WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.379 You know, we often treat old buildings like they're 00:00:03.379 --> 00:00:05.379 just... Like background characters? Yeah, exactly. 00:00:05.559 --> 00:00:07.480 Like background characters in a movie. You probably 00:00:07.480 --> 00:00:09.599 drive past them every single day on your commute, 00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:13.619 and maybe you notice a high fence or a manicured 00:00:13.619 --> 00:00:16.620 hedge or a fancy chimney stack. But you never 00:00:16.620 --> 00:00:19.039 really stop to think about the actual script 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:21.160 those walls have been following for a hundred 00:00:21.160 --> 00:00:25.160 years. Right. We just see them as static, unchanging. 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:27.420 Which is honestly the biggest illusion in architecture. 00:00:27.629 --> 00:00:29.809 Because if you actually stop and peel back the 00:00:29.809 --> 00:00:31.570 layers you look at the deeds the renovations 00:00:31.570 --> 00:00:34.710 the name changes A single building can essentially 00:00:34.710 --> 00:00:37.149 narrate the entire history of a city. I love 00:00:37.149 --> 00:00:40.229 that. It's not just bricks and mortar. It's a 00:00:40.229 --> 00:00:43.109 container for economic booms, social unrest and 00:00:43.109 --> 00:00:45.549 private tragedies. And that is exactly what we 00:00:45.549 --> 00:00:48.350 are doing today for this deep dive. We are looking 00:00:48.350 --> 00:00:51.729 at one specific property that serves as this 00:00:51.729 --> 00:00:54.109 this perfect timeline for the city of Ballarat. 00:00:54.390 --> 00:00:57.490 So we're diving into the historical records and 00:00:57.490 --> 00:01:00.289 the Wikipedia entry for 810 Lighter Street in 00:01:00.289 --> 00:01:02.579 the Soldiers Hill area. It's such a fascinating 00:01:02.579 --> 00:01:05.260 choice. This is a property that has had three 00:01:05.260 --> 00:01:07.680 distinct lives, three totally distinct names 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:10.420 and a revolving door of owners that takes us 00:01:10.420 --> 00:01:13.000 from the gold rush right up to modern social 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:15.540 care. We're talking about a house first called 00:01:15.540 --> 00:01:18.680 Esleta. which then became Valmoral and is finally 00:01:18.680 --> 00:01:22.140 known today as Ayres House. And our mission here 00:01:22.140 --> 00:01:25.159 is to unpack how this one single house mirrors 00:01:25.159 --> 00:01:28.579 the massive shift from wild colonial wealth to 00:01:28.579 --> 00:01:31.099 industrial manufacturing and then finally to 00:01:31.099 --> 00:01:33.359 public service. Plus we have some excellent mysteries 00:01:33.359 --> 00:01:35.780 to solve along the way. I mean, we have rioting 00:01:35.780 --> 00:01:37.939 miners, we have hidden female owners who held 00:01:37.939 --> 00:01:40.859 the power behind the scenes. and a very clever 00:01:40.859 --> 00:01:42.859 acronym that explains one of those strange names. 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:44.560 We really do. But before we get to the house 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:46.579 itself, we have to look at the dirt it sits on 00:01:46.579 --> 00:01:49.260 because Soldiers Hill wasn't always the prestigious 00:01:49.260 --> 00:01:52.319 leafy suburb you see today. No, not at all. If 00:01:52.319 --> 00:01:55.420 we rewind to the 1880s, the source material describes 00:01:55.420 --> 00:01:58.239 this area as effectively open country on the 00:01:58.239 --> 00:02:00.780 outskirts of Ballarat. That's right. This was 00:02:00.780 --> 00:02:03.659 the frontier of the city's expansion. And the 00:02:03.659 --> 00:02:05.719 people staking a claim out there weren't just 00:02:05.719 --> 00:02:08.080 looking for a home. They were speculating on 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:10.759 the future of the city. Which brings us to the 00:02:10.759 --> 00:02:13.639 first people to really grab hold of this land. 