Colac's historic Glenora house is for sale - do you know the story of its first owner?
After losing two sons in World War I the residing GP and surgeon closed his practice.
Zara Cuthbertson
August 20, 2025
Pretty much everyone in Colac knows the red brick building at the top of Bromfield Street.
Constructed in 1907 for local GP and surgeon, Major Richard Horace Gibbs, the two-storey “Federation Queen Anne” landmark known as Glenora served as both his surgery and family residence.
Major Richard Horace Gibbs. Image credit: Australian War Memorial
And now the four-bedroom, one-bathroom property is on the market, with a price guide of $1.5 million to $1.6 million.
Image credit: Charles Stewart Real Estate Colac
Gibbs was a well-known practitioner in Colac, but when World War I broke out, he took on the task of recruiting and examining volunteers for the Australian Imperial Force.
According to Wikipedia, his eldest son, Lieutenant Richard Horace Maconochie “Mac” Gibbs, was a medical student and rising footballer who had been transferred to Melbourne Football Club after Melbourne University withdrew from the VFL in 1915.
He enlisted before playing a single game and was killed in action at Fleurbaix, France, in July 1916, aged 23.
The following year, Gibbs’ younger son, Corporal John Harbinger Gibbs, died of tuberculosis aged 20 after being repatriated to Colac from his service at Gallipoli.
After losing both boys, the surgeon gave up his local practice and devoted himself to caring for wounded soldiers returning from war.
Appointed Senior Surgeon at No. 16 Australian General Hospital with the rank of major, he continued this work until his sudden death in 1919, when he fell from the back of a tram in Melbourne.
His funeral was attended by large crowds, with returned servicemen lining St Kilda Road to farewell him.
Major Richard Horace Gibbs’ wife, Helen Gibbs (neé Maconochie), died in Kooyong in 1959, and was buried alongside her husband and sons at Colac Cemetery.
Header image: Charles Stewart Real Estate, Colac