ELM COTTAGE, Tarrawarra
Elm Cottage is located within the boundary of the original Pre-emptive Right of William Ryrie at Tarrawarra (or View Hill as it was then called). It may have been built by John Thomson, who was the first European occupant of the land from 1839 until his death in 1844. William Ryrie and James Graham took over the pastoral lease and William Ryrie moved from Yering to View Hill in 1845. With him were his wife and children, so it is suggested that Ryrie either built Elm Cottage or at least added extensions to it. Ryrie lived at View Hill until 1854. Richard Woolcott purchased the property in 1872 and extended Elm Cottage to fifteen rooms, configured around a court-yard containing a well. He used bricks hand-made on the property for fire-places, chimneys and floors. Most of the building was later destroyed by fire, although portions of the original slab structure fortunately survived.
