This was a request – and I said “Yes. Why not?” Our wonderful Ambermere, designed by J A K Clarke for Mr Matthew Grant, a solicitor, in 1904.
However, from this point on, this history is a collaborative work.
I did remember, after writing the history of the McNeill family, that Hector McNeill accepted part-time work, taking care of Ambermere’s extensive garden, milking the cow and looking after the horse and buggy.
This was 2010 and Matthew Grant still owned the property.
He also offered good advice to the McNeill family.
According to Hector’s son, John, Ambermere was on spacious land – from Orr St to Maude St and from Knight St to Balaclava Rd.
That’s a fair chunk of northern Shepparton.
It was the first Shepparton house with a tiled roof.
The northern boundary was fenced and, in addition to being a golf course, it was known as Shepparton’s No. 3 cow paddock.
Well. There was plenty of space.
The ladies of Shepparton were invited to play croquet on the magnificent lawns.
There were substantial double gates at the corner of Orr and Knight Streets and a large circular driveway.
This has been recorded by John’s daughter Stories my Father told me (Heather McNeill Gribben).
That appalling marketing campaign 1910.
Here the government stepped in with a substantial brochure persuading British and American families to relocate to the Goulburn Valley.
Our climate, they claimed, was “winterless”, causing some women to give their children’s warm coats to the Red Cross, before leaving England, Ireland or Scotland.
On the front page of the brochure was a photo of Ambermere — as an example of ‘homes in the Goulburn Valley’.
How misleading could they be?
It stirred my blood the first time I read it — and still does. I’m rarely ashamed of our country.
The next sale
We have not discovered the years of solicitor Donald Morrison’s ownership.
He was the second, and last, to use the building as a private residence.
It is recorded that he sold the property in 1947 — however, the next sale we found was in 1951.
It was purchased by the Mooroopna Hospital for 12,000 pounds, and leased to two sisters, Dorothea and Joan Ryan, who ran it as a private hospital, for the three years of the lease.
They were both nurses and were assisted by their parents Jean and William Ryan.
Jean did the cooking, and William helped out in many ways, including lighting the coke fire.
We have this information from Marie O’Hare, a younger sister of the nurses, who was 14 years old at that time.
Marie’s memory is good, our conversation wide-ranging and the custard tarts delicious.
In 1954, Ambermere came under the direct management of the Mooroopna Hospital.
In 1958, Ambermere Hospital was converted to a midwifery hospital.
In 1965, midwifery patients were transferred from Ambermere to the first stage of the Goulburn Valley Base Hospital.
And in Proud to Serve (150 years of GV Health), we find this After playing a central role in regional mental health care for decades, the Ambermere Unit is integrated into the Shepparton hospital. It’s closure marks both the end of an era and the beginning of a new model.
The property
We have no information about that extensive block of land — how, when, if, it was sold off.
Some of the homes, directly behind Ambermere today, were possibly utilised by the doctors servicing the hospital.
Drs Grutzner, Armstrong and Kennedy were mentioned in Hospitals are People written by Geoffrey Nice.
Dr Grutzner passed away in 1974.
If you have memories of Ambermere that you’d like to share, please call, text or email.
The team involved still needs more information.
But thank you, for hanging in with us.
May it be easy, my friends.
Marnie
Email: towntalk@sheppnews.com.au
Phone: Text or call 0409 317187
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