Visit The Homestead

welcome to our centre

The Homestead

Living Legends is superbly situated at one of the Southern Hemisphere’s most historic thoroughbred properties – The Woodlands Historic Park, Homestead and Heritage Gardens.

 

Champion horses have been owned, bred and spelled on this property since the 1840’s, making it the ideal location for our retired equine royalty.

 

Woodlands Homestead is a unique and treasured part of Victoria’s heritage. Established in 1843, it is a rare example of a large pre-constructed timber kit house brought to Australia from Britain.

 

Today, the Woodlands Homestead houses an extensive art collection, historic artifacts, including The McCracken Collection, and horse racing memorabilia relating to our Living Legends and other Australian racing legends including Phar Lap, Carbine and Rising Fast.

.

 

Because of its historic significance, Woodlands Homestead is listed with Heritage Victoria. Living Legends is committed to the preservation of all that Woodlands Homestead and the Woodlands Historic Park has to offer our visitors from Victoria, Australia, and around the world

Woodlands Homestead Established 1843

Visit the Back Paddock

Experience the wilder parts of the park away from Woodlands Homestead on foot or bicycle. The Back Paddock is a great spot to see kangaroos and birds. You may also see echidnas, skinks and Eastern Blue-tongue lizards basking in the sun, plus plenty of other Australian native wildlife.

 

The Back Paddock was fenced in 1987 as a Nature Reserve to protect native wildlife from dogs, cats and foxes. The endangered Eastern Barred Bandicoot was re-established here in 1988 and this colony is playing a major role in securing the species’ future.

Annie's Famous Scones

Homestead Cafe

Our menu offers a selection of snacks, treats, light meals and beverages, and our speciality, Devonshire Tea from 10am-3.30pm each day.

AROUND THE GROUNDS

Explore The Surrounds

The Heritage Gardens

The Woodlands Homestead is surrounded by Australian native trees and magnificent heritage gardens that have been superbly restored. The house’s courtyard is graced by two 160-year-old magnolias – the oldest living European trees in Victoria.

 

The gardens include large plantings of Alister Clark Heritage Roses. Alister Clark, a renowned Australian rose breeder, was also the foundation chairman of the Moonee Valley Racing Club and master of Oaklands Hunt Club from 1901 to 1908. He named many of his beautiful roses after racehorses.

 

The many exotic trees and plants in the Heritage Gardens provide a glorious setting for our guests.

The Woodlands Historic Park

The sight of large mobs of wild kangaroos in their Australian bush habitat is a magnificent, never-to-be forgotten experience, and it is waiting for you at the home of Living Legends.

 

Woodlands Historic Park totals over 700 hectares (1730 acres). It was first established as a public park in 1980 and contains many physical links to the landscape of the settlers in the 1840s, including the restored Woodlands Homestead.

 

The park has several walking trails just waiting to be explored, providing you with the opportunity to see scores of Eastern Grey kangaroos bounding across the sweeping grasslands, as well as numerous other Australian native wildlife species.

Traditional Owners of the Land

The Woodlands Historic Park contains scarred trees and surface scatters, evidence of the Woiworung Aboriginal people, who lived in the area before Europeans arrived. It remains a significant place to Aboriginal people, directly abutting the Weeroona Aboriginal Cemetery.

 

Living Legends acknowledges the Aboriginal Traditional Owners of Victoria, in particular the Woiworung Aboriginal people. Through their cultural traditions, Aboriginal people maintain their connection to their ancestral lands and waters.

Follow Us