Murchison Median PriceThe House price is 21% lower than last year.
Surrounding suburbsMurchison Median RentThe House rent is 3% higher than last year.
| | Map | Street view | Nearby property price | | Planning History: | | | Registered as Victorian heritage | Last updated on - June 29, 2005
What is significant?
Dhurringile, consisting of a two-storeyed brick residenceand gatehouse, brick stables and timber shearing shed, was constructed by James Winter in 1876-77. John [Jock] Winter, the son of a blacksmith, arrived in Australia with his family from Scotland in 1841 and settled near Ballarat. The discovery of gold on their property transformed the life of the family and provided the basis for sizeable investment in large pastoral areas throughout northern Victoria. Three of the four Winter sons who had taken up large areas of land in the Goulburn Valley each constructed a substantial home on their land, the grandest of them being Noorilim [VHR H0297], built by William Winter (later Winter-Irving) in 1878-79 and Dhurringhile.
After the great Goulburn flood of 1870 had washed away his original wooden homestead, James Winter selected a site away from the river for the construction of a huge new towered brick mansion which he named Dhurringile. The mansion was designed by Lloyd Tayler and Wyatt, one of Melbourne's most prominent architectural firms. The style of Dhurringile suggests that it was probably designed by Frederick Wyatt as Lloyd Tayler, the more well known of the two, was absent from his practice from January 1875 to May 1877 on an extended visit to England. The homestead also had extensive stabling, a shearing shed, and other outbuildings, and a manager's residence and stabling some distance from the house which may predate the mansion as James Winter had taken up residence there by 1875.The shearing shed was reputed to be one of the largest in Victoria. Although often absent from his country property, James Winter was active in local community affairs and through his interest in agricultural innovation, markedly increased the stock carrying capacity of his property. He bred prize-winning sheep, was a founding member of the Northeastern Pastoral and Agricultural Society and served as councillor and later President of the Shire of Waranga in 1873. James Winter died in 1885 but Dhurringile stayed in the ownership of the Winter family until 1907.
Dhurringile passed through a number of hands before being purchased in December 1925 by Vincent Vernon Hart. It appears that Dhurringile had been vacant for many years and remained unoccupied while in Hart's ownership. In 1939, the Commonwealth government negotiated with Hart to rent the property for use as an internment camp for German and Italian aliens. Internees were held at Dhurringile until transferred to other camps early in 1940 and by March 1940, the Department of the Interior had vacated the property. in 1941, Dhurringile was taken up by the army for use as a Prisoner of War Camp for Germans captured in the Middle East. The Murchison camp consisted of five compounds including the Dhurringile homestead which was intended for German officers who were to be given |
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