One hundred and thirty years ago, Major Charles Newman had been offered a land grant for his services to the Crown. In search of land, he set out from Heidelberg, and went north of the Yarra, hacking his way through dense scrub. Across the river, fertile flats on the bank of a creek, and rich green hills attracted him. At that time the only river crossing was a ford alongside where the Banksia Street bridge now stands.
Photo taken in 2006 by the great grandson of Major Newman, Carl Bradley Newman WEBSTER. It was the home of Major Newman and his family, situated on a hill near the junction of Mullum Mullum Creek and the Yarra River at Templestowe, Victoria. It was the first permanent house in the district and now the oldest building in the Templestowe municipality. Charles Newman built the house based on the Indian bungalow style in the mid 1840's. The house originally consisted of three rooms with a surrounding verandah. In 1875 alterations were made and the house was not materially altered again until the 1950's. heritage listed. visitors are not allowed. pontville_templestowe-03.jpg (900×675) (rootsweb.com) (download Mar2023) See the location on our history map
In the early 1840's Major Newman built his homestead, Pontville, the first permanent house to be built in the Doncaster-Templestowe area. It is still standing in good condition. Built of stone in the homestead style the house is well proportioned, with clean simple lines. A high-hipped roof covering house and verandahs, gives character to the building. At the front a high stone wall forms one side of a courtyard, where in its heyday was an attractive garden. From here, stone steps led down to the creek, winding through a terraced garden. At the rear was another courtyard, enclosed on two sides by a fence of hewn pickets and on the other by the kitchen; this was a later addition, built of timber. A large stone chimney housed an open fireplace and oven.
Youtube drone video taken May 2019 by Sam Tucker
Monkton was demolished in June this year (1968), but Pontville is still standing, although its character has been changed by renovations enclosing the homestead type verandas.
Source: Compiled from information supplied by Mrs. Poulter. Published in 1968 08 DTHS Newsletter
Pontville
A homestead of State significance, a rare surviving example from the first decade of Victorian settlement and which displays distinctive architectural characteristics. Pontville is believed to have been built by Major Charles Newman in the early 1840s, and though it has suffered severe alteration it still exhibits its distinctive Indian bungalow form and contains fabric of great technical interest. The plan comprises a core of three interconnecting rooms surrounded by a broad verandah formed by the continuation of the main hipped roof slope, within which the ends were built in to create further rooms. The principal rooms have been largely resurfaced and partly gutted, the roof has been reconstructed, apparently to the original profile; the built-in rooms have gone, leaving traces of the structural junctions; the verandah has been built in all around with inferior materials. Anglo-Indian investors and merchants, ex-Indian military men and retired servants of the Hounourable East India Company formed a small but disproportionately influential segment of the wealthier colonists in New South Wales, Tasmania and Western Australia, but with such notable exceptions as Major Alexander Davidson, they were not much heard of in Victoria. At Pontville, however, Newman, who had served with the East India Company, was reported to live in "oriental splendor". Likewise Indian influenced houses are a significant element in Australian colonial architecture, but extremely rare in Victoria. The overall form of the hipped roof, surrounding verandah and built-in ends is one of the standard Indian-influenced bungalow types, whereas the enfilade of interconnecting rooms is more characteristic of early houses in Sydney and Parramatta. The wide central room cum- hall is shared with some Victorian pastoral homesteads such as Reedy Lake, near Kerang. The relative decrepitude of Pontville has saved some very interesting portions of the fabric from being concealed or destroyed. The ruled lime stucco surviving on the north side is presumed to be original, and is by far the oldest such surface in authentic condition to be identified in Victoria, if not Australia (apart from a small patch of the ex-rear wall of Old Government House, Parramatta). Other distinctive elements include a displaced hearth (now below the floor level) of a stone clearly imported from outside the Port Phillip District, possibly English millstone grit; some unexplained shallow cream bricks, probably of local manufacture; pit-sawn ceiling joists, and a stair opening in the ceiling trimmed with tusk tenon joints.
Source: Victorian Heritage Database VHD-66019
Pontville
Pontville, the homestead of Major Charles Newman, on a hill near the junction of the Mullum Mullum Creek and the Yarra River. First permanent house in the district. Built 1847. Indian bungalow style due to Newman's time in India. Originally three rooms with verandah all around. Altered 1875. Altered again 1950s.
Source: The Age 1930 DP0250.
Pontville 16-20 Webster's Road, Templestowe
What is significant?Pontville Homestead was constructed in the 1840s on part of a large 1830s pastoral holding at the confluence of the Yarra Yarra River and the Mullum Mullum Creek by the pastoralist Major Charles Newman (1795-1866). Newman claimed that he and his family were the first white settlers at Deep (or Mullum Mullum) Creek and at the time were the furthest settlers east of Melbourne. The remains of his first dwelling, a turf hut, have not yet been located but are most probably quite near the confluence of the creek and river. Pontville now comprises a house constructed c.1843-50 and extended in the 1870s, remnant plantings, cottage foundations, outbuildings, bridge foundations, tracks, and a range of other features associated with the farming use of the area since the 1830s. Pontville was acquired by the Melbourne & Metropolitan Board of Works in 1978, and Melbourne Parks and Waterways now manages the property as part of Paddle Reserve.
