Banyule historic house in Heidelberg

Here are some photos of one of the first houses in Victoria which still survives. It was part of the Banyule Estate - now only 1 hectare - in Buckingham Drive, in the Melbourne suburb of Heidelburg. It is built in the Gothic Revival style made from stuccoed locally sourced hand-made bricks and sandstone foundations with walls 75 cm thick. This historic house on a very steep hill or bluff overlooks parklands that were once part of the original huge farm on the rich river floodplains. Now the view across the river is mostly houses... This "Banyule" house was built by Sydney explorer Joseph Hawdon on a 266-hectare estate. Hawdon transported livestock from Jugiong on the Murrumbidgee to Melbourne in 1836 blazing a trail for others. In 1838 he contracted the first mail run from Melbourne to Yass. Also that year he became the first to overland cattle from Howlong [NSW]to Adelaide. The next year he settled at Heidelberg and built the 'Banyule' homestead which was completed in 1846. The Hawdon family owned it until 1863. Banyule Homestead was on an estate of a huge area until the 1890s when it was only 750 acres. The original house was extended in 1907. In 1958 most of the 240 acres of the original estate land was sold and controversially developed into a housing estate. In 1974 it was bought and restored by the State Government and it became an affiliate art gallery of the National Gallery of Victoria between 1977 and 1985. In 1996 extensive alterations and additions were made. Currently 2006, this historically significant house is in private ownership and appears to be in rather an unkempt state:it is partly painted in different shades of yellow/white, with overgrown lawns and very few trees or shrubs, and an ugly high wire fence across a smaller gate and around the permimeter bordering on the Main Yarra Trail, public parklands. [Photos through wire]