Wangaratta Median PriceThe House price is 3% higher than last year.
Surrounding suburbsWangaratta Median RentThe House rent is 3% lower than last year.
| | Map | Street view | Nearby property price | | Planning History: | | | Registered as Victorian heritage | Last updated on - February 24, 2005
What is significant?
Joseph Docker moved his family to the Wangaratta area in 1838, ten years after his arrival in Australia, and took up the Bontharambo run. He developed this property and built two houses before employing the architect, Thomas Watts, to design the existing Bontharambo homestead. This was constructed in 1857-9, after Docker was granted his pre-emptive right in 1855. Much of the surrounding landscape was developed into parkland at this time, and various agricultural industries were developed on the property, particularly from the 1860s. The property remains in the ownership of the Docker family.
The Bontharambo homestead is a picturesque two storey Italianate brick and stone building, asymmetrical in form with dominant square tower, two single storey, rendered brick loggias and slate hipped roof. Granite quoins articulate corners of the building, and paired consoles support the rendered moulded cornice eaves, which themselves conceal box gutters. The arcaded loggias contain segmental arches and Tuscan pilasters applied to supporting piers. The tower contains the entrance porch at ground level, and the third storey contains an open arcade, with balustraded parapet supported on a bracketed cornice. Internally much of the homestead is intact both in plan form and detail, retaining original polished cedar joinery and a variety of nineteenth century fixtures and fittings and contents, including nineteenth century items of furniture.
The picturesque composition of the house is complemented by the surrounding garden, terrace and landscaped park. The approach to the house is along an extensive drive lined with an avenue of Dutch Elms (Ulumus x hollandica), Kurrajongs (Brachychiton populneus) and other species. The park, entered through an ornate brick and cast iron gateway and Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera) hedge, is notable for its mix of exotic specimens and remnant indigenous trees. Plantings include a pair of towering Bunya Bunya Pines (Araucaria bidwillii), White Cypress Pine (Callitris glaucophylla), Cedars, Kurrajongs, Foxglove Tree (Paulownia), two exceptionally large and rare Bottle Trees (Brachychiton rupestris)and an outstanding Holm Oak (Quercus ilex) near the homestead. Near the Chinese gardener's cottage, west of the homestead, is a large Stone Pine (Pinus pinea) and the remnants of an Osage Orange hedge. Two Olive (Olea europaea subsp.europaea) plantations, on the north and east sides of the park, were used for olive oil production and also provide important wind breaks. A citrus grove and White Mulberry (Morus alba) plantings are indicative of Docker?s experimental agricultural pursuits.
The formal garden to the north of the homestead, is laid out in a half circular parterre, now mostly removed and pa |
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