Rear view of Pontville in Yarra Valley Metropolitan Park Templestowe (Nov1996)
Source: Victorian Heritage Database VHD 1586
How is it significant?
Pontville Homestead is of historical, architectural, archaeological, aesthetic and social importance to the State of Victoria.
Why is it significant?
Pontville Homestead is historically and socially important as the one of the last 1840s pastoral selections on the Yarra River within the metropolitan area, and for its associations with the earliest development of the Templestowe area. It is also important for its association with Major Charles Newman, a former British Army officer in the service of the East India Company, and his family, who occupied the land until 1950. Newman, one of only two ex Indian Army officers resident in Victoria at the time, was influential in the development of Australian colonial society, and his Indian experience strongly influenced the architectural form of the Pontville homestead. Newman was also associated with early district gold discoveries, which were among the first in colonial Victoria.
Pontville is historically and aesthetically important because its landscape contributes to the greater understanding of 1840s agricultural and garden history. Pontville is significant for the survival of its formal garden terracing and its remnant plantings including the Cupressus torulosa, Crataegus monogyna hedges and Morus Nigra. The surrounding remnant grasslands are important for understanding the early pastoral settlement of Pontville.
Pontville is architecturally important for the evidence surviving from the original homestead building, such as its distinctive Indian Bungalow form (a core of three interconnected rooms surrounded by a broad verandah formed by the continuation of the main hipped roof slope, within which the ends were built in to create further rooms) and elements of the original fabric which are of great technical interest. Important items include a displaced hearth of a stone clearly imported from outside the Port Phillip District, possibly English millstone grit, some unexplained sallow cream bricks, probably of local manufacture, pit sawn hardwood ceiling joists, and a stair opening in the ceiling trimmed with tusk tenon joints. Other significant elements are the plaster finishes and remnant ruled lime stucco - the oldest such surface finish in authentic condition to be identified in Victoria, if not Australia. Indian influenced houses are a significant element in Australian colonial architecture, but are extremely rare in Victoria. Associated with the homestead building are the farm outbuildings which are important for their ability to contribute to the historical understanding of the homestead property.
Pontville is archaeologically important for the below ground remains inherent in the location of, and the material contained within the archaeological deposits associated with Newman's turf hut and the subsequent homestead building, cottage, associated farm and rubbish deposits. The structures, deposits and associated artefacts are important for their potential to provide an understanding of the conditions in which a squatting family lived in the earliest days of the Port Phillip settlement. The survival of sites associated with early pastoral settlement in Victoria which have not been subsequently disturbed is rare
Source: http://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/1586 Last updated on - May 14, 1999
Pontville homestead stands on a hill at the junction of Deep Creek and the Yarra. The homestead was built by Major Charles Neman in 1843. Newman was a major in the 51st Native Bengal Infantry. On retiring he went to Tasmania.
In 1837, he came to Port Phillip and took out a squatting lease on the rolling pasture land on the south of the Yarra.
In 1843, Newman purchased 550 acres of his nm from Webster's Road to the river. He also leased large areas between the site of Templestowe and Warrandyte townships. It is believed that having obtained the title to the land, he then built his homestead. It was then that he started to use the name Pontville.
During the 1850's, Newman built a second house, called Monkton, on a hill the other side of Deep Creek. Monkton was a traditional Australian house with a front verandah, passage down the centre, and a skillion verandah at the rear. It was built of stone. Monkton was demolished in 1968.
Major Newman left Pontville to his eldest son, Charles, and Monkton to his other son, Thomas. Thomas died in 1869.
Newman went to live in Melbourne during the 1850's and built another house at Hawthorn in 1860. He lived there until his death in 1866. This house is still standing at 14 Lennox Street, Hawthorn.
After a careful study of the building it would seem that originally Pontville was a three-room house surrounded by a wide verandah. The high pitched hip roof covered both house and verandahs in a style common in tropical countries such as India. The brick walls were fourteen inches thick rendered on the outside and scribed with lines to imitate stone. The roof was covered with shingles. Inside the ceiling was lathe and plaster. There is evidence that there were originally two chimneys.
Alterations were made to Pontville sometime during the last century. The end verandahs were filled in with hand-made bricks, making them into rooms, and leaving only a front and rear verandah. The shingles were replaced with corrugated iron and the lathe and plaster ceiling replaced with lining boards.
In 1904, Newman's son, Charles, died. The land remained in the family for nearly forty years more.
In the 1950's, when Mr. L. Paddle owned the property, extensive changes were made. The brick rooms on the verandahs were demolished and the building was encased in fibro-cement walls with louvre windows.
When Mr. Paddle died about six years ago, the building was left empty.
The property was purchased by the Board of Works as a future metropolitan park and is part of the Yarra Valley park. While the building was empty, vandals stripped all the fittings, including doors and most of the added structure was removed, leaving only the original building. Horses sheltered from the weather in the house, the kitchen and storeroom looked like a stable and the building took on a derelict appearance. Now the Metropolitan Parks Service have taken measures to protect Pontville from vandalism, but it needs to be restored before the building itself deteriorates.
