Stately Luxury
Chirnside Master
(colloquially known as the Big Spare Room)
Brothers Andrew and Thomas Chirnside established Mount William Station in 1842 and the Chirnside family held the property until 1917. The brothers ran 100,000 merino sheep and built the Woolshed with its 20 stands in 1865. As racing enthusiasts, they built bluestone stables for their many successful horses and regularly played polo. They owned Haricot the 1874 Melbourne Cup winner (a depiction seen hanging in the Barr Smith Master), and the iconic Alice Hawthorn was bred on Mount William Station, a horse famous for representing Victoria in the 1857 race against NSW horse Veno - a race which set the foundation for Australia’s greatest race, the Melbourne Cup. The room served as the primary guest room of the homestead for those well-regarded overnight visitors.
