variations of recent sketches

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One sketch is of canola fields near Bacchus Marsh made by memory because sometimes you just can't stop the car on a road, and the other of a building in a conference/camp site near Kyneton. The colours and textures vary by using gimp.

when you retire

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Peceli and I were talking about how to best use our free time, not that there is much, what with committee meetings, church functions, family happenings, so I looked up google and came up with one site that made sense.

Except that the last one - going to a TAFE  is problematic with the current Australian government cutting millions off the funding for Tertiary and Further Education courses which means some art courses will go, many women's kind of courses will go.I went to the Gordon over ten years of part-time study including Professional Writing and Editing. A great experience.  TAFE includes school-leavers, second chance students and even older people wanting a kind of creative side to their life.  It's really bad that TAFE is being targetted to save money as institutions such as the Gordon in Geelong which are marvellous places for opportunities to study cheaply.

"You cannot rest from travel- you have drunk life to the lees. All times you have enjoyed greatly, suffered greatly, both with those who loved you, and alone... How dull it is to pause, to make an end, to rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!"  - excerpt from the poem Ulysses by Lord Alfred Tennyson.

Write it down! . this will be "100 things to do after I retire" list. Many times we forget to record our desires, and so end up forgetting them. 

Pursue your passions: Paint sunsets, sculpt , sing, learn Tai Chi, study environmental law, buy a telescope and explore the skies.Read books on your interests, explore hitherto unexplored genres like Science Fiction or Romantic. Read on different topics like Gardening or Politics..

Travel to those oft-desired places , which you used to dream about. Have you tasted the chocolate of Switzerland, drunk the wine of Burgundy, and undulated at the nature-based health resorts in India? Have you fished at Florida?Experience Nature: Walk leafy paths , watch the moon, feel the wind on your face. Meditate on the sun-soaked grass.6If you follow a religion: Devote your time to it, proselytize others and spread your religion.Have fun with you little ones: Your grandchildren will be your afterlife to you after retirement- you'll live through them. It is worth taking out some of your valuable time for playing with them, watching them grow, helping them learn. Take proper health care: Some of your time may be spent at the cardiologist or the podiatrist, depending on how healthy you are. Look after yourself. Join special groups meant for your age group: You'll find many people there passing through similar experiences. If you have problems they will provide you with support, and guidance. Subscribe to a magazine for the elderly: Such magazine exist and are targeted at you. Take advantage of them. Clear up the slate: It is best to resolve any misunderstandings, or resentments that might exist in others. You don't want to die being misunderstood.1Write an autobiography: With your long years of experience, you will surely have a lot to share which will be immensely helpful to others. Even if you feel you have nothing to share, just start writing one, and you'll be surprised at how freely the words will flow. Go to a TAFE. TAFE Certs II to IV & Diplomas. Enrolment available all year round.

www.seeklearning.com.au/OTEN

East Geelong Uniting an Australian church in Geelong

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Currently updating information regarding our family church in Geelong, here is the new website which is being constructed at present so there is more information and photos to add. Some Fijian migrant families have been connected with this church for over thrity years and currently the minister is a Tongan, Rev Ikani Vaitohi. Our church is called the East Geelong Uniting Church.
http://www.eastgeelongunitingchurch.org.au/

House on the hill

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Yesterday Peceli and I drove to Kyneton - two hours away - to inspect the Campaspe Downs camp/conference site as a possibility for a national conference coming up in 2014.  It is a splendid site, the facilities tidy and excellent for adults and youth alike. We drove via Bacchus Marsh and Gisborne. The day was sunny and perfect for enjoying the varying landscape - the wattles in bloom, the growth of forests after bushfires, the glowing golden canola fields, the escarpments and forested hills.  Here is one photo I took on the way back and I wonder how people can live on top of a hill like this. The view is magnificient of course but at times it surely must get windy!

