Built in the 1850s, Gulf Station was farmed as a pastoral property for almost 100 years by the enterprising Bell family.

Scottish settlers Agnes and William Bell and their five children arrived in Australia in October 1839 on the David Clark and first leased the land that became Gulf Station in 1851.

The youngest son, William Junior, purchased it in 1871. William and his wife Mary Ann had eight children and all but two lived at Gulf Station most of their lives. William died in 1877 but Mary Ann remained as matriarch for the next 39 years.

From the mid 1850s to the early 1950s, Gulf Station was a profitable and self-sufficient pastoral property supplying meat and other produce to gold miners.

Gulf Station was bought by former neighbours in 1951 and then acquired by the State Government for the people of Victoria in 1976, with management vested in the National Trust.

Original materials were found around the farm to enable the National Trust to authentically restore the buildings that had fallen into disrepair. The cottage garden was also restored to its original state using surviving plants and relying on personal accounts and records.

Today the National Trust presents the property as a unique Pioneer Working Farm featuring the original farm buildings, domestic tools and artifacts.