B4 it was a classroom

With thanks to Braemar College.

If you turn right when you enter Braemar College’s grand old building on Mt Macedon, the first room you see is classroom B4.

But more than a century ago, when this building was a guesthouse, the first room on the right was the drawing room, a place where visitors could relax.

Today, the chairs and tables look very different; only the fireplace gives a clue to the room’s former life.

The guesthouse – called Braemar House – was opened in 1890 by a syndicate of men who had made their money from the silver deposits in Broken Hill.

During summer and Easter holidays, Braemar House was a popular destination. However, in 1895, it was put up for sale.

The property attracted no bidders, though, and when William Knox, the last of the syndicate, died in 1912, ownership passed to his family.

Isabel Henderson bought Braemar House in 1918 and moved Clyde School there. Clyde was based on Mt Macedon from 1919 to 1975, when it merged with Geelong Grammar. Braemar College opened the following year.

✍️ Richard Padgett

Sources: Braemar College: The First Decade, by Don Garden (Braemar College, 1986); A History of Braemar House 1890-1990, by Marion Hutton, John Hitch, Glenda Fisher (Braemar College, 1992).