George Evans

George Evans (1785–1876), who arrived in Port Phillip on the Schooner Enterprise from Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania) in 1835, settled near modern-day Sunbury at Emu Bottom, later called Emu Vale. The land was occupied by squatting licence, as one of many large squatting runs on Crown Land.

In 1843, at the age of 58, Evans married 18-year-old Anne Holden, and they went on to raise six children at the homestead. After 1851, along with other squatting runs, Emu Bottom became available for outright purchase. To George Evans' dismay, the run was purchased by the immensely wealthy pastoralist WJT Clarke. The homestead block of 640 acres stayed with George Evans, but this was hardly viable.

In about 1860, George Evans leased the property and moved to operate the Royal Oak Hotel in Queen Street in central Melbourne. He died in Melbourne in 1876, but his family eventually returned to Emu Bottom. In 1916 the last of Evans’ sons died and the property passed through several owners, being renamed Holly Green.