Apt quotes for the news this week

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It's a sad world when good manners is not the norm and an offensive video has sparked off so much discontent in the world. Surely good manners means not offending people with material that ridicules some things they hold to be true such as their religious faith. I wonder what would trigger a huge response in Australia? Perhaps a nasty video ridiculing 'our' soldiers who died recently in Afghanistan. I don't think making fun of the Christian religion here would trigger huge anger - disappointment perhaps. The discussion on talkback radio today was about the reactions and trouble is people get so heated up and ierational on every which way but loose.

Home sweet home

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I've been thinking of houses/homes a bit as we do visit families for a variety of reasons, church, bereavement, relatives, so I've put some pictures together. One is of my parent's home in Swan Hill when I visited, one is of 'our' current home which is on the internet with an estimated value of between $288,000 and $300,000 put on it. What a cheek to do that! A townhouse in South Yarra where we were last week. A house like that of some church friends in Wyndam Vale - these styles rather minimalist and without colour, terraces in style of 1880s, a near neighbour's house after a gale, a gentrified older house, an old boom style cottage. For everyone I guess a building can be 'home' but I really only can stand a large block with a garden and not a unit or townhouse shoulder to shoulder with a neighbour..

The salt pan site

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I don't see the dream of putting houses, a shopping complex, a golf course etc. on the land where the salt pans are locasted as being viable. We live close-by and even our block is barely above sea-level.

Residential plan for saltworks site

Peter Begg   |  September 17th, 2012

From this

To this

CITY Hall has announced plans for a multi-million dollar residential development at the disused saltworks site at Moolap.

Described as a Sanctuary Lakes canal-style development, the site itself stretches for 3.5km east to west and would amount to a substantial-sized suburb.

Apart from the land parallel to Portarlington Rd, the site includes a large portion of Point Henry.

And, like Sanctuary Lakes, it could attract its own shopping centre and even feature a golf course.

Mayor John Mitchell said it was too early to say what the development might feature, with developers locked in talks with the State Government about the availability of Crown land that forms part of the site.

"There has been a fair amount of work done over a 12-month period," Cr Mitchell said. "They have been coming into the office here and spoke to (City of Greater Geelong CEO) Steve Griffin and myself, and now they are talking to the State Government.

Your Say

"I'm not Rob's mate, but even blind Freddy can see that it MUST be flood prone.I hope the Geelong City Council accept the liablity for the proposal to proceed. It's obvious it will end up as part of corio bay."
kiddingright

"Some of the land is privately owned, but some of it is Crown land owned by the State Government, so there are a number of discussions around that.

"They have put up a preliminary proposal to us and it's certainly an exciting proposal that they have put, but there is a lot of water to go under the bridge yet - there are lot of issues to be ironed out.

"I don't know how far they are with the State Government, but they are negotiating their way through that."

Cr Mitchell said that when developers approached the council they were looking at the saltworks on the other side of the bay near Avalon.

"But now the saltworks site on this side of the bay has come to prominence and there has been a lot of work done by officers and the like to get it where it is at the moment," Cr Mitchell said.

"Obviously, the people from Cheetham Salt came to see us - they are in charge of the land."

Nobody at Ridley Corporation, which is Cheetham Salt's parent company, was available when contacted by the Geelong Advertiser late last week.

Cr Mitchell said that being a wetland, there would be exhaustive environmental effects studies carried out before any work started on the site.

Geelong field naturalist Trevor Pescott said yesterday he would be disappointed if the saltworks site was developed.

"It's too important as a habitat for a whole range of birds, and I would like to see it set aside as a wildlife reserve and managed as one," he said. "The Cheetham wetland at Altona is managed as a wetland."

Mr Pescott said he had been to the Moolap site quite a few times, and while there were no orange-bellied parrots in the area, there were a number of international migrating birds.

These included sandpipers, stints and curlews that would be arriving in about a month.

Mr Pescott said little terns had been known to nest in the area, which was unusual for this part of Victoria.

