Fagan Park sits on the edge of Glenorie without making a fuss, which is probably why the Netherby Homestead inside it doesn’t get the attention it deserves.
The Glenorie Probus Club made the trip recently — morning tea first, which is the correct order of operations — then spent the rest of the morning walking through a museum precinct that feels genuinely old rather than staged. The club gathers at 11.00 am on the 4th Wednesday of each month at Glenorie RSL, and getting out into the district is very much the point.
Netherby Homestead was built in the late 1800s from bricks the family made and fired themselves on the property. That detail matters. This wasn’t bought-in material trucked from somewhere else — it was the land itself, shaped into walls. The result is a building with a particular solidity to it: fine brickwork, multi-glazed doors, verandahs roofed in bullnose corrugated iron with grapevines along the edges that have made themselves entirely at home over the decades.
At its peak, Netherby was the largest orchard in Galston. A big packing shed. A large workforce. An operation with real momentum. The early 1930s ended that. The Great Depression closed the orchard down, not in one collapse but gradually, which somehow feels worse, orchard by orchard, season by season, until it was just a house.
A house that lasted. It’s been restored to its late-1800s style and is open to visitors every Tuesday. In the grounds, two old hand-operated pumps rise above their wells. The blacksmith’s shed is open-fronted, with anvils, a forge, and the general atmosphere of a place where actual work happened. Just outside sits a McDonald Imperial Diesel Roller, built in Australia, which rewards a good long look.
The club ended the morning with an on-site barbecue. There are worse ways to spend a Wednesday.
New members are welcome. Glenorie Probus Club meets at Glenorie RSL, 11.00 am, 4th Wednesday of each month.
Contact Wendy Black on 9653 1022 or email [email protected]
