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Restoration Australia Season 8 Episode 1
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Short filmTranscript
00:06Faithful restoration is always a test of patience and dedication.
00:11Even the smallest city project can try the most committed of us.
00:15So when it's a remote rural location, far from trades and expertise,
00:20there's a castle-sized homestead that needs to be wrestled back from the brink
00:25and transformed into a comfortable country home,
00:28the challenges are exponential.
00:31Hearts can be easily broken, along with the bank balance.
00:41I'm Anthony Burke, a professor of architecture,
00:44passionate about buildings of the past...
00:46This is incredibly impressive.
00:49..and what they can tell us about better ways to live in the future.
00:53This is very confronting. It's a ruin. It is.
00:55Join me as I travel the country,
00:57meaning homeowners embarking on the challenge of a lifetime.
01:00Look in there!
01:02Restoring homes from the 1800s to the swinging 60s.
01:06Looking to balance our rich cultural heritage with life in modern Australia.
01:23Hey, look at this.
01:25What have you got?
01:26Oh.
01:27Melbourne couple Jane Marchment and Neil Gibbs treasure the past.
01:31Oh, wow.
01:32No, it's cool.
01:33Original 1950s light.
01:35It's...
01:35Glashade.
01:37Jane's a lawyer, Neil's an energy consultant, and rummaging through rusty relics, all the bells
01:44and whistles and whistles...
01:46..and diving into treasure chests in search of an exciting find is a shared passion.
01:52Perfect.
01:53How many are there?
01:54There's four of them.
01:55Other people's cast-offs and memories may find a new life in theirs.
02:01A big, mixed, loving family first brought together by tragedy.
02:05Brilliant.
02:06My first husband passed away at 39 suddenly and, yeah, it was a very difficult time.
02:17During that time, yeah, Neil was very supportive and that's... which eventuated into a relationship.
02:25Yeah, it was a surprise for us both.
02:27It was sort of odd.
02:29I tried not to be in love with Jane for a while, quite a while actually, but I was and
02:34I just...
02:34I couldn't stop it.
02:36And, yeah, that's how we got together.
02:39Now, more than 20 years on, their kids have grown and flown the coop, and Jane and Neil
02:44are craving a new challenge.
02:46We're at a crossroads.
02:48We're empty nesters and we're very excited by that.
02:52It was fantastic, actually.
02:54And that next day we were contemplating travel, but we definitely needed more than that.
03:00Yeah, we wanted something that was substantive and would do something good for us and for the family.
03:06And we started to look for a project and I had always wanted a Bluestone home.
03:10I can't tell you why, I just always did.
03:13And I've always loved growing things, plants, kids, businesses, and I needed some land.
03:22Bluestone is the backbone of early Melbourne.
03:25It's everywhere in Jane and Neil's hometown, from laneways to grand buildings and fine stately homes.
03:33But these guys are wandering prospectors of the dusty past and their search for Bluestone took them west, 250 kilometres
03:41from home.
03:44Face to face with this dramatic sight.
03:48We had never seen a house of this design in our lives before, other than perhaps churches.
03:55There's no home that we'd ever looked at or seen that had this feel.
04:02This is Berenbull Estate in Western Victoria, half an hour south of Ararat.
04:07A monumental pile of stones, about as resolute and imposing as the nearby Grampian Ranges.
04:14The moment I saw it, I just fell in love with it.
04:18Particularly the front, the facade is just so special in a house.
04:22And for me personally, from that moment, I was hooked, just completely taken.
04:28Jane and Neil bought Berenbull in 2021 for $1.8 million.
04:34It's a very big job that we've taken on, but an exciting opportunity.
04:39It absolutely is.
04:40I see a romance in bringing things back to life and their former glory.
04:46I think this is the dream project that's full of dreams.
04:50Yeah.
04:52It might be full of dreams, brimming with history and loaded with character,
04:56but this massive 540 square metre homestead on 11 hectares,
05:01out in the lonely Victorian countryside, is feeling every one of its 160 or so years.
05:09I mean, this thing needs everything done to it.
05:11We don't have a toilet.
05:12We have electricity in two rooms.
05:15We have bubble wrap for glass in most of the rooms.
05:19We don't have heating.
05:21We don't have ceilings in half the house.
05:23We have no floors in probably about a third of the house.
05:28And there are gaps everywhere else.
05:29It's just daunting.
05:31I mean, it's so extreme.
05:32The scale of it is significant, but everything was broken.
05:36But wait, there's more.
05:38At Berenbull, there's no such thing as too much bluestone.
05:42There's an enormous bluestone stables that could just about accommodate a full Melbourne Cup field.
05:48But that's a restoration project for another time.
05:53Many people have said to us, you guys are crazy.
05:57It's got a ridiculous amount of work to be done on it.
06:01It's going to cost the complete bomb.
06:03We'll never get our money back.
06:05But the joy of the journey is the reason we're doing it.
06:09We also feel a sense of responsibility.
06:12Yeah, but we didn't have to take that on.
06:14No.
06:15But now that we have, I feel that responsibility.
06:20Yeah, that was the option.
06:21We could have said, no.
06:23But we did it.
06:26For us, it's much, much more than a house restoration project.
06:30It's a whole journey of discovery about the history, about the natural environment, about
06:35ourselves and about the family and new things we want to do here.
06:44Hey Neil.
06:45Hey Jane.
06:46Anthony.
06:46Hi.
06:46Lovely to meet you and lovely to meet this gorgeous pile that you've got here.
06:51It's magnificent, isn't it?
06:52It's fantastic.
06:53Yeah, it's a total statement.
06:55In every sense, in this location, in this environment, statement.
07:00Absolutely.
07:01Yeah.
07:01You must feel amazing seeing this every morning.
07:05It's an absolute privilege showing this place.
07:07It is incredible.
07:09This is Victorian period, right?
07:10So there's an enormous amount going on.
07:11I can see Elizabethan up there in the parapets with those curves.
07:14I can see the Gothic pointed arches.
07:16The Scottish baronial in all of the stonework and the dressed coining on the blue stone.
07:22For the Victorians, it was all about sort of bringing it all together and, you know,
07:26enjoying that kind of festival almost.