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→Your Say

kiddingright Posted at 2:59pm Monday

I'm not Rob's mate, but even blind Freddy can see that it MUST be flood prone.I hope the Geelong City Council accept the liablity for the proposal to proceed. It's obvious it will end up as part of corio bay.

youhavegottobekidding Posted at 2:56pm Monday

*glug glug8 what was that? That was the sound of a submerging ratepayer trying to argue that the council said that there was no flood risk.*glug*

At Beckley Park

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On Saturdays Beckley Park in Corio becomes a huge market-place, not much in the way of vegetables and food, but lots of stalls of good things and certainly plenty of 'junk'. One table had interesting craft work of metal cut-outs so I took some photos. Another stall of Asian sculptures I wanted to photograph, but the man there waves his arms and shouted out, No,no, so I wondered if there was something odd going on. I didn't buy any stuff except Turkish bread, cheese and kabana. It's more just a look around for us.

A good wicket Charlie

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One of our senior gentlemen in our East Geelong Uniting church, actually the oldest, is Charlie, a man with a smile and a chat during morning tea.  Congratulations on reaching 100 years next week. Elderly people often have great stories to tell of incidents and attitudes. And here is what Margaret Linley wrote about him in today's Geelong Advertiser.

Charlie still has drive as he approaches 100

Margaret Linley   |  September 13th, 2012

CHARLIE Chaffey is one week shy of his 100th birthday and driving every day. The Newcomb man, who lives alone but has a "special lady friend", has plenty of advice to give.

Charlie ChaffeyCHARLIE Chaffey is one week shy of his 100th birthday and driving every day.The Newcomb man, who lives alone but has a "special lady friend", has plenty of advice to give.

"Don't buy second-hand; you're only buying trouble," is one pearler.

And the best road trip he's had in all these years?

"Down the coast to Lorne."

His favourite car, when he's "just about had them all", is his current one, a mid-'90s Ford Laser.

And he's pretty clear on "don't give into the chair". He's referring to the nursing home chair plonked in front of daytime television.

Fat chance of that.

Mr Chaffey is way too busy to sit around. And he expects to be busy for a few more years to come.

"I think I've got another five years for sure," he said.

And his lady friend, Joyce Nash, 85, is similarly optimistic about her own longevity.

Her father, after all, had lived to 105. What got him in the end was the gangrene.

"It was the dry gangrene," Mrs Nash said. "He got it in his foot because a horse had stood on him when he was young."

Mr Chaffey was one of 12 children born into a farming family on Tasmania's northwest coast.

"They had to populate the country back then," he said. There's only he and "baby" Jean still going. He remembers his older brothers, Basil and Claude, coming home from Gallipoli. His dad drove the horse-drawn cart into Hobart, the seats filled with excited family members while Charlie, then 7, sat on the floor.

"They brought the injured ones off the ship first," he said. "One of my brothers came off on a bed and one walked off."

Mr Chaffey remembers getting his licence. He was, he said, "a little bit under the age" but he had a lady friend whose husband was in charge of giving out the licences. He said he didn't have to do anything to become licensed; "they just gave me one" although his "age jumped a bit in the car" on the way to collect it. It was that easy again when, a bit over a decade ago, he was called in to renew his licence.

"He asked me how long I had been driving and I told him and he said, "all right", and signed the form and I got my licence back," Mr Chaffey said.

He's a cheerful kind of chap with an easy kind of laugh and a devilish grin. "You can call me anything but just don't call me late for dinner," he quipped.

And dinner? Well, he cooks his own. Last night it was chops and vegies.

So what is life like for a bloke one week shy of his 100th birthday, a bloke who lives by himself?

Each morning he rises early and gets the day under way in much the same way. "I have my breakfast, I might run the mower over my joint and then I'll slip over to Jean." Then it's a cup of coffee on Mrs Nash's veranda, especially if the sun is shining, and he'll watch the kids arriving at the nearby school. After Mrs Nash has taken care of her chores, the pair might go out somewhere, "anywhere and everywhere, I go where she wants to go".

