The special places of McCrae

McCrae on the coast between Dromana and Rosebud has two special historical places –McCrae Homestead and an 1883 lighthouse.

Victoria’s oldest timber house, McCrae Homestead holds a unique place in the story of European settlement of the region and is one of few colonial properties on the Peninsula open to the public. The homestead at 11 Beverley Rd, McCrae, was built in 1844 on Arthur’s Seat Run, the largest lease in the colony at 8296ha (20,500 acres or 33 square miles).

Its value is enhanced by diaries, music books and paintings left by the homestead’s designer and original resident, Georgiana McCrae. She wrote that the family had a mutually respectful relationship with local Bunurong/Boon Wurrung families, who camped nearby.

The homestead is an amazing time capsule and was donated to the National Trust in 1970, one of three trust homestead properties in the region –the others being The Briars Park at Mount Martha and Mulberry Hill at Langwarrin South.

McCrae Homestead is open on Saturdays from 11am-3.30pm; closed in July and August. Entry is $10, concession $7, children $4.

Meanwhile, McCrae Lighthouse is looking like a new pin nowadays – a big pin admittedly, as it’s Victoria’s tallest lighthouse at 33.5m. Built in 1874 in the UK of riveted steel plates, shipped to Port Phillip and erected in 1883, it was renovated last year at a cost of $1 million from Heritage Victoria. The light guided ships into and out of Port Phillip for 111 years. It was decommissioned in 1994 when new navigational aids were installed.

Heritage-listed in 1998, it is lit at night to commemorate occasions such as Christmas, New Year’s Eve and Australia Day as well as in colours for Autism Awareness Day, Red Nose Day, Blue Ribbon Day and Pink Ribbon Day.

The lighthouse is closed to the public but there is a long-term plan for tours. It is in Lighthouse Reserve, 676 Point Nepean Rd, McCrae. Nearby is a good beach, parking, picnic areas, and restaurants and cafes.

Image above: McCrae Homestead was built in 1844 with drop slab walls of local timber and chimney bricks brought down from Melbourne by sea.