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:16.819 The Vale Brothers. William Mountford Kinsey Vale. 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:19.960 and his brother, Richard Taylor Vale. Right. 00:02:20.180 --> 00:02:23.680 Now, the records list their profession as booksellers 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:26.460 and newsagents. Yeah. Which, to a modern ear, 00:02:26.680 --> 00:02:29.560 sounds a bit quaint, like they ran a little shop 00:02:29.560 --> 00:02:31.620 on the corner selling greeting cards or something. 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:33.840 But that's not really the full picture at all. 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:36.919 In the Victorian era, being a major bookseller 00:02:36.919 --> 00:02:39.400 didn't mean you just sold paperbacks. You actually 00:02:39.400 --> 00:02:41.740 controlled the flow of information. Wow, okay. 00:02:41.759 --> 00:02:44.159 You were importing newspapers, journals, and 00:02:44.159 --> 00:02:47.569 political tracks straight from London. In a way, 00:02:47.770 --> 00:02:49.569 they were kind of the internet service providers 00:02:49.569 --> 00:02:52.030 of the 19th century. That makes so much sense, 00:02:52.129 --> 00:02:54.050 which explains why they weren't just shopkeepers, 00:02:54.270 --> 00:02:56.699 they were members of parliament. Exactly. Both 00:02:56.699 --> 00:02:59.460 William and Richard served as members of the 00:02:59.460 --> 00:03:01.819 Legislative Assembly MLAs for Ballarat West, 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:05.419 so they had serious political clout. And they 00:03:05.419 --> 00:03:08.139 absolutely used that clout to secure this land. 00:03:08.740 --> 00:03:11.659 The records show William Vail bought the original 00:03:11.659 --> 00:03:15.060 Crown Grant in 1886. Just to pause there real 00:03:15.060 --> 00:03:16.900 quick, a Crown Grant is basically buying the 00:03:16.900 --> 00:03:19.159 land directly from the government, right? Like 00:03:19.159 --> 00:03:21.379 the very first bead. Correct. It's the initial 00:03:21.379 --> 00:03:24.319 transfer of land. from the monarch or the colonial 00:03:24.319 --> 00:03:27.520 government to a private individual. And do you 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:29.460 know the price? I read this and I couldn't believe 00:03:29.460 --> 00:03:32.580 it. Ten pounds, five shillings. Ten pounds. For 00:03:32.580 --> 00:03:35.020 a massive allotment in what became one of the 00:03:35.020 --> 00:03:38.060 best streets in Ballarat, that feels less like 00:03:38.060 --> 00:03:40.020 a real estate purchase and more like highway 00:03:40.020 --> 00:03:42.520 robbery. Well, it was highly speculative. You 00:03:42.520 --> 00:03:44.539 have to remember, grand houses like Trelawny 00:03:44.539 --> 00:03:46.699 and Lynn Lithgow were just starting to pop up 00:03:46.699 --> 00:03:49.389 in the area. Buying this land was a statement. 00:03:49.729 --> 00:03:52.530 A statement of arrival. Yes. It was about signaling 00:03:52.530 --> 00:03:54.909 that Soldiers Hill was transitioning from open 00:03:54.909 --> 00:03:57.830 bush to the premier address for the Ballarat 00:03:57.830 --> 00:04:00.990 elite. It was very much a watch the space maneuver. 00:04:01.189 --> 00:04:03.629 So the veils hold the land. They keep it in the 00:04:03.629 --> 00:04:05.729 family. William actually sells it to his brother 00:04:05.729 --> 00:04:08.469 Richard, but they don't build the mansion we're 00:04:08.469 --> 00:04:10.990 discussing today. No, they just set the stage. 00:04:11.610 --> 00:04:14.490 The real story kicks off around 1900 when the 00:04:14.490 --> 00:04:16.459 property changes hands again. Enter the Bryant 00:04:16.459 --> 00:04:19.740 family, specifically Joseph Bryant or Joe, as 00:04:19.740 --> 00:04:21.819 the historical record sometimes call him. And 00:04:21.819 --> 00:04:23.779 this is where we really see the economic engine 00:04:23.779 --> 00:04:26.579 of Ballarat shift. The Vails were merchants and 00:04:26.579 --> 00:04:30.079 politicians, but Joe Bryant, he was a mine manager. 