Above: Aerial View of Government House, Canberra

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The original Mowatt farmhouse of c.1832 was a three-roomed stone building, with a verandah and French windows. Other buildings nearby contained the kitchen and other facilities, and there were farm outbuildings as well.

• Murray made additions to the original building, in the form of a grander Victorian house to the south end of the Mowatt house, and it had a wide verandah. The house was made much more comfortable as well, and a park-like garden was laid out. There were many outbuildings and houses for workers on the estate.

  • Frederick Campbell undertook major works in 1891. In this year the three storey, double-gabled and bayed addition was erected, by Queanbeyan builder Frederick Young. This required the demolition of much of the western portion of the existing homestead.

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• The extension was built of brick, and it did not sit well with the earlier building. In 1898 further additions were built, designed by Goulburn architect Edmund Manfred.

  • The main work (built again by Fred Young) was a new brick wing in Federation style, with iron hipped roof and wide verandahs, and it was more harmonious than the 1891 extension.

  • A porte cochere was built as well, plus a conservatory, and new stables were erected in 1902. In 1904 the 20-stand Yarralumla Woolshed was built (it is outside the RNE boundary for Government House, but is separately registered at RNE 13291). An overseer's cottage was also built.

Following the Commonwealth's takeover of Yarralumla, a new wing and other additions and alterations were built in preparation for use by the Governor General.

• These works, carried out during 1925-27, were designed under the supervision of John Smith Murdoch, the Chief Architect of the Comonwealth Department of Works and Railways.

  • Murdoch played a highly significant role in the design of many major Canberra buildings, including Parliament House, the Kingston Powerhouse, Hotels Canberra, Acton and Kurrajong, Cotter Pumping Station, and schools.

The new works at Yarralumla, costing a massive 72,000 pounds, included a private entrance between the 1891 bays, a three storey addition and other buildings.

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• Ruth Lane-Poole was appointed to design the interiors and furniture (and she did the Prime Minister's Lodge as well).

  • Lane-Poole, whose husband Charles was acting head of the new Australian Forestry School nearby, was an experienced decorator of the period. She helped transform Yarralumla from a country grazier's house into a place suitable for Australia's Vice Regal representative.

In 1939 more refurbishment and redecoration was undertaken, in anticipation of the arrival of the Duke of Kent as Governor General.

• The design was by E.H.Henderson, Chief Architect of the Works and Services Branch of the Department of Interior. Works included demolition of the remaining rooms of the Murray/Mowatt homestead, extensions to the dining and drawing rooms, a new porte cochere, additional bedrooms, repairs to the Campbell era sections, and new garages.

  • Re-rendering of the whole further helped to join the 1891 section to the rest, as did the replacement of the iron roof with tiles. Interior decoration was designed by Mrs 'Dolly' Guy Smith. As it turned out, the Duke of Kent and his family did not come to Australia after all.