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ROXBURGH DAIRY FARM (FORMER)
624 GLENELG HIGHWAY, SMYTHES CREEK - PROPERTY NUMBER 2012305, BALLARAT CITY

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Ballarat City
624 Glenelg Highway Smythes Creek
624 Glenelg Highway Smythes Creek
624 Glenelg Highway Smythes Creek
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Statement of Significance

What is significant?
The former Roxburgh Farm at 624 Glenelg Highway, Smythes Creek, comprises a c1850s cottage, a larger 1870s farmhouse with a small orchard, a pair of Canary Island Palms and collection of 19th and early 20th century farm outbuildings including a large cow shed, all surrounded by windbreaks of mature Monterey Cypress trees. The archaeological site of a third farmhouse of c1890s on the east side of the entrance drive is delineated by cypresses as well.

How is it significant?
Roxburgh Dairy Farm is of historic significance to the City of Ballarat.

Why is it significant?
Historically, as an intact example of a 19th century farm complex, which retains buildings from the second half of the 19th century and early years of the 20th century when the dairy farm was at its peak, as well as mature plantings delineating the house sites. The Cow Shed and other outbuildings illustrate the running of the Roxburgh dairy farm by John S Douglas and his sons, an operation which supplied Ballarat with much of its milk at the turn of the century, and which was described in 1906 as 'one of the best known and best appointed [dairy] in the whole of Victoria'. The survival of the c1850s cottage and the c1870s farmhouse illustrate the rapid increase in prosperity of the property from its establishment in 1856. Of further historical significance is the ability of the complex to show changes in style, materials and building techniques over the period 1850-1930. (Criteria A).

Aesthetically, as a representative example of a large mid-Victorian farmhouse, in a setting of mature trees delineating residential and farmyard and farm buildings. (Criterion D)

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    • Physical Description 1

      ROXBURGH DAIRY FARM (FORMER) - Physical Description 1

      The former Roxburgh Farm at 624 Glenelg Highway, Smythes Creek, comprises two 19th-century houses and collection of farm outbuildings, surrounded by mature trees and a small orchard. The house is sited at the front of the property, behind a hedge. In front of it are two mature Canary Island Palms which probably date to the interwar period. On the east side of the house is a line of mature fruit trees.

      The main farmhouse is a blockfronted Victorian house, most likely of timber. It has an M-hipped roof which retains early short-sheet corrugated iron. A corbelled brick chimney has been overpainted. The house has a return verandah with a skillion roof. The verandah frieze appears to be enclosed within a timber frame - a detail that was most popular in the 1870s.

      Comparison of a current aerial photo (Google Maps, accessed 18/01/12) and a 1906 photo (Evening Echo, 16 Dec 1906:6), it appears that the c1850s cottage survives at the rear of this house, and has been linked to it.

      Behind the house a group of weatherboard outbuildings is visible. One of them is the long Cow Shed, also seen in a 1906 photo.

      The entire homestead area is surrounded by mature Monterey Cypress trees, which were popular for windbreaks in the first decades of the 20th century. The site of the since-demolished farmhouse, to the east side of the entrance drive, is delineated by an L-shaped line of cypresses.

      Heritage Study and Grading

      Heritage Study and Grading

      Ballarat - Sebastopol Heritage Study (Stage 2)

      Author: Context Pty Ltd
      Year: 2015
      Grading: Local

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