00:04:30.360 --> 00:04:32.740 He made his money in the gold mines at Clunes. 00:04:32.860 --> 00:04:35.379 This is that classic gold money era. But we aren't 00:04:35.379 --> 00:04:37.660 talking about panning for gold in a creek anymore. 00:04:38.220 --> 00:04:41.250 By the late 19th century, this was. Deep lead 00:04:41.250 --> 00:04:43.230 mining. Which is a term that gets thrown around 00:04:43.230 --> 00:04:45.610 a lot in these historical documents. Deep lead 00:04:45.610 --> 00:04:48.069 basically means the gold is buried way underground 00:04:48.069 --> 00:04:50.389 in ancient river beds, right? River beds that 00:04:50.389 --> 00:04:52.470 have been covered over by lava flows or sediment. 00:04:52.750 --> 00:04:54.410 Exactly. You can't just get to it with a shovel. 00:04:54.569 --> 00:04:57.470 You need heavy machinery, steam engines, engineering 00:04:57.470 --> 00:04:59.990 crews, and massive capital investment. Right. 00:05:00.069 --> 00:05:02.110 It's corporate mining. And Joseph Bryant was 00:05:02.110 --> 00:05:04.709 a manager of that giant corporate machine. So 00:05:04.709 --> 00:05:07.430 Joe Bryant buys the land and he commissions this 00:05:07.430 --> 00:05:12.120 house. Construction runs from 1901 to 1905. And 00:05:12.120 --> 00:05:14.939 the architecture... Let's unpack this, because 00:05:14.939 --> 00:05:17.540 the local papers at the time describe the style 00:05:17.540 --> 00:05:21.279 as American Swiss. It is such a bizarre marketing 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:23.220 term. I mean, I'm trying to picture American 00:05:23.220 --> 00:05:26.860 Swiss. Is it a log cabin with a cuckoo clock? 00:05:27.160 --> 00:05:28.839 Honestly, it sounds like a type of cheese. It 00:05:28.839 --> 00:05:31.319 really does. And it didn't stick, thankfully. 00:05:31.560 --> 00:05:33.319 Looking at the photos in the standing structure 00:05:33.319 --> 00:05:35.910 today... We can clearly classify it as Federation 00:05:35.910 --> 00:05:39.089 style, which was the Australian version of the 00:05:39.089 --> 00:05:41.990 Adordian era in England. It was very confident, 00:05:42.129 --> 00:05:44.529 very red brick. But it does have those specific 00:05:44.529 --> 00:05:47.329 details. The sources mention cream painted decorative 00:05:47.329 --> 00:05:50.389 timbers, elaborate fretwork, tall chimneys, and 00:05:50.389 --> 00:05:52.269 lead light windows. Yeah, and that's where the 00:05:52.269 --> 00:05:54.470 Swiss Confusion probably came from. That timber 00:05:54.470 --> 00:05:57.069 fretwork, the wooden lace on the verandas, it 00:05:57.069 --> 00:05:58.649 can look a little bit like a Swiss Chelle if 00:05:58.649 --> 00:06:01.089 you squint. And the American part? That likely 00:06:01.089 --> 00:06:03.610 refers to the complex roof lines and the use 00:06:03.610 --> 00:06:06.490 of shingles on the gables. But really, it's a 00:06:06.490 --> 00:06:09.269 uniquely Australian adaptation. It's built to 00:06:09.269 --> 00:06:12.509 look grand, but it has those deep verandas specifically 00:06:12.509 --> 00:06:16.110 to handle the harsh Australian sun. It was definitely 00:06:16.110 --> 00:06:19.050 built to impress. The interior was designed around 00:06:19.050 --> 00:06:21.930 a central skylight foyer with rooms radiating 00:06:21.930 --> 00:06:25.579 outward. But here is the first little mystery, 00:06:25.740 --> 00:06:28.339 or the aha moment of the deed history. The name 00:06:28.339 --> 00:06:31.500 of the house? Yes. They called it Eslita. E -S 00:06:31.500 --> 00:06:35.899 -L -E -T -A. It sounds so exotic. Spanish, maybe? 00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:38.000 It does sound like that, but it's actually a 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:40.540 very clever piece of family puzzle making. I 00:06:40.540 --> 00:06:42.920 love this part. So Joseph Bryant had children 00:06:42.920 --> 00:06:45.279 from his first marriage and his second marriage. 