The house that Thomas built

Such a beautiful house, Werribee Park Mansion, with such tragic tales as part of its very fabric. Built by Thomas Chirnside and his brother Andrew as they were both approaching their sixties, Werribee Park was seen as a reflection of the success of their pastoral ventures to that time, and was one of the most extensive and exceptional homes ever built in Australia. But it was much more than that. At the age of twenty-four Thomas could hardly have known when he set out from his home in Scotland with just a couple of hundred pounds in his pocket to begin a new life in the colonies that he would become one of the greatest landowners in the history of Australia, or that he would build a house like no other for the only woman he had ever loved.

Thomas was driven. Within months of landing he bought sheep on the Murrumbidgee but left them to graze as a drought set in. A dicey step. Soon after, he collected Andrew from his ship and together they bought cattle. They drove them overland to the markets in Adelaide selling them there successfully when many others had failed. The gods were still smiling.  Rains fell, and on his return Thomas’s sheep made good. He took over a run he found being abandoned, then he bought a station, then other stations so he and Andrew reared cattle and steadily grew their wealth.  Andrew was the quiet one. Thomas was the gruff one. 

Frequently Thomas would visit Scotland. He imported red deer for his hunt from the deer stock owned by Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband. He also imported the foxes. To be healthy, Thomas believed, one had to ride to hounds. He loved thoroughbreds and became an expert at horse flesh, importing mares and stallions to improve his racing stock. His racing achievements were legendary, including winning the 1874 Melbourne cup with Haricot. He would not work on Sundays, nor would he allow work on any of his properties on the Sabbath. His feelings ran deep. 

On one of his trips back to Scotland he fell deeply in love with his first cousin, Mary Begbie.  But he arrived back in Australia, months later, without her. She had not accepted him, though he must have felt there was hope, for when Andrew made his first visit back to Scotland some time later, Thomas begged him to bring Mary back with him,  any way he could. 

And Andrew did.  Andrew married Mary whilst in Scotland, and brought her out to Australia once their first child, Mary Matilda, was born. 

Thomas was never to marry. But he soon set about building Mary a home. It was to be a place of serenity and peace, a fitting tribute to Mary. Thus Werribee Park Mansion was conceived, adding to the extensive portfolio of properties that the Chirnside brothers already owned throughout Victoria and the other states. It took three years to build, drew on the best architectural skill and craftsmanship available at the time, and when finished held sixty grand rooms of lavish proportion and style.

Andrew and Mary and their three children moved in, then beseeched Thomas to join them there. Eventually, he did.  But his health was deteriorating. Given to spells of melancholia Thomas was often acutely depressed. He sought treatment for this. But to no avail. During this time he transferred funds out of his name into the name of family members. Then, imagined himself bankrupt. He threatened suicide. Reality was fast fading for Thomas. 

One Saturday late in June, just after lunch with the family, it became all too much. Thomas took himself and a gun out into the grounds of the mansion. He set the butt into the dirt, took off his boot, and firmly set his toe over the trigger. His forehead bent to the muzzle, and very deliberately, Thomas blew his brains out. His life ended at 72.

Just three years later, when Andrew was 73, he died of a heart condition. Mary lived on at Werribee until 1908 when the flame of a candle in her bedroom torched her beautiful hair. She died as a result, a terrible and traumatic death. 

One son, George, inherited Werribee. The other, John, inherited stony land above the railway. John set about building himself a home. George took him to court to ensure he did not use the name “Werribee” in the title.  It had come to this. Werribee was put on the market in 1922, and sold. Which marked the end of any Chirnside ownership in the house that Thomas had specially built for Mary. 

Mary's house

Beautiful chandelier 

Lovely symmetry

Garlands for Mary