The Huttons and Cooring Yering (part two)

In May 1874 Eleonora Hutton and the rest of the family came out to Australia on the ship, Northumberland, six months after William Forbes Hutton's return from England. William had trouble finding a house big enough for his family. Initially they lived in a large house, Blythswood in Kew. There would have been some structure at Cooring Yering as George and William obviously lived on the property, but it was not suitable accommodation for William’s family.

William would have divided his time between the two properties while the house, Cooring Yering, was built. David Mitchell built the two storey, solid brick house with corrugated iron roof and approximately 30 rooms. The exact date that the house, Cooring Yering, was built is unknown but the rate-book entry for 1884-85 has a separate entry for a residence. Cooring Yering was therefore probably built, if not completed, in 1883. A photograph of the house with virtually no garden was taken in 1885.

 

Cooring Yering was a large house built for a large family. William Forbes Hutton and his wife Eleonora had ten children.

The Yarra Ranges Heritage Database describes the building as  - A two storey 35 roomed Victorian mansion of solid brick - cement rendered. Corrugated iron roof. The statement of significance reads - The largest homestead ever built in the region. One of the grandiose vineyard homesteads of the 1880's. Very interesting architecturally. The present cement render is a modern addition.

David Mitchell built the two storey, solid brick house with corrugated iron roof and approximately 30 rooms. The exact date that the house, Cooring Yering, was built is unknown but the ratebook entry for 1884-85 has a separate entry for a residence . The Sands and McDougall entries indicate that the Huttons sold Blythswood in 1883 keeping the second property, Rockingham, until 1886. In his account George Hutton mentioned that William sold Blythswood to David Syme. Checking Sands and McDougall reveals that David Syme had a residence in Carson Court from 1883. Cooring Yering was therefore probably built, if not completed, in 1883. A photograph of the house with virtually no garden was taken in 1885.

We know from George Hutton’s notes and from the ratebooks that shortly after acquiring the Cooring Yering property, William purchased land at Rowe’s Mount and land known as Jamieson’s. An early map of the area shows that H Jamieson owned land in Section 29 in 1860 – this may have been the land referred to as Jamieson’s. I have not yet been able to identify the location of the land known as Rowe’s Mount, but it was probably close to the other properties. Adding to the confusion is references to Rosemount or Rosemount Estate instead of Rowe’s Mount – Rosemount is thought to be another property altogether. An example of this is the following piece from the local paper – “Graziers wanted for portion of Rosemount Estate known as Colonel Hutton’s paddock. Well watered and securely fenced. One shilling per week. Every care but no responsibility. Apply T Williams Castella Street Lilydale”. Rowe’s Mount was possibly near Bald Hill.

The ratebooks also show that from 1873-74 to 1875-76 William owned another 189 acres leased to James T Cashin, a miller. This land was later absorbed into William’s property. The ratebooks also show that William leased a small parcel of land to Chinese market gardeners – Lee Hoy and Tun Key.

The ratebook entries are confusing as the amounts of land are sometimes listed separately and are sometimes combined. Each entry depends on the information provided at the time and may not always be accurate – such as the entry for 1873-74 when George is listed as the landowner when William was in England. From 1876-77 there are two entries – one for 238 acres and the second for 1,371 acres. From 1879-80 there was only one entry - 1,607 acres. From 1883-84 additional small parcels of land were purchased. In the late 1880s some of the land was sold with entries being 540 acres plus house and 322 acres.

When Eleonora Hutton died in 1900 the entry for 540 acres plus house was crossed out and amended to 387 acres. The name Robert Black was added. Robert Black also purchased the 482 acres at Rowe’s Mount. As the entry for the next year shows, Walter and Maurice Hutton retained 149 acres including the vineyard on Victoria Road.