00:06:45.620 --> 00:06:47.600 If you look at the family tree in the Nos, you 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:49.740 see the names from his first marriage. Ethel, 00:06:49.779 --> 00:06:52.579 Selina, Lillian, Elizabeth, Thomas. And then 00:06:52.579 --> 00:06:54.620 you add the daughter from his second marriage. 00:06:55.060 --> 00:06:57.939 Ada. Ethel, Selina, Lillian, Elizabeth, Thomas, 00:06:58.339 --> 00:07:00.420 Ada. You put the first letters together and you 00:07:00.420 --> 00:07:03.410 get Esleta. It's an acronym. Which is incredibly 00:07:03.410 --> 00:07:06.629 sweet, but also feels very possessive in a way. 00:07:06.949 --> 00:07:09.850 It's stamping the family DNA directly onto the 00:07:09.850 --> 00:07:12.029 building itself. It suggests a very strong focus 00:07:12.029 --> 00:07:15.470 on lineage. But speaking of lineage and names, 00:07:15.550 --> 00:07:18.310 there is a very strange detail in the title deeds 00:07:18.310 --> 00:07:21.009 regarding the actual ownership of Esleida. This 00:07:21.009 --> 00:07:23.850 is the ownership twist. Right. So Joseph Bryant 00:07:23.850 --> 00:07:26.250 is the patriarch. He's the wealthy mine manager. 00:07:26.870 --> 00:07:29.850 He commissioned the architect F .W. Turton, but 00:07:29.850 --> 00:07:33.180 he didn't own the house. No, he didn't. The records 00:07:33.180 --> 00:07:35.540 show that the property was legally sold to his 00:07:35.540 --> 00:07:38.300 eldest daughter, Ethel Ford Bryant, in 1900. 00:07:38.579 --> 00:07:41.060 She would have been about 22 at the time. Why 00:07:41.060 --> 00:07:43.319 would a 22 -year -old daughter hold the title 00:07:43.319 --> 00:07:45.579 instead of her wealthy parents? It's the question 00:07:45.579 --> 00:07:48.399 that keeps historians up at night. The sources 00:07:48.399 --> 00:07:50.939 don't give us a definitive answer in black and 00:07:50.939 --> 00:07:53.459 white. Well, we can certainly make some educated 00:07:53.459 --> 00:07:55.860 guesses. Because it was highly unusual for a 00:07:55.860 --> 00:07:58.259 daughter to hold the deed if the father was a 00:07:58.259 --> 00:08:00.740 live insolvent. Extremely unusual. Could it be 00:08:00.740 --> 00:08:02.899 asset protection? That is the most likely scenario 00:08:02.899 --> 00:08:04.980 by far. You have to look at where Joseph Bryant 00:08:04.980 --> 00:08:07.519 came from. The Bryant's didn't just move to Ballarat 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:09.680 for the lovely scenery. They were likely seeking 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:12.360 safety. Right. And this brings us to one of the 00:08:12.360 --> 00:08:14.459 most dramatic events in the source material, 00:08:15.079 --> 00:08:17.959 the Clunes riots. This plays out like a movie 00:08:17.959 --> 00:08:22.829 scene. It's 1873. Clunes, the Lothair mine dispute. 00:08:23.069 --> 00:08:25.750 It was a massive labor crisis. The mining companies 00:08:25.750 --> 00:08:27.430 were trying to break the power of the miners 00:08:27.430 --> 00:08:31.370 union. Their strategy was to import Chinese strike 00:08:31.370 --> 00:08:34.370 breakers to work for lower wages, which is a 00:08:34.370 --> 00:08:37.129 highly charged situation. And Joseph Bryant was 00:08:37.129 --> 00:08:39.350 the mine manager at the North Clunes mining company. 00:08:39.370 --> 00:08:41.350 He was the face of management. And the reaction 00:08:41.350 --> 00:08:43.669 from the town was visceral. You have to visualize 00:08:43.669 --> 00:08:47.190 this. The sources say a mob of miners accompanied 00:08:47.190 --> 00:08:50.309 by. And I quote, troops of women and children 00:08:50.309 --> 00:08:53.590 marched to the residences of the managers. Imagine 00:08:53.590 --> 00:08:56.269 the sound of that. Hundreds of boots on gravel 00:08:56.269 --> 00:08:58.409 marching up the hill to your front door. They 00:08:58.409 --> 00:09:00.970 went there to demand his resignation. It was 00:09:00.970 --> 00:09:03.370 an intimidation tactic. Plain and simple. Get 00:09:03.370 --> 00:09:07.309 out or else. But there's a nuance here. The mob 00:09:07.309 --> 00:09:09.809 actually spared Brian's house from destruction. 