Farm selections were first taken up at Poowong in about 1874. Among them was Caleb Burchett from Brunswick who took up a selection just south of the future town in 1876. He was a strong supporter of the first Wesleyan church (1878), a shire councillor, father of the district’s historian Franklin Burchett and grandfather of the renowned left-wing journalist, Wilfred Burchett.

The first application for land in the Parish of Poowong was made on 17 April 1874 by James Scott for 320 acres of allotment 5, the selection made on behalf of his son Robert Scott. Four more selectors pegged out allotments within the next twelve months. On part of the Scott land a store, pub and butcher’s shop were built. The Poowong Hotel was built by 1880 but it was destroyed by fire in 1883. A Post Office opened around January 1878. The first survey of townships allotments took place in 1879. The heavily timbered and hilly nature of the area meant selectors took years to clear enough of their land to make a living from their selections.

POOWONG-NOW.

For a town of its size, Poowong is quite well off with regard to its facilities. These include four tennis courts, two netball courts, an indoor basketball and squash stadium, a primary school, large community hall, outdoor swimming pool, a number of churches and an Australian rules football oval. The town has an Australian Rules football team and a netball team competing in the Ellinbank & District Football League and the Ellinbank & District Netball Association respectively.

The Poowong community is active, with many projects being undertaken by various community groups. The largest group, by far, is the Poowong Football & Netball Club who involve themselves not only in sporting projects, but also in projects helping the wider community. One such project is the ‘My Connected Community’ project which was being run by the Poowong Football Club in a partnership with the Strzelecki Lions Club, and was designed to increase Internet use amongst community members.

POOWONG-SOON TO BE

Poowong has remained relatively stable on the population front up until around 2011. In 1998 the first newer type subdivision named the White Birch Estate was approved and developed over the subsequent years.

Today, there are three further subdivision areas approved and in various stages of development. These subdivisions will add around 50 new residential blocks to the housing market. The largest is between the White Birch Estate and the Nyora Road on the western side of Poowong township. This was first approved in 1998 but has been slowed down by issues regarding the dam. These engineering issues appear to be close to resolution and it is expected that development should continue shortly bringing in around 28 new residential blocks.

Another smaller area towards the west also lies on the Nyora Road. This development started in 2016 and will bring in 16 new residential blocks to the town.

A third subdivision was approved in two separate permits during 2015 to 2020 and is located just south and west of the old dairy on the Ranceby Road and at Brisbane Street, Poowong. This property is owned by a previous Mayor of the South Gippsland Shire and the first permit was approved during her time as a Councillor. Initially, back in 2013 it had been discovered that her family were living in an illegal barn dairy converted into a dwelling without going through the planning permit process so was an illegal dwelling. Council gave her a permit to build a new dwelling in that location on a farm lot of 57 acres.

To date, the first stage of one of the two permits has enabled two blocks to be subdivided and sold with a further two in a stage 2 subdivision still to be certified at this date. Another permit was approved in 2020 to subdivide a further 3 to 4 blocks along the Ranceby Road. These blocks comprise part of the property which is around 157 acres of farmland mainly in the farm-zone. The subdivided blocks are within the township residential zone but some of the blocks had been transferred from a different zone in the recent past.

All up when these three areas are developed and dwellings constructed, Poowong will have grown by another 50 plus families