07:28Yeah, the busyness.
07:28Yeah.
07:29The busyness of it all.
07:30Was that typical of a period?
07:31Absolutely.
07:32Right.
07:32You know, the Victorians were incredibly experimental.
07:34Yeah.
07:35And we've got, in a house like this, we've got the results of that kind of exploration.
07:41Yeah.
07:41Going on.
07:41Remember at the same time Balmoral Castle was built.
07:43Right.
07:44So you've got a great precedent there, which is Scottish baronial.
07:47Westminster, same thing, different sort of Gothic.
07:50So some great precedents that they would have known about.
07:52And I love how they came to Australia and just said, okay, we're going to just put it
07:56all up here in this Australian landscape.
07:58Yeah.
07:59And the interiors from that period are also very rich and fairly dark and heavy.
08:04Is that the case here as well?
08:05Let's come inside and have a look.
08:07Great.
08:08Let's have a look.
08:09Let's do that.
08:10This imposing edifice of showy Victorian mayhem isn't the only feature evoking the old dart.
08:19Wow.
08:21If it was saying something outside, it's still saying something inside.
08:24This is huge.
08:26A touring British Ashes team would be right at home choosing to bat or bowl in the Lord's
08:32like hallway.
08:33Yep.
08:34Longer than a cricket pitch.
08:35Wow.
08:36Absolutely.
08:36It's fantastic.
08:37It's a fantastic space.
08:39Yeah.
08:39And you've got such, I guess, elevation in the ceilings, huge ceiling heights.
08:43I kind of expected that.
08:44And then your eye goes to all the details.
08:46So you know this is an important house because of all the things that are going on in here
08:51saying all this.
08:52These three arches.
08:53I've walked through a Gothic arch and I've now been introduced to a four pointed arch
08:56in the middle here that looks like it's got, I don't know, Byzantine sort of decorative
09:00treatment to it.
09:01And then you've got a neoclassical arch down the back here.
09:04So that kind of Victorian exuberance for experimentation is still going on.
09:09Still, no amount of Grand Victoriana is going to hide the very un-grand dysfunctional comforts.
09:16This bathroom has seen better days.
09:18Oh, yes it has.
09:20Nor does it seem to impress or intimidate the locals.
09:23The first time I went to have a shower in there, naked, getting ready to go, foot over
09:27the bath, tiger snake.
09:29What?
09:29In the bottom of the bath.
09:31No.
09:31Absolutely.
09:32In here?
09:32In there.
09:33Curled itself around, vroom, down the pipe and away.
09:37And that's when we knew the plumbing was wrecked.
09:39Tell me you don't shower in there anymore.
09:41No, we do.
09:42Very rarely though.
09:43Okay, now you're mad.
09:45Officially, yes.
09:46Officially mad.
09:46The smallest room in the house might be filled with terror.
09:51And here it is.
09:52This is the drawing room.
09:54We like the space, but we love the light.
09:57The largest is filled with awe.
10:00If there's a bigger room in the house than this, then we're really in trouble.
10:03Oh no, that's it.
10:05And more than a little water damage.
10:07So this would have been where the gentleman would have retired to, I suppose, for their
10:12formal entertainment purposes, you know, whiskey and cigars, I suppose, something like that.
10:16But that would also imply that there's a parlour.
10:19Oh, there is.
10:19Yes?
10:20Absolutely.
10:21Very different?
10:21Very different.
10:23At a time when heavy lines demarcated the sexes, women would at least be spared the
10:28cigar smoke and the patriarchal grumblings and repair across the cricket pitch hallway to
10:33the parlour.
10:34Again, the deterioration is significant.
10:38Because it just keeps getting bigger and bigger, doesn't it, really?
10:40It does.
10:40It just keeps going.
10:41It does.
10:42It just keeps going.
10:43Berenbul is a maze of wide promenades, huge rooms and sudden, tiny portals.
10:49And this has to be the smallest door in the world.
10:52Yeah, I'd hope so.
10:54On into the dreamy, filtered light of a conservatory linking the original 1860s wing to the later
11:021890s wing.
11:02I can imagine this space in the Victorian sense of that, you know, glass, crystal palaces
11:07and those sorts of things, filled with greenery and all that kind of stuff.
11:11And it really would be a beautiful space.
11:15So here we are in the bedroom wing, this long, broad hallway full of features.
11:22These pressed tin ceilings at a more modest height declare yet another period change, but
11:28those Victorian quirks keep on coming.
11:30What is this, Anthony?
11:32What were they thinking here?
11:33And what would we do with it?
11:34Yeah.
11:35Gothic niche, I think that summarises it perfectly.
11:38It's another one of those very interesting Gothic-inspired Victorian eccentricities.
11:44Just throw another feature in.
11:46Yeah.
11:46Yeah.
11:47It's found its way into the bedroom wing.
11:48Yeah.
11:49But as we stride on past room after damaged room and a novelty fixture around each and every
11:55corner, I'm struck by the magnitude of Jane and Neil's mission.
11:59It's overwhelming.
12:01Genuinely mind-blowing.
12:03This will be their forever home, but it goes on forever and might take forever to finish.
12:10Just repairing this monster would be Herculean, but Jane and Neil plan to reconfigure the current
12:16nine-bedroom layout into something more stylish and suitable.
12:20The drawing room and parlour will become a formal lounge and formal dining room.
12:25A length of the cricket pitch will become a gallery.
12:28Great idea.
12:29The higgledy-piggledy kitchen corner will be reconfigured into a casual living dining
12:34area and served by a new kitchen.
12:36A master suite and study will command the other corner of the original house.
12:41The conservatory will be restored and the bedroom wing refreshed.
12:46There'll be no fewer than four new very snake-proof bathrooms.
12:50All in all, it's an epic assignment.
12:55When you're in the spaces internally, they tell you what they are.
12:58They can't be anything else.
13:00Yeah.
13:00So lots of the pieces feel like they're not really moveable.
13:03A good project has a great plan, but I feel we've already been given a lot of the plan.
13:09The project will reveal itself.
13:11The direction we head will reveal itself as we're on that journey.
13:15I really do think that.