Pontville sits on sixty-five acres known as Paddle's land. This is all part of the Yarra Valley Metropolitan park. In the report for the proposed development of the park in 1979, the Pontville area is listed as an "historical interest areaì. It has been designated for passive recreation. The report on the Pontville homestead states: "The homestead should be restored as an historical park feature, and additional works undertaken to re-create an early settlement homestead with out-buildings and home gardens. Staffed with people, the homestead would then become a living display for aspects of early settlement life. The local historical society would be a major resource in the planning of such a project".
The City of Doncaster and Templestowe is fortunate to have a building of such historic significance. The date 1843 takes the homestead back to the beginnings of the district. After 140 years, the main structure of Pontville is still sound, but its future has to be determined. It is up to us to find a valid use for Pontville in the future.
Source: 1983 06 DTHS Newsletter
On this 160th year, we have the good news that work on the restoration of Pontville is getting underway. The old kitchen is being restored and will soon be back to its form, when built in the 1870s. and the homestead built in 1843 is being protected by work that will improve the security of the building. Also the broken down remains of the 1950 alterations are to be removed. When that is done, Pontville will be improved and we can see its original appearance.
Source: 1997 03 DTHS Newsletter
Senior elders of the local Wirundjeri people advised that "Tikalara" means "the spirit place" and is an appropriate name for the site due to the sense of feeling, wilderness and the peacefulness of the area.
The council said that in this year the United Nations international Year of the World's Indigenous People Council considers it both appropriate and deserving that Paddles Reserve is renamed "Tikalara" to recognise the existence and role of the Wurundjeri people in the history of the land and acknowledge the significance and importance their descendants place on the site.
Source: 1993 06 DTHS Newsletter
Tikalara Park is located where the Mullum Mullum Creek and the Yarra River join. It forms part of the Yarra Valley Parklands on Crown Land managed by Parks Victoria (which supports the Mullum Mullum/Main Yarra Trail) and Manningham freehold land parcels. Generally Tikalara can be defined as the area north of Websters Road and between Mullum Mullum Creek/Yarra River to the west and Blackburn Road to the east.
The reserve provides flora and fauna, sport, informal recreation, linear park and unstructured nature play.
Source: Manningham Council Website June2019
Pontville Homestead is of historical, architectural, archaeological, aesthetic and social importance to the State of Victoria.
Why is it significant?
Pontville Homestead is historically and socially important as the one of the last 1840s pastoral selections on the Yarra River within the metropolitan area, and for its associations with the earliest development of the Templestowe area. It is also important for its association with Major Charles Newman, a former British Army officer in the service of the East India Company, and his family, who occupied the land until 1950. Newman, one of only two ex Indian Army officers resident in Victoria at the time, was influential in the development of Australian colonial society, and his Indian experience strongly influenced the architectural form of the Pontville homestead. Newman was also associated with early district gold discoveries, which were among the first in colonial Victoria.
Pontville is historically and aesthetically important because its landscape contributes to the greater understanding of 1840s agricultural and garden history. Pontville is significant for the survival of its formal garden terracing and its remnant plantings including the Cupressus torulosa, Crataegus monogyna hedges and Morus Nigra. The surrounding remnant grasslands are important for understanding the early pastoral settlement of Pontville.
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| Pontville Map. See -37.739059, 145.164540 on Google Map |
Pontville is architecturally important for the evidence surviving from the original homestead building, such as its distinctive Indian Bungalow form (a core of three interconnected rooms surrounded by a broad verandah formed by the continuation of the main hipped roof slope, within which the ends were built in to create further rooms) and elements of the original fabric which are of great technical interest. Important items include a displaced hearth of a stone clearly imported from outside the Port Phillip District, possibly English millstone grit, some unexplained sallow cream bricks, probably of local manufacture, pit sawn hardwood ceiling joists, and a stair opening in the ceiling trimmed with tusk tenon joints. Other significant elements are the plaster finishes and remnant ruled lime stucco - the oldest such surface finish in authentic condition to be identified in Victoria, if not Australia. Indian influenced houses are a significant element in Australian colonial architecture, but are extremely rare in Victoria. Associated with the homestead building are the farm outbuildings which are important for their ability to contribute to the historical understanding of the homestead property.
Pontville is archaeologically important for the below ground remains inherent in the location of, and the material contained within the archaeological deposits associated with Newman's turf hut and the subsequent homestead building, cottage, associated farm and rubbish deposits. The structures, deposits and associated artefacts are important for their potential to provide an understanding of the conditions in which a squatting family lived in the earliest days of the Port Phillip settlement. The survival of sites associated with early pastoral settlement in Victoria which have not been subsequently disturbed is rare
Source: http://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/1586 Last updated on - May 14, 1999
Pontville
Pontville, the oldest building in Doncaster-Templestowe, has been added to the National Trust register of recorded places.Pontville homestead stands on a hill at the junction of Deep Creek and the Yarra. The homestead was built by Major Charles Neman in 1843. Newman was a major in the 51st Native Bengal Infantry. On retiring he went to Tasmania.
In 1837, he came to Port Phillip and took out a squatting lease on the rolling pasture land on the south of the Yarra.
In 1843, Newman purchased 550 acres of his nm from Webster's Road to the river. He also leased large areas between the site of Templestowe and Warrandyte townships. It is believed that having obtained the title to the land, he then built his homestead. It was then that he started to use the name Pontville.
