Historic Kyneton homestead on the market for first time in 160 years

A HOMESTEAD that has been owned by four generations of the same family over 160 years has hit the market for the first time.

‘Untouched’ home not sold since gold rush

A HOMESTEAD that has been owned by four generations of the same family over 160 years has hit the market for the first time.

“Barbower”, in the central Victorian town of Kyneton, has been virtually untouched since it was built by British migrant Andrew Rowan in 1855.

The five-bedroom, one-bathroom house at 102 Barbower Rd, which sits on 47ha, is scheduled to go under the hammer on May 7 with a reserve price of $875,000.

An adjoining 52ha of land is also being offered for $575,000.

Helen Aldridge, whose mother Beverly is selling the properties, said Barbower’s original owner was lured to Victoria from Scotland by the gold rush.

102 Barbower Rd has a reserve price of $875,000.

The house sits on 47ha of land.

Ms Aldridge said her ancestor made his money “carting food to the goldfields” and bought the land where he would build Barbower in about 1851.

Mr Rowan then briefly returned to Scotland, before bringing Clydesdale horses — and a wife — back to the property with him.

Ms Aldridge said the Rowans had 10 children and one of their eldest, William, inherited the home.

When William died, his brother Ivie bought the property.

Ivie then passed it to his only son, who then gave it to his oldest daughter, the house’s current owner Beverly, after she got married.

Ms Aldridge and her two siblings were the fifth generation of the Rowan family to live at the house, when it was a cattle and sheep farm.

The house has barely been altered in its 160 year lifespan.

The seller hopes whoever buys the home will lovingly restore it.

The schoolteacher said it would be “a bit sad” to see Barbower passed on to another owner, but she believed it was “finally time” to move it on: “Mum has moved to a nursing home in Kyneton. None of her children have an interest in farming.

“Hopefully whoever buys it will lovingly restore it.

“I won’t be a stickybeak, but I hope when it’s finished, we might be invited to have a look.”

Ms Aldridge said she had “very happy” memories of growing up at the home. She and her brother and sister often wondered what their ancestors’ lives were like there, she said: “We wondered how (all 10 children) fit in.

“It was a modest house when I was growing up — we had a family of five sharing one toilet and bathroom.”

Ms Aldridge said the house had barely been altered since it was built, bar a wooden extension with a kitchen, bathroom and laundry being added on in the 1930s.

Selling agent John Keating of Keatings Real Estate said whoever won the keys at next month’s auction had the rare opportunity to make the grand home “functional for contemporary living”.

He said the property — which features on the Victorian Heritage Database — also boasted stone stables, a barn or shearing shed and stone fencing. Snipe Creek flows near the homestead.

@SamLandy