Sandpiper: May - July 2020

JULY 2020 | SANDP I PER 20 The name Genazzano was inspired by the town in the province of Rome, where the shrine to Our Lady of Good Counsel, patroness of the Sandhurst Diocese is cared for by the Augustinian Friars. The first two Bishops of Sandhurst, Martin Crane and Stephen Reville were Augustinian priests. Before its recent subdivision, Genazzano was located on approximately fifteen hectares of land in Kangaroo Flat, known as 144 Aspinall St. In 2016, 7.152 hectares of this land was gifted to the City of Greater Bendigo and this parcel of land is protected by a Trust For Nature Covenant. Genazzano is currently situated on approximately one acre and is the private residence of the Bishop of Sandhurst, Most Rev Shane Mackinlay. Purchased by Crane and Reville in January 1888, the land has remained the property of the Catholic Church in Bendigo for over one hundred and thirty-two years and it has undergone various transformations, both before and during this time. Crown allotments 44, 45, 46 and 47a, section L, Parish of Sandhurst were originally purchased from the estate of Mr Edward Watson by Mr Joseph King Smith, a local Chemist, on November 29, 1877. The four allotments amounted to seventeen acres and six perches (described as sixteen acres on rate records at the time). The rate records of the Marong Shire show that Edward Watson built a cottage on the site in 1874 valued at £25, and by 1875, the house and land had doubled in value, suggesting that major improvements had been implemented. Edward Watson was probably the same Sandhurst timber merchant who liquidated his assets from 1877. An auction notice of October 30, 1877 describes the property as a ‘[C]apital Family Residence and Land within two miles of the Post Office, Sandhurst’. The six roomed building was described as ‘a well and faithfully built stone and brick dwelling, stuccoed and well finished throughout …’. In 1879, Marong Shire rate records reveal that the property, then known as Aldbourne, (named after Joseph King Smith’s English birthplace), was still valued at £50. Joseph King Smith died in April 1884 leaving an estate of £5,431 and John Stephenson, a Sandhurst storekeeper, purchased the property for £1,000 the same year. There is no evidence Genazzano: a brief history of our Bishop’s Residence Reaching for the heavens, the stately Victorian residence, Genazzano, has been home to several Sandhurst Bishops since 1888.