During the 1850's, Newman built a second house, called Monkton, on a hill the other side of Deep Creek. Monkton was a traditional Australian house with a front verandah, passage down the centre, and a skillion verandah at the rear. It was built of stone. Monkton was demolished in 1968.
Major Newman left Pontville to his eldest son, Charles, and Monkton to his other son, Thomas. Thomas died in 1869.
Newman went to live in Melbourne during the 1850's and built another house at Hawthorn in 1860. He lived there until his death in 1866. This house is still standing at 14 Lennox Street, Hawthorn.
After a careful study of the building it would seem that originally Pontville was a three-room house surrounded by a wide verandah. The high pitched hip roof covered both house and verandahs in a style common in tropical countries such as India. The brick walls were fourteen inches thick rendered on the outside and scribed with lines to imitate stone. The roof was covered with shingles. Inside the ceiling was lathe and plaster. There is evidence that there were originally two chimneys.
Alterations were made to Pontville sometime during the last century. The end verandahs were filled in with hand-made bricks, making them into rooms, and leaving only a front and rear verandah. The shingles were replaced with corrugated iron and the lathe and plaster ceiling replaced with lining boards.
In 1904, Newman's son, Charles, died. The land remained in the family for nearly forty years more.
In the 1950's, when Mr. L. Paddle owned the property, extensive changes were made. The brick rooms on the verandahs were demolished and the building was encased in fibro-cement walls with louvre windows.
When Mr. Paddle died about six years ago, the building was left empty.
The property was purchased by the Board of Works as a future metropolitan park and is part of the Yarra Valley park. While the building was empty, vandals stripped all the fittings, including doors and most of the added structure was removed, leaving only the original building. Horses sheltered from the weather in the house, the kitchen and storeroom looked like a stable and the building took on a derelict appearance. Now the Metropolitan Parks Service have taken measures to protect Pontville from vandalism, but it needs to be restored before the building itself deteriorates.
Pontville sits on sixty-five acres known as Paddle's land. This is all part of the Yarra Valley Metropolitan park. In the report for the proposed development of the park in 1979, the Pontville area is listed as an "historical interest areaì. It has been designated for passive recreation. The report on the Pontville homestead states: "The homestead should be restored as an historical park feature, and additional works undertaken to re-create an early settlement homestead with out-buildings and home gardens. Staffed with people, the homestead would then become a living display for aspects of early settlement life. The local historical society would be a major resource in the planning of such a project".
The City of Doncaster and Templestowe is fortunate to have a building of such historic significance. The date 1843 takes the homestead back to the beginnings of the district. After 140 years, the main structure of Pontville is still sound, but its future has to be determined. It is up to us to find a valid use for Pontville in the future.
Source: 1983 06 DTHS Newsletter
150 years ago
In 1843, Major Charles Newman purchased 550 acres of land, section XVII of the Parish of Bulleen, along the Yarra at the mouth of Deep Creek. Major Newman called his land "Pontville". The name Pontville continued to be used locally till the present time. At that time, Newman lived in a turf hut. Four years later, he built Pontville Homestead, the first permanent house to be built in the area of Doncaster Templestowe. The homestead still stands. It has been added to and changed several times but the hand made brick walls and pit sawn roof beams remain in solid condition.
Source: 1993 03 DTHS Newsletter
Pontville
One hundred and sixty years ago, Major Charles Newman came to his new cattle station on the banks of the Yarra River, Pontville.On this 160th year, we have the good news that work on the restoration of Pontville is getting underway. The old kitchen is being restored and will soon be back to its form, when built in the 1870s. and the homestead built in 1843 is being protected by work that will improve the security of the building. Also the broken down remains of the 1950 alterations are to be removed. When that is done, Pontville will be improved and we can see its original appearance.
Source: 1997 03 DTHS Newsletter
Pontville
One hundred and fifty years ago, Major Charles Newman named his land "Pontville". The land has been called by that name until only recently the Board of Works and the Council purchased the site. They used the name "Paddles Land or Paddles Reserve". Now the council has renamed it "Tikalara".Senior elders of the local Wirundjeri people advised that "Tikalara" means "the spirit place" and is an appropriate name for the site due to the sense of feeling, wilderness and the peacefulness of the area.
The council said that in this year the United Nations international Year of the World's Indigenous People Council considers it both appropriate and deserving that Paddles Reserve is renamed "Tikalara" to recognise the existence and role of the Wurundjeri people in the history of the land and acknowledge the significance and importance their descendants place on the site.
Source: 1993 06 DTHS Newsletter
Tikalara Park
Websters Road, Templestowe . Melway ref. 34 D1 GoogleTikalara Park is located where the Mullum Mullum Creek and the Yarra River join. It forms part of the Yarra Valley Parklands on Crown Land managed by Parks Victoria (which supports the Mullum Mullum/Main Yarra Trail) and Manningham freehold land parcels. Generally Tikalara can be defined as the area north of Websters Road and between Mullum Mullum Creek/Yarra River to the west and Blackburn Road to the east.
The reserve provides flora and fauna, sport, informal recreation, linear park and unstructured nature play.
