Stuart Rusden Stoneman and the S.R Stoneman Foundation

Duneira’s seventh owner, Stuart Rusden Stoneman, was born in Castlemaine in 1927. He was the only son of local businessman Thomas Stoneman and became the third generation of the Stoneman family to work in the grocery industry. Motivated by a grand vision and study undertaken overseas, in 1950 Stuart returned to Castlemaine and implemented self-service grocery stores - eventually developing the business into the successful Stoneman Supermarket chain with additional stores in Bendigo, Echuca and Ballarat. Upon his death in 2002 Duneira was bequeathed to the S.R Stoneman Foundation to manage for the benefit of the local and broader communities.

Stoneman’s vision for Duneira was to maintain and preserve Duneira, and for it to ‘continue to be a place where people have the opportunity to learn and relax in an aesthetically cultivated environment, to enable interested individuals and groups to have access to the property, to view and examine the various collections and attractions, and in certain instances to enjoy suitable social functions’.