13:17Our main aim, which we will achieve, is to leave the place in a better state than what we found
13:24it.
13:25Yeah.
13:25How much are you intending to spend on the renovation and restoration?
13:29You could pour a lot of money into this, so obviously we have to budget.
13:35I'd like to keep it to closer to one, but I'm realistic and I think it'll be closer to two
13:42million.
13:42Okay.
13:43When you think about the project in total, in its complexity, its whole, what are you most worried about?
13:49Scale.
13:50Yeah.
13:50It's just so big.
13:51It's the sheer volume of activity and losing the love of it, the enthusiasm.
13:56When the weather's really crook out here, will we find ourselves flat?
14:00We haven't had any huge potholes yet, but they're there waiting for us to find.
14:07They will find them.
14:08How long do you think this is all going to take you?
14:10Well, 18 months from now, I guess, we hope to be able to live in the house pretty comfortably.
14:15Yeah.
14:15Will it be absolutely completely finished?
14:17I don't think so.
14:18Yeah.
14:18But it will be, it will be livable.
14:20One of the huge challenges is definitely going to be tradespeople getting people out here.
14:27It is quite isolated.
14:28We're sort of beggars in that regard and we'll take the people we can get when we can.
14:32I mean, I guess it is endless and I have actually said, this will do you in.
14:38Yeah.
14:39I love you, but yes.
14:42Yeah.
14:42Yeah.
14:45Boy, oh boy, this is an intimidating assignment.
14:49I mean, just the scale of the thing is epic.
14:52And I shudder to think what might be lurking in the vast uncovered spaces of this place.
14:57Given it's about the size of a castle, I'm tempted to summon that great line from the great Australian movie
15:02and tell them they're dreaming.
15:0418 months and a couple of million?
15:06Come on.
15:07But then these two have shown they can build great things from terrible adversity.
15:12So maybe we should just give them the benefit of the doubt, cross our fingers and hope they can do
15:18it.
15:31As demo work gets underway at Berenball, Jane and Neil's sons Eddie and Tom have found themselves heading back in
15:39time in more ways than one.
15:41I'm pretty sure we're doing the ceiling, but I'm not sure.
15:44100%.
15:45They're back bunking in one room.
15:48It's funny that, like, we're sharing a room again and I think me and Tom's relationship got much closer when
15:54we stopped sharing a room.
15:57OK, so today's tasks are going to send around preparing for plastering and electrician.
16:03They're back in class, getting their assignments.
16:06We haven't appointed an architect yet.
16:08We don't have a builder, but we do have an electrician.
16:10Working for Mum and Neil is pretty interesting.
16:14But ultimately we just do what we're told.
16:17And they're getting to know the innermost spaces and beginning to uncover the lurking dramas of a vast, neglected, 160
16:27-year-old country house.
16:28There's a lot to be done and there still is a lot more to do, but at the end of
16:32the day we're just helping out wherever we can, doing what we can.
16:35In their early 20s, Eddie and Tom are the demo muscle for this project.
16:40Neither have construction skills, but they've quit their jobs in the city for a basic wage and board out here
16:46to help wherever they can.
16:48Another huge challenge is just the isolation. It's in the middle of nowhere. Our closest shops are 40 minutes away.
16:55Seeing friends, that's back in Melbourne. I don't have friends out here, so it's pretty isolating in that way.
17:01It's just me and Tom.
17:03Yeah, just the family.
17:09It's great fun working with Ed and Tom. They're awesome, calm, even keel people.
17:15A good, a good offset for me. They're more like mum.
17:19And they're just really good at understanding a task and just, you know, really cracking into it.
17:31There are going to be some mishaps and some of the plaster work is too far gone to worry about
17:37preserving.
17:39In a perfect world, okay, I'd like to keep that rose.
17:43But Neil's keen to hold on to some stars.
17:47How do I release the rose from the rest of the ceiling so that when I bring it down, it
17:53doesn't bring the rose down or damage it too much?
17:55Mate, that is the million dollar question.
17:58Berenbal's isolation means experts can't simply call by with advice.
18:04If Neil's lucky, one might take a call, like Ballarat plasterer Sean.
18:09Pull the ceiling out around it. That would be my number one that I would try to do.
18:13Well, I'd actually sort of cut around, literally cut around it like it's a piece of tracing paper.
18:19Correct.
18:21These historic details matter to us.
18:23So in this room, we've got an 1868 handmade rose that was made on site, cast on site.
18:30We don't want to lose that.
18:31And in the gentleman's room, in what will be the dining room of the future, we have a rose that
18:36was put in in the Art Deco period, completely out of keeping with the Gothic era of the house, but
18:43absolutely in keeping with one of the major renovations that occurred in the house.
18:47And we want to keep both of those things.
18:51These opening days are all about preparing Berenbal for the pros, stripping the interior for professional plasterers willing to tackle
19:00such a complex restoration.
19:02The wood at that end is stuffed, to put it shortly.
19:09Fossicking under floors, checking the viability of old timber joists.
19:13This one looks a bit flowery.
19:15No, it's not too bad.
19:17I think that's just because this is bark.
19:20And searching for jacking points under acres of timber to summon weary old floor plates up from their sad old
19:27slump, preparing the way for the plumbers and electricians to come.
19:32I'll be putting these little feet in, these galvanised little feet in that will have no water problems, clamp them
19:38in place like that, so there's a good solid connection, and put in a concrete shoe around those.
19:45Wait for a day for the concrete to heal, a set, and then that will be there forever.
19:50And outside, mining around and under the mighty bluestone shell, searching for damp and water ingress, and preparing the way
19:59for the professional underpinners to come in to right these dramatic and imposing external walls.
20:06This is a family digging in and getting it done.
20:11Honestly, they are wonderful, and who gets to work with their kids like this?
20:17And they're not kids, they're adults.
20:19Like, it just doesn't happen.
20:2022, 24, I am really blessed to have this moment in their lives.
20:29Like, I feel really privileged, kids looking at me like I'm just talking a load of crap, but it's true.
20:44The only thing longer than these gut-busting days is the walk to the outhouse.
20:49The only functioning toilet on site, way off in the distance in the stables.
20:55I know, at night time, it's a 150-metre walk, but that's just the way it needs to be.