Source: Manningham Council Website June2019
Source: Tikalara Park Trail Map. June2019 trailforks.com
Pontville - A Project Waiting to Happen
In the 1830's Major Charles Newman settled on the banks of the Yarra on land later to become Templestowe. In 1847, after living in a turf hut, Newman built a brick homestead, he called it "Pontville" after the place where he had been in van Diemans Land.The Pontville homestead, is still standing. It was the first real house to be built in the area and is now not only the oldest building in Doncaster-Templestowe but the oldest in the eastern half of Victoria, east of Heidelberg and north to the Murray.
Pontville stands on a magnificent stretch of land that will soon be made a Metropolitan park but it is not accessible to the public, so is relatively unknown. The building needs attention for, over the years, unfortunate changes have been made and vandals have caused much damage. However, the base structure of the original building is still sound. The damage has been mostly to the added unwanted parts.
Last year, the detached kitchen was seriously damaged causing grave fears for the safety of Pontville, as a result David Perrin MP has formed a steering committee with representatives from, the Council, Melbourne Parks and Waterways, The National Trust, the Historic Buildings Preservation Council and the Doncaster-Templestowe and Warrandyte Historical Societies. The committee is working to protect and preserve Pontville and to prepare for later restoration. A conservation study is to be carried out to determine the original form of the building and the surrounding landscape. This will provide guide lines for its restoration and the use of the land.
Support from the community is required, both to help with the care of the Pontville and to convince the authorities that the building is important, not only to our district but to Victoria. A "Friends of Pontville" is being formed. Soon a Sunday morning gathering will be held at Pontville, possibly with a work party to tidy up the site followed by a barbecue on the banks of the river.
Source: Irvine Green writing in 1994 06 DTHS Newsletter
Pontville Homestead - A Project Waiting to Happen
Pontville Homestead, although the first building in our city, has remained neglected for the last twenty five years. Two years ago an unfortunate event took place, the old kitchen was badly vandalised. David Perrin, realising the importance of this building and seeing the need for its protection, formed a committee to plan the care and restoration of the historic homestead. As a result, funds were provided by the council and Melbourne Parks and Waterways, who own the land. A temporary fence was built and the roof covered to give the building some protection, then a conservation study of the building and the land was commissioned, also a "Friends of Pontville" group formed. The Friends Group immediately arranged a visit to Pontville to clean up the area, this was the first action that had been taken to care for the homestead in forty years.
The consultants commissioned to carry out the study have now completed their work by producing a "Cultural Significance and Conservation Policy". The report claims that Pontville is the last intact 1840s pastoral selection within close proximity to the city from the east. It is also the last important early homestead on the Yarra within the Metropolitan area. The Homestead stands in a magnificent area of land that spreads out along the river at Templestowe. On the land is the house, built in the 1840s, a kitchen dating from the 1870s, remnants of original Hawthorn hedges, a mulberry tree and an unusual variety of Cypress possibly planted in the 1860s.
Major Charles Newman, a retired Indian Army officer came from Van Diemans Land in 1837. At first Newman lived in a large turf hut on the left bank of Deep Creek at the junction of the Yarra River. Then in 1843, he obtained a title to his land and commenced to build Pontville, a solid brick homestead.
The house is a distinctive Indian Bungalow, it is based on a solid core of three rooms with thick brick walls and is surrounded by wide verandahs. Rooms were added in the north and south verandahs, a high pitched roof covers the whole building. Newman included a garret room inside the roof area, possibly only to give storage space.
Over the years alterations took place and the ownership of Pontville changed.
In 1865 Major Newman died and left Pontville to his son, Charles Newman Newman. At this time, his son built the detached kitchen and possibly replaced the shingle roof with slates.
In 1904, Charles Newman Newman died and the property went to his daughter. Possibly the slates were too heavy for the roof structure and about 1908 a new roof was built and covered with galvanised iron.
In 1950, Pontville was sold to L. Paddle. He carried out alterations that were completely out of keeping with the building. The rooms at the ends of the verandahs were demolished and replaced with timber framed walls right around the house. He covered the walls with fibro cement and added louver windows.
In 1978, the M.M.B.W. purchased Pontville including most of Newman's remaining land. Doncaster - Templestowe Council purchased a small portion on the south on Websters Road. Part of this and is being used a council depot. When the M.M.B.W. was divided into two sections, Melbourne Parks and Waterways were given Pontville.
Major Newman named his estate Pontville in 1843. But in the year of the Indigenous People, Pontville was renamed with an Aboriginal name, "Tikalara".
The consultants have considered that the area of Pontville and its land, to be a significant area. Pontville used to be approached along a track from Homestead Road. Alongside this track, members of the Newman family were buried in a private cemetery. This is one of a few small lone graves and is considered of great significance as there are very few remaining in Victoria.
The policy report states that Pontville be recognised as a place of significance, it is important to the State of Victoria and more particularly to the history of the colonial settlement of the Port Phillip District. They recommend that Pontville be used for educational purposes.
Pontville is a very special place.
In the report, the consultants described their idea of what the visitor to Pontville will see when Pontville is eventually restored:
"Arriving at Pontville the visitor gets a glimpse of the homestead through the trees. The homestead has been conserved and is open to visitors. The early building fabric has been carefully preserved and the visitor is able to see the different layers of building fabric that help to tell the story of the building. Perhaps visitors can climb the reconstructed stairs and look into the ceiling space.
