An historical timeline of the Billilla Homestead and Gardens
Billilla Homestead located at 26 Halifax Street in Brighton has had an illustrious history. Primarily used as a residence up until the former Brighton City Council purchased the property in 1973, the building has been used for weddings, events and as an additional campus for two schools. The Gardens have remained open to the public and contain several heritage listed trees, a traditional parterre and a magnifcent rose garden.
The information and photos on this page have been sourced with thanks from the Brighton Historical Society and Council's own historical records, including the Billilla collection.
1872 - newly elected MLA for Brighton, Thomas Bent purchases triangle of land bounded by Hampton, Halifax and Dendy Streets
1872 - 1878 - land is subdivided
1878 - Robert Wright, a successful miner from the Ballarat goldfields, purchases seven and half acres of land from Edwin Brownscombe
1878 - Robert Wright builds a substantial home of thirteen rooms in the mid-Victorian style. The front facade was symmetrical around a projecting rendered portico that was decorated with an Italianate parapet and urns. Flanking this portico there was a delicate cast iron veranda with paired columns and a cast iron frieze. This verandah extended down each side of the house and on the west side the symmetry was broken by a three-storeyed tower. The tower, a most typical element of this styale of architecture, was also decorated in the Italiante tradition, with raised quoiniing to the corners, oculus windows at the second level and a bracketed eaves line surmounted by an Italianate balustrading and urns similar to the portico.
1879 - the construction cost of the house, combined with an economic slump, reduces Robert Wright to bankruptcy and he is forced to mortgage his house to the National Bank
Source: Brighton Historical Society
1884 - the bank forecloses on the estate and lets the house to tenants
1888 - one of the tenants, Henry Butler, purchases the house and on the same day, sells it to William Weatherly
1888 - William Weatherly names the house 'Billilla' and establishes a home for his wife Jeannie and their children Violet , Gladys and Lionel
1888 - prominent architects, Smith and Johnson, design renovations of the house, including a six stall stable building. This work does not appear to have affected the appearance of the front facade
1880s - the Weatherly children attend local schools St Andrews, Ruyton and Cumloden as day pupils
1891 - William Weatherly is appointed a director of BHP
1895 - William Weatherly purchases a large property called 'Woolongoon' near Mortlake, Victoria
1897 - William Weatherly purchases 'Colly Creek' at Willow Tree in New South Wales
1890s - Billilla remains the family home for Mrs Weatherly and the three children despite William's purchase of additional properties
Source: Brighton Historical Society
1900 - William makes plans and alterations to Billilla in the Art Nouveau style which results in the house looking much as it is today
1902 - Lionel attends Trinity College at the University of Melbourne, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree
1906-7 - William makes further alterations to Billilla it is thought in preparation for his retirement
Source: Brighton Historical Society
Source: Brighton Historical Society
1914 - William Weatherly dies at age 74
1918 - a cyclone sweeps across Port Phillip Bay - stone finials on the parapets and towers of Billila crash down causing the porch parapet and celling to collapse
1918 - only one tree survives the destruction of the cyclone, and this, a Canary Islands pine still stands in the south-west corner of the residence
1972 - Violet Weatherly dies after maintaining the house with a reduced staff since her mother's death in 1933
1973 - on 4 April, the former Brighton City Council buys Billilla on behalf of its citizens
1973 - on 5 June, auctioneers sell the antique furniture from the estate with the proceeds going to a Seniors Citizen's Centre
1989 - Billilla Committee of Management restores outbuildings which are opened by the Mayor of Brighton on 26 February
Source: Brighton Historical Society
1991 - on February 5, the Governor or Victoria, Dr Davis McCaughey officially opens a museum in the historic homestead Billilla
Later in the 1990s -2006 - Billilla iss leased for weddings and events and even open as a museum with guided tours during part of this period
For the past 15 years, the property has been leased to two schools although the Gardens remain open to the public and Council stages several events in the Gardens each year
2021 - Council resolves not to renew the lease with the school tenant and decides to return the building to community use
