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Nillumbik Farm & gum
50 Challenger Street DIAMOND CREEK, NILLUMBIK SHIRE

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Nillumbik Shire

Nillumbik Farm and gum

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Statement of Significance
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Statement of Significance

REVISED STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE, CONTEXT, 2010

What is significant?
The entire site of Nillumbik farm including the farmhouse, elements of which may date from the 1850s and the surrounding site to the title boundaries.

(see also HO25 for Sugar Gum at entrance to the farm)

How is it significant?
Nillumbik farm is historically and aesthetically significant to the Shire of Nillumbik.

Why is it significant?
Nillumbik farm is historically significant for its association with the early settlement of Port Phillip in the 1830s and the subsequent development of Melbourne and for its resulting connections to early settlers of the district and figures in the development of Melbourne including: Henry Arthur of the Port Phillip Association, Hugh and A. R. Larimour, John Wilson, William Wilson and Martha Wilson who died in 1864 and is buried on the property (Criteria A & H). The farm is historically and aesthetically significant as a very rare surviving example of a farmhouse from the period (1850s), one of the earliest surviving in the district, and for its fine joinery details which are evocative of early construction methods (Criteria B, E & F). It is also rare in retaining its rural setting, with nearby traces of former structures, the line of former roadways and mature trees, all related to the early history of the district (Criteria A & B).

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- Physical Description 1
  
  Nillumbik Farm & gum - Physical Description 1
  
  This is an altered hipped-roof and verandahed face brick (over-painted, slop moulded) farm house set in exotic pasture above the creek flats (or lagoon) well south of Challenger Street. New subdivisons have been made nearby. Aboriginal artifacts have been found in the vicinity and old track formations shown on early plans can still be seen in paddocks. Two big depressions (one with a gum growing out of it) just above one of these old tracks reputedly denote the clay pits used for the bricks. The bricks are laid in English bond, well-burnt.
  
  The interior has some early joinery (fme panel moulds to passage doors) but much of it is late 19th century (architraves) or recent. The verandah has been filled-in on the west and rebuilt in a different roof profile but similar bracket forms, and the .timber floor replaced in concrete; thresholds are basalt. The former detached kitchen site can be seen as a flat area in the rear lawn and only some (if any) planting may have derived from earlier times. At least one well is thought to have been near the house, now filled in.
  
  There is also a large gum to the north of the house, relating visually to the sugar gum planted at the gate. .
  
  Historical Australian Themes
  
  Nillumbik Farm & gum - Historical Australian Themes
  
  Farming
  
  3.5.3 Developing agricultural industries
  
  8.12 Living in and around Australian homes
  8.14 Living in the country and rural settlements
  
  Heritage Study and Grading
  
  Heritage Study and Grading
  
  Nillumbik - Nillumbik Shire Heritage Study
  
  Author: Graeme Butler & Assoc
  Year: 1997
  Grading:
- Show:
- MAROONDAH AQUEDUCT, INCLUDING ALL ASSOCIATED STRUCTURES AND WORKS
  
  Nillumbik Shire
- Ellis Gateway at Nillumbik Cemetery
  
  Nillumbik Shire
- Sugargum, Nillumbik Farm
  
  Nillumbik Shire