The following article outlines the book “Nillumbik Now and Then” by Marguerite Marshall, Pictures Alan King with Marguerite Marshall (Research, Vic. MP Print Publications, 2008)
Nillumbik Shire’s history in many ways mirrors that of Australia. Apart from the first people here, the Wurundjeri, this area’s characters and places have included a former convict, Thomas Sweeney, farmers, a bushranger called Burke, gold diggers, sports people and an environmental award-winning house.
However unlike many areas, Nillumbik’s history includes gold. Every area has its artists, but this one has attracted so many that in the 20th century it was compared to the Left Bank in Paris and Greenwich Village in New York, and there continues to be a very high number of artists in Nillumbik.
Unfortunately another unusual characteristic of this area is that it is bushfire prone as we have recently witnessed. For instance two important community buildings in beautiful Strathewen, its hall and primary school, were destroyed in the Black Saturday fires on February 7. 2009. St Andrews and the Kinglake National Park are two other parts of the Shire which suffered destruction on that day.
Nillumbik has its share of famous characters. Like us all they would have been influenced by this district and impacted on it as well. Some of these are jazz and blues singer Judy Jacques, media personality and film maker Philip Adams, cyclist Cadel Evans, jazz musician, Graeme Bell, television weather presenter and environmentalist Rob Gell, unionist Bill Kelty and inventor of the Bionic Ear, Professor Graeme Clark.