00:09:10.250 --> 00:09:12.909 Why him specifically? Because Brian had personally 00:09:12.909 --> 00:09:14.970 opposed bringing in the Chinese strikebreakers. 00:09:15.080 --> 00:09:17.679 He was a manager, yes, but he wasn't entirely 00:09:17.679 --> 00:09:19.860 aligned with the company directors on that specific 00:09:19.860 --> 00:09:22.299 strategy. Okay. He came out and told the mob 00:09:22.299 --> 00:09:24.419 he had been against it all along. Could they 00:09:24.419 --> 00:09:27.940 let him stay? But that kind of trauma, that tension, 00:09:28.659 --> 00:09:31.899 it lingers. It absolutely does. Even if the mob 00:09:31.899 --> 00:09:34.919 spares you today, what happens tomorrow? That 00:09:34.919 --> 00:09:37.299 tension likely motivated the family's move to 00:09:37.299 --> 00:09:39.179 the safety and the social status of Soldiers 00:09:39.179 --> 00:09:41.419 Hill in Ballarat. Isletto wasn't just a home. 00:09:41.529 --> 00:09:44.629 No, it was a fortress of respectability. And 00:09:44.629 --> 00:09:46.710 putting the house in his daughter's name, that 00:09:46.710 --> 00:09:48.590 might have been a way to ensure that if the union 00:09:48.590 --> 00:09:51.009 ever came for his assets, they couldn't touch 00:09:51.009 --> 00:09:54.250 the house. It's amazing how a calm suburban house 00:09:54.250 --> 00:09:58.169 can have such a chaotic backstory. So the Bryans 00:09:58.169 --> 00:10:00.289 have their time in Isleta, but as we move into 00:10:00.289 --> 00:10:04.389 the 1910s, the world changes and the house changes 00:10:04.389 --> 00:10:07.889 hands. We enter the industrial era. In 1912, 00:10:08.129 --> 00:10:10.490 the property is bought by Adam Lindsay Ronaldson. 00:10:10.769 --> 00:10:12.870 And this reflects a massive shift in where the 00:10:12.870 --> 00:10:14.610 money was coming from in Ballarat, doesn't it? 00:10:14.710 --> 00:10:16.830 The gold was getting harder to find. Absolutely. 00:10:17.049 --> 00:10:19.350 The gold rush was winding down. The new wealth 00:10:19.350 --> 00:10:21.409 was in manufacturing, making the machines that 00:10:21.409 --> 00:10:23.669 powered the country. Ronaldson was a partner 00:10:23.669 --> 00:10:25.710 in Ronaldson Brothers in Tippett. The sources 00:10:25.710 --> 00:10:28.710 list their products. Chaff cutters, grain crushers, 00:10:29.070 --> 00:10:32.480 and Austral brand oil engines. Now, for any listener 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:35.139 who doesn't spend their weekends on a farm, what 00:10:35.139 --> 00:10:37.559 exactly is a chaff cutter? It's a McQueen for 00:10:37.559 --> 00:10:40.299 cutting straw or hay into small pieces for feeding 00:10:40.299 --> 00:10:42.799 cattle and horses. That's pretty low tech to 00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:45.120 us now. Yeah. But in the early 20th century, 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:47.799 mechanized agriculture was the cutting edge. 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:51.039 It was the Silicon Valley of its day. And they're 00:10:51.039 --> 00:10:53.559 austral oil engines. These were internal combustion 00:10:53.559 --> 00:10:55.519 engines used to pump water and drive machinery 00:10:55.519 --> 00:10:58.330 all over Australia. So the house goes from a 00:10:58.330 --> 00:11:01.389 gold mine manager to a factory tycoon, and with 00:11:01.389 --> 00:11:04.909 the new owner comes a new name. Eseletta is out. 00:11:05.309 --> 00:11:08.649 Balmoral is in. Balmoral, a very regal Scottish 00:11:08.649 --> 00:11:11.980 name. It signals stability. Tradition. But the 00:11:11.980 --> 00:11:14.440 Ronaldson era at Balmoral was tragically short. 00:11:14.759 --> 00:11:17.600 It was. Adam Robinson bought the house in 1912, 00:11:17.620 --> 00:11:20.440 but he died in 1916. He barely had time to settle 00:11:20.440 --> 00:11:23.000 in. And this triggers a pattern we see a lot 00:11:23.000 --> 00:11:25.019 in these grand estates. And a shrinking footprint. 