The end rooms have been reconstructed as has the one demolished chimney, returning the building to its original form. The verandah additions by Paddle have been removed, and the original form of the verandahs have been reconstructed. There may be interpretive displays within the house explaining the Aboriginal and early colonial history of the property.
Elements of the homestead Garden have been reconstructed, and a new hawthorn hedge has been planted to replace the hedge (removed between 1931-1945). The other hawthorns are being trimmed as hedges. Some fences have been reinstated along the old alignment, and the pasture grazed and cut for hay."
Source: Irvine Green writing in 1995 09 DTHS Newsletter
Pontville
Pontville Homestead was constructed in the early 1840s on part of Newman's pastoral holding, at the confluence of the Yarra River and the Mullum-Mullum Creek. The remains of his first dwelling, a turf hut, was located near the site. Pontville now comprises a house constructed c. 1843-1850 and extended in the 1870s, remnant plantings, cottage foundations, outbuildings, bridge foundations, tracks, and a range of other features associated with the farming use of the area since the 1830s. Pontville was acquired by the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works in 1978, and Melbourne Water and Parks now manages the property as part of Paddle Reserve.
Pontville Homestead is socially, if not in practice, one of the last pastoral selections on the Yarra River within the metropolitan area, and is associated with the earliest development of the Templestowe area. Major Charles Newman, one of only two ex-Indian Army officers resident in Victoria at the time, was influential in the development of Australian colonial society, and his Indian experience strongly influenced the architectural form of the Pontville homestead. Newman was also associated with gold prospecting in the district following the discovery of gold at Anderson Creek in Warrandyte. He was among the first in south-eastern Australia to mine quartz reefs.
Pontville is historically and aesthetically significant amongst the early towns as its landscape contributes to the greater understanding of 1840s agricultural and garden history, as well as for containing numerous relics of aboriginal life. The survival of its formal garden terracing and the presence Hawthorn hedgerows, used for fencing, is unusual. In his book on pastoralism in Tasmania and the 1920s conflict with the island natives, Keith Windschuttle writes: " In the 1820s [and 1830s], some settlers began to plant the hawthorn hedges that remain part of the Tasmanian landscape today. However, this was also a slow and expensive process. The plants had to survive several months of sea transport from England and one mile of hedgerow required between 8,000 and 10,500 plants. The early hedges were used primarily as windbreaks for the house, and were planted close to it. Before the 1830s, Sharon Morgan writes, 'stone walls were almost unknown, and hedges were rare'."
The property itself (now subdivided) has several remnant plantings of the colonial era including Himalayan Cypress, Black Mulberry and willow trees; and, the integrity of ancient scar trees, ancestral camping sites and other spirit places of the Wurundjeri aborigines which was respected by the Newman family. They can be observed in their original form along the trail systems at the Tikalara ("meeting place") plains tract of the Mullum-Mullum Creek.
Pontville is architecturally important in the evidence surviving from the original homestead building, most notably its distinctive Indian Bungalow form (a core of three interconnected rooms surrounded by a broad verandah formed by the continuation of the main hipped roof slope, within which the ends were built in to create further rooms) and elements of the original fabric which provide a technical history of colonialism. Important items include a displaced hearth of a stone clearly imported from outside the Port Phillip District, possibly English millstone grit, some unexplained sallow cream bricks, probably of local manufacture, pit sawn hardwood ceiling joists, and a stair opening in the ceiling trimmed with tusk tenon joints. Other significant elements are the plaster finishes and remnant ruled lime stucco - the oldest such surface finish in authentic condition to be identified in Victoria, if not Australia. Indian influenced houses are a significant element in Australian colonial architecture, but are extremely rare in Victoria. Associated with the homestead building are the farm outbuildings which are important for their ability to contribute to the historical understanding of the homestead property.
Pontville is archaeologically important for the below ground remains inherent in the location of, and the material contained within the archaeological deposits associated with Newman's turf hut and the subsequent homestead building, cottage, associated farm and rubbish deposits. The structures, deposits and associated artefacts are important for their potential to provide an understanding of the conditions in which a squatting family lived in the earliest days of the Port Phillip settlement
Source: Charles Newman 1783 - 1865 (rootsweb.com) Mar2023
MELBOURNE'S HISTORIC HOMES VIII. — Two Stations on the Yarra: Bushrangers and Gold.
