KELPIE COUNTRY

Warrock in western Victoria is the birthplace of Australia’s beloved working dog, the kelpie

- SANDY GUY

IN AN ALMOST-HIDDEN dale in the secluded Glenelg River valley, in south-western Victoria, lies a cluster of buildings that seems, at first sight, to resemble a small 19th-century village. Set amid hilly pastureland, where sheep and cattle graze, in a valley studded with huge, gnarled river red gums, the Warrock homestead complex is a historical pastoral settlement that seems frozen in time. The heritagelisted property has an extraordinary collection of 36 remaining buildings – including stables, cottages, dining rooms, storerooms, workers’ quarters, woolsheds, a smoking house and a conservatory – that were constructed between 1844 and the mid-1860s.

Warrock lies in the heart of what explorer Major Thomas Livingstone Mitchell named Australia Felix – Latin for “fortunate” or “happy southern land” – when he led an expedition through western Victoria in 1836. Warrock station and its homestead complex are the life’s work of George Robertson, who acquired the vast 4200ha property, located about 26km north of Casterton and roughly 380km west of Melbourne (both by road), in 1844.

Born in Scotland in 1807, George, a cabinet-maker, sailed to Australia in 1840, following in the footsteps of his cousin John Robertson, who had settled a property not far from Warrock called Wando Vale. Living first in a one-room hut of rough-sawn timber, George quickly set about building his estate in the bush. The property eventually consisted of 57 buildings, constructed using mostly local timber, with rainwater stored in 15 underground brick-lined tanks. It was a phenomenal undertaking for a cabinetmaker and the labourers who worked at the property.