Cruden Farm

Cranbourne Frankston Road, Langwarrin

Citation:

History
In 1927-28 Keith Arthur Murdoch, (later Sir Keith Murdoch), managing editor of The Herald newspaper, purchased the Cruden Farm property from Mrs M.E. Payne of Langwarrin.

The old farmhouse on about 85 acres was situated on the Cranbourne Road within Crown Allotments 50A and 50B, Parish of Langwarrin.1

Murdoch had already purchased a town residence at 225 Walsh Street, South Yarra. It is thought that he then commissioned one of Melbourne's best architects, Harold Desbrowe Annear, to carry out the remodelling of both his South Yarra and Langwarrin houses.2 Geoffrey Serle writes in the 'Australian Dictionary of Biography' (ADB) that Annear designed renovations for both Murdoch houses and Miles Lewis repeats this in his unpublished work, 'Miegunyah' 1986 (p.55) but without specifying references. Dame Elisabeth Murdoch confirms Annear's involvement in Cruden Farm but not in the renovations of the South Yarra house.3 If true, this reflects a pattern in Annear's work of designing both town and country houses for some clients. With the Lindsay's Mulberry Hill, Fairbairns' Netherplace, and Grimwade's Westerfield, Cruden Farm is one of a number of houses commissioned from Annear in the Baxter-Langwarrin-Frankston areas in the 1920s for some of Melbourne's most prominent families. These families also formed a circle of close personal friends.

Murdoch's acquisition of Cruden Farm coincided with his marriage on 6 June 1928 to the 19 year old Elisabeth Greene, daughter of a Melbourne merchant.4

According to their friend, Joan Lindsay of Mulberry Hill, the Murdoch's lived most of the year at Heathfield- 'a splendid boom-time mansion, where they did their formal entertaining (but) it was at Cruden Farm that the whole family had their fullest flowering ... The Murdochs out riding on Sunday mornings made an unforgettable spectacle - a sort of medieval cavalcade of children, servants, horses and dogs, - along the rough tree-lined roads of Baxter and Langwarrin. At the head ... rides Keith, mounted on a massive charger,...'5

The Murdochs had four children. Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, who still occupies Cruden Farm, reminisced recently how 'the original cottage, built over one hundred years ago, had already been altered,' when it was acquired by the Murdochs.6 This old house was added to in 1928-9 to designs by the architect, Desbrowe Annear apparently based on a photograph Murdoch had given Annear 10 years earlier.7

A stables and dairy block was designed in the early 1930s by the architect, Percy Meldrum, of Stephenson and Meldrum, and, according to Dame Elisabeth, was built by 'a remarkable Guernsey Islander, Old Black Tom.' Dame Elisabeth holds the original drawings for these stables.8

The stone came from the Moorooduc Quarry and the ironwork inside the stables from a demolished stable in Caulfield, which `had come out from England in the early days.'9

The Melbourne University Architects Index cites work for Sir Keith Murdoch (thought by Elisabeth Murdoch to have been the addition of a couple of rooms) designed by the firm, Stephenson & Meldrum, in 1937 as renovations to a previous design of 1932: the property cited was Home Farm in Frankston. Dame Elisabeth Murdoch confirms that this was Cruden Farm and that she believes that the stables project was Meldrum's first after leaving the firm Stephenson & Meldrum.

Following these changes, by 1933 (the year in which Murdoch was knighted), the valuation of Cruden Farm had risen to £224.10 By the end of the decade, Sir Keith and Lady Murdoch were rated for a 'weatherboard 3 storey and single storey mansion (17 rooms); a weatherboard manager's residence (3 rooms) and stone and brick stables,' valued at £250, and with a capital value of £5,000 - a considerable sum in those days.11

Murdoch also owned a wattle and daub and weatherboard house on 13 acres in nearby allotments occupied by Thomas Myers Renshaw (see Blaby, North Road).12 He also held a 20 year lease (taken out eight years earlier) for 530 acres in the Military Reserve for which he paid £35 per year and the rates.13 This was for grazing purposes and Dame Elizabeth recalls that it was mainly grassland and has since reverted to native forest. Another major event in the development of the property was the bushfire in 1944 which took part of the garden and the house on the adjoining property to the south, also owned by the Murdochs (q.v.).

