Barwon Park Mansion becomes a movie star

WINCHELSEA’S inchelsea’s Barwon Park Mansion has recently found a global audience, with the historic property emerging as an increasingly popular filming location.

The late-19th century estate was once home to Thomas and Elizabeth Austin – the latter a founder of Austin Hospital and Austin Homes in Geelong – and today welcomes visitors year-round for tours and events.

Filmmaker Mia de Rauch built her short film around the National Trust property, saying the mansion itself shaped the project from the outset.

“For me, the mansion is everything,” she said. “I literally named the film after the place.

Barwon Park Mansion has become the set of multiple recent films, including Mia de Rauch’s ‘Barwon Mansion’. Photo: Mia de Rauch.

“The house itself is actually one of the characters.”

De Rauch said she was determined to preserve the home’s authentic interior, seeing the project as both a tribute to the building and to the National Trust’s heritage work.

“I was dead set on not changing a thing,” she said. “It was an ode to the house, and a little bit like an ode to what National Trust is able to do to save historic buildings as well.”

Although set in the present day, de Rauch’s film draws on the mansion’s history to give the story a deeper sense of connection.

Mia de Rauch’s story is centred around the mansion which plays its own role in her short film. Photo: Mia de Rauch.

“I wanted to use the history of the house to show that this story had been playing out for generations in that building,” she said.

She also said the project offered an opportunity to broaden perceptions of the mansion’s history.

Filmmaker Tommi Krasic also used Barwon Park Mansion as the backdrop for his Spider-Man fan film, transforming the space into multiple settings.

He said the mansion’s interior was ideal for the project, with different parts of the property helping the team create several locations from one site.

Behind the scenes of ‘Spiderman: Seasons of Fate’ in Barwon Park Mansion. Photo: Tommi Krasic.

“Honestly, the interior was pretty much golden to what we wanted,” he said.

On 13 June, the National Trust and Geelong Library will host a panel featuring four Geelong filmmakers – de Rauch, Krasic, Ben Whimpey, who has also filmed at Barwon Park Mansion, and Roy Maloy.

National Trust secretary Linda Carr said the event will be about showing that heritage buildings can play, while introducing younger audiences to the region’s history.

“We want to show young people that Geelong has an enormous heritage,” she said.