BY ROHAN SMITH
HURSTBRIDGE, VIC. — Hurstbridge locals are turning on their newest resident — Australia’s most recognisable white supremacist, Thomas Sewell.
The winding roads towards the multimillion-dollar, 10-bedroom, five-bathroom compound turn from asphalt to dirt track.
They narrow and the bush closes in on both sides, as if nature is making a bid to reclaim some of its territory.
The mint green-sheeted roof of a home is visible through thick trees that form a natural boundary and keep those inside largely hidden from view.
It is here – 28km north of Melbourne, on the outskirts of a tiny, historic town home to just 3500 people – where Australia’s most recognisable white supremacist has moved.
Hurstbridge is literally the end of the line for Melbourne’s metropolitan train network. It is where the suburbs meet the bush.
Picturesque 1920s-era timber shopfronts are sprinkled along the main street not far from where the town’s founder, Henry Hurst, was shot and killed by a bushranger 160 years ago.
Today, in the centre of town, anti-Nazi messages cover noticeboards and footpaths.
“Nazis out,” the messages read. The sentiment — that former National Socialist Network leader Thomas Sewell is not welcome here — is clear.
You hear it when you talk to locals and business owners and even members of a local running club, which news.com.au can reveal Sewell has joined, against the wishes of participants.
“We don’t want a Nazi here, though there will be many that are sympathetic to his rhetoric,” a local woman told news.com.au.
“He is a violent man and he’s chosen a town of ageing hippies, tradies and old WASPs to make his utopia.”
The “WASP” she refers to is a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant. Census data shows that Hurstbridge is majority white — its population is made up of English, Irish, Scottish and German descendants.
“Many people are afraid,” the woman said.
Exactly what they’re afraid of differs. Some worry that wayward young local boys will be targeted for recruitment.
Others worry about the establishment of a “white homestead” in the hills around town, something Sewell did not deny when pressed by the media this week.
The winding roads towards the multimillion-dollar, 10-bedroom, five-bathroom compound turn from asphalt to dirt track.
They narrow and the bush closes in on both sides, as if nature is making a bid to reclaim some of its territory.
The mint green sheeted roof of a home is visible through thick trees that form a natural boundary and keep those inside largely hidden from view.
It is here – 28km north of Melbourne, on the outskirts of a tiny, historic town home to just 3500 people – where Australia’s most recognisable white supremacist has moved.
Hurstbridge is literally the end of the line for Melbourne’s metropolitan train network. It is where the suburbs meet the bush.
Picturesque 1920s-era timber shopfronts are sprinkled along the main street not far from where the town’s founder, Henry Hurst, was shot and killed by a bushranger 160 years ago.
Today, in the centre of town, anti-Nazi messages cover noticeboards and footpaths.
Locals in Hurstbridge are livid about the presence of neo-Nazis in their small, blissful town. Picture: Rohan Smith
The compound where Thomas Sewell has been living in Hurstbridge. The house is the official headquarters of the White Australia party.
“Nazis out,” the messages read. The sentiment — that former National Socialist Network leader Thomas Sewell is not welcome here — is clear.
You hear it when you talk to locals and business owners and even members of a local running club, which news.com.au can reveal Sewell has joined, against the wishes of participants.
“We don’t want a Nazi here, though there will be many that are sympathetic to his rhetoric,” a local woman told news.com.au.
“He is a violent man and he’s chosen a town of ageing hippies, tradies and old WASPs to make his utopia.”
The “WASP” she refers to is a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant. Census data shows that Hurstbridge is majority white — its population is made up of English, Irish, Scottish and German descendants.
“Many people are afraid,” the woman said.
Exactly what they’re afraid of differs. Some worry that wayward young local boys will be targeted for recruitment.
Others worry about the establishment of a “white homestead” in the hills around town, something Sewell did not deny when pressed by media this week.
‘That’s how the Adolf Hitler thing started’
It has been well documented that the NSN and the wives of those involved have ambitions for an all-white enclave modelled on whites-only communities in the US.
Sewell is the president of the White Australia political party — which is the political arm of the former NSN.
As The Age reported last week, the Hurstbridge mansion gifted to Sewell by a wealthy businessman sympathetic to his nationalist agenda is listed as the party’s official headquarters.
The mansion, perched high on a sprawling eight-hectare block, has space for 11 cars and hundreds of people.
“As a Hurstbridge local, I find the knowledge of a group of white supremacists moving into town extremely scary and rage-inducing,” a local man told news.com.au.
“Thomas moving into a giant compound with his Nazi goons should be totally alarming for us as a town but also as a nation, because the threat of Nazis on our back doors should not be taken lightly.
“Once they congregate in one area, the ideas shared and the hate spread will become more intense.
“I am concerned that these ideas [as] they spread will lure young white men in our community further into hate and extremism.
“In small towns, young men are already more likely to be violent and carry more hate on their shoulders, so Nazis being so close by does create fear.”
In community groups