1880's The Slab Kitchen
The lifestyle of the early settlers of the region
Slabs retrieved from the original home of the Hogg family were used to recreate the detached homestead kitchen, the heart of the home.
Rough slab walls and a brick paved floor are warmed by a fire burning in the open fire place. Heavy black kettles and pots hang from a metal frame, and a tin bath sits on the hearth. Water to fill them was pumped by hand-from the underground tank at the rear of the house. Hessian lines the ceiling, absorbing condensation dripping from the cold corrugated iron roof. Old crockery, crazed bottles and stone jars and early kitchen utensils cover the kitchen dresser and the wooden table, scrubbed white over the years. The large pieces of furniture came from the home of Wandin Sebire, born in 1867 and the first birth registered in the new settlement.
On the open back verandah is the wash house with wooden troughs, a copper and early washing machines. Nearby, under the branches of the peppercorn tree is the home dairy, moved from the Chapman property, and housing a collection of butter churns, separators and other dairy paraphernalia.
- This typical outdoor kitchen was re-constructed on the original site next to 'Mont De Lancey' homestead.
- The split slab walls are over 100 years old and were originally used on another local building.
- Handmade bricks have been used for the floor paving as well as for the chimney for the open fire place and stove.
- Original furniture and cooking utensils from the Sebire family create a better appreciation of what the life of our pioneers was like.
The Slab Kitchen
Rough slab walls and paved entrance
The Dairy adjoining the Slab Kitchen
Photographic Competition at Mont De Lancey
During October Mont De Lancey will be host to a photographic Competition and Exhibition. This will be a major arts event in the Yarra Valley, with a prize pool totalling arond $5,000 across a broad range of categories. Read more here.
15th Acquisitive Art Show
September 12th to October 3rd
Read more here.
Eastern Woodturners Inc
Meetings at Mont De Lancey on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month, starting at 7.00pm. Visitors and New members are most welcome.
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# 1 - The Wandin District Horticultural Society was formed at a meeting held in the School Master's residence on May 23, 1890. At a meeting two weeks later, Rules of the Society were adopted and election of office-bearers completed. The rules provided for meetings to be held monthly in the Wandin Yallock Sunday School room on Thursday ON OR BEFORE THE FULL MOON - not an unusual way of fixing the date of events in the early days of settlement.
MONT DE LANCEY
71 Wellington Road, Wandin,
PO Box 316, Wandin, Victoria, 3139
Tel: +61 3 5964 2088
Fax: +61 3 5964 3855
Weds to Sun 10:00am to 5:00pm