The Grange (home)

Soldiers Hill "...has a substantially intact Victorian era architectural character, with many of its buildings featuring an abundance of period detail including distinctive decorative cast iron ornament.

[2] The original purchaser from the Crown of the land that The Grange was to stand on was made in August, 1862 by J. Taylor who bought two adjoining allotments [3] which combined to an area of 1 acre 3 roods and 8 perches, with a 265 feet west facing frontage on Lydiard Street North, Soldiers Hill.

Mrs. John Taylor had a daughter in October 1863, at Lydiard Street North, Soldiers Hill, but it has not been possible to clarify her relatives.

[17] It would seem a reasonable assumption that this amazing collapse in his financial position was due to the impact of the ill-advised Scottish agency arrangement[18] Strangely, not many months later in October 1879, his firm, which had been in liquidation since November 1878, was appealing against a Land Tax assessment on “… their estate of 29,602 acres …” [19] However, this may have been an attempt to lessen the firm's debts.

In the 1880s Soldiers Hill had become a favoured place of residence for Ballarat's middle and upper classes with the city readily accessed by tramway.

Joseph and his brother John Forshaw, were both miners, and had initially gone from England to Canada and the United States to try their luck, before deciding to come to Australia.

[21][22] As with many immigrants of that period, it is likely they was motivated by the lure of the Victorian gold rush, and Joseph's time in Ballarat would seem to provide some confirmation.

[23] She was from Neath in Glamorgan, Wales and, with her parents and siblings, had also immigrated to Australia, arriving in Melbourne in June 1849 on the British Empire.

In 1880, Forshaw purchased part of the remainder of the allotment that accessed Gregory Street [36] and adjoined the driveway that had been added to "The Grange" by John Taylor in 1863.

He bequeathed his “… dwelling house and land situate in Lydiard Street North … unto my dear wife Mary Jane …”.

A little more than a year after the death of her husband, Mary Jane Forshaw put "The Grange" up for auction, including “… the whole of her well selected household furniture and effects …” as she had decided to leave Ballarat for Melbourne.

[40] Alfred Thomas Darling (~1885–1932),[41] General merchant & Grazier, bought the property from Mary Jane Forshaw in October 1908 for £850.

She and her husband, Joseph Shepherd (1833–1921) [44] who had no children of their own, took the Darling boys and brought up her orphaned English relatives.

[45] After some time, Alfred went to Stawell and worked there for a few years before going to Sheep Hills, a rather flat area with a station on the railway line between Minyip and Warracknabeal in the Victoria Wimmera.

[46] In 1886 the railway from Minyip was extended to Warracknabeal, and many settled around the station, forming the township under the name of Sheep Hills, with its German-Lutheran traditions [47] Alfred was obviously very successful and purchased a number of farming properties in the Wimmera.

—He then married Mary Jane Ginnane (1874–1905) at Sheep Hills the following year, 1898, and they had two daughters [50] before she died aged 31 in 1905, having been thrown from a buggy.

Annie and Edith Darling had moved directly across Lydiard Street from their old home at "The Grange" and had a perfect vantage point to view the demolition of the house, felling of the trees and hedges, and the block subdivided.

"[61] As a consequence of being purchased before the introduction of the Torrens system, the land remained under the Real Property Act, the "old law",[62] where there were no Certificates of Title or Volumes and Folio numbers in a Register that was centrally managed by the State government.

[63] The land on which The Grange stood remained under old law until 1963, when the executors of Alfred Darling's will began arrangements to realise the value off the property.