A Brief Potted History
The Basin was named by the great botanist Baron Ferdinand von Mueller (1825-1896) who first visited the area in 1853 and later established a permanent camp in the 1870s on the creek flats. He was Victoria’s Government Botanist and the first person to properly recognise the scientific importance of Victoria’s forests. An explorer, prolific writer, plant collector and the first director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne, von Mueller persuaded the Chandlers to begin farming in the area.
Land purchases in The Basin began in 1866.
The mountains were originally exploited by timber cutters who carted wood to Melbourne which was mainly used for palings and rails. There were bark huts at The Basin when Mueller arrived - probably built by timber workers.
Illicit whisky stills were said to be located in the thick bush in and around The Basin during the late nineteenth century.
James Griffiths (tea merchant famous for ‘Griffiths Teas’) lived on the property Ferndale in the late nineteenth/early twentieth century. A leading local figure in The Basin, Griffiths was killed with his wife and two others at the Bayswater railway crossing in 1925.
The Salvation Army began its association with The Basin in 1897 with the establishment of what was then called the Bayswater Boys’ Home.
Bushfires have also been a significant part of The Basin's history.  (See The Basin Fire Brigade)