Warcock

56 McClelland Drive, Langwarrin

Citation:

(To be revised).

History
This property has associations with the Corletts, prominent district orchardists, who owned the site in Crown Allotment 40A, Parish of Langwarrin, from 1882.1 The house has associations with Walter & Ellen Lawton who appears to have had it built in c1947.2

John James Corlett, born in 1840 at Douglas on the Isle of Man, migrated to Australia in July 1864 after his marriage to Jane Allen. They arrived in Melbourne on 17 October and shortly after Corlett became manager of Ballam Park, building a small cottage of handmade bricks on the property. John and Jane had eight children, three sons and five daughters.3

Corlett became the registered owner of 320 acres of land in Crown Allotments 40A and 41A, bounded by McClelland Drive and the Cranbourne-Frankston Road, in 1882. He built a wattle and daub house in 1909, which was still there in 1990. (It is not known if it is there still). The first district Methodist meetings were held in Corlett's house.4 A large 'Pinus radiata', proposed to be removed in a future gallery extension is also thought to have been planted by Harry McClelland.5 The pines and cypress may be associated with McClelland or be remnants or seedlings from the former Corlett property of which Studio Park is a part 1920s-30s.

In 1921 J.J. Corlett, aged 81, died and his property was divided between his three sons, John, Allan and Caesar (known as Steve). They 'planted an orchard and, while waiting for the trees to grow, cut and sold wood, carting it away for sale by horse and cart. Fruit was later packed in cases and sent to the Melbourne market, via trains from Langwarrin station'.6

The Corletts, with other Langwarrin residents, helped to form McClelland Drive. An early photograph shows work on the road prior to 1921. John Corlett, senior, and his son, Steve, are shown in this photo.7

John, who did not marry, shared the homestead (now known as Warcock) with his sister, May.8 ln 1921-22 John Corlett, farmer, was rated for a house, while his brothers were rated for two other houses, all on Crown Allotments 40A and 41A.9 By 1928-29 the three brothers, listed as orchardists from 1923, were rated for houses on properties valued at £38, £48 and £37. (lbid.1928-29 Nos. 852, 853, 854). As Steve Corlett's house was reputedly located next to the site of the present McClelland Gallery,10 it seems that John's would have been the middle property with the highest valuation of £48. Part of the Corlett property has since become Studio Park (McClelland Gallery, q.v.) after acquisition of 40 acres by Harry & Nan McClelland in the 1920s.

Allan, a carpenter, built his own house, where he lived with his wife, Louise, and their family. He helped to build the brick church in Warrandyte Road, later burnt in a fire. He was superintendent of the Sunday School. Steve served in the Boer War and the First World War and was a 'popular organiser of socials and dances'.9

In 1945-46, John James Corlett, Jun., orchardist, was the owner/occupier of the house on 113 acres in Crown Allotments 40A and 41A, valued at £40.1

The Corlett family was followed in the early 1940s by a dairyman, Walter & Ellen Lawton who had the house rebuilt or built c1947. Lawton had a high community profile during his occupation.2 More recently, Warcock was the home of Mrs Molly Graham, a friend of Nan McClelland sister of the artist Harry McClelland. Molly's son owned the local quarry.3

Description
This red brick and Marseilles tiled house is in a common Bungalow form of the 1920-1930s but appears to have been built much later, with timber window mullions forming typical decorative patterns of that era. The house is set well back beyond a related rubble stone gateway, with wrought iron gates, stone garden edging and a mature Monterey cypress hedge. There are brick and timber outbuildings at the rear which served its use as a dairy farm.

Condition
The house appears close to its original form (new windows, added wing?), supported by what appears to be contemporary plantings.

Context
The nearby McClelland Gallery complex, with its landscaping, helps promote the original rural environs in which this house once stood.

Significance
Warcock has local historical significance as the home of a prominent district dairy farmer and the site of one of the area's best known orchards. It illustrates, by the size and construction of the house and some of the plantings, the life style of a successful dairy farmer in the Langwarrin area during the immediate post-war years.

Boundaries
Extent of current allotment, including the Monterey cypress row, stone fence and gate, and house exterior.