BUILDING MELBOURNE | LABASSA MANSION: European influences with Vicki Shuttleworth

Labassa’s lavish European style was designed to impress, to advance one man’s ambition for his daughters to marry into British aristocracy. This European sensibility prevailed and determined who lived at Labassa for most of the 20th century. Author Vicki Shuttleworth explores the story behind the façade and how four owners, scores of residents and the National Trust saved the mansion from being reduced to rubble by a wrecker’s pick. 

VICKI SHUTTLEWORTH is the author of LABASSA: House of Dreams a comprehensive history of one of the National Trust’s most important properties. She also publishes, Labassa Lives, which documents ongoing research into the building, its owners and residents. Vicki is the President of The Friends of Labassa. 

This lecture is presented on-site at TJC. Please see your ticket for details. 

This lecture is supported by The Colin Holden Charitable Trust and The Friends of TJC 

Copies of LABASSA: House of Dreams is also available in our SHOP  

Images supplied  

Labassa 2020 | photograph by Jon Rendell, Melbourne 

Labassa | photograph by Anthony Basheer, Adelaide 

Ontario, (Balaclava sic, home of A. W. Robertson, esq.), 1893, gelatin silver, 20 x 25 cm, collection of the State Library of Victoria, H93.64/6