AILA awards: Ned Kellys childhood home in Beveridge up for heritage landscape gong

Infamous bushranger Ned Kelly’s childhood home is among the highlights of Friday’s annual Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) Victorian awards, where it is up for a gong.

The heritage-listed timber cottage in Beveridge was built in the 1850s by Kelly’s father, John ‘Red’ Kelly using local bush timber and bluestone.

The Kelly family lived at the property for four years and moved to Avenel when Ned was about 10.

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It is now the only remaining residence of the notorious outlaw and serves as a living archive of his early family life.

The garden has since been completely revitalised by landscape architects GBLA and is now up for an accolade in the Cultural Heritage category at the Friday ceremony.

All of its remnant artefacts, such as the timber fencing and bluestone, as well as the surrounding vegetation remained in place where possible.

GBLA also ensured a low-impact strategy in their design to minimise archaeological disturbance, and where new materials were the focus on reintroducing timber, stone and steel as a nod to the Kelly family.

The old bluestone-lined well remains, as does the brick and degraded concrete surfaces in the now thriving bush garden, while cracks and crevices throughout have been filled with moss to contribute to the garden’s natural ageing and renewal process.

It comes after the historical and culturally-significant home of one of Australia’s most famous convicts was purchased by the Victorian government in 2019, and was later conserved as a historical landmark thanks to a $700,000 Living Heritage grant.

Prior to that, the 44 Kelly St home sold for $640,000 in 2014 after passing in at auction.

The winners of the state AILA awards will proceed to the national ceremony held later this year.

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emily.holgate@news.com.au

Originally published as AILA awards: Ned Kelly’s childhood home in Beveridge up for heritage landscape gong

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