Pictorial – Belmont

Belmont Estate has a special standing in the AGHS realm: it was the first working bee site adopted by AGHS, and there is a history of the property available online in the AGHS website shop (digital version downloadable free-of-charge for AGHS members).

Belmont is registered in the Heritage Council of Victoria's Victorian Heritage Database due to its historical, architectural, aesthetic and technical significance.

Belmont is located in Raglan, Victoria, a small rural community and former gold mining village about 6km north of Beaufort and 50km north-west of Ballarat.  James Watkin founded Belmont in 1858 and the property has stayed in the direct family line through Louis, then Max and now Jocelyn Reid.

Trevor Pitkin, the initiator of this photographic study, is a freelance researcher, writer and photographer, and a member of AGHS.  He created this study after visiting the property and recognising the need to reveal this hidden treasure to the wider community.

This photographic study consists of 3 image sets:

  • The Heritage Print set - originals taken 1860s through 1910s, donated by Jocelyn Reid, owner of Belmont and rephotographed by Trevor Pitkin.  Annotations by Trevor Pitkin and narrative by Jocelyn Reid;
  • The Contemporary set - photographs of the property captured, edited and annotated by Trevor Pitkin in 2019;
  • The Shearing set - captured, edited and annotated by Trevor Pitkin during shearing week 2019.

The Belmont Estate site map shows some of the key features presented in the images.  Click here or on the map to start the full slide show.

Important notes about viewing the images:

  1. The image sets are displayed as a slide show.
  2. To see further information about an image, hover your mouse pointer between the top and middle of the image (or for touch screens swipe down).
  3. To enjoy the images free of clutter, move the mouse pointer outside the viewing area and the controls will vanish.
  4. You can stop and start the slide show at any time by clicking the pause Pause button  and resume/play Play button  button at the top right.
  5. To view in full-screen mode, click the expand Expand button button near the top right. To restore normal viewing size click the contract Contract button button.
  6. The original (uncropped) image can by viewed by clicking on the slide show image (or for touch screens tap once). Click the circled X near the top right to resume slide show mode.
  7. To navigate through the images simply click ❮ (for previous) or ❯ (for next), or click the image thumbnail of interest at the bottom.
  8. To return to this page, click the Exit button button near the top right.