Welcome to 'The Pines' Euroa

HOUSE OF PHILLIPS is an extraordinary read for those who love early Australian history. Delve into the lives and times of an early free settler/pioneering family, the Phillips of Euroa as they take you on an unforgettable and fascinating adventure of the towns growth from it’s infancy to the modern day metropolis that it has become today.

Iames Phillips was a 14 year old boy when he left dark and gloomy England in 1865 aboard the clipper ship ‘Shalimar’ destined for a new life in the colony of Victoria that was warm and bright, mysterious and beautiful just as it was dangerous and foreboding.

Discover what it was like living back in the era of Queen Victoria with its fascinating portrait of early life in the Australian bush with her harsh conditions. Discover other pioneers such as Stribling, Sutherland, Stewart and John BeBoos, who established the first shop operating from a tent on a small block, through to the social changes of etiquette for young women. Read about the trial of Edward Stribling, the last woman hanged, fires, floods and the great tennis tournament of 1907 including the many characters that defined her place in history. Feel the tragedy faced by the daughter who was left to bury her own father, mother, aunt, sister and brother and mourn the loss of her many friends whom she grew up with and of those who never came back from the ‘war to end all wars’.

This is a timeline history of change for Euroa from colony to federation and beyond, ending with the demise of a family that once lived and with no family member to carry on their name for they will not be forgotten, but remembered in these pages forever more.

About the Author

Born in the year of the Melbourne Olympics, raised in Sydney, Victor grew up with an interest in the arts. Between 1975 and 1995, and served in the Australian Regular Army and retired as a Sergeant.

Having an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, he read and studied a great deal of current affairs, history, and politics and continues to do so heading towards his sixth decade of life.

Pursuits Victor has accomplished are that of band promoter, stage performance, radio announcer and a few years owning a freight business. He has this inbuilt desire to discover and learn and once having mastered something, Victor moves on to another field adding into his minds library of general knowledge.

Now though, Victor has this great and realistic opportunity to delve into a piece of early Australian history and uncover a Victorian pioneering/settler family that was doomed to be lost in the backlog of forgotten families collecting dust. That is until now, as he has passionately brought back their right to have their story told.

Victor has three beautiful adult daughters and one handsome son, Chevy, John, Krystal and Tracy. With that, they have given him thirteen wonderful grandchildren whom are the love of his life.

So with this book finished and dusted, Victor Watson will pursue another of his favourite pastimes that brings happiness, and that is to sit under an apple-tree, lean against it's trunk, close his eyes and think of the past from another time, another memory, another love, as he recalls the magic of it all, the day you kissed his cheek, then you were gone...