• Selwood Property at Parawa

    The Parawa Junction Hotel was located on a block of land (Title 37/294 replaced by 45/184) of 330 acres (133 ha) that edged the Athol to Five Rivers Road to the east, and was bisected by the Lumsden-Kingston railway that ran through the property.  This farmland was originally owned by John Bush who built the hotel.  It was sold to Samuel Butson in October 1891 and remained in the Butson family for decades.  There is no evidence that the portion where the hotel was located was divided off and sold to James Selwood.  It appears James had a lease agreement with Samuel Butson to manage the hotel, and the hotel block (part Lot 1 DP 551) was fenced off from the larger farm block.

    In addition to his hotel lease, James Selwood applied to the Southland Land Board in June 1895 for the lease of Crown land, known as the Rogers run, alongside the Mataura River.  He was successful on 25 May 1897 in leasing, in perpetuity (999 years), an 89 acre (36 hectare) block of land (Title 56/228) from “Her Majesty the Queen (Victoria)”, and heirs and successors.  The property was across the road from the hotel and bounded by a loop in the Mataura River and the Parawa Creek.  Locally the land was known as “The Island”.  The annual rent was £6.4s.8d.

    He cropped the property and in 1898 he fenced it and asked the council to fence the roadside portion.

    After the death of James, this leased land across the road from the hotel was transferred to his widow, Helena, on 13 November 1899.  On 15 August 1901 the property lease was further transferred to Samuel Butson (the younger), the major landowner in the area.  It is now owned by Wilkins Farming.