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Rupertswood


Rupertswood is a mansion and country estate located in Sunbury on the outskirts of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. It is well known as the birthplace of The Ashes urn which was humorously presented to English cricket captain Ivo Bligh to mark his team's victory in an 1882-83 Test match series between Australia and England. Rupertswood is one of the largest houses constructed in Victoria and, although now subdivided, has significant farm land. The estate also had its own private railway station (until closure in 2004), and artillery battery. It is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

The foundation stone for Rupertswood was laid on 29 August 1874 with around 1,000 people in attendance. The house was completed in 1876 for Sir William Clarke a land owner and pastoralist who was one of Australia's wealthiest men and the first Australian-born baronet. It was designed by local architect George L. Browne in the Free Classical style.

The estate was sold in 1925 to Hugh Victor McKay, a wealthy industrialist and inventor of the Sunshine Harvester. When McKay died in 1926, Rupertswood was bought by pastoralist William Naughton, and then in 1927 by the Salesian Society, which used the mansion and surrounding property as a male boarding school. The school later became co-educational, relocated into separate premises nearby, and is known as Salesian College, Rupertswood.


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