Blackwood Homestead

Charles James Tyres provides the researcher with a cartographic map of the landscape as it would have looked to James Ritchie as he conducted his survey in 1841. Geographic features such as Mount Sturgeon and the note describing the land as ‘Very Fine Country’ would have made settling in the area an attractive option for prospective land holders at that time.

The Victorian heritage listed Blackwood homestead is recognised for its architectural significance (1). Western District Ritchie pastoralist dynasty founder James Ritchie named the site ‘Blackwood’, in recognition of the stands of Blackwood trees on the property. The site has been renovated several times and has changed hands over many generations of the Ritchie family since the 1840s, except for a short period prior to WWI. It was returned to Ritchie ownership in 1916 and was sold to overseas investors in 2014. Records held at the University of Melbourne Archives are testimony to its significance as a hub for the family and as a seat of political and economic power in the Western District during the boom days of wool industry in Victoria. The site includes the original two-roomed homestead built for James, a second larger bluestone homestead, woolshed and outbuildings built in the 1860s for Daniel Ritchie and his family, and a third homestead, stables and grounds designed in the Picturesque Aesthetic style by Butler and Ussher Architects in 1892 for Daniel’s son R.B Ritchie (2). Researchers in the work of Butler and Ussher Architects are directed to the Clements Langford Pty Ltd collection which holds an image of the Guthridge and Company Melbourne.