Odd Australian History

Taken from historic newspaper articles, The Odd History of the Berwick Pakenham region, chronicles the lives of our more unusual bush pioneers. These true stories include a lost child who was never found and two inebriate asylums in Upper Beaconsfield. In Gembrook there are tales of accidental death and the devotion of dogs. 600 acres in Gembrook was owned by the Acclimatisation Society, a group of men dedicated to introducing pest plant and animal species into the virgin Australian bush. Over 10 years they released deer, hares, carp, sparrows, thrush and blackbirds from their Gembrook land. 

In Bunyip a family of giants was born in the bush. While at Berwick a bootlegger was active and a ghost was said to haunt the parsonage. There are tales of jockeys, snakes and the devious Dubberke sisters.

In Toomuc Valley a house caught fire nine times and in Officer a female recluse was brutally murdered. In Pakenham we have our own Typhoid Mary and a horrific murder behind the Highway Hotel.