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• Bushlands history

A dream realised now online

A dream realised now online

A dream realised – Chewton bushlands stories was published in October 2015. Since then we have sold all copies. However you can now read or download PDFs of the book as follows: • Chapters 1 to 6 (the history of the subdivision) plus chapter 8 (Living off grid) and chapter 10 (Bushlands organisation) … a 6.3MB PDF, […]


It wasn’t all plain sailing for Brian!

It wasn’t all plain sailing for Brian!

…sometimes the Council did have a word to say even then. Just what the outcome was to this letter we don’t know? What we do know is the Subdivision went ahead despite these protestations from the Metcalfe Council.”


The end of an era for the Chewton Bushlands

The end of an era for the Chewton Bushlands

Brian Parsons (1933-2014) Entrepreneur, Businessman, Real Estate Developer, Bon Vivant, Visionary. The death of Brian Parsons in January of this year marked the ending of a chapter in the history of the Chewton Bushlands. When referring to the Chewton Bushlands I mean that subdivision developed by Brian Parsons in the early 1970’s, and not the […]


Bushlands maps then and now

1860s Selwyn Map

“He had a dream” — How Brian Parsons did it

“He had a dream” — How Brian Parsons did it

In 1966 Brian Parsons was living with his wife Merle in Harcourt. He’d come from Kooringal in Wagga Wagga filled with a desire to return to the Maldon, Bendigo and Castlemaine region where he had spent much of his childhood. He was an accountant and he started out working with the orchardists of Harcourt who […]


The Chewton Bushlands — from Crown Land to Subdivision

The Chewton Bushlands — from Crown Land to Subdivision

During the early settlement of Chewton and the surrounding countryside, it was soon realized that the land we now know of, as the Chewton Bushlands was not a very productive region. The prospectors, who came to the Forrest Creek area in the 1850’s to look for gold, quickly saw that there was none to be […]


Early history

Early history

Prior to European settlement, the area now known as the Chewton Bushlands, was an abundant landscape, a rich source of food for the Djadja Wurrung people, who hunted game and harvested the roots of Yam daisies, Milkmaids and the many varieties of native orchids, which are still flourishing, even in the most inhospitable parts of […]


Mount View Estate

Mount View Estate

So when and why did Mount View Estate become the Chewton Bushlands? A curious thing me thinks. Does anybody have any ideas? Cate found the sign above and she will soon be on the trail I am sure. I will continue to hunt for hard evidence in the People and Places information etc. And from […]