Sometimes they'll mow her lawn, sharing mower time. While one mows the other takes a breather on Mrs Nash's walker until it's time to swap again. He's grateful to his friend for taking care of his mail. "Some of the letters I get I wouldn't have a clue about but I bring them to Jean and she sorts them out."

Mr Chaffey reckons he only had a couple of years at school, walking about "six or seven miles" each way there from the family farm in Sandfly in Tasmania. He remembers making his teacher faint one day when he came in from playing outside with his nose all mangled from a playground accident. Made his brother faint one time as well.

The pair of them were young men working at the Burnie paper mills. He was a shift foreman when his arm was caught in a machine, burned and mangled, the pain intense, the wound ugly. Someone bandaged it and the brothers walked home.

"Halfway up the hill he said, 'let's see your arm', and he had a look and was on the ground," Mr Chaffey said. "So I had a good look at it and then I'm on the ground." And the medical treatment for a burned and mangled arm? "The lady we were boarding with fixed it up," he said.

Mr Chaffey has enjoyed good health; one trip to hospital in almost 100 years, for appendicitis.

His secret to a long and healthy life? Well there's country air, his dad's berries and fruit from the orchard. And the right attitude. "Take life as it comes," he says. "Have a smile for everyone and you'll get by. What's the use of walking around with a long face? Life's a bowl of cherries."

Side by side

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Izzie and Ozzie have an outdoor playpen for a few hours each day - when it's sunny, but here they like to shelter under the make-do house.  Like that very old song - their life is 'side by side'.

Oh, we ain't got a barrel of money,
Maybe we're ragged and funny,
But we'll travel along, singin' a song, side by side.

Don't know what's comin' tomorrow;
Maybe it's trouble and sorrow,
But we'll travel our road sharin' our load side by side.

(Bridge:)
Through all kinds of weather, what if the sky should fall?
As long as we're together, it really doesn't matter at all.

When they've all had their troubles and parted,
We'll be the same as we started,
Just trav'lin' along, singin' a song, side by side.

sketch of animals

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I've yet to do drawings of our household pets - a black rabbit and a white guinea pig, but I once did this  picture of two quite different creatures that live in Fiji - an iguana and a mongoose, the latter not native to the place but brought in from Asia one time to rid the cane-fields of snakes.  Some people have made pets of mongoose but not our family. And about the iguana,  a special one is native to a small island off Vanua Levu but there's a great hoo-ha about large iguanas that came into Qamea Island in recent years somehow from America they say, and have become a real nuisance in Taveuni and other places. Some iguanas in Fiji are blue, others green.

Tree in Botanical Gardens

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Thee is or was a tree, a kind of giant fig, in the Geelong Botanical Gardens, that I made a drawing of some time ago. I've been back there several times but cannot find it again, so what's happened?

Fair go - and who gave permission?

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Hard to believe that this is allowed - a huge ship to take fish from our southern ocean in this manner. I am certainly a greenie (most of the time) and reckon it's not right at all. A quota of 18,000 ton.  Okay to fish for local human needs but not this. Already trawlers are wrecking the sea life in the South Pacifc such as the Fiji region and local fishermen can see the difference in the quantity. Some people say the Asian trawlers sneak in quite close to the shores and collect large amounts of fish just for bait!
From the ABC news this afternoon:

Super trawler flags immediate start to fishing

Updated 1 hour 16 minutes ago

PHOTO: The FV Margiris could be renamed the Abel Tasman. (FleetMon.com)

The company bringing a controversial trawler to Tasmania has defended the vessel's proposed new name and revealed it may change its travel plans.

The 142-metre FV Margiris is docked at Port Lincoln in South Australia where it is waiting to be approved as an Australian ship.

Seafish Tasmania has previously said the vessel would base itself in Devonport before fishing its 18,000 tonne quota.

But a company spokesman says the trawler may now go straight out and start fishing in Commonwealth waters without first docking in Devonport.