00:11:25.259 --> 00:11:28.159 Exactly. The patriarch dies and the estate is 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:30.139 too large or too expensive for the widow or the 00:11:30.139 --> 00:11:33.120 next generation to maintain. So they start selling 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:35.750 off the surrounding allotments. The grounds of 00:11:35.750 --> 00:11:38.049 Valmoral began to be carved up. We see a few 00:11:38.049 --> 00:11:40.549 owners pass through in this period. There's a 00:11:40.549 --> 00:11:42.830 Fanny Jolliffe who owned it briefly in the early 00:11:42.830 --> 00:11:45.909 1920s when the land was at its absolute smallest, 00:11:46.269 --> 00:11:49.070 just about an acre. Barely a shadow of the original 00:11:49.070 --> 00:11:52.129 Crown Grant. Right, but then someone comes along 00:11:52.129 --> 00:11:54.169 who tries to put the puzzle pieces back together. 00:11:54.590 --> 00:11:57.009 Arthur Richard Stewart. He buys the house in 00:11:57.009 --> 00:12:00.309 1922. And he's another really big personality 00:12:00.309 --> 00:12:02.690 in Ballarat history. He was a wealthy mill owner 00:12:02.690 --> 00:12:05.009 and a produce merchant. So again, sticking with 00:12:05.009 --> 00:12:07.250 that industrial and agricultural theme. But he 00:12:07.250 --> 00:12:09.649 was also a major civic figure. President of the 00:12:09.649 --> 00:12:12.309 Kreswick Shire and a two -term mayor of Ballarat. 00:12:12.429 --> 00:12:15.350 Wow. This house became a center of civic life 00:12:15.350 --> 00:12:18.690 under his watch. And he clearly loved the property 00:12:18.690 --> 00:12:21.389 because in 1929, he actually bought back the 00:12:21.389 --> 00:12:22.710 southern part of the allotment that had been 00:12:22.710 --> 00:12:24.809 sold off. Reunited the original land parcel? 00:12:24.990 --> 00:12:28.120 Yes, a total restoration of grandeur. The Stewards 00:12:28.120 --> 00:12:30.740 lived there until the late 1930s. It was a solid 00:12:30.740 --> 00:12:34.860 period of stability. But then, in 1937, the Lewis 00:12:34.860 --> 00:12:37.980 family moves in. Horace Laffer Lewis. And here 00:12:37.980 --> 00:12:41.779 we get a glimpse of the post -war reality. Horace 00:12:41.779 --> 00:12:44.600 was a World War I veteran, a signal engineer. 00:12:45.080 --> 00:12:47.360 The sources mention he had been gassed during 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:50.379 the war. Which is just a horrific detail to find 00:12:50.379 --> 00:12:53.460 in a property history. It really is. Mustard 00:12:53.460 --> 00:12:56.500 gas caused permanent respiratory damage. So you 00:12:56.500 --> 00:12:59.399 have this engineer, a professional man, but he's 00:12:59.399 --> 00:13:01.740 carrying the physical scars of the trenches. 00:13:01.980 --> 00:13:04.019 And very likely the psychological ones, too. 00:13:04.299 --> 00:13:07.059 But here's where history repeats itself. Remember 00:13:07.059 --> 00:13:09.639 how Ethel Bryant owned the house, not her father? 00:13:09.799 --> 00:13:12.080 Yep. Well, with the Lewises, it happens again. 00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:15.340 The public assumed Horace owned Balmoral. He 00:13:15.340 --> 00:13:17.360 was the man of the house. But looking at the 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:20.740 deeds, the legal owner was his wife, Minerva 00:13:20.740 --> 00:13:24.240 Lewis. Everyone called her Minnie. It is so fascinating 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:26.679 that in two of the major eras of this house, 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:29.919 the Bryant era and the Lewis era, the legal power 00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:32.600 lay completely with the women, despite the public 00:13:32.600 --> 00:13:34.899 face being the husband or father. It really forces 00:13:34.899 --> 00:13:37.000 us to question the standard historical narrative. 00:13:37.139 --> 00:13:38.960 We look at the directory, we see Horace Lewis, 00:13:39.220 --> 00:13:40.940 and we just assume he's the master of the domain. 