INSIDE 1860S RENOVATION
ON the banks of the Barwon River, a historic Winchelsea property is coming back to life.
One of the first homes built in Western Victoria, Ingleby Homestead and its surrounding buildings are encased in more than 160 years of history.
The Georgian bluestone mansion, built by the affluent Armytage family, hit the market for the first time in decades in 2019.
The property, which has always been in private hands, was bought by Winchelsea local Georgie Thomson before the start of the pandemic.
“I’ve been at the farm next door since 2017, and when Ingleby came up for sale it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to increase the scale of the farm,” Ms Thomson said.
It features six bedrooms, billiards, dining and drawing rooms and a larger network including a coach house, stables, staff and servant’s quarters, and a pheasant coop.
While the surrounding land now is part of a working sheep and cattle farm, Ms Thomson and her family have committed to restoring the homestead and gardens to its former glory.
“We have a permit to be a venue for up to 200 people, and accommodation for up to 14 people,” she said.
“The plan is to utilise Ingleby for location shoots, weddings and other events … accommodation will be available once the homestead is restored.”
Earliest records reveal English
pastoralist Thomas Armytage – one of the first to follow Batman and Fawkner into the district beyond Port Phillip – stumbled across the land in the 1830s.
But his time at Ingleby was short-lived, the property passing to his brother George after his death from typhoid fever in 1842.
A bluestone cottage on the banks of the Barwon River was built in the 1840s, and the much larger, grander main home was completed in the 1860s.
“They settled Ingleby, which was originally 30,000 acres. Initially they built a cottage down on the river and the homestead was completed in the 1860s,” Ms Thomson said.
“The family left the home in 1911 and leased the property to EH Lascelles until the property was sold out of the Armytage family in 1923.”
George Armytage later built The Hermitage (now part of Geelong Grammar) and owned the stately Como House in South Yarra.
An entire community
The mind wander(s) about the dinner parties and the number of people that would have spent time there over the last 160 years. INGLEBY ESTATE’S GEORGIE THOMSON
evolved to take care of the estate and its surrounding farmland.
“I love the dining room because it would have been a hive of activity,” Ms Thomson said. “Sitting in there lets the mind wander about the dinner parties and the number of people that would have spent time there over the last 160 years.”
And renovation work has already uncovered some of the property’s hidden secrets – a rare 19th century bluestone reservoir similar to the famed
Guilfoyle’s Volcano at the Melbourne Botanic Gardens.
“I literally stumbled across it because it was hidden beneath the trees. A bluestonelined water reservoir,” she said. “It was possibly used as a pool, if not for irrigation.”
With a mammoth renovation to undertake, Ms Thomson said the grounds had already been extensively cleared.
“It’s challenging because we’re tackling everything one bit at a time,” she said.
The estate was preparing to host its first event, a twilight cocktail party to raise money for the Winchelsea Op-Shop on October 8 from 6.30pm.
Ms Thomson said the party followed in the tradition of balls, fundraisers and garden parties at the estate which raised money for local churches and charities.
“It’s great to reconnect with that history of helping out the community through different fundraisers,” she said.