Few of the great historical figures that created Australia have left architecture commensurate with their standing in our history. We are not a country of mansions and manors suffused with the story of their past. But ‘Milawa’ the Victorian mansion built in 1888 for the family of Sir Isaac Isaacs at the high point of the famed Urquhart Estate in Hawthorn is one such. Sir Isaac set out on the tasks of law reform. He became an instigator and agitator for Federation, the Solicitor General, the Attorney General, High Court Judge and, finally, despite King George V’s objections, the first Australian Governor General of Australia. A significant moment in this country’s independence and plurality.