21:01The project's not just about resurrecting Berenbal.
21:04And there's a bit of a problem with water at the moment, so take a bucket with you when you
21:09go.
21:09And that'll keep everything moving just fine.
21:14It's about relying on each other, doing as much of the work as they can, and enjoying their time together.
21:21What do you want, little darling?
21:24Neil.
21:25Don't put dogs at the table.
21:26She was sitting on the table.
21:28This is Neil's favourite child.
21:31I'll stop it.
21:33But this team can only do so much.
21:36The thing that worries me most at night is the trades.
21:40I've got people who've said they're going to turn up, but, you know, will they turn up in the day?
21:43We don't have a builder, so we're managing that ourselves, so that's a risk.
21:47It's just the sheer scale of the thing that worries me most.
21:51So here's to Berenbal.
21:53Berenbal.
21:55Berenbal.
21:56Goatine.
22:00There's no doubt this adventure is going to be filled with surprise and discovery as the family chips away at
22:07this monumental task,
22:09and dives deep into the history of the home.
22:13They know an Irish immigrant named John Moffat built Berenbal in the 1860s, but there's mystery, even infamy, surrounding him.
22:22How, in double-quick time, did a lowly farm worker amass nearly 100,000 acres of prime grazing land, running
22:31at one time more than 120,000 head of sheep, somehow scurry into the top ten of Victoria's rich list
22:39and feel compelled to build such a showy pile?
22:42And why did he earn such an unflattering nickname, Scabby Moffat?
22:47I hope Jane and Neil can find the time and the leads to flesh out the human history of this
22:53awesome spread.
23:02OK, time to call my get-out-of-jail card.
23:07Just weeks on, the wreck and prep crew have hit a major snag.
23:12Antonio, that was quick. How are you?
23:15That's great.
23:16In fact, far more dark and forbidding than any of Berenbal's thick bluestone walls.
23:22Do you mind if I put you on the speaker so I can just make some notes as we go?
23:26Thanks, mate.
23:29There's dangerous asbestos in the roof space, and it's absolutely everywhere.
23:34So they're in sort of hazmat suits and they need a clean area to get out of those and shower
23:38down and that sort of stuff, is that...?
23:40Absolutely, yes.
23:42So this is where we made our big and bad discovery.
23:46I was in the ceiling checking out its structural integrity and I came across what I suspected was asbestos, although
23:53I've never seen anything like it.
23:54And we sent it off to a lab and it's the very worst form of asbestos that you can get.
24:00It's known as Class A friable asbestos.
24:03There's no one in regional Victoria at all who is licensed to remove this.
24:07And so we're now finding or looking for solutions to a problem we can't solve locally.
24:14It's quite a surprise.
24:15The widespread use of asbestos didn't occur in domestic construction until the late 1800s.
24:22So it's likely this was retrofitted for its insulating and fireproof qualities.
24:29Neil's found a city-based asbestos team that can do the job, but it's going to be a surgical procedure
24:35on a grand scale.
24:36And with a big price tag, $30,000.
24:41They have to set up an exclusion zone around the house for people, double bagging it.
24:46There'll be a hygienist on site with vacuums sampling the air the entire time that they're working.
24:52Fingers crossed, all things going well.
24:54They will then issue a certificate of clearance, which means it'll be safe for us to occupy and we will
25:00have peace of mind, which is what we're really after here.
25:03Very expensive, mind you, but really mandatory as well.
25:10For nine long days, Berenbul resembles the set of a movie mystery, smothered in warning tape.
25:18The only entry and airlock portal accessed by workers in hazmat.
25:23Most rooms had it above the ceiling.
25:28Asbestos hygienist Dion holds the progress of this project in his hands.
25:32Everything's at a standstill until he says it's safe.
25:36The result is the southern wing is cleared and we're just working on the main house body at the moment.
25:43I've gone through, I've had a look up through the ceiling.
25:45Everything looks clean so far, which is good.
25:48And I'm good to give them the green light to start restorations.
25:52So Kevin's coming back.
25:54They'll remove the last of the asbestos.
25:56Yeah.
25:58All the inside's clean and you can start your restoration.
26:00Yeah, it's fantastic. I'm looking forward to it.
26:02It'll be all cleared off.
26:03With my peace of mind and a certificate.
26:05Exactly.
26:12And action.
26:14This crack here, we want to get about 7mm here.
26:17Hopefully that'll rotate.
26:19Suddenly, Berenbul, the eerily quiet would-be movie set, has become a moving set.
26:25I just want a photo of that.
26:27The top there is, should close up hopefully.
26:31With a can-do props department out to lift the pace and, most importantly, the house.
26:37Righto guys, that's the lowest point in the house.
26:41We're going to start up that end, start there, correct it back and prop as we go.
26:47Let's go, go, go.
26:50Even this bulletproof bluestone building can yield to the extremes of the seasons and the shifting ground.
26:58It's making noise.
26:59Stop there, Josh, take, go three.
27:02I'll go three as well.
27:03It's up to Scott and his team of housejackers to close up the gaps and get the walls back where
27:10they're supposed to be.
27:11That gap's closing, it's good.
27:13It's pretty close.
27:14He loves this place so much, he brought the family and made it a working holiday.
27:20This is everything that I would love to have for myself.
27:24Probably not quite as grand as the house, but the stable, the property, it's just awesome.
27:29Here you go, lads.
27:32And once I came down here, I thought, that's it, we've got to do this in the school holidays.
27:36I've got two of my boys here and we're just smashing it out, having a family holiday, working on something
27:43that's beautiful.
27:47It's one of those things, you don't know how bad something is until you start pulling it apart.
27:52At last, the specialist trades are on a roll.
27:55I think you'll be okay.
27:57I don't think we'll lose too much glass because we're taking the whole sash out.
28:01Ray, the timber joiner, specialises in restoring and replicating period windows.
28:06And this will go right in there.
28:10Ray, they are going to look amazing.
28:13The arches are perfect.
28:17So going to compliment the arches on the wall on the other side and just let all that light in.
28:23Neil and Jane want to flood this bedroom wing hallway with light.
28:28All right.
28:30Hello, froggies.
