"Lislea House" - Corner Bromfield and Corangamite Streets, Colac

            Built in 1892 on the rise of a hill in the prominent location of the corner of  Bromfield and Corangamite Streets in Colac, stands the grand two-storey red brick residence, "Lislea House".

"Lislea House" was built for Doctor Wynne, a local practitioner, for his use as a stylish residence and surgery.  "Lislea House" has been constructed in the popular Federation Queen Anne style, which was mostly a residential style established in the 1890s which was inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement in England, but also encompassed some of the more stylised elements of Art Nouveau, which gave it an more decorative look.  "Lislea House" has a very complex roofline, which is typical of the Federation Queen Anne architectural movement, as is the steeply pitched roof, ornate wooden fretwork that graces the return verandah and the exaggerated height of the chimneys.    

Queen Anne style was most popular around the time of Federation.  With complex roofline structures, ornamental towers of unusual proportions and undulating facades, many Queen Anne houses fell out of fashion at the beginning of the modern era, and were demolished. 

Doctor Wynne was a prominent and popular figure in the Colac community.  Born in Armagh, the county town of County Armagh in Northern Ireland in 1857, Doctor Wynne studied medicine at Dublin University.  He migrated to Australia after gaining his degree and took over the Colac practice of Doctor Porter in the late 1880s.  He was interested in public affairs and in the forwarding and improvement of Colac; becoming a patron of many establishments in the town including, the Colac Fire Brigade and the Colac Free Library.  He even established a local newspaper the "Daily News".  He was one of the original shareholders of the Colac Dairying Company, the Colac dairy farmers' co-operative.  Doctor Wynne enjoyed horse racing and he and his wife entertained at their fine house often.  Doctor Wynne died at "Lislea House" in 1915 as a result of complications. caused by a weak heart.

The descendants of Doctor Wynne no longer live in "Lislea House", and after some years of neglect, it has been restored internally and externally to its original splendor, as well as having had some modern day comforts added.  It now serves as self contained apartments which take advantage of the house's location so close to the town's centre.

Located approximately 150 kilometres to the south-west of Melbourne, past Geelong is the small Western District city of Colac.  The area was originally settled by Europeans in 1837 by pastoralist Hugh Murray.  A small community sprung up on the southern shore of a large lake amid the volcanic plains.  The community was proclaimed a town, Lake Colac, in 1848, named after the lake upon which it perches.  The post office opened in 1848 as Lake Colac and was renamed Colac in 1854 when the city changed its name.  The township grew over the years, its wealth generated by the booming grazing industries of the large estates of the Western District and the dairy industry that accompanied it.  Colac has a long high street shopping precinct, several churches, botanic gardens, a Masonic hall and a smattering of large properties within its boundaries, showing the conspicuous wealth of the city.  Today Colac is still a commercial centre for the agricultural district that surrounds it with a population of around 10,000 people.  Although not strictly a tourist town, Colac has many beautiful surviving historical buildings or interest, tree lined streets.  Colac is known as “the Gateway to the Otways” (a reference to the Otway Ranges and surrounding forest area that is located just to the south of the town).

Taken in: Australia / Victoria / Colac (show map)

Taken on: April 22, 2014

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Lislea House

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Federation Queen Anne architecture

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Corangamite Street

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Camera: Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS, f/2.8, 1/125 sec, 6.2mm, ISO 80 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS
Aperture:	f/2.8
Exposure Time:	0.008 sec (1/125)
Focal Length:	6.2mm
ISO:	80
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Auto, Did not fire
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
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