File:Harewood 2013.jpg

English: Harewood

Harewood at Koo Wee Rup was completed in 1868 on a sandy rise on the northern shore of Western Port Bay for pastoralist William Lyall and his wife Annabella to plans drawn up by the Melbourne architect of Italian origin, Alessandro Martelli. It replaced, or incorporated, an earlier dwelling on the property. Born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, Lyall migrated as a child to Van Diemen's Land in 1836 and then to Port Phillip in 1847. He married Annabella Brown, also from Scotland, and became a partner in a leading Melbourne firm of stock agents, Mickle, Bakewell and Lyall. He took up several pastoral runs throughout the colony, including runs on the north shore of Western Port. The young family returned to Britain in 1853-54 and acquired pedigree livestock (including Hereford and Shorthorn cattle, Cotswold and Romney Marsh sheep, Shetland ponies and Thoroughbreds) as well as quality furniture, books and other items that still remain in Harewood House as of 2019. There is consensus amongst heritage architects who have examined Harewood’s buildings and documentation that the stable is likely to have been constructed around 1858, at which time Lyall also made plans to build a house which was eventually completed in 1868. It is unclear whether the main house was also partially completed around 1858 and finished later or whether it was constructed between 1865 and 1868. The Lyall family moved into the house in 1868. Harewood was the centre of social life in the Western Port district in the late nineteenth century and notable guests, including Lord Hopetoun, Governor of Victoria and later the first Australian Governor-General, and his wife, were entertained there. Lyall was a prominent member of the Acclimatisation Society, and introduced here Australia's first hares (which gave the name to the property), as well as partridges, deer, pheasants, shaggy highland cattle and plant species including Scottish Gorse and Camelia reticulum. His interests were wide-ranging, in addition to his pedigree livestock imports he attempted oyster culture in Western Port in 1873; he imported a brick-making machine in 1876 to supply the district with bricks; and he lost money in unsuccessful attempts to drain the Koo Wee Rup swamps, including giving the Lang Lang River its first outlet to Western Port Bay. The Lyall family had a close relationship with the local traditional owners, the Bunurong people, with a diary entry from 1875 noting William Lyall and local Aboriginal man, Jimmie Dunbar, successfully resisting efforts to take Jimmie’s wife Eliza to the Black’s Protection Station. Lyall family descendants lived in the house until the 1968, when it was sold, with contents, to the Balas family who held it until 1991 when it was sold to the Macwhirter family who still own it currently (2019) Harewood at Koo Wee Rup is a large picturesque stuccoed brick house. The front part consists of two separate single storey hipped roofed sections with a separately roofed hall between. The hall originally had a hipped roof and a small porch; by 1890 it had a gable with decorative bargeboards and a larger gabled porch also with a bargeboards. The hall is a feature of the design and was originally covered with glass, which was partly replaced by timber in the 1880s; the hall was originally decorated with large pot plants. The rear of the house consists of a two storeyed L-shaped section, with a small porch over the back door and a two storey timber verandah on the side facing the bay. The roof is of corrugated iron. Why is it significant? Harewood at Tooradin is historically significant because of its links with the early settlement of the district. It was the home of William Lyall, who was important in the early development of the Gippsland region, in the Acclimatisation Society and the introduction of European animals and plants to Victoria, in early agricultural experiments in the colony, and was a pioneer in the reclamation of swamp land. It is also significant as a link with Scottish immigration to Port Phillip, and with the traditional owners, the Bunurong people.

Harewood at Tooradin is architecturally significant as one of the earliest houses in the Western Port district, for its relationship to the surrounding landscape, and for its unusual four block form, which might be due to the influence of its European-born architect, Alessandro Martelli.