Pigeon Bank
Today ‘Pigeon Bank’ still retains the charm of her yesteryears; a wide verandah with curved iron roof and iron lacework still bounds three sides of the house, high ceilings, tongue and groove boards line the walls in many of the rooms. The original two roomed hut snuggled contently amongst the Victorian style rooms. Five original fireplaces are still in the bed and living rooms and nearby a windmill stands beside the original water well. ‘Pigeon Bank’ has the prestigious title as the oldest and most prominent remaining property in Kangaroo Grounds long and fascinating history. Settled majestically on top of one of Kangaroo Grounds highest hills with commanding views as far as the eye can see, surrounded by beautifully restored English and Australian native gardens and ornamental lake, she is a haven to all who visit and for the abundance of indigenous fauna that thrive in beautiful Kangaroo Ground.
Kangaroo Ground
Kangaroo Ground today, despite its closeness to one of the world’s great cities, remains in many ways much the same as it was a century ago. However, into the surrounding red-box woodlands that embrace its pastoral heartland, the determined forces of development and suburbanization relentlessly creep, as if prepared for one final onslaught on the prized high ground that has for so long held them at bay.
Kangaroo Ground has a certain magic about it that only those who have lived long within its enfolding hills can fully comprehend and cherish. Nowhere else in the Yarra Valley is there a district contrasting so markedly from its surrounds. Enclosed within a tenacious woodlands, fashioned by the regions sparse stony soils, is a modified upland characterized by rich black soils, green fields and expansive views of distant mountains. Westward, can be seen the tall towers of Melbourne’s central business district glistening in the sun; eastward, the cool shades of the Great Dividing Range.
The village itself - ‘village’ seems the most appropriate term - consists simply of a general store, a church, a school and several homes. It is all that remains of what was once a centre of civic affairs. Not that it ever considered itself a town! Yet it could at one time boast a public hall, two hotels, a publishing house and council chambers, with sale-yards, saddlery and a smiddy or two strung along the main road.
Kangaroo Ground appears more the product of a European ideal than anything Australian – a piece of Scotland in the Australian bush. The Church with its Celtic Cross, the Scottish watch-tower on the hill, the treeless slopes hedged in hawthorn, all assert a Caledonian air. All that except the name! What could be more Australian than Kangaroo Ground!
It is believed the first European family to settle in Kangaroo Ground was Scottish born James and Isabella Donaldson and their children in 1842. Later joined by fellow Scot, Thomas Sweeney. Farming folk the Bell clan, William Armstrong and family, Francis and Janet Rogerson, Thomas Armstrong, John and Janet Barr and John Arthur and his family amongst others also made their home in this rich farming area. By 1851 Kangaroo Ground had established a thriving farming community. By 1855 the Scots of Kangaroo Ground were growing each year 500 acres of wheat.