Identified by inscription on the back of the photograph as "Early Pitfield", and the buildings as "Matthew Hamilton Baird's . . . hotel & store". Information from Joan Hunt (see 'Pitfield/Kaleno' file) says the Emu Inn or Pitfield Hotel was at Pitfield/Wardy Yallock township on the road from Skipton to Geelong. Part of this area - foreground, to the left, was called "Buncle's Flat", named after John Buncle, a carpenter who lived in a cottage there with his family. An early timber inn on the Wardy Yallock Creek was owned first by Peter Hardie and then by Edward Langhorne/John McNamara in the 1840s and a mail run from Geelong was established to it in 1846. Matthew Hamilton Baird was the lessee or owner from 1852, and Benjamin Fernald from about 1860. In 1853, the nearby store, at that time owned by William Whitecross, caught fire. The fire spread to the hotel and both buildings were destroyed. The hotel was replaced by the brick or stone building seen in the photograph.Small black and white copy of original photograph which shows trees, fencing and farm buildings in foreground, and in the background a large stone or brick building plus smaller timber buildings (dwellings?) situated along a roadway. On the right of the photograph the road goes over a large bridge of timber construction.On back of photograph: "Early Pitfield showing Matthew Hamilton Baird's store (stone?) & hotel & store".pitfield bridge, pitfield hotel, pitfield township, buncle's flat, emu inn, buildings, hotels, matthew hamilton baird, benjamin fernald, edward langhorne, john mcnamara, william whitecross

Mary Margaret Baird, born circa 1834, was the daughter of John and Elizabeth Logan, of Butterdean, Berwickshire. In 1860 in Victoria, she married Matthew Hamilton Baird, a well-known pastoralist and grazier, the owner of Mt Bute Station near Linton, as well as other rural and metropolitan properties. Margaret Baird lived at Mt Bute in the 1860s and early 1870s, after which it is understood she lived mostly in Melbourne. She died in 1910 at 'Waratah', Clendon Road, Toorak. Margaret and Matthew Hamilton Baird had nine children born between 1861 and 1877, not all of whom survived to adulthood. They are both buried in the Linton cemetery.Framed, hand-coloured/modified photograph of Margaret Baird. Portrait shows a lady in an elaborate gown, seated at a small, round table, her hands on a book. Two other books also on table. Large, draped window to RHS of sitter shows glimpse of garden. (Backdrop appears to be painted rather than photographed.) Lady wears a ring on her 3rd left finger, and a brooch at her neck. Hair neatly parted and coiled.mary margaret baird, mathew hamilton baird, mt bute station

Mt Bute Station was a pastoral lease originally established c.1840 by Duncan Hoyle. The lease was later transferred to Charles and William Oakley (c.1853), and then to Matthew Hamilton Baird (c.1858). Sir Samuel Wilson acquired the lease in 1872 and purchased the property in 1873. Mt Bute was subdivided for soldier settlement blocks after World War I. The home block - house and 700 acres - is currently owned (2018) by the Collins family.Faded photograph mounted on cream-coloured card, which shows a family outside the residence at Mt Bute pastoral station. The photograph is undated but is believed to have been taken in the early twentieth century. Photograph shows two men, and a woman seated in chairs outside a house. A row of shrubs is across the front of the house. Two young boys are standing either side of the woman. Two young girls are standing on the steps leading to the entrance of the house. The people in the photograph have not been unidentified. A copy of the photograph was made in 2019 and is with the original.mt bute station [pastoral station]