The house known as “Loch Lamond” built on the south side of Gilbert street had several owners before it was replaced by a bigger holiday home to accommodate the Stone family from Ballarat.
George Galbraith, a Geelong, later Port Fairy locomotive engine driver, purchased the property in1901 from William McDonald. He built his cottage around 1904 as a holiday house. After George died in 1915 his brother James managed the property until it was sold to Eliza Phillips in 1919. Eliza only kept the house for two years before she sold it to Gertrude Higgins. It was then sold to Iliffe and Mabel Anderson in March 1923.They spent a lot of time living in their little Torquay holiday cottage which Iliffe filled some of his beautiful paintings.
During the war he was an architect for the American army, mainly redesigning buildings for weapons storage. He was well known to General Douglas MacArthur.
In April 1947, after the family moved to Hobart, Iliffe applied to the Board of Architects of Tasmania for registration. He became a famous architect of hotels and motels across Hobart. Community-minded Iliffe also became involved in local Hobart affairs. He was Alderman of Hobart (1950 – 1954) and designed the Hobart Coat of Arms in 1951.
Living in Tasmania Iliffe and Mabel couldn’t use the Torquay holiday house, so they sold the property in 1948 to the Oliver family of Ballarat, proprietors of ‘Oliver Bootmakers’. Living next door to them in Ballarat were their good friends the Stone family. Two years later when the Oliver’s wanted to sell their little cottage George and Alice Stone purchased it.
The Stone family enjoyed the little house for many years. Travels to the beach from Ballarat were days well documented in movies and photos. As the family grew so did the need to have a bigger holiday house. In 1964 the ‘new house’ was built. Peter Stone, the grandson of George, tells us that part of the old house was shifted to Fisherman’s Beach some years later for the Yacht Club. Eventually the land was sold to Tuckerbag changing the residential face of Gilbert street.
