Description of the attraction
Osborne House is a historic building built in 1858 in the northern part of Geelong for wealthy pastoralist Robert Muirhead. He named his estate after the Osborne House in the Isle of Wight in England. Muirhead lived in this house until his death in 1862, after which the house was sold. Over the course of several years, the mansion passed from hand to hand, until in 1900 the Victorian government acquired it to house the state governor's country residence. However, the house has never been used for this purpose.
In 1905, the Osborne House was bought by the Geelong Harbor Trust Company for AU $ 12,000. In 1910, a dining room and seven bedrooms were added to the house, allowing the company to use the mansion as a guest house for several years.
In 1913, the Australian Navy accepted an offer from the Trust Company to house a naval academy. The house was renovated, a barracks for single sailors was built nearby, as well as two classrooms and a large barracks designed for 28 cadets. In the same year, the school was officially opened by the Governor of Victoria, Lord Thomas Denman, in the presence of Australian Prime Minister Andrew Fisher. The school housed 28 cadets, 4 officers, 10 sailors, teachers and service personnel. It is interesting that in order to be among the first cadets of the naval school, young people had to work hard - a total of 137 people applied for these places! It was believed that the school would become a permanent base for the Navy due to the proximity of rail transport and a safe anchorage in Corio Bay, but already in 1915 it was moved to the town of Jervis Bay.
During the First World War, Osborne House housed a military hospital, and from 1919-24 it was used as the base of the Royal Australian Submarine Service. As early as 1929, the Geelong Harbor Trust Company regained control of the building, whose sole occupant for a long time was only the caretaker. From 1939 to 1945, the house and the surrounding area were used by the Ministry of Defense as a military training center. Today it houses the Geelong Maritime Museum, and various public organizations hold their meetings.
