Teague, Mary Meyer and Ina Gregory bear consistent features and demonstrate the impact of the environment upon their art.Charterisville is historically significant for its association with David Charteris McArthur. McArthur arrived in Melbourne in 1838 and at the age of twenty-eight opened Melbourne's first bank of Australasia. McArthur moved to Charterisville in 1840 and gave the property his family name. At the time of McArthur's occupation, Charterisville had extensive grounds and bore the mark of a home of an important citizen; the property also contained cottages, coachhouse, stables and winery. McArthur was an important member of early Melbourne society and became President of the Trustees of the Public Library, a Trustee of the Botanical Gardens, a foundation member of the Mechanics Institute (later the Melbourne Athenaeum) and President of the Old Colonists Association.

[Extract: Allom Lovell & Associates Pre 1851 Building Survey, 1997]

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

House