28:33And they want to flood their stagnant, frog-filled tanks with fresh water.
28:38A five and a half metre deep hole dug in bedrock in 1863.
28:43An absolute engineering marvel. I don't know how they did it.
28:47But, oh gee, at our current rate of consumption, we'll run out of water in about two months.
28:54So Eddie and Tom are preparing the roof for new guttering.
28:58It would be really good to get all the gutters back on.
29:01I mean, having the water just drip down right next to the house was causing a bunch of problems inside
29:06anyway.
29:07Having running water for me will remove stress from Neil.
29:10And that means that I'll be, in general, things will be better if Neil's less stressed.
29:16And with Neil channelling that stress into a new course of piping, someday soon they'll just need to wait for
29:23the storm clouds to gather and wait for the downpour.
29:31And with that, a very different storm erupts inside the house.
29:37We could use a lot of words, but they're stuffed.
29:40Looks like the cost-efficient plan to patch up the floors will have to become a full-scale replacement program.
29:47Expensive.
29:48As we've gone through lifting the floors for various reasons to replace just patches where we thought there were really
29:54big problems,
29:55we've found that the whole lot is a problem.
29:58All of the subfloors appear to need to be replaced.
30:02All of the barriers sit on things called plates.
30:04The plates are sitting on piles of bluestones, which have been there for 160 years,
30:08and they're progressively rotting out.
30:11It's probably setting us back about three months from our planned trajectory, actually,
30:16because it's just such a lot of work under the floor rebuilding them.
30:28Now would be a great time for the cavalry to arrive.
30:32Thanks for coming.
30:34Oh, so glad you're here.
30:36And it does, in the shape of another son.
30:40Dan, a builder, no less.
30:42The main thing I'd like you to do, actually, is build another interim bedroom in the stable,
30:46so fix up the stables and talk about what we're going to do in the house.
30:51What do you think about what we're doing out there, though? Does it make sense to you?
30:54Yeah, it does. It means that you can then get inside the house and have a crack in there and
30:58you're not living in there at the same time.
31:00Having a builder in the family is handy at the best of times, but vital when some tradies are proving
31:06hard to pin down,
31:07or are unable to readjust their schedules around Berrimble's disruptive discoveries.
31:13They are crazy, trying to do this and everything else. I think it's mad, but they seeming to make it
31:19work, so good on them.
31:20I'm really excited for what it's going to look like in the next couple of years.
31:24But Dan's voluntary ad hoc presence on site also highlights the biggest problem of all.
31:31Neil and Jane have been unable to find a full-time project managing builder to drive the main phase of
31:38the Berrimble makeover.
31:39I think that they definitely need to appoint a builder sooner rather than later, otherwise they won't ever finish.
31:45They've set a deadline in their heads of end of 2024.
31:49Without a builder, it's quite easy just to tread water and not really move forward.
31:54Half-finished jobs everywhere, no real point of direction.
31:58There's a lot of ideas, but those ideas just get floated around.
32:02And to turn into more ideas, locking in a builder means that you'll have to lock in decisions and there
32:07will be an end in sight, I reckon.
32:18The easy rolling hills and vales leading us out to Berrimble are misty and evocative in the early morning and,
32:25as good a place as any, to get philosophical.
32:28Confucius said, the man who wants to move a mountain begins by moving small stones.
32:34The trouble is, I get the sense that Neil and Jane have moved many, many stones, but their restoration mountain
32:41hasn't moved an inch.
32:43I am really starting to worry that they might have bitten off more than they can chew.
32:49Jane and Neil have been toiling away on this bluestone monster for just over a year.
32:55Hey Jane, Neil, Anthony.
32:57How are you? Lovely to see you.
32:59Great to see you.
33:00But at first blush, you'd never know it.
33:03Not much seems to have changed out here.
33:06Ouch!
33:08A lot has changed, you just can't see it.
33:11Okay.
33:12Truth is, all the hard work is hidden.
33:16Important structural stuff, under, above and within these forbidding bluestone walls.
33:22In fairness, the hallway-cum-sunroom of the bedroom wing is at least aglow with new windows.
33:30Oh, yes.
33:31Brilliant, it's the word, all the light that's flooding in here.
33:34You could sit here, enjoy the sunlight.
33:37It is stunning in here in the morning, watching the sun come up, it's stunning.
33:40Elsewhere, though, it's not exactly leaps and bounds.
33:44Wow, look, seriously, guys, there is just so much work to do.
33:49And they're adding more work as they go.
33:53We're going to do Gothic-styled strapping up there, with or without embellishments or adornments in between the strapping.
34:01Okay, because this job wasn't hard enough already.
34:05Plaster laneways criss-crossing this vaulted paddock.
34:09I don't know.
34:10This is an addition to the historic fabric that we're standing in that we already love.
34:16True.
34:17Doesn't that give you pause?
34:19Why does it need an addition?
34:20Aren't you being inauthentic to the original?
34:22It's a risk, but we feel like the rooms can carry it, and we think it'll look amazing.
34:29Okay, I have no doubt it's going to look pretty impressive, but I'm just wondering how much is too much?
34:35We're worried about the two.
34:37A year on, they're yet to hire a builder to project manage this enormous production, but they still press on
34:44with the work and their personal vision.
34:46The scale and demands of this project haven't crushed their enthusiasm.
34:51So Jane, where does this, you know, fabulous positivity that you've got come from, do you think?
34:57We all have our story, right?
35:00Um, so part of my story is actually losing my husband, the boys, my two youngest boys, their father.
35:10Um, and once you have an event like that in your life, you know, anything else is sort of easy,
35:21and I mean, you're so grateful for life.
35:25So I guess I'm always just thinking on the bright side, because we're so lucky to be here.
35:31So I'm not hearing any regrets?
35:34Not at all. Not a bit. Even, even if it all fell apart and we couldn't afford to do it
35:40anymore, like just the bonding between us and the boys and the project as far as it's got has, we've
35:49loved it. We've already loved the journey.
35:51Yeah.
35:57But heartbreakingly, for Jane in particular, all good journeys come to an end.
36:02Learned a lot, but definitely came to leave.
36:05It's time. Spent enough time at Berenbull.
