Laidlaw became a successful farmer and commissioned David Mitchell to build a house. Laidlaw's two storey mansion, "Springbank" now called "Clarendon-Ayre", was given a National Trust classification. Robert Laidlaw was elected Shire President on three occasions, 1876, 1878 and 1881. He left the council in 1884.
1975 05 DTHS Newsletter
Source: Bulleen - A Short History (1991). By Judith Leaney. Illustrated by Irvine Green
1975 05 DTHS Newsletter
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Photograph of an early motor car at the Laidlaw mansion 'Springbank', now called 'Clarendon Eyre', Bulleen Road, Bulleen. Early 1900. DTHS Archive do0275
Chapter 2 - A Settler
Robert Laidlaw arrived on the 'Midlothian' in 1839, one of the first migrants from Scotland. A native of Aramulloch near Abbotsford in southern Scotland, he had worked for Sir Walter Scott. This young man of twenty three years together with a friend John Kerr, purchased Wood's sheep station on the river flats at Bulleen.
Their earliest accommodation was very primitive, being a rough slab hut shared with two hired shepherds and a stockman.
At first fortune favoured them, but soon after, the economic depression of the 1840's hit Melbourne. The partnership foundered as the sheep which had cost 36/- each were now reduced to 4/6. John Kerr left and Laidlaw formed a partnership with Alexander Duncan, who was a dairy farmer, near the comer of Thompson and Bulleen Roads.
This association flourished and soon the fertile fields were covered with waving ears of wheat, and barley. The quality of wheat was so high that a parcel sent to Edinburgh in 1847 won a congratulatory letter for the grower.
Robert Laidlaw in 1843 married Annie Gordon from the Western District pastoralist family and over the years they had eight children, two boys and six girls.
Ninety extra acres were bought by Robert Laidlaw in 1853. This part of the Carlton Estate had a river frontage and cost two thousand, four hundred pounds. This farm, which Laidlaw named "Springbank: proved to be so successful that the Department of Agriculture regarded its owner as one of the best farmers in the Melbourne area.
For a time "Springbank" was leased while the Laidlaws took up the 22,000 acre Longlands Station in the Western District where Laidlaw had earlier connections.
On his return to the Bulleen area he became interested in local affairs and was a foundation member of the new Shire of Bulleen. He was a councillor for nine years and was elected President on three occasions 1876,1878, and 1881.
Laidlaw was a prominent citizen of the district having been Chairman of the Templestowe Roads Board and a Justice of the Peace and Magistrate of the Heidelberg Court.
In 1907 Robert Laidlaw died at the ripe old age of 91. His wife Annie had predeceased him by two years. He had been the Bulleen areas' earliest permanent settler and had played an important part in the opening up of agriculture in Bulleen in addition to being a prominent figure in the development of the Shire.
'Springbank' still exists as one of the loveliest mansions in the district. Now named 'Clarendon Eyre', from the cattle stud owned by J.V.M. Wood, owner of the land from 1925 to 1946 when it was purchased by the White family. Springbank is on the register of the National Trust. The dairy farm, famous in the 1920s for quality was one of the last dairy farms operating in Bulleen.
Caws grazing on the river flats at Ben Nevis. Now the site of the Sentimental Bloke Hotel.
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