Sloping vineyards and the outline of a strange but impressive building come into view as you near the property.

It’s hard not to be intrigued by Olive Hills, in the same way a man named Hector MacKenzie was inspired by it 120 years ago.

It was 1897 and Hector was coming to terms with a serious accident involving his construction company.

H MacKenzie and Sons was a respected firm that had enjoyed continued success in their transition from New Zealand to Melbourne in 1888.

Known for building the first swing-bridge in the southern hemisphere at Footscray and almost all of the bridges on the Myrtleford rail line, Hector had secured the contract for the Port Melbourne to Burnley sewerage tunnel with ease in 1895.

But tragedy struck when Hector’s men and his son Arthur were digging through sediment under the Yarra River – part of the tunnel collapsed, killing three men instantly.

Four others were overcome by the sudden release of methane gas and Arthur only just escaped the same fate.

The firm was cleared of any negligence but the incident took its toll, and Hector withdrew from his position as chairman.

So when the 68-year-old saw a photo of a farm for sale called Olive Hills in North East Victoria, its beckoning of a new beginning compelled him to buy the property.

Hector’s mark on Olive Hills is still evident, as witnessed by the hundreds who walked through the large brick homestead last month during the inaugural Rutherglen and Corowa Unlocked weekend.

The property, now owned by the Perry family and still a winery, was constructed in 1886 for Scotsman Hugh Fraser.

Considering his own Scottish heritage, Hector would have been delighted to know of Olive Hills’ beginnings when he arrived on the sweeping 2250 hectares of farmland.

In fact it wasn’t long before the MacKenzie crest was immortalised in the glass over-light of the enormous entrance door to the mansion, which remains to this day.

Hector first planted wheat, and then moved to grapes, and before long his wine was being praised in The Leader in the 1890s.

His sons followed this success to the property and it was at Olive Hills Arthur, who quite nearly would not have been alive to do so, courted and fell in love with Annie “Trixie” Ferguson.

The basement apartment where Arthur and his young bride lived for some months can be accessed via the first door on the southern side of the Olive Hills entrance hallway.

Tragically, it seems the same misfortune that nearly cost Arthur his life claimed his own viticulture venture just down the road from his father’s property.

In 1903 the newlyweds purchased Burrabunnia Vineyard, another part of the world well-known to modern-day North East Victorians – land bordering the intersection of the Murray Valley Highway and Barnawartha-Howlong Road.

Only weeks after Arthur and Annie took over the 30-odd hectares of grapes, a swaggie boiled his billy on the post’n’rail fence on Rutherglen Rd (today the highway), and sparked a fire that destroyed their vineyard.

Less than a decade later grapes they had restored were ruined by the phylloxera that had hit the region, which saw Hector pack up at Olive Hills and leave the North East.

But Arthur was not disheartened and after multiple battles with the American disease, 12 hectares survived and those vines thrived for decades following.

This story comes full circle in August 2018, when Stewart Beattie arrives in Chiltern to donate paintings to the town’s Athenaeum Museum.

The Wagga man had an encyclopedia worth of history to relay to the museum’s Kevin Mayhew in order to explain the donation’s relevance to the region.

Stewart’s late mother, Christina, was the only child of Arthur and Annie, who married John Stiven Beattie in 1935 after meeting him in Narrandera on her cousin’s station.

Stewart was born on the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and didn’t get to meet his father, who had already enlisted.

It was from a photo that Stewart recognised his dad when John returned to Narrandera – having survived the Middle East and malaria – in 1944.

Stewart recalled what his time was like living on Burrabunnia, where they relocated to be with his grandparents when the family were reunited.

“Alison, my sister, attended Barnawartha State School whilst I spent my days doing all manner of farm things with my ‘Tolja Daddy’ and ‘Grandpa’,” Stewart said.

“I have many treasured memories of that time and remember it well.

“In 1947, it was decided we would return to Narrandera while Arthur and Annie MacKenzie would retire to Wodonga.”

As a young man, going through Leeton High School and then beginning work, Stewart would regularly ask his grandfather about his time in New Zealand.

“I would persuade my favourite Grandpa to retell stories of those exciting adventures amidst the wilds of New Zealand.

“Arthur spoke Maori fluently and the Gaelic as well, which to a sixteen-year-old lad was pretty cool!

Annie died in 1957, and Arthur two years later.

But they lived on for Stewart in the years of research he and his late wife Robyn undertook, leading them to Chiltern.

They learned that none other than Hugh Ramsay was a guest of the MacKenzies in the early 1900s.

Ramsay stayed at their property while ill with tuberculosis, at the request of Soprano Dame Nellie Melba, who was Annie’s friend.

Hugh Ramsay painted portraits of his hosts to show his gratitude and also enclosed five sketches in letters he sent to the couple upon his return to Melbourne, relaying his memories.

Ramsay died just two years later at 28.

Knowing all this, and of the MacKenzies’ history relating to the North East, Stewart decided to gift his art.

And he finds it heartening that the legacy of the MacKenzie family will live on in different ways, whether it be through a crest on an over-light or a painting in a museum.

“Recently, Hollywood actor and screen writer Tom Hanks, almost shocked an interviewer and journalist on PBS News Hour when he enthusiastically proclaimed, ‘History is ten thousand times more interesting than anything you can make up!’” Stewart said.

”This declaration is exampled by the characters’ stories which are entwined in this bit of history.

“I never cease to wonder just how and in spite of all the tribulations, hardships, and hurdles placed along the marathon of life, Annie and Arthur Mackenzie as I knew them were so happy and so delighted with every prospect of every new day.”