Subdivision plans for historic Claremont House

A PERMANENT heritage overlay is likely for the 165-year-old Claremont Homestead in Waurn Ponds that narrowly avoided demolition in 2020, however subdivision plans for the site have been lodged with council.

Recognised as having regional significance over 20 years ago, the recommendations were never acted on and one of the few remaining examples of Victorian Georgian architecture in the area was almost lost when an application to demolish the property was submitted to the City of Greater Geelong (COGG) in 2020, prompting authorities to intervene.

Placing an interim heritage overlay on the homestead while permanent protections were sought, the state Minister for Planning Richard Wynne took a swipe at local planning authorities.

“The Geelong council only referred the homestead to the Planning Minister after they received an application to demolish it,” Mr Wynne said in September 2020.

“The Minister relies on local councils managing local planning matters in a timely fashion and this includes initiating the conservation and protection of local heritage places.”

The National Trust’s Geelong representative Jennifer Bantow was similarly exasperated at the time, “the owners quite understandably didn’t think there was a problem in demolishing it because heritage recommendations were never done.”

“So then it gets to a stressful situation where it becomes an emergency, which is what happened with Claremont.”

While the homestead, connected outbuildings and a large Norfolk Island Pine tree were saved, Ms Bantow lamented that not all was spared, an apple orchard dating back to the foundation of the homestead has since been razed.

Ms Bantow further worries that the property’s current owners plan to carve up the site, with an application currently before COGG for a five-lot subdivision of the land, and local zoning rules allowing for a maximum building height of 11 metres that she believes will crowd out the historic homestead.

“Heritage properties like this one, which was a rural homestead, are enhanced if they have some space around them,” Ms Bantow said.

With an interim heritage overlay on the site due to expire in July this year, COGG has submitted planning amendments that include a permanent heritage overlay on the homestead to the Planning Minister for approval.

Claremont was designed by local architects Shaw and Dowden, and built in 1857 for Thomas Powell, an Irish carpenter who became a successful businessman and then farmer.

It became the home to four generations of the Baum family from 1894 for over 116 years, with descendants later bequeathing some of the 99-hectare farm to the public to establish The Vineyard Reserve, later renamed Baum Park in honour of the family.