00:13:41.059 --> 00:13:44.039 But many held the keys. Exactly. Was it to protect 00:13:44.039 --> 00:13:46.259 the asset from Horace's business liabilities? 00:13:46.860 --> 00:13:50.419 Or was it simply that Minnie had her own money? 00:13:50.700 --> 00:13:52.879 We don't know for sure, but it highlights a massive 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:56.139 blind spot in how we view property history. Minnie 00:13:56.139 --> 00:13:58.580 Lewis held onto the property for a long time, 00:13:58.679 --> 00:14:02.320 over 20 years. But in 1961, she makes a decision 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:05.240 that changes the house's destiny forever. She 00:14:05.240 --> 00:14:07.519 sells it. But not to another wealthy family. 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:10.289 No. She sells it to the Queen Elizabeth home, 00:14:10.549 --> 00:14:12.889 which is part of what we now call Ballarat Health 00:14:12.889 --> 00:14:18.870 Services. Isleta is gone. Balmoral is gone. The 00:14:18.870 --> 00:14:21.649 house is renamed Heirs House. Named to recognize 00:14:21.649 --> 00:14:24.009 the contributions of the Heirs family to the 00:14:24.009 --> 00:14:26.269 organization. Right. And this marks the final 00:14:26.269 --> 00:14:28.950 transition from private luxury to public service. 00:14:29.090 --> 00:14:31.570 It started as a hostel, didn't it? Yes. From 00:14:31.570 --> 00:14:34.009 the early 60s until the mid 80s, it was a hostel 00:14:34.009 --> 00:14:36.690 for women with intellectual disabilities. And 00:14:36.690 --> 00:14:38.909 more recently, it has evolved into a center for 00:14:38.909 --> 00:14:41.190 people with memory loss and dementia. There is 00:14:41.190 --> 00:14:43.549 something incredibly poignant about that specific 00:14:43.549 --> 00:14:46.860 use to me. How so? Well, think about it. This 00:14:46.860 --> 00:14:50.120 house is a literal time capsule. It's built on 00:14:50.120 --> 00:14:52.720 the memories of the gold rush, the labor riots, 00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:56.139 the manufacturing boom, the mayors, the families. 00:14:56.600 --> 00:14:59.100 And now its purpose is to provide a sanctuary 00:14:59.100 --> 00:15:01.220 for people who are struggling to hold on to their 00:15:01.220 --> 00:15:03.720 own memories. That is a very profound connection. 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:06.059 And there is actually a physical feature of the 00:15:06.059 --> 00:15:08.799 property that reinforces that sanctuary feel. 00:15:09.019 --> 00:15:12.200 The walled garden. Yes. The sources make a special 00:15:12.200 --> 00:15:15.049 point of this. Walled gardens are pretty rare 00:15:15.049 --> 00:15:17.529 for heritage homes in Ballarat. Because usually 00:15:17.529 --> 00:15:19.289 you wanted your garden visible to the street, 00:15:19.509 --> 00:15:21.590 right? To show off your wealth. Exactly. But 00:15:21.590 --> 00:15:24.330 this was enclosed. Originally, it was a productive 00:15:24.330 --> 00:15:26.509 space used for growing fruit and vegetables for 00:15:26.509 --> 00:15:29.809 the household. A purely utilitarian space. But 00:15:29.809 --> 00:15:32.970 in its current life as Heir's House, that function 00:15:32.970 --> 00:15:35.269 has flipped. It has become a therapeutic space. 00:15:36.009 --> 00:15:38.919 Because it's walled, It provides a safe, enclosed 00:15:38.919 --> 00:15:41.519 environment for residents with dementia who might 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:44.519 be prone to wandering. They can be outside, in 00:15:44.519 --> 00:15:47.179 the sun, among the plants, without any of the 00:15:47.179 --> 00:15:49.889 risk. It's a wonderful example of adaptive reuse. 00:15:50.429 --> 00:15:52.490 Instead of knocking the old mansion down to build 00:15:52.490 --> 00:15:55.110 a sterile clinic, the health service adapted 00:15:55.110 --> 00:15:57.490 the existing structure. They kept the Federation 00:15:57.490 --> 00:15:59.570 architecture, they kept the garden, but they 00:15:59.570 --> 00:16:01.529 changed the mission. It really is a survivor. 