Historical information

The Percy Uebergang family lived at Tooram Park, Allansford from 1912 until 1992. Percy and Myrtle Uebergang's children were twins, Ray and Joyce born in 1926 who lived at Tooram Park until their deaths, Ray in 1986 and Joyce in 1992. Neither Ray nor Joyce married and following the death of her brother Joyce set up the Ray and Joyce Uebergang Foundation which supports the local community.
This photograph is part of the collection of items given into the care of the Cheese World Museum.

The Uebergang family purchased Tooram Park in 1912. It was part of the original Tooram run which was taken up in 1839/40 by John McMahon Allan. Allan held the property until 1860 after which it passed through several owners including John Orlebar, Thomas McLeod Palmer, Owen family. Tooram was famous for the cheese from its large dairy herd. The herd was hand-milked. Palmer employed Indian labour to undertake this task. In 1883 Palmer was charged with the manslaughter of an Indian worker but was acquitted. This case was extensively reported in the Warrnambool Standard. The Standard also featured a number of articles about Tooram [22 June 1882, 17 March 1883 to 15 May 1993, 30 October 1886, 22 October 1897, 11 May 1926, 8 June 1931]. The property remained in the Uebergang family until after Joyce's death in 1992.

Significance

Tooram is significant as it was one of the earliest runs taken up in the Warrnambool area. It was divided up following its sale in 1897. Tooram cheese was renowned. This photograph is significant as it shows Tooram Park homestead in its earlier days with the prolific timber decoration which was later removed.

Physical description

Black & white photograph on a cardboard mount showing Tooram Park homestead. The house has a white picket fence. A drain is in the foreground and is serviced by a stone culvert is in the right foreground. Two cars are parked in front of the house. The house walls are painted a dark colour. The verandah roof is striped dark and white. The timber decoration on the verandah, barge board and gable is white.