Gairloch, Kallista: When was Gairloch Built?

Gairloch Owners and modifications

1890's - 1928 Gairloch is located on the northern part of one of the oldest properties selected by George Gilmore who was head gardener at Coles Nursery in Belgrave. He set up his own nursery and orchard business on his selection located northwest of Monbulk Road and Clematis Avenue (now known as Sherbrooke Road) and an access track traversed across the hill-slope below what is now the Gairloch garden and linked to what is now known as Rivington Avenue.

1928 - 1973 Miss Elizabeth (Bessie) Campbell, spinster daughter of a Toorak family with business in steel. Gairloch was believed to be originally built as a family weekender. Miss Campbell employed a gardener, Mr Shepherd who used to live with his wife in a single room under the north east corner of the house (with its own fireplace) and later they built their own cottage in a section of land gifted to them by Miss Campbell in 1961. (The Shepherds were still living at 4 Rivington Avenue when we took up residence in 1983).

1974-1981 Peter Stevens. Architectural plans dated 1977 detail the renovations made by the Stevens including a stairwell, creation of the large room downstairs, sauna and shower area and new laundry, and upstairs a new kitchen and corrugated tin roof. Mr Shepherd continued to look after the garden for Stevens for 2 days a week.

1982 Mr Sutherland lived in the house with two lady friends and frequently visited a friend in an Olinda nursery. He tried to sell Gairloch at auction in 1982 but it was passed in and then, when he won Tattslotto, he willingly sold for a lower price.

1982- 1st September to present. George and Zina Carman took up residence with their 3 children Derek, Gemma and Nicholas. Modifications made over the years have been (in 1984) the merging of 2 public rooms and french doors onto the east veranda, (in 1987) creation of 3 bedrooms downstairs by remodeling walls and bringing in an under-the-house shed, laid slate in kitchen floor and painted house (in 1988), installed second septic tank downstairs and connected to mains gas line (1993), took down crumbling kitchen chimney (in 2003), modernised the kitchen and bathroom fittings, relocated and installed in the lounge an ornate wood fireplace surround from Armadale (in 2004), created a blokes shed under the north veranda (in 2006), developed part in-ground concrete water tank into a studio/office (Geodirect's office = The Think Tank in 2006) and installed new rainwater tanks behind garage and Think Tank.

Some Events around Gairloch

1939 Bushfires threaten Kallista .

1944 Miss Campbell held a Garden Fete at Gairloch and raised Pds 150 for the Red Cross and Prisoner of War (quoted from A Village in the Forest 1893-1993; The Story of Kallista p 87)

1962 Many of the ridges of the Dandenong Ranges burned under bushfires but they never passed the Beagleys Bridge area and never entered Kallista.

1983 Ash Wednesday (16th February) bushfires started in South Belgrave were initially driven south (away from Kallista) by hot northerly winds but when a cool change came in from the SW in the evening smoke and glowing ash blew over the garden and across the Gairloch verandas. Gairloch housed evacuees from Selby for the night.

1985? Snow fell on Gairloch

1986-1989 Zina Carman owned and managed the popular Deli in the Kallista Main Street

1987-1989 George Carman was a Sherbrooke Shire Councilor.

1987 A street bi-centennial party was held on Owen Street outside Gairloch.

1993-2001 George & Zina moved overseas to work and live in Kuwait, India and Pakistan. Friends of Friends rented the house. In 2001 when the New York Towers were attacked by terrorists life became untenable for Zina in Pakistan (because of global east v west sentiments) and she returned to Australia. George completed his contracts and they took up residence again in 2004.

2006 George joined the Kallista Rural Fire Brigade/ CFA

2008 ?? Snow falls on Gairloch

2009 Black Saturday (7th February) Bushfires fill the Kallista valley with smoke first from the Kinglake area to the north and then from the Bunyip area to the east. Kallista CFA members attended a smaller fire in Peters Lane Belgrave on Sunday 15th February and a fire started on Birds Land, Upwey saw Kallista CFA again in action on 23rd February 2009.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

When was Gairloch Built?

Victorian Lands Title Volume 05416 Folio 165 shows that Bessie Campbell took title to land that stretched between Owen Street and Rivington Avenue on 16th April 1928. The land title only shows when mortgages were taken out with banks and all Shire records were lost in an office fire; there is no actual record found as yet to say when the house was built.

The picture above shows the land titles circa 1890's. The present day Gairloch garden is shown by the red line. Owen Street did not exist then but a track ran north more or less aligned with what is now Rivington Avenue and Wembley Avenue west of Beagley's Bridge

Kallista village is located in a saddle at the intersection of the Belgrave - Monbulk route (south north) and the Sherbrooke - Emerald route (west east). The community was originally known as South Sassafras but after a local competition, changed name to Kallista on 1st April 1925, being derived from the Greek word Kallistos meaning beautiful place.

The first selector to settle in the Kallista area was George Gilmour in 1893. A careful overlay of the 1890's Land Titles map illustrated on page 7 of the Kallista RFB / CFA book shows "Gairloch" is located on the northern parcel owned by Mr Gilmour on which he had owned an orchard business. An access track starting near the present Kallista roundabout traversed across the Gilmore property towards what is now Rivington Avenue.

Early photographs show the Kallista saddle as cleared land with large tree stumps but with few visible houses in 1907 (Reid et al 1993, page 27) in 1913 (Coulson, 1959, facing page 112) and 1915 (Coulson 1959, facing page 337 see below).

(Click on photo to view full montage) The above picture is a view east over the Monbulk road. The right half of the above picture was published by Helen Coulson (1959) and identifies the Kallista Mechanics Hall (at right) in 1915. I have stitched the left photograph from the Victoria State Library Rose Collection which can be easily made to fit by the shape of the large open paddock with one solitary tree/post near its northern boundary. Two or three buildings are discernible on the west side (closest) being probably the General Store and Arcadia Tea Rooms along the roadside.

(Click on photo to view full montage)

Photographs P1222 and P437 from the Rose Collection show the a similar view east across the developing Kallista village. Numerous trees in the paddocks are some 10-15 metres high and more than 15 houses are present in the east side of the Monbulk Road. In the foreground at left is a large house roof with one chimney. A small shed is present at the south side. A garden gate entrance is located on an upper road along which are planted 6 'conical' fir trees and a lower fence suggests a driveway leading down to the house. This house is Gairloch on Owen Street and the photo montage suggests the date could be around 1920-1930 ( ie allowing 5-15 years for the trees to grow since the 1915 photograph. The Japanese Cedar are now huge and wondrously twisted).

Based on the photograph and the Land Title it is estimated that Gairloch was built around 1929.

The photograph (above) is a view overlooking the Monbulk Road towards the west. Gilmore's orchard is seen at lower left with what looks like a tracked entrance to his property. The house "Burrowye" (3 Owen St) sit above its circular garden design is believed to be Gilmores house. Arcadia Tea Rooms ( 97 Monbulk Road) is visible at lower right and behind it a large empty paddock in which "Gairloch", 10 Owen Street is now located. A post on the south side of the General Store and a row of posts with wire alongside Sherbrooke Forest suggest a telephone line was in use.

Gairloch and Loch Gairloch are located in NorthWest Scotland ( north of the Isle of Skye) perhaps reflecting the ancestory of Miss Campbells family. (In the Dandenongs there is another house named Gairloch on the Monbulk-Olinda Road)