JOHN VAN KLAVEREN tours Point Lonsdale’s Aripla, former holiday home of Australia’s second Prime Minister and the namesake of Deakin University.
A hidden national treasure at Point Lonsdale links Geelong to Australia’s emergence from colonialism into federation.
The link runs through Geelong’s university and includes many notables of the time as well as events of national importance.
It all revolves around Alfred Deakin, Australia’s second Prime Minister, who in 1905 sold a 2.5ha holiday property on the Bellarine Peninsula to son-in-law Herbert Brookes.
Arilpa was built in 1913 as the holiday residence for Herbert and wife Ivy, Alfred Deakin’s daughter.
The property is still used as a holiday home by the Brookes family, albeit with the addition of a few mod-cons.
But the simple, square, hipped-roof home remains in its original style with its wide verandah, weatherboard walls to sill height and roughcast stucco above.
Arilpa is considered architecturally significant as an example of the bungalow style, demonstrating Colonial traditions in suburban Federation villas that emerged in Victoria about the same time.
But Arilpa’s history is more significant for its association with Deakin and Herbert Brookes, a well-known businessman, pastoralist and public official in his own right.
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