36:09Time to spend time elsewhere.
36:12Yeah.
36:13I cannot wait to leave.
36:16This is, like...
36:19Oh, it's good, but it's a drag.
36:22It's been a long, hard, gut-busting and isolated grind for Eddie and Tom.
36:28They're young and they want their lives back.
36:31In theory, I'm moving to Spain.
36:33Living in Spain, travelling Europe.
36:36Just heading to South East Asia for, you know, a holiday basically.
36:40Six month holiday, though.
36:41Six month holiday.
36:42More than just a holiday.
36:43It's not really a holiday.
36:44It is, it is, it's going to be a holiday and then not holiday, you know.
36:46Yeah.
36:47Yeah, it's going to be a journey.
36:49How are you getting on, please?
36:52Yeah, not too bad.
36:54I think that despite the boys, you know, little whinges about the project, I think they're
37:01actually on board and they are excited about it.
37:04They are.
37:05I know you guys are irreplaceable and we are going to miss you desperately.
37:09Yeah, I know.
37:10I still think they're crazy.
37:12No, it's their thing, though.
37:13It's their thing and we're going to...
37:14Yeah.
37:15It's their thing.
37:16It's all their thing.
37:16It's their hobby.
37:17Not my hobby, their hobby.
37:18Makes no sense.
37:20Economically, though.
37:21Just, I don't know.
37:22Yeah, but...
37:24Neither do my hobbies.
37:25Yeah.
37:26Yeah.
37:27Oh, come here, Katie.
37:29Come here.
37:29Come on.
37:30It will be very lonely without them and...
37:33And slower.
37:34Yes.
37:36Group hug.
37:38Family hug.
37:39Oh!
37:39Family hug.
37:40Goodbye.
37:43She's like, get me out of here.
37:52They might have lost some muscle, but they've found a gold mine.
37:56It's a big day.
37:57We're off to see Jim Haye, the man who hopefully can answer some of the very many questions we
38:03have about Mr. McMahon, Mr. Moffat.
38:06Jane and Neil have been trying to develop a clearer picture of John Moffat, the enigmatic
38:11figure behind Berenbaugh, and they've made a breakthrough in Melbourne.
38:15Hello, Jim.
38:16Hello.
38:16What have you got?
38:17Just my treasure here.
38:18It's good to see you, Jim.
38:19Yeah.
38:19I recognise some of these old ones.
38:21Oh, you do.
38:22Yeah, you do.
38:23Oh, they're lovely old books, but they're...
38:26Oh, they've seen better days.
38:29Now in his late 90s, Jim Haye is a distant relative of Moffat's, and he's assembled a
38:35pretty unvarnished biographical profile of this epically wealthy landholder and grazier.
38:41So this is your manuscript, Jim, that you wrote, the historical record.
38:47Yes.
38:47A masterpiece.
38:48And the photo of...
38:49It is.
38:49John Moffat.
38:50At this time, he was amongst Victoria's wealthiest people, I think number six at the
38:56time.
38:56Yes, he was.
38:57Estimated on today's values, he would be worth about 3.7 billion.
39:02Wow.
39:02It's extraordinary, isn't it?
39:04I think you showed us earlier that he was, of all Australians through all time, he's number
39:0955 most wealthy Australians.
39:12Yeah.
39:12It's an extraordinary achievement.
39:15Extraordinary, perhaps, but Moffat's business tactics were often dubious.
39:20He covertly orchestrated a dummy bidding system to grab land cheaply.
39:25He got opponent buyers drunk and gazumped them while they were passed out.
39:29And he ignored animal husbandry laws.
39:33Now, one of those shortcuts he's been blagged for was the existence or the appearance of
39:38scab in sheep.
39:40What scab?
39:41As a blistering, terrible blistering.
39:43A cat so much so they can't eat and them will perish.
39:46It became illegal to house a flock of sheep that was infected with scab.
39:51It didn't worry our friend too much.
39:53He was accused by several people of transgressing.
39:57And so Moffat became Scabby Moffat to his many enemies, including opponents whose anti-Moffat
40:04campaign slogan failed to stop his run for Victoria's parliament.
40:09They goaded him, hence the famous ditty. Scabby is his name and Scabby is his pocket
40:16and Scabby is the man who votes for Scabby Moffat.
40:22It's a great saying, isn't it?
40:24Yes.
40:24I think that's a beautiful wind jammer.
40:26So why do you think he built the amazing homesteads that he built?
40:31Yes, I've wondered that.
40:32I think just to show them I've got the money, mate, I'm capable of matching.
40:37Anything you do, I'll do better.
40:39Yes.
40:40In an incredible act of generosity, Jim's decided to hand the new owners of Berenball his manuscript
40:46on Moffat, the skin-flint squatter, and all his associated research.
40:50What a treasure trove.
40:52We're so grateful, Jim, and it's just such an honour to have met you and to be, you know,
40:59have this gift of all this incredible documentation and research that you've done.
41:04It's extraordinary.
41:14There was movement at the station.
41:17So, are you going to miss the big house?
41:19Uh, yeah, I am, actually.
41:22Yeah, I've come to really love it.
41:23For the word had got around.
41:25I reckon that's a load, mate.
41:27Okay, let's go.
41:29Let's move house.
41:30That a team who knew what they were doing were on their way.
41:33This is such a big moment.
41:35We're moving into the major renovation phase now.
41:38I mean, two years of restoration works.
41:41Demo works.
41:42Demo, well, come on.
41:43Quite a bit of restoration work.
41:44Restoration work.
41:45But now we begin the major works, and it's exciting.
41:48Yeah.
41:48Jane and Neil have finally managed to engage a building crew to drive this enormous project
41:55through to completion.
42:00We feel so lucky to have engaged a builder.
42:03Um, we're a long way from anywhere.
42:06Um, trades are really busy.
42:08You know, they've probably got a lot more attractive and easier jobs to do than, you know,
42:13a heritage house in the middle of nowhere.
42:15So we're thrilled to bits, um, to have the builder on board.
42:21And while the pros take the reins, the hard-working, dedicated amateurs are getting out of the way
42:27and taking up residence in the stables.