00:16:01.789 --> 00:16:03.169 I mean, just think about the journey we just 00:16:03.169 --> 00:16:05.350 walked through. It's a complete narrative arc 00:16:05.350 --> 00:16:07.929 of the Australian experience. We started with 00:16:07.929 --> 00:16:10.980 the veils speculating on open land. the bookseller 00:16:10.980 --> 00:16:14.139 Barron's. Then the Bryant's building a sledda 00:16:14.139 --> 00:16:16.980 that American Swiss dream home escaping the tension 00:16:16.980 --> 00:16:19.419 of the Clunes riots. Then the Ronaldson's bringing 00:16:19.419 --> 00:16:21.679 the industrial age to the doorstep with their 00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:24.279 chaff cutters and oil engines, giving it that 00:16:24.279 --> 00:16:28.039 regal name Balmoral. The Stewart's putting the 00:16:28.039 --> 00:16:30.399 land back together and bringing civic pride to 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:33.710 the address. And the Lewis's. with many quietly 00:16:33.710 --> 00:16:35.929 holding the deeds while Horace recovered from 00:16:35.929 --> 00:16:38.509 the war. And finally, the community taking it 00:16:38.509 --> 00:16:41.029 over as Iris House to care for the vulnerable. 00:16:41.389 --> 00:16:43.590 It completely validates what we said at the very 00:16:43.590 --> 00:16:46.269 beginning. If you look closely at one building, 00:16:46.350 --> 00:16:49.090 you see the whole city. You see the shift from 00:16:49.090 --> 00:16:52.110 gold to industry to the service economy. You 00:16:52.110 --> 00:16:55.110 see the shifts from private exclusion to public 00:16:55.110 --> 00:16:58.470 care. And you see the secrets, too. The acronyms 00:16:58.470 --> 00:17:01.269 hidden in the name, the wives holding the title 00:17:01.269 --> 00:17:03.870 deeds, while the husbands hold the public office. 00:17:04.069 --> 00:17:06.710 Indeed. It forces us to question what we see. 00:17:07.130 --> 00:17:09.710 Which brings us to the big takeaway for today. 00:17:10.190 --> 00:17:12.369 Next time you are driving through your own town 00:17:12.369 --> 00:17:16.049 and you pass one of those big, imposing, heritage 00:17:16.049 --> 00:17:18.769 listed homes. Don't just look at the pretty brickwork. 00:17:18.930 --> 00:17:21.470 Right. Ask yourself who actually owned it. Not 00:17:21.470 --> 00:17:23.990 just who lived there, or whose name is on the 00:17:23.990 --> 00:17:26.410 brass plaque out front, or which mayor threw 00:17:26.410 --> 00:17:28.660 parties there. Because as we saw with Ethel Bryant 00:17:28.660 --> 00:17:31.000 and Minnie Lewis, the official history, the public 00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:33.500 history, is often written by the occupants. But 00:17:33.500 --> 00:17:36.259 the legal reality, the power behind the scenes, 00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:39.039 might tell a completely different story. History 00:17:39.039 --> 00:17:40.920 is often written by the loudest voice in the 00:17:40.920 --> 00:17:43.200 room. But the truth is usually filed away in 00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:45.960 a dusty deed office somewhere. And sometimes 00:17:45.960 --> 00:17:47.960 the truth is just hiding in a clever acronym. 00:17:48.440 --> 00:17:50.519 Esleta. I'm never going to forget that. It's 00:17:50.519 --> 00:17:52.079 certainly better than American Swiss, that's 00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:54.180 for sure. Anything is better than that. Well, 00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:56.519 that is all we have time for on this deep dive 00:17:56.519 --> 00:17:59.720 into 810 Lager Street. We really hope this inspires 00:17:59.720 --> 00:18:01.640 you to look a little closer at the buildings 00:18:01.640 --> 00:18:04.279 in your own neighborhood. You never know what 00:18:04.279 --> 00:18:06.680 you might find. Keep asking questions. Thanks 00:18:06.680 --> 00:18:09.180 for listening. We'll catch you on the next deep 00:18:09.180 --> 00:18:09.500 dive.