The Margiris has been criticised by Greenpeace and recreational fishers, who are worried the ship will deplete fish stocks in Commonwealth waters and will catch a large number of other species.

The company says the net will have underwater cameras attached, so the Australian Fisheries Management Authority can monitor by-catch.

However, the factory trawler cannot catch Seafish Tasmania's quota until it has been reflagged.

Destructive or sustainable?

The magnitude of the Margiris operation has sparked fears it will decimate fish stocks.

But Australia's fishing regulator says the trawler's quota is based on sound science.

So will the super trawler devastate a region, or will its catch be a drop in the ocean?

ABC News Online takes a look at both sides of the debate here.

Seafish has applied to have the trawler reflagged and renamed the Abel Tasman and hopes to be granted approval by authorities tomorrow.

The bid to rename the vessel angered independent Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie.

"To now use that man's name which has such an important historical significance in this state, it's almost a final insult," he said.

Seafish director Gerry Geen defended the decision.

"We're in a partnership with a Dutch company so we think it's an appropriate name," he said.

It is common for ships to be renamed when they are registered in new countries.

According to shipping databases, the Margiris has previously been called the Annelies Ilena, the Atlantic Star and the Siberian Enterprise.

Seafish Tasmania has also defended moves to bring a European expert to Australia to examine the super trawler.

Mr Geen says the expert will look at the device preventing bycatch, but says the move does not suggest there's a problem with the nets.

"No, absolutely not. This is us just being double safe," he said.

"We take the issue of marine mammal interactions very, very seriously and we want to make sure that we do our very utmost to ensure that those interactions don't occur."

Seafish Tasmania expects other species will make up 1 per cent of the factory trawler's catch.

------------
and later on 11th September - some better news!

Laws change to prevent super trawler fishing

Environment Minister Tony Burke and Fisheries Minister Joe Ludwig will consider imposing stricter conditions on boats that use ''new fishing methods'' to vastly increase their catch.

THE controversial FV Abel Tasman super trawler faces a two-year ban on fishing in Australian waters under planned changes to environmental law that have been hailed by recreational fishermen but will cost dozens of jobs.

Environment Minister Tony Burke said yesterday that more scientific work needed to be done to deal with concerns about the effect of the 142-metre trawler - formerly known as the FV Margiris - on dolphins, seals and seabirds.

Green groups and recreational fishermen welcomed the news. But the ship's local operator, Seafish Tasmania, said it would have to lay off 50 local workers.

The firm did not rule out legal action and said it had made no contingency plans for the ship, which is docked at Port Lincoln in South Australia.

Fisheries Minister Joe Ludwig said the federal government would also carry out a ''root and branch review'' of fisheries management law in response to concerns about the 18,000-tonne fish quota given by fisheries authorities to Seafish Tasmania for the trawler.

Mr Burke said his concerns centred on the fact that, unlike smaller fishing boats, such a large factory ship with onboard processing and freezing facilities could fish for prolonged periods in the same area.

This raised the danger of creating a ''localised major bycatch issue'' - in which an unacceptable number of protected species such as dolphins could be caught by accident in the net in a single area of the ocean.

''When you have a vessel with a large freezer capacity, that therefore is able to remain for extended periods of time in the same part of our oceans, there are a different set of environmental considerations and that's the difference,'' he said.

However, the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, which had previously approved the quota, told The Age just last month that ''there is no evidence to suggest that larger boats pose any greater risk to either the target species or the ecosystem''.

In fact, the authority said that large boats with freezing capacity such as the Abel Tasman were less likely to cause localised depletion of fish stocks because they could range further from onshore processing facilities.

Gerry Geen, director of Seafish Tasmania, did not rule out legal action. But he added: ''We haven't got that far yet.''

He could not say what would happen to the ship in the immediate future.

''We didn't have any contingency plans because we thought we were going to be fishing legally in Australian waters,'' he said.

