By Cam Lucadou-Wells
After 177 years and five generations, the Keys family is relinquishing its historic homestead ‘Glen Alvie’.
It’s a sad occasion for owner Michael Keys – who grew up on the sprawling 20-plus hectares at 66 Hutton Road, Keysborough.
Mr Keys’s late parents Mervyn and Gwen were last to leave.
“I love Glen Alvie. There’s fond memories growing up on the farm, of the fun and the gatherings,” Mr Keys says.
“It was a great family home.”
Still standing magnificently immaculate since 1845 are the hand-made bricks, wattle-and-daub outbuilding, wrap-around verandahs, slate roofs, open fire places and decorative ceilings.
It pre-dates the grand homesteads like Como House and Werribee Mansion.
“They don’t make houses like they used to,” Mr Keys says.
“It’s still solid with thick walls that retain the heat in winter. It only heats up in a long heat wave.
“It’s seen everything from fires to floods. I’d love to meet my forebears who sited the house.
“It hasn’t been flooded out even though there’s been big floods in the area.”
First home to Irish migrant George Keys, the estate was part of the Moodie Yallo cattle run.
The family later purchased 377 acres during the sell-off of cattle runs as part of Victoria’s separation from NSW.
Originally called Prospect House, the home’s name was changed to reflect the Glen Alvie cattle stud.
There’s still evidence of orchards, vegetable crops and a dairy farm.
“A lot of fresh product was sent into Dandenong and Melbourne.
“They were self-sufficient growing their own food before it developed into a dairy farm under my dad (Mervyn) and his father before him.”
From 1853 to 1861, Glen Alvie was also the district’s first church.
The Keysborough Methodist Church was later built on land donated by the Keyses off Chapel Road in 1877. It still stands 145 years later.
George Keys is identified as the instigator of the 150-year-old Dandenong Agricultural Show.
The Keys name features prominently on the show’s honour boards.
Michael and his father Mervyn have since served as show presidents, and Michael remains active on the committee.
The civically-minded family also have served as councillors and JPs in the Dandenong and Keysborough regions. Of course, the latter suburb is derived from the famous family name.
“It’s because the family has been so community minded,” Mr Keys says.
“Most members including my father and grandfather have been involved in community organisations and had that community spirit.”
Keysborough has changed unrecognisably since Mr Keys was a boy. His one-teacher state school that served the farming families in the district has been since swamped by houses.
Still his family keeps touch with the early farming clans like the Corrigans and the Bowmans.
It’s some comfort for Mr Keys that the estate is heritage protected on Green Wedge land.
Though on the edge of the Urban Growth boundary, it can be subdivided into no more than three large lots.
“It is tough for my sister (Jillian) and I to make the decision to put the property on the market. But in any family history, doors do open and shut.
“It will be intriguing to see the next chapter.”
