Hawthorn Bank an History

Hi there

Hawthorn Bank is the oldest surviving wattle an daub house in Victoria an one an half kilometres from Alberton , first purchased by Robert Smith of Melbourne from the crown in 1851, he never lived there and sold it to Gilbert Brown in 1853 . In 1878 the property was owned by David Fraser it then sold to Charles Robertson 1896. in 1919 Flora Wilson was the owner . In 1967 the property was purchased by Michael & Robin Bland .

The building was built in the 1850s an they are not sure who built it but that is history of early ownership .the wattle an daub is a mixture of clay,water an sometimes cow dung an cow hair. the construction then was teatree in vertical position an horizontal weaving of small teatree mixed with daub an when finished was allowed to dry, white washed an there was the wall an as you can see has past the test of time , the roof in early times was bark but was later replaced with iron.

This is a Bread oven

The second section was built in 1878 an the front two rooms in 1887 the wattle and Daub was still in use as the kitchen in the 1960s The homestead has a great selection of tree's There is a Morton Bay fig which is around 60 ft,Monkey Puzzle,Blue Spruce,Norfolk island Pine, an there was a avenue of Colonial Pines right to Pound Road