FITZROY RIVER FARM

The original two roomed sandstone and limestone house was built in the early 1870s (prior to 1874), and added to over time. The original two rooms are now used as a kitchen and dining room, incorporated into the current homestead. The Stanfords added to the house and constructed outbuildings of timber and sandstone, an outhouse, and drystone walls around the property through the latter nineteenth century. Allotments along the Fitzroy River were purchased by John Sandford after the land was opened for selection in the early 1870s. The complex of sandstone and bluestone buildings, including a sandstone homestead, were built by John Sandford, and the improvements were made to the land including fencing and planting of crops. The homestead was built using sandstone cut from a quarry on the property and was extended in the 1890s and the 1980s. Early outbuildings include a sandstone toilet and a timber kitchen (rebuilt), a stone creamery and a timber butchery and a stone well, close to the house. Remnants of early buildings built of bluestone still exist on the property. Restoration work and additions were made by the Barrett family in the 1980s including the rebuilding of the kitchen which was burnt down.

How is it Significant?
Fitzroy River Farm is of historical significance and architectural significance to the Glenelg Shire.

Why is it Significant?
Fitzroy River Farm is of historical significance as a remaining district selector's farm complex with elements which date from the 1870s to the 1890s. The property has historical significance for its long associations over more than 120 years with the Stanford family, prominent district farmers and publicans. Although many families took up selections throughout Glenelg Shire during the 1870s, a large proportion of those families soon left their farms owing to lack of farming experience and economic hardship. Selector families who survived for as long as the Stanford family became increasingly rare. The buildings on the property are evidence of the self -sufficiency of early pastoral families, providing their own food and building materials from the site.

Fitzroy River Farm is of architectural significance for its collection of fine quality buildings notable for their stonework. The homestead and some outbuildings were built from sandstone thatwas cut from a quarry on the property and bluestone, collected as field stone from the property, was used for outbuildings and garden edges. The Barrett family additions made in the 1980s were constructed from stone quarried on the property and were designed to match the earlier structures.

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

Homestead building