Mark Nikolai, of the Tasmanian Association for Recreational Fishing, said the ministers had ''done exactly what the recreational fishing sector has asked to be done''.

John Burgess, vice-president of the Australian National Sport Fishing Association said: ''On behalf of all the recreational groups we represent, both those ministers have our eternal thanks for showing the gumption to respond to this the way they did.''

Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/national/twoyear-ban-likely-for-trawler-20120911-25qo9.html#ixzz26Ag2a466

Corio Villa for sale

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We've walked or driven past this beautiful old house, like a Wedding Cake it is, down overlooking Eastern Beach, not far from where we used to live at Shenton.  It's for sale and what a delight it is.  One photo here is from a photographer who posts through Red Bubble, the others more ordinary.  Notes here from the Red Bubble site. The villa is for sale by tender and there's no general open day for a sticky-beak but by appointment.

A single-storey prefabricated iron house designed by Bell & Miller, architects and engineers, manufactured in Edinburgh, Scotland by Charles D. Young & Co. and assembled in Australia by Alfred Douglass in 1856. 

Soon after its production and shipping to Geelong the factory and all the moulds were destroyed by fire, thus ensuring ‘Corio Villa’s’ uniqueness
in Australia.

The crates arrived at the Cunningham pier, Geelong in 1855 with apparently no indication of a name of the consignee. Later it was discovered that William Nairn Gray, Commissioner of Crown Lands, Portland district had originally ordered the house, but had died before the crates arrived unclaimed.
----------
from an article in a Geelong magazine:

Corio Villa

THERE HAVE been mixed fortunes for the few owners of this beautiful house, which is situated at Eastern Beach on Geelong’s waterfront. The present owners, Glenn and Rosslyn McAllister, kindly related the history to me as we wandered around their stunning, pre-fabricated, cast iron home, which has been in their family since 1945.

WORDS: DALE WHITFORD
PHOTOS: TOMMY RITCHIE

Charles D. Young and Co. manufactured the home in Edinburgh, Scotland true to the design of Bell and Miller architects and engineers. After being shipped to Geelong in 1855, with no details of the recipient or sender, it lay on the dock in boxes for six months. More difficulties arose when the manufacturer’s plant burnt down not long after shipping and all records and casts were lost. This fact ensured Corio Villa’s future as the most historically fascinating cast iron dwelling in Australia.

It was later learned that the name of the consignee was William Nairn Gray, Commissioner of Crown Lands, but he had died before the crates arrived.

It was sold to Mr Alfred Douglas for a small sum as it was cluttering the wharf. He went on to have the house constructed despite the absence of plans and directions. It was dragged up the hill to its present location where it presides over the now thriving waterfront precinct, which has changed a lot since those days. Douglas was a successful
businessman, owning a wool washing business and went on to own the Geelong Advertiser amongst other things.

In the mid 1800’s Geelong was a flourishing township rivalling Melbourne for the mantel of the colony’s major town. As well as a good rail system, which handled the wheat and pastoral industries of the Western District, it was also on a major route to the Victorian goldfields.

In the mid 1800’s Geelong was a flourishing township rivalling Melbourne for the mantel of the colony’s major town. As well as having a good rail system, which handled the wheat and pastoral industries of the Western District, it was also on a major route to the Victorian goldfields. The Eastern Beach area was a popular watering hole where
people came for bathing and other recreational pursuits. Many were drawn to the unspoilt beauty of Corio Bay and later visitors could enjoy mineral springs and the nearby Botanic Gardens, which are still there.

There was a shortage of building materials in the colonies and labour costs were inflated because of the gold rush whilst in Scotland, the prevailing conditions favoured heavy engineering that could produce this type of pre fab home. The walls are made of half-inch boilerplate in sheets three-by-three feet sheets, which were bolted together to form walls. The veranda posts and porch supports
were cast in ornate and delicate filigree patterns, and the internal lining is mainly lathe and plaster with some pressed metal and papier-mâché features thrown in for good measure.

