By Dongyun Kwon
Gulf Station in Yarra Glen will hold a heritage festival from 10am to 3pm on Sunday 29 October.
It will be a great family day out event with lots of interesting activities.
“Gulf Station Heritage Festival is going to be a really good family day because there will be something for everyone,” Gulf Station Coordinator Fiona Leadbeater said.
“There are going to be some kid’s activities as well including some lawn games.”
Visitors will take part in a broad range of activities including property tours, garden and original orchard tours, blacksmith demonstrations, barrel making, traditional rope making, butter churning, apple coring and more along with local food.
Working horses, rare breeds and farm animals will be on the site as well.
Ms Leadbeater said she hoped this event would reconnect locals with groups who had a history with Gulf Station.
“There used to be heritage festivals run very successfully in the past and we’re hoping to bring it back as an annual event,” she said.
“People remember going to the heritage festivals. In the past, there were working horse festivals and bonfire nights that people remember very fondly and we’re hoping to get those back up and running.”
Gulf Station has a long history, which is regarded as one of the oldest and most intact timber farm complexes in Australia.
From the mid-1840s, Gulf Station was part of a 25,000-acre run known as the Gulf, stretching from Yarra Glen up to Toolangi.
Scottish settlers Agnes and William Bell were the first to lease the land where the property was established, which was farmed for nearly 100 years by the Bell family from the 1850s to the 1950s.
Gulf Station supplied produce to gold miners of the district and was home to prize-winning Berkshire pigs, Ayrshire dairy cattle as well as Border Leicester sheep and Clydesdale horses.
The festival aims to keep the importance of Gulf Station as a historical asset for the state.
“It’s about making people aware of its significance but also to encourage people to understand about the last trades and heritage activities,” Ms Leadbeater said.
“If we don’t keep them to the fore, they will eventually drop off altogether, people will lose knowledge about that.
“So it’s about sharing knowledge of history, that’s associated with not just Gulf Station but lots of pioneering properties.”
The National Trust acquired stewardship of the property in 1976 and restored its buildings and cottage gardens, preserving this significant property for the education and enjoyment of future generations.
About 15 volunteers come to Gulf Station to look after the property every Thursday.
Ms Leadbeater said volunteers arrived early in the morning and left around about two or three o’clock.
“They all have their particular interest in the property,“ she said.
“Some of them are interested in the archives and the information that we have on-site about the history of the property, others are interested in preserving the homestead so they might do cleaning and gardening, we also have a crew of gardeners who maintain their heritage garden.”
“Another important job is mowing, they mow a lot of grass all the time and we’ve also got some Clydesdale horses on the side and sheep and some chooks, so they all need to be cared for and looked after as well.”
The volunteers work with National Trust and Heritage Victoria to make sure they keep the property to preserve it in the best condition for the future.
Tickets can be purchased online from the National Trust website, www.nationaltrust.org.au/event/gulf-station-heritage-festival.
