ROCK OF AGES

A BLUESTONE HOMESTEAD ON VICTORIA’S BARUNAH PLAINS HAS BEEN RETURNED TO THE GLORY OF ITS PASTORAL HEYDAY.

A bluestone homestead on Victoria’s Barunah Plains has been returned to the glory of its pastoral heyday, with plenty more work still to be done.

DAMIAN CANNY’S LONG-TIME LOVE of the wide open spaces and big skies of Victoria’s Western District harks back to his youth. It was his early connection with the area’s fertile volcanic soils, along with his appreciation for time-worn bluestone homesteads steeped in history, that drew him back to Barunah Plains at Hesse, 126 kilometres south-west of Melbourne. Damian had known of Barunah Plains since he was a teenager, when he worked nearby as a station hand and jackaroo on the historic Mount Hesse sheep station, one of the largest merino wool producers in Australia. “I grew up in Melbourne, but as a young boy I had visited Mount Hesse and really liked the lifestyle, the merino sheep and their wool,” he says. “I used to work at Mount Hesse in my school holidays and then I left school to work there full-time. I always wanted to own a property like that. My love and desire to buy a property like Barunah Plains can really be traced back to my time at Mount Hesse.” Originally known as Long Water Hole, Barunah Plains was established in the 1840s and was at one point the largest sheep station in Victoria. The rambling bluestone homestead, with its wide verandahs and striking octagonal room, sits on Warrambine Creek and was designed in 1866 by Scottish architects Davidson and Henderson (who built numerous grand homesteads and churches in Victoria). Surrounded by formal gardens with towering bunya-bunya pines, monkey-puzzle trees and 120-year-old elms, the property also includes bluestone stables, a coach house and a small village of outbuildings classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria). From the 1850s until 1978, Barunah Plains was owned by the Russell family — pastoral pioneers who played a major role in establishing the state’s wool industry and had a residence befitting their status. “Barunah Plains was on 24,280 hectares, it employed about 50 people who lived here and it was like a community — the post office was here, it had a ballroom and it was the hub of the area,” Damian explains. “After World War II, the government acquired all the land for soldier settlement and in the mid-1940s Barunah was then halved in size.” The property had been on the market for about six years when he bought the homestead block on 263 hectares in 2016. >

“The girls love to help with a bit of sheep work and enjoy getting on the motorbike to give me a hand.”

“I’d looked at Barunah a couple of years prior and thought it needed a lot of work. At that point in time it was too big a project for me. I walked out with my head spinning and just left it. But in 2016 it was still on the market, the timing was right and I was ready for the challenge.” Damian, who is father to three daughters (Lucy, 18, Annabelle, 17, and Sophie, 14) and the executive chairman of Canny, an architectural firm and building company in Melbourne, now lives at Barunah Plains full-time. Although he has renovated numerous properties over the years, the stately homestead — with its 13 bedrooms, ballroom, formal dining room, large drawing room with a marble mantle and original grand piano (“It would be 150 years old”) — has been his biggest challenge. “Everything was rundown. We’ve done a stack of fencing and painting, and we’ve fixed a lot of things. We’re at the point now where the gardens are all done and it’s comfortable,” the 45-year-old says. To date, services such as plumbing and electricals have been renewed and the farm’s bluestone cottage (known as Cool Cottage) and shearer’s quarters, which sleep up to 35, have been refitted as accommodation. Though it’s still in operation, the property’s vast T-shaped bluestone woolshed is also used for weddings and events. “We’ve done a huge amount of work to it: we fixed the floor, windows, roof and weatherboards,” Damian says. To continue the property’s association with fine wool, Damian runs a flock of 1000 merino ewes. Whenever the girls are home (Annabelle and Sophie are at boarding school, while Lucy completed her studies last year), they pitch in with shearing or out in the paddocks. “The girls are home every second weekend and in the school holidays. They love to help with a bit of sheep work and enjoy getting on the motorbike to give me a hand.” For Damian, it’s the ambience — the old buildings, the setting and a tangible sense of the past imbued in it all — that he loves most about Barunah Plains. And it’s the satisfaction of bringing it back to the glory and grandeur of its heyday that is the best reward. “I suppose buying this property was more about the history and architectural features than it was about the land itself,” he says. “For me, the farming part is a hobby; my expertise is in re-creating great houses and fixing up the infrastructure. Even so, this property has been the biggest challenge I’ve taken on and I’ve still got a long way to go — it might take another 10 years to finish. I get the biggest buzz out of it, though.”

Welcome to Barunah Plains, an 1840s property in Victoria’s Western District that owner Damian Canny has lovingly restored. He undertook most of the landscaping himself. In the northern lawn, couch turf has been oversown with ryegrass across nearly five hectares.

HOME HESSE VICTORIA Boston ivy covers the original jackaroo quarters, which have been turned into guest bedrooms. The quarters’ slate roof remains. The small structure in the foreground is an old meathouse.

CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT A new AGA cooker in the kitchen; Lucy, Annabelle, Damian and Sophie with Scout the Jack Russell on the eastern verandah; the billiards room was added in the 1880s; the homestead features tall sash windows; the dining room furniture belonged to the Russell family and the painting is by British artist John Gray; reproduction panelling in the entry mirrors original metal cladding.

HOME HESSE VICTORIA Lucy, Sophie and Annabelle in The Kennels paddock, so named for its location outside the bluestone ruins of the property’s old kennels.

HOME HESSE VICTORIA In the drawing room, Damian has added Kelly armchairs from Jardan and a silk rug from Behruz Studio. The wall colour and marble fireplace are original to the homestead. For stockist details, see page 160.

CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT Scout the Jack Russell in the woolshed; sheep outside the old generator room, which provided power to the station until 1960; the golden plains; bridles in the tack room of the original stables at the rear of the property; merino wool; Annabelle, Lucy and Sophie out in the paddock.

CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT Bedlinen from Bemboka adorns a guest bed; Lucy in the vegetable garden; the restored bluestone homestead. Existing buxus hedging has been moved with the garden’s redesign; the old station workshop now serves as a garden shed; a view down to Warrambine Creek; an original basin and sink at the homestead’s rear entry. FACING PAGE Scout perches on a guest bed. For stockist details, see page 160.