The Garden
In 1929-30 the Cruden Farm garden was remodelled with designs from the notable Edna Walling although Desbrowe Annear had provided an elaborate Italianate style garden plan to suit his additions which was not favoured by Mrs Murdoch.14

E. & K. Murdoch married in 1928 and developed the house and main garden at Cruden Farm soon after with some extensive later developments. Keith Murdoch commissioned a plan by Edna Walling who wrote for one of the Herald stable periodicals ('The Australian Home Builder' later 'Australian Home Beautiful'). Much of this plan was implemented however a portion was lost in the 1944 fires. The avenue of lemon-scented gums (estimated at 129 in number when added to the NTA Significant Tree Register) and the walled gardens to the south west of the house remain as the key elements from Walling's design.

Walling's plan included two walled gardens (one a rose garden which is now a swimming pool), the round lawn and the garden to the side of the lawn.

The two Italian cypress in one of the wall gardens and an espaliered tree are among the original plantings. The use of walled gardens is rare in Victoria. In addition, Walling may have prepared plans for an avenue of Lemon Scented Gums along the main driveway of the house. Dame Elisabeth planted these herself in 1929 but does not recall any Walling involvement.15 Garden features added in 1930 included Douglas Stephen's sculpture of dolphins sited behind the earlier side of the garden wall, and Leslie Bowles sculpture of the Dancing Brolga over the entrance to the walled garden.

The Cruden Farm garden is also noted for the Macedon Oak (National Trust Significant Tree). This unusual tree came from Hon. William Baillieu's Sefton at Mt. Macedon, taking on the name of the Macedon nursery government forester, Firth ('Quercus firthii'). It was planted at Cruden Farm in the 1930s when Baillieu was convalescing there.16

The avenue of gums and this oak are regarded by the National Trust as of State significance.17 Two Monterey pines at the gate and a camphor laurel near the house are among the trees surviving from the pre Murdoch era.

Changes were made to the garden to the north-east after the 1944 fires which swept through the property, very close to either side of the house. Fortunately, although the lemon scented gums along the drive were burnt black, about three quarters survived, and the lost gums were replaced. Several years later, the garden to the east was extended. Further additions were made to the garden in c1980, 1988 and in 1992 improvements included a new drive from Cranhaven Road.18

On the night of 4-5 October 1952, Sir Keith Murdoch, who had been suffering from cancer, died in his sleep of a heart attack at Cruden Farm.19 After his death his widow took up permanent residence at Cruden Farm.

Sir Keith Murdoch (1885-1952)
Born the second son, and the third of seven children of the Rev. Patrick John Murdoch, Presbyterian Minister, Keith Arthur grew up in semi-rural Camberwell. His family had arrived there from Scotland the year before his birth. Keith was educated at Camberwell State School and Camberwell Grammar School of which he was dux. Despite his father's wish for him to go to University, Keith chose a career in journalism. He worked at first for Syme's Age, went overseas in 1908, and during the First World War worked for the United Cable Service of the Sun and Herald. His war reports were often controversial and he became well-known as a journalist during these years.

By 1920 Murdoch had become chairman of the Herald and Weekly Times and in January 1921 was chief editor of Melbourne's evening Herald. Murdoch remodelled the paper and employed young journalists on good salaries, and engaged the popular poet C.J. Dennis. His success continued and in 1926 he was appointed director and in 1928 became the managing director. His 'interstate empire' dated from this time and by 1935 Murdoch and the Herald also had interests in eleven out of 65 commercial radio stations. During the Second World War, the Menzies Government appointed him Director-General of Information.

