Bontharambo

 mansion / manor house / villa, interesting place

Bontharambo is indelibly linked with Joseph Docker, a pioneering settler of north-east Victoria and his family who have owned and occupied the property since 1838. The homestead itself is one of the finest in Australia.

The Reverend Joseph Docker (1793-1865) was born at Newby Head, Cumbria in England. After working as an assistant curate, Docker married and immigrated to Sydney in 1828. He became rector of St Matthew’s, Windsor for five years, but gave it away to farm a local estate he had bought. Deciding to move to the Port Philip District, the family travelled in covered bullock-wagons, crossing the Murray at Albury in 1838. He obtained the squatting rights of the run the Aboriginals called Bontharambo. It had been deserted by its owner whose shepherds had been murdered by Aboriginals. Docker’s sympathetic approach to these people was rewarded with their friendship and support. They continued to hold corroborees near to his house. He prospered and built the present large granite house on the site in 1864.