42:30So we've already done quite a lot of work to make the stables liveable, endless cleaning,
42:37um, and more cleaning and filling up all the gaps as much as we can.
42:41But, you know, hopefully these cupboards will be mice-proof and that'll be okay.
42:56Builder Shane and his colleagues are based an hour and a half away,
42:59but playing a defining role in this epic restoration proved too good to miss.
43:05It's a little bit further than we'd normally travel, but, yeah,
43:08it was really one of those projects you want to actually be involved with.
43:12I love the place.
43:13Like, I understand exactly why they've fallen in love with themselves
43:17and want to take on such a big project.
43:18Doing what they've done, which they've done a great job of what I can see.
43:22So, yeah.
43:23Excited for them and excited to actually be part of it for them.
43:26It's fantastic to have people, professionals, on-site therapists.
43:30Yeah, who know what they're doing.
43:31Yes.
43:32And they're very efficient.
43:34It's a big step from it being a family project, an important transition for us,
43:39because we weren't going to get it done without their help.
43:42There's still an enormous amount of work to do
43:44if Berenbul is to become a comfortable, well-appointed country home.
43:48Neil and Jane will still lend a hand where they can and at their own pace,
43:53but Shane's keen to turbocharge the timetable.
43:57We're kind of setting ourselves program-wise for about seven months.
44:01We'll have Christmas in there, so that might push out another month,
44:03but, yeah, that's not a problem at all.
44:06Seven months. Wow.
44:08And these should be among the most evident and defining changes
44:12in this long-running effort.
44:14This house is an awakening from a slumber,
44:17and I love the activity, the people on-site,
44:22and it's just part of that process of bringing this house back to life.
44:45Jane called it early.
44:47Getting trades to Berenbul was going to be the number one impediment to progress.
44:51And rustling tradies and expertise kept Neil on edge
44:55through the early phases of the build.
44:57But then, after two long years of slog,
45:00they finally landed a crack team to crack on with it.
45:04Builder Shane's seven-month prediction has stretched to around 12 months,
45:09but we've finally been given the all-clear.
45:12Berenbul, the stoic, rambling old bluestone dame,
45:16is finally ready for a close-up.
45:22Look at this. Oh, very regal.
45:25I feel like I'm visiting royalty.
45:31Through we go.
46:03Jane, Neil, what this?
46:07This is magnificent.
46:09I'm overwhelmed.
46:10I feel like I'm walking into a 19th-century romance novel or something.
46:13It is so magical.
46:15It's a very special house. It is, isn't it?
46:18It's always been very special.
46:19We have put this old lady back together.
46:22Look, when I was here the first time,
46:24I remember that door was a disaster.
46:27Yes.
46:27We were walking over mud on planks to get into the front door.
46:31Yes, yes.
46:31You've got stone now, you know,
46:32giving this beautiful sort of curtilage around the front,
46:34which sets it off really magnificently.
46:36The windows are looking great.
46:37Mm-hm.
46:37The front door has been replaced.
46:39Very inviting.
46:40So we wanted that clarity.
46:41Yeah.
46:42And this is how it originally was.
46:44What you're looking at is what it was.
46:46This is one of the best examples in Australia
46:48of that Scottish baronial romance
46:50with the Gothic sort of side to it all.
46:52These sort of details and features,
46:54you don't find these anywhere else.
46:55Bring back the battlements.
46:58Yeah, what have you got in mind?
47:01So, I mean, all of that is respected beautifully
47:03and it is on such beautiful display here.
47:05I'm pretty impressed and very overwhelmed, actually.
47:07Yeah, it's a lovely welcome, isn't it?
47:10You know, we've pulled up in our carriage,
47:11so this is pretty special,
47:13but I'm imagining the magic really is inside.
47:16It's totally inside.
47:18It really is.
47:19Should we go inside?
47:20Let's go.
47:20Let's do it.
47:23Naturally, such a bold and emphatic introduction
47:26sets up some big expectations for what's ahead.
47:29And there were so many confronting challenges,
47:33so many wrongs to right in Berenbal's vast insides.
47:38Welcome, Anthony, to our humble abode.
47:41There is...
47:43Jane, there is nothing humble about this abode.
47:46I tell you what.
47:49What a space.
47:51I'm genuinely running out of superlatives.
47:53I mean, this is incredible.
47:54And I think, you know, we know how important this space is
47:56in these kinds of homes.
47:58This is the formal welcome.
47:59This is where a guest is made to feel like they understand
48:02who the family is.
48:03But I'm standing here in this architectural candy store,
48:07a museum, right?
48:08Gothic, Arabesque, Victorian down the end,
48:11and you've done such a beautiful job of sort of, like,
48:13giving it all a way to sit together.
48:16I mean, this is lovely.
48:18Oh, it makes me smile.
48:19It just...
48:19It really does.
48:20I come in here at night and just turn the lights on to enjoy it.
48:23It is such a beautiful thing.
48:24He does.
48:25And he says,
48:26Babe, babe, come.
48:27Come and have a look.
48:28Yeah, I do.
48:29Again?
48:30Again?
48:31No, it's the moonlight tonight, you know.
48:33It's just...
48:34It's really lovely.
48:35I can't get over how detailed the arch in the middle here is.
48:38We are so happy with the artist that restored the original colours,
48:43made the pillars back to granite,
48:47like, hours and hours and hours of painstaking work.
48:51It was just wonderful to watch and wonderful to see it come back.
48:55And what a canvas to work on.
48:57Even that decision to embellish the drawing room ceiling
49:00with gothic strapping turns out to be a masterstroke,
49:04a majestic flourish over the original home's grandest room,
49:08now the formal dining room.
49:11This is a very special table.
49:12It's the William Moffat table.
49:15William Moffat took possession of the house in the early 1870s.
49:18He was the local shire president for 10 years,
49:21and this is the council table that he sat at for 10 years as president.
49:27We've been given this table by the Historical Society
49:30so that it can be in our formal dining room,
49:32and it's just got such a great link.
49:33We think of it as coming home...
49:35Yeah.
49:35..in a sense.
49:36It's perfect for the room.
49:38Yeah.
49:38It's the exact right scale.
49:47Welcome to the pretty room of the house.
