Steve Charman: 107 Miners Hut Road
It was such a joy in early 2005 to buy 107 Miners Hut Road (the 2 storey stone and cedar house near the top of Miners Hut Road) and to find that there was little I needed to do. Having spent too many of my previous years renovating houses it was a relief […]
Roland’s Realm: Lot 39, Lookout Ridge Road
The legendary Roland, knight-errant of Charlemagne’s time, rode a horse, carried an indestructible sword and battled giants. As well, he made himself heard by using an unbreakable horn. A horn is something our Roland does not need. He has made himself heard in Castlemaine through the work he does at the Mount Alexander Community Information […]
Lot 13, 119 Miners Hut Road: Ray’s Retreat
These days most of us would have a hard time living without the benefit of electricity but it doesn’t seem to bother Ray. He has solar panels on the roof of his house but he hasn’t had them connected up for years. He does have a landline phone, and gas for cooking, hot water and […]
Creative: Jan Palethorpe
Jan was born in Melbourne in 1956 and studied sculpture and printmaking at CIT from 1986-88 and the Victorian College of the Arts from 1983-84. Since 1978 she has exhibited in solo exhibitions at various venues including Powell Street Graphics, Leon Massoni at Tolarno Galleries, Art Space Footscray, Qdos Gallery Lorne, Gasworks Theatre, University of […]
Jenny and David: How we learned to love the Bushlands
David says… We have to thank Annie O’Shannessy. If she hadn’t invited us up to the Bushlands for afternoon tea — all right then, wine — we would never have been anywhere near Chewton. And if she hadn’t said “Let’s go for a bit of a walk” we would never have met Kath Clark in […]
My Bushlands story: Ann Quinton
My bushlands site has had various identifications since I bought it in 1985. I thought that no one had ever lived on it before. Now I have come to realise that the original people lived here for many generations, the Dja Dja Wurrung Peoples, when it was a gentle forested area with small creeks wandering […]
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 […]
Gary and Michael: 104 Miners Hut Road
In 1984 my then partner David Williams and I bought this unimproved block (then known as Lot 11 Wallaby Crescent) from its original owner Tim Crichton. Tim had recently become engaged, and his bride-to-be was not enthused about living so far from Melbourne; bear in mind that the Calder Freeway did not exist and the […]
The Cook’s Story: Tony and Laurie Cook
BUSHLANDS PIONEERS! It all had to do with the desire for a ‘Bush Block’, something a bit rugged, natural and unspoilt. Tony had always loved the bush and knew he’d know that block when he saw it and sure enough there it was Lot 16, 81 Miners Hut Road. It had the view, it had […]