Internally it is what you would expect. Beautiful period features abound, and the room sizes are generous. The décor is true to the period and sympathetically modern where appropriate. It is elegant inside and out.

There are a number of cast iron, prefabricated buildings about from this period however most are utilitarian structures such as warehouses or shops. The only other ornate cast iron home in existence is Tintern located in Toorak.

After Alfred and Elizabeth Douglas lost a number of children in infancy, Henry was born and took ownership of Corio Villa on his father’s death in 1885. He became a lawyer after being educated at Geelong Grammar and upon his death in 1927, his son, George took guardianship of the Villa. He died as a result of wounds incurred in World War I which saw one of his sister’s live at Corio Villa until 1938 when it sold to Doctor and Mrs Ross, hailing from Ballarat.

Meanwhile, Mr and Mrs McAllister migrated and settled in Geelong in the early 1900’s. After running a general store Mrs McAllister went on to operate the Eastern Beach Kiosk, which is still operating today. When Corio Villa became available in 1945 they purchased
it and perhaps unknowingly, set up another family dynasty. In 1962 Murray McAllister, Glenn’s father, purchased the villa from his mother’s estate and set about making the restoration of Corio Villa his life’s work whilst also being a successful business owner.

Glenn and Rosslyn remember Murray’s dedication and his perfectionist attitude to the restoration, which has surely rubbed off on them. When the conservatory floor was subsiding and the tessellated tile floor needed work, Murray removed each tile individually then re-laid it in its original position after the floor had been repaired.
He passed away before seeing the total restoration despite over 40 years of passionate work. Under Glenn and Rosslyn’s ownership the legacy continues through the vision they continue to pursue.

They have just completed repainting the outside of the Villa, which was no small task. The entire building had to undergo abrasive blasting before being painted, similar to the process of painting a ship. It is nearly complete, “about 98%” Glenn and Rosslyn said and it looks stunning. They say they have loved the journey.
The house was extended in the late 1800’s and the timber structure seems to seamlessly blend into the original iron cottage style described in historical notes as an Italian Villa. Walking around the lovely acre of gardens one experiences beautiful examples of oak, elm, jacaranda and walnut trees sitting amongst evergreen hedges and mass plantings of hellebores, catnip and rosemary. In spring and summer the added sights and smells of lavender, iris, roses and hydrangeas make for a heady mix.

The history of the place is alive. The Douglas family crest is in place just as it was when it was built, complete with the motto “Do or Die” and so are the lion head keystones that adorn the verandas securing the intricate fretwork together. The ornate urns are still in place and thankfully have avoided the ravages of time or human. As an expert wrote; “Nothing can exceed the beauty of the examples; they are quite equal to the great originals, in proportion, execution, sharpness and beauty of outline. The figures
stand in bold relief, and as specimens of iron casting they are unequalled in the world.”

It is no surprise that Corio Villa is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. Dr Robertson, in the National Trust publication Historic Houses of Australia wrote “It is generally agreed that this building falls into the first category of important buildings in this state and has been indicated by many people to be of world importance.”

We should be grateful that three families over the past 167 years have had the vision to build it, retain it and restore it. Such a special building could easily have gone missing over time as values change and fashions come and go.

The McAllisters have occasionally allowed wedding services to be held there during spring and summer months using the glorious gardens and the exterior of the home as a backdrop for those all-important wedding snaps.
Despite its grandeur it is Glenn and Rosslyn’s home first and foremost. They are very private people who enjoy their good fortune in coming to live in this lovely setting and they are to be congratulated for completing Murray’s dream of restoration. Their legacy to the community will go on to be cherished for many years to come.

If you would like to make the time to swing by and take a look at this piece of history, it is on the corner of Eastern Beach Road and Fitzroy Street in Eastern Beach, Geelong. Take a stroll along the foreshore and imagine the old days.
“We shape our dwellings, and afterwards our dwellings shape us.”
~Winston S. Churchill