Churchill

Churchill is a planned town situated 9 km south of Morwell in the Latrobe Valley, Gippsland. The area was occupied by Hazelwood pastoral run from 1844. In the 1870s, selectors took up land, grazing sheep and cattle, cropping and dairying. In 1886, a branch railway line was constructed south from Morwell. A station and goods siding were built at Hazelwood in 1888, but a township did not develop. Several schools served the district, some localities also having a hall or church. In the early 1920s, a large property was subdivided for soldier settlement, forming the Hazelwood Estate community.