Flowerdale Estate - The Venue

Flowerdale Estate is one of Victoria 's most historic farm properties, first established in 1842 as "Flowerdale Station". The Flowerdale Estate property includes a premium quality, conference venue and 250 acre alpaca stud farm. The retreat is used for residential board meetings, strategy planning groups, international videoconferencing meetings and think tanks, by some of Australia's largest companies. Regular users include ANZ Bank, Volvo, BMW, Jacques Martin, BHP and Department of Defence.

The venue includes a wonderful historic homestead as the centrepiece, surrounded by 30 executive style accommodation suites, indoor heated swimming pool, undercover floodlit tennis court, gymnasium and sauna.

The History of Flowerdale Estate

The farming side of the property offers some of the best pastoral land in Victoria , located on fertile river flats along the King Parrot Creek. The alpaca facilities are laid out to an efficient working plan, based on extensive research into alpaca requirements for Australian conditions.  Quality fencing and water supply to all paddocks and a scientific program of pasture improvement provides the best conditions for alpaca handling and care.  Undercover work areas for alpaca husbandry, including weighing of animals and shearing, complete the picture of this high quality stud farm.

History. Prior to the early settlers, Hume and Hovell were the first white men to enter the area in 1825. They came from New South Wales to find an overland route to Western Port.  On their journey they discovered and named the King Parrot Creek which runs through the Flowerdale Estate Property.  The first squatters in the area, in1838, included Captain Farquhar MacKenzie a Scottish Highlander.  He established a 10,000 acre sheep run called Flowerdale Station in association with his cousin Roderick MacKenzie.  The original two room stone cottage took 3 years to build.  The homestead, still existing today, was built in 1842.  To put the history of Flowerdale Estate into some perspective, one needs to remember that Melbourne was first settled by John Batman in 1835.

In 1849 Flowerdale was sold to another early pioneer John Aitken.   Aitken was later drowned in the King Parrot Creek and the run was sold to Donald Ferguson another Highlander in 1857.  He was apparently a wild old character, never opened a gate, he always rode over them.   Ferguson was called the wildest Scotsman to arrive in Australia and took great delight in arguing with any Irishman he came across. He bred and fattened shorthorn cattle on the flats and merino sheep on the hills.  He died in 1894.

In 1903 the property was sold to Messrs Tyson and Cunningham.  They sold to Mr Trescowthick in 1906, who in 1912 sold to Alec Lane .  In 1927 Flowerdale Estate passed to Mr Pearce and then Mr Gardiner in 1930. In the mid 1930's Mr William Sargood became the owner before the property was purchased by the Tehan family in 1941.

In the 1940's rabbits were at plague proportions.  At one time 8 rabbiters were employed at Flowerdale.  One 400 acre paddock yielded 15,000 rabbits in two months.  It was not until almost 1960 that the problem was contained.