BY C.E.S. The Age, 1933
THROUGH the village of Heidelberg the road crosses the Yarra— narrow at this point— and then goes past rich river flats to the small settlement of Temple-stowe. It sweeps wide here, a little away from the winding Yarra, and makes a long climb up a pleasant slope. At itstop, the road forks. That to the right, macadanised, leads down on its winding way to Warrandyte. That, to the left is Newman's road. It is earth formed, and trickles through orchard and dairy coun-try - orchards mostly - until suddenly it loses itself in rutted, grassy track, and eventually gives itself up at the wired entrance to an old orchard. Facing this remnant of a track is an old white washed house, all under a slate pyramid roof. The fruit trees go up almost to the front door; an old, bland-looking door, with two dim-eyed windows, one each side, and a verandah covering it rakishly, for all the world like an old,, devil-may-care cap that is a little down in the peak from age and much wear. In an old buggy, in an old barn, the household fowls roost; the gasping remains of an aged vine trails over a trellis at the back. There are apples ripening on tho window sills; the handle of a pump sticks out from a well which is under the house. It is on a knoll, this old house; East from it, separated by a pleasant valley, through which a creek trickles; and on another knoll— they are twins, these two grassy knolls — is another old house. Longer fronted, this one, with a spacious front porch, windows each side of it. Theslates have long since gone from the roof, and galvanised iron taken their place. Two grey cement chimneys rear tall, stout heads from the roof top. Comfortable looking chimneys, homely like the white-washed house. We stroll down through the fruit trees, and slip-ping through a wire fence, come through a belt of light timber on to pleasant, well-grassed flats, grazing twenty or so fine cattle. A sharp, turn to the left, and we cross the creek by a low, log bridge, and, toiling up n sharp pinch, are at the front door of the house on the second knoll. The brick work shows where the white cement has peeled off. Age is written on everv inch of the sub-stantial house. A family of dairy farmers is here now. They point out pridefully the rich flats, that go down to the river, a bend of which we glimpse through the thick timber. East, at the boundary of the property, is another belt of thicker timber. There is a great, beautiful, quiet over everything; yet less than half a mile away traffic whirls over the busy Warrandyte road.Wc have been left no record of the in-ner thoughts of the creator of these homes, so we know not whether he was a lover of beauty. What we do know, though ls that for most of his life in Australia, he was almost blind, so that if the beauty of the spot were not readily visible to him, it must have been com-inunicated through other senses. Of sound perhaps - sound of rippling creek and singing river; of birds, of tree song. Of scent - scent of sweet damp earth, of eucalypt, of horse and cattle; for we do know, he was a lover of horses and cattle. Indeed, little authentic record has been left of Major Charles Newman. His name, and that of his sons, ap-pears occasionally in the records of our history. His most substantialmemorials are the two homes sketched above - Monckton, on the first knoll, and Pontville, on the second knoll. He played no great-part in our development and his-tory, yet indirectly no mean part. It were something surely, that he pioneered this rather wild part of the State; it were something, too, that so far from the settlement of Melbourne, he could hold his ground against loneliness, against the blacks, against bushrangers, against fire and flood in that remote period of our young history that goes back, nearly a hundred years. It were something, too, that it should be on land leased by him that the first gold rush in Victoria oc-curred. Charles Newman was a major in the 51st Regiment (Bengal Native Infantry). In the early thirties retired on a pension of a guinea a day, he came to Australia with his wife and son, Charles; bringing with him several native servants. He visited Melbourne in 1835, and then settled in Tasmania. Three years later, he returned to Port Phillip, and took up the proper-ties in the Tcmplestowe district, now known, as Monckton and Pontville. He was then about 52. The district in those davs must have been wild, practically isolated from the settlement on the Yarra, then onlythree years old. Something of its state can be gauged from, a description penned of it by Westgarth concerning a trip to the district in 1855. With the members of the select committee inquiring into the gold fields Westgarth in that year visited the Anderson's Creek field. After leaving Melbourne, the party passed "smoothly along for about four miles," crossing first the Merri Creek by "its pretty new bridge." and then the Darebin Creek by "an older and much less, pre-tentious structure." At Warringall (the early name of Heidelberg) the road was not made, but it was "cut at the sides, and with occasionally a slight attempt at levelling." They passed then through "the pretty village of Heidelberg, show-ing the gap between the high-timbered ranges that permits the winding Yarra to flow westward to Melbourne. The scene appeared one dense forest, excepting in our vicinity, where we saw some natural glades, less thinly wooded, or farms, or green paddocks cleared of tim-ber." The Yarra was crossed on a punt. Templestowe was a "public house, a blacksmith, a few houses and gardens, with fields in the neighbor-hood." As they approached "the gold regions" the soil became less favorable, "as indicated by the stringy bark forests it had sent up. Many trees were severely charred by recent fires." Beyond Temple-stowe, they descended a "well turned up valley" and saw the Yarra "pleasantly, sparkling in the sunbeams as the waters wound their devious course through high, wooded banks." In pioneering the Warrandyte district Major Newman had to journey through conditions more primitive even than those experienced by Westgarth or by the diggers on the Anderson's Creek field. Yet he survived these conditions, and firmly established himself on his holdings. As the vears passed, he accumulated up wards of 4000 acres in the district, but all but a square mile was only on licence. The 640 acres of freehold was divided equally between Monckton and Pontville. Here he grew cattle, and bred horses, principally hardy Welsh ponies, but alsoa few thoroughbreds which lie raced in matches on the flats along the river below his properties, and at meetings that were held in the district. It is said that Major Newman would go any number of miles to match his thoroughbreds against other racehorses, and many matches in which his horses