Name/TitleBlack Rock House gate, Black Rock, Melbourne, c. 1927
About this objectPhotograph of a broken wooden entrance gate flanked by two very tall dark stone gateposts joined to very high dark stone wall. The castellated walls look impregnable but one of the doors, topped with a row of spikes, has been broken off its hinges and lies at the foot of the wall.
Black Rock House, or Ebden Castle, was built by Charles Hotson Ebden, pioneer and Victoria's first Auditor-General in 1856. The holiday home was
named for his wife's birthplace in Ireland and was planned to resemble a castle, with the ironstone for the walls being quarried from nearby cliffs. After some construction, the ballroom, the building workforce left for the goldfields and the house was eventually built from timber. A massive sandstone wall enclosed a portion of the grounds.
In 1927 the house, then a holiday guesthouse, was going to be condemned but it was saved due to its surviving quality workmanship.
One of the many glass slides purchased from retailers or specifically made for illustrated lectures given by Isaac Selby between c. 1930 and c. 1955 to raise money for the Old Pioneers Memorial Fund.
Measurements8.2 x 8.2 cm
Period1920-1930
Object TypeGlass slide
Subject and Association KeywordsSelby, Isaac, 1859-1956
Subject and Association KeywordsEbden, Charles Hotson, 1811-1867
Subject and Association KeywordsBlack Rock (Vic.)
Subject and Association KeywordsArchitecture
Named CollectionImages collection
Object numberGS-GS-109
Copyright LicenceAll rights reserved
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