Greystones stands out among the many grand, old mansions surviving from the extravagant days of the wealthy squatters.
On the market for the first time in almost 90 years, Greystones has survived as an agricultural powerhouse as one of the few intact sheep runs when Victoria was first settled.
Where most of the big Western District sheep runs were cut up for soldier settlement and whittled down to virtual hobby farm size, here is a property some believe is a national treasure.
Featuring a two-storey Gothic homestead, Greystones, near Bacchus Marsh, still takes in 4033 hectares (9965 acres) as a mighty sheep run founded in 1840.
It is one of the largest individual properties remaining within an hour of Melbourne.
This is why agents from Colliers are talking up not only the farming potential of the historic holding but its "unparalleled land banking opportunity".
Greystones has been a Victorian landmark since the bluestone mansion's construction in 1876.
Squatters Charles Griffith and James Moore established the Glenmore run at Rowsley, south-west of Bacchus Marsh in 1840.
In 1848, Moore sold his ownership share to Molesworth Greene who was the nephew of Griffith and in the 1870s, Greene subdivided Greystones from the larger Glenmore.
He successfully ran cattle, horses and 11,000 sheep across the property which became famed for its quality fine wool.
Such were the riches generated by the squatters, in just a few years Greene commissioned architects Lloyd Tayler and Frederick Wyatt in 1876 to design his home.
It was soon built along with stables, coach house, meat house, shearing shed and shearers quarters.
Greystones was bought by the remarkable butcher, pastoralist, innovator and businessman William Angliss in 1934 who re-joined the property with part of Glenmore.
Sir William later owned properties throughout NSW and Queensland with business interests around the world.
He jointly owned land with the cattle king Sir Sidney Kidman and at one stage owned a group of cattle stations in Queensland with the ability to run 80,000 head of cattle.
Angliss pioneered frozen meat and canning exports in Victoria and came to dominate the industry in the British Empire by the 1930s.
His name is still associated to Victoria's specialised training institute for foods, tourism and hospitality. Most of the state's apprentice butchers still train there.
Greystones is still owned by the Angliss descendants.
READ MORE: Kidman offloads four cattle stations
The mansion and property is historically significant as a still substantial pastoral property with a clear association with the development of nineteenth-century pastoral runs.
Greystones is included on the Victorian Heritage Register.
"The homestead, garden and parkland setting reflect the wealth, taste and lifestyle of pastoralists in Victoria in the late nineteenth century," the register records.
"The many intact outbuildings, designed and built to perform specific agricultural functions, clearly articulate the various activities required in the operation of a large pastoral property in the nineteenth and twentieth century."
The 13-bedroom homestead has four bathrooms, formal dining and sitting rooms, kitchen, and a separate two-bedroom self-contained unit, set within spectacular garden and parkland areas.
Several additional structural improvements include nine dwellings, stables, several machinery, hay and storage sheds, a six-stand shearing shed with adjoining sheep yards, shearers quarters, cattle yards, and an airstrip.
Greystones is also said to feature some of the best examples of the stonewaller's craft, featuring unusual regular sloping courses, possibly unique in Victoria.
It has a mix of land classes, including 1214ha of dryland cropping land, 2808ha of grazing land and 10ha of support land.
The property includes native and improved pastures, an all-weather laneway system, excellent fencing infrastructure and reticulated stock water to each paddock.
No suggested sale price has been provided and Greystones is being offered by expressions of interest from Colliers.
For more information contact James Beer on 0416 859565.
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Chris McLennan
ACM national rural property writer based in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria. Career journalist. Multi award winner.
ACM national rural property writer based in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria. Career journalist. Multi award winner.