figured were held in the Heidel-berg and Plenty districts. Two events stand out in the Victorian career of Major Charles Newman. The first was an attack by bushrangers - the first of these gentry in the colony - and the second the discovery of gold on part of the property he leased. The first event concerns, in part, the short, hectic bush-ranging career of four young men, John Williams, Charles Ellis, Daniel Jepps and Martin Fogarty. "Inspired" by an older rogue, William Cam, this quartet, took to the bush in the Dandenong district latein April, 1812, and in the course of a few days "stuck up" and robbed a number of stations. Then, working their way across country, they began operations in the Plenty country, visiting Major New-man's lonely station near the Mullum Mullum (now Deep) creek. Their booty consisted of 30 pounds, powder horn, two watches, a silver tureen and a number of medals and military ornaments. News of the outbreak in the Plenty country soon reached Melbourne and recruited by Mr. Latrobe, a party of five young bloods set out from the Melbourne Club in pursuit. The bushrangers were located in a hut on the station of Mr. Campbell Hunter near Diamond creek, and after a pitched battle, one was shot dead and the re-maining three captured and brought to Melbourne, where the gentleman volun-teers were feted by the populace and, after, a trial, the bushrangers executed, also with much public applause. Major Newman had a slice of luck with most, of the property stolen from him. He offered a reward for its recovery, particularly the silver tureen, the watches and the medals, but without success. Some years later, however, a man named Adams, who had taken, possession of the hut occupied by William Cam, who hud been transported for his part in the bushranging exploits, found the property (except the money) hidden in an old tin in the yard. He ad-vertised his find, and the property was claimed by Newman. The silver tureen is now in the. possession of a descendant in West Australia.It is still a matter for argument where the first gold was found in Victoria, but there is no dispute that the first officially recognised field was at Anderson's Creek. California, and later New South Wales, may rightly be blamed for the fever of gold in Victoria. Hargraves's dis-covery near Bathurst in May, 1851, fired the people. Alarmed at the consequences to Victoria, the Mayor of Melbourne called a public meet-ing, which was held in the Mechanics' Institute on 9th June, and resulted in the formation of a gold discovery committee. Meanwhile several parties were scouring the hills near Melbourne. One headed by Louis John Michel, a publican at the corner of Swanston and Little Collins streets, (where now are the Town Hall chambers), was searching in the Plenty country. In June, they found gold near the Deep Creek on portion of Major New-man's property. The fact was made pub-lic on 5th July, and on 16th July, accord-ing to McCombie in his history of Vic-toria, the party brought "a considerable sample of the dust to Melbourne, whichthey exhibited, to; the gold-discovery com-mittee." On the next morning, the fol-lowing newspaper announcement was made:— ' The committee appointed to promote the dis-covery of a gold field in the colony of Victoria have the satisfaction of announcing that unques--tionable evidence has been adduced showing the existence of gold in considerable quantity, both at the Deep Creek, on the Yarra (near Major Newman's run), and also at the Deep Creek, on the Pyrenees, near Mr. Donald Cameron's house. - William Nicholson; Major (Chairman of Com-mittee). A rush set in, the first of Vic-toria's many exciting gold rushes. Major Newman found himself deserted by his shepherds, cow herds and servants, and also by a gang of laborers who were even then erecting a malt house and brewery on his station, a project that, afterwards, he did not proceed with. On 20th August there were about 200 men on the field. On 1st September Anderson's Creek field was first occupied under the sanction of the Government. The more famous fields of Chines, Buninyong and Ballarat followed on 20th September. In a few years, the brief glory of the Anderson's Creek field faded. In 1857, a select committee of the Legislative Council awarded. Michel and his parti £1000 for their discovery. Newman ap-pears to have taken no part in the gold hunting. He was more intent on farm-ing his land. In the work, actually, his son Charles took most part, and alter a few years this son became the virtual owner of the Pontville property. A second son later succeeded to the Monckton pro-perty. Major Newman himself moved to the city, and in 1855 we find him in a two-storied house m Lonsdale street, on the south side, between Swanston, and Elizabeth streets. After his death, thishouse became famous as a cafe, the Mai-son Dore, over which, in the eighties and nineties, presided a martial-looking lady, Madam Laeaton, a Swiss. Because of her great height and military bearing this lady was known to the bohemians of the, day as the "Giraffe" and the "Grenadier." Another city property of Major Newman was in Lennox-street, Hawthorn, where he died. On12th September, 1866, aged 80. So deep was his affection for the Temple-stowe properties that he was buried on the knoll midwav between Pontville and Monckton. Here, also his wile and his sons were buried. When Monckton was sold about thirty years ago, the remains were removed to the Doncaster Ceme-tery. Monckton was cut into small orchard properties. Pontville is still in the possession of descendants of Charles Newman, who entailed it. Major Newman's great love for horses has come down through three generations to a great-grandson, Mr. Benjamin Weir, who today conducts a riding school onUlupna, a property at Bundoora. A proud moment for Mr. Weir is when he reins in a party of riders on a hill overlooking the Yarra beyond Eltham and points out across the forests, and the valleys and the orchards, the white walls of the two houses his great-grandfather built - Monck-ton and Pontville - standing like sentinels on their outposts, walled in by hills and timber, and with the Yarra gleaming below their rich flats.
Source: Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), Saturday 26 August 1933, page 171933 'MELBOURNE'S HISTORIC HOMES . .', The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), 26 August, p. 17. , viewed 29 Jul 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204379491
Source: Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), Saturday 26 August 1933, page 17
1933 'MELBOURNE'S HISTORIC HOMES . .', The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), 26 August, p. 17. , viewed 29 Jul 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204379491
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