49:50Oh, it is. It's very beautiful.
49:52My goodness.
49:53So elaborate.
49:55The old parlour was a bomb site.
49:58Now it's a showcase of subtle colour and period pieces.
50:02The last time I was in here, though,
50:03that subfloor over there was a complete disaster.
50:06Mm-hm.
50:07You had everything falling off in the corner up here,
50:09from what I remember.
50:10Mm-hm.
50:24The old parlour came up,
50:25and we've rebuilt it from the bluestone foundations up.
50:28One of the greatest achievements has been the extent
50:31to which Jane and Neil have summoned natural light
50:35to spark up this grisly monster.
50:40The completed sunroom is precisely that.
50:44But what about that other purpose-built ode
50:47to bringing the outdoors inside?
50:49Remember the smallest door and the biggest house?
50:52Uh-huh.
50:52Yeah.
50:53I feel like I'm stepping through time.
50:56Well, just a bit.
50:57A couple of decades.
50:58That conservatory bridging the two wings of the house.
51:02This is another spectacular space.
51:05Beautiful to have a greenhouse like this
51:07in a Victorian home like yours.
51:09And the birdcages, very fitting, very becoming,
51:12and you've done a very beautiful job, actually.
51:13It's got that sort of greenhouse character,
51:16which I think is totally period-specific and lovely.
51:19Yeah, great.
51:19And we will bring more green to this space.
51:22Yep.
51:23A difficult design challenge, one you've handled really beautifully,
51:26and it actually really shows off both periods of the home
51:28really, really clearly, really cleverly.
51:31Nice work.
51:32The old and scary snake pit bathroom is far too high-end
51:37to permit any slithering interlopers.
51:40So, Anthony, we're entering the modern era and the modern space of the house.
51:48I don't even recognise this space.
51:52While the glamorous new kitchen feels at a kind of commensurate scale for this rambling country home.
51:59This is about trying to create that contemporary living kitchen dining experience in space.
52:04Yeah.
52:05And so when we talk about the homestead and the home, this is really home.
52:08This is the hub of the home.
52:10Neil and Jane have now moved out of the stables, another huge project for them somewhere down the track,
52:16and into the main house.
52:18Neil continues to work full-time, remotely from here, while Jane has retired.
52:23Incredibly, their boys have embarked on their own renovation adventures elsewhere.
52:28But, when they're done, surely they won't be able to resist the allure of the epic family pile
52:35they worked so hard to help restore.
52:38So, it was strange to move into the big house.
52:43I mean, it's, like, awesome, like, ridiculous.
52:47Who lives like this?
52:48But, um, we want to make it more than a house for Neil and Jane.
52:54We want to open it up to everyone, share it as much as we can.
52:58Yeah.
52:58We've opened up the house already.
53:00We've had a few house tours.
53:02Mm-hmm.
53:02The response has been amazing.
53:04Yeah.
53:04Yeah, it really is.
53:05Do you feel like you have to be kind of mad to jump into a project like this?
53:10Yes.
53:13Yeah.
53:13I don't think mad.
53:15You don't need to be mad.
53:16But if you look at every little thing that you need to do and you wrote it all out and
53:20piled all up in front of you, it would be too daunting to start.
53:24Yeah.
53:25It's really, you've got to sort of suspend reality a bit.
53:28Yeah.
53:28To get into it.
53:29I don't, but that's not mad for me.
53:31You told me when we first met that you were going to be in by Christmas 2023.
53:35Yeah.
53:36Here we are.
53:37It's a week before Christmas 2025.
53:40Yep.
53:40Well, I'm surprised we said 2023.
53:43I mean, I know Neil's ambitious, but that was really ambitious.
53:49It was.
53:50Yeah.
53:50Ambitious, yeah.
53:51Naive, I think, is the word you used.
53:53It did.
53:53That's it.
53:55When we first met you, we hadn't absorbed just how remote we are.
53:5923 sounded ambitious, 25 sounds realistic, and I'm actually really comfortable with the
54:04amount of progress we've made in that period.
54:06Jane, I think you said you wanted to do this for less than a million dollars.
54:10Okay.
54:11Just let that sit there for a second.
54:12I'm not good at math.
54:14And Neil, I think you said you wanted to do it for under two.
54:17Mm-hmm.
54:18So how did we end up?
54:19We're at 2.6.
54:21For everything?
54:22Yeah.
54:24That's amazing.
54:25A lot of self-labour.
54:27That is quite an incredible amount to get all of this, given the amount of specialist
54:32trades and skills and craft that have been invested in this place.
54:35Mm-hmm.
54:35And just the sheer scale of it.
54:37Yes.
54:38So that is a pretty great outcome for you.
54:40Yeah.
54:41For you both.
54:42And I think, actually, given the national significance of this place, for the house,
54:46it's pretty wonderful stuff, yeah?
54:49Thank you very much.
54:50We are really conscious of that, and the honour for us to own this property, be its custodian,
54:58it is truly special, and we're very privileged, and we're very conscious of that.
55:04Well, thank you.
55:16Yay!
55:18Yay!
55:23Yay!
55:23Yay!
55:23I just wanted to say a few words here tonight.
55:26Thank you all very much for coming, but the simple message from me is that, you know, there's
55:30that old saying, it takes a village to raise a child.
55:34Well, it took a community, and this is the community, of skilled trades, creative artists,
55:40and loving friends, to help us restore Berenbull.
55:44And I thank you all.
55:45Cheers.
55:46Cheers!
55:47Woo!
55:48Woo!
55:48And here's to Berenbull.
56:02It may have been built by an unscrupulous, double-dealing scoundrel, but it's been saved
56:09by a conscientious, caring, and meticulous bunch led by Neil and Jane as lead protectors
56:16and custodians, so obviously dedicated to cherishing and championing this magnificent
56:23country estate.
56:24Thank goodness for them.
56:26What a monumental triumph.
56:47That, as single gaze is now that time, let's stop and human memang and dreading this활ong,
56:51This is half-rentical
56:51theèse thing. Of those of us who you
56:54Finn and Batman, the actual event where they grow. It was awesome, we have
56:56a heroining in of you and then we have to go and be dead. And like a varios things like
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