Murdoch, who was knighted in 1933, had a major private interest in the arts and art politics. He was a close personal friend of Daryl Lindsay and reputedly helped him gain the position of Director of the National Gallery in Melbourne. They are credited with together reinvigorating Melbourne's artistic world. Murdoch sponsored a number of important exhibitions and was a trustee of the Public Library and National Gallery. In 1939 'The Herald' arranged an exhibition of French and British modern art which was a turning-point in Australian art appreciation. Murdoch was also the founder of 'The Herald' chair of Fine Arts at the University of Melbourne.20

The Murdochs were prominent Langwarrin residents and regarded as important within the Frankston region. They both gave generously to local causes. Murdoch is remembered for his gift of a second-hand 'The Herald' delivery van which became Langwarrin's first fire truck21 while Dame Elisabeth launched a 1986 appeal for new cottages at the Brotherhood Settlement (q.v.) with a gift of $50,000, among many other charitable works.22

When Sir Keith died in 1952 he left an estate worth £400,000. Summing up his life, historian Geoffrey Serle (ADB) concludes that he was 'an able journalist, a brilliant editor in his youth, and a remarkable entrepreneur and organiser of his industry.'23

Description
The property is entered via a curving lemon scented gum avenue from a recent but period-style timber gate, with two mature Monterey pines at the street frontage. The house is obscured from the road but some outbuildings are visible on the hill. The drive is lined on the west with some early post and rail fencing (sections renewed to match the 1930s originals) and Hawthorn hedges. Along the main driveway, behind the avenue of lemon-scented gums is a section of low stone walling near the walled garden.

The house which is sited at the end of the drive facing a carriage sweep, has a giant-order Colonial Georgian revival colonnade in the manner of Clarendon Terrace (East Melbourne) and its namesake Clarendon House (Tasmania). The colonnade is also similar to the north face of the Grimwade Malvern house, Miegunyah, which used the same combination of architects, Desbrowe Annear and Stephenson & Meldrum. As with Cruden farm, Edna Walling also worked on the Grimwade Malvern garden.

At the rear of the grand main house is the former weatherboard farm house which now forms the rear service wing for the main house. Although the gum entry avenue is a reminder of similar avenues at both Westerfield (Annear for Russsell & Mabel Grimwade, 1924) and Mulberry Hill (Lindsays), the architecture seen at the former is a sharp contrast to the classicism of Cruden Farm and Mulberry Hill both of which have an American Colonial Georgian revival character.

However the extent of the out-buildings (particularly the stone and brick stable) and the walled and informal gardens at Cruden farm extends well beyond the scope of the other examples, both on the peninsula and in the city. The Moorooduc rubble stone stable complex is extensive with a number of wings and associated yards.

Garden
The walls of the enclosed garden are made of Moorooduc rubble stone, as used in the stables complex. Sculptural pieces feature over the wall entrance to the east walled garden. A double herbaceous border lines a central lawn area which terminates in a small circular pond (cast cement with a pair of koalas in the centre of the bowl) which is paved with irregular stones, the focal point being at the southern end beneath a mature Japanese cherry. Behind the pond, two mature 'Cupressus sempervirens' are planted at each end of the wall. An espaliered apple tree, the two cypress, Japanese cherry and two camellias are the major remnants in the walled garden from the original Walling planting scheme. Much of the planting is now devoted to perennials, bulbs and herbaceous plants.

The western walled garden. originally designed by Walling as a rose garden but too hot to allow for good growth has been altered recently to include a semi-circular swimming pool, edged with squared bluestone blocks and the margin paved in red brick. Steps of irregular stone paving lead up to the east walled garden through a gateway in the wall.

The large upright hybrid weeping Macedon oak, 'Quercus Firthii', is at the front (north) of the house. It is rare and was only positively identified in recent years by the Kew Gardens, UK. Much of the garden to the north side of the house was laid out by Edna Walling in c1929-30s. It was more formal than the present irregular shaped curving garden beds and lawn areas. A small remnant shrubbery contains clipped box and a section of irregular paved path, but much of this part of the garden was lost in the 1944 fire. The area was redesigned and planted by Dame Elisabeth in an informal style. There is also a mature Norfolk Island hibiscus and 'Cupressus torulosa'.

Other mature trees include a weeping elm and a second 'Quercus' 'Firthii' in the central lawn of the driveway circle. A camphor laurel near the north west corner of the house (much reduced in size), is the only tree to predate the Murdochs, other than seedling 'Pinus radiata', two mature elms, and a group of mature 'Melaleuca styphelioides' separates this driveway area from the beds and lawn to the north.

Behind the house is a large and mature lillypilly, oaks, copper beech (planted c1952), distinctive native gums with white trunks which contrast with the stone of the stables, and 'Eucalyptus ficifolia'. On the stable's wall is a climbing oakleafed hydrangea and a bed of mixed rhododendrons and mollis azaleas.

The roses from the walled garden were transplanted to a picking garden in the 1980s where an area was fenced off and fruit trees and asparagus planted. This now features many different vegetables and herbs, an olive, bay laurel and walnut tree. This is backed by a tall tea tree ('Leptospermum' sp.) formally clipped hedge which lines the drive to the stables. The other side of the picking garden has a lower squared (clipped) 'Lonicera nitida' hedge.

Plan of house, stables & garden being the core conservation area, from Patrick 'Gardens of Victoria' 1988-9 (ABC): 79

About twenty five years ago Dame Elisabeth started to enlarge the garden. At some distance away is a large ornamental lake with a small island planted with willows, created in 1987 to form a continuous lake, edged in part with plants such as gunnera and arum lilies. The garden is tended by Dame Elisabeth and her gardener, Michael Morrison. Dame Elisabeth believes strongly in the value and care of trees.

Stables.

Integrity
The house has been extended as cited above, with each stage readily visible. The other outbuildings are near intact with new structures located at a distance from the complex. The garden has been enlarged under the direction of Dame Elizabeth Murdoch over the last 25 years, the vegetable garden converted to a picking garden, and the rose garden relocated c1980 to what is now a lakeside site south of the house.

Context
The site is opposite the Elizabeth Murdoch arboretum which has been maintained and planted by the Cranbourne Shire (now Frankston City). Residual trees and vegetation ion the area suggest the period when the major stages of the farm were created but recent development is apparent. Large undulating pasture areas are to the south.

Significance
Cruden Farm is of National historical significance as a superb example of the small number of country houses in the Baxter/Langwarrin/ Frankston area acquired by members of some of Melbourne's (and then Australia's) most prominent families and remodelled by the well-known architect, H.D. Annear. Both the house and garden (originally planned by the notable Edna Walling) are of State and possibly National historical significance for their associations with Sir Keith Murdoch, remarkable Australian newspaper entrepreneur, and his wife, Dame Elisabeth, charity worker and philanthropist.

Each of the built elements from c1929-37 is also of high architectural significance, the house as an extensive and well-executed example of Annear's classical (American Colonial Georgian Revival) stage while the stables also follow American prototypes with elaborate planning and detail but with local reference through the use of Moorooduc stone.

Each has been well maintained and preserved. Similarly the walled gardens and associated planting (and possibly the drive planting) are full and well-preserved expression of Walling's design themes of that time.

Boundaries
Extent of current allotment, including the front and side garden and trees, Macedon oak, the walled gardens, stable and yard, drive, drive tree planting and fence and the house, including the rear service wing; all interiors and exteriors. A curtilage should include all that land with views to and from the house, including land from the ridge line of CA49 (marked by the drive planting on that allotment) to the front fence line of Cruden Farm and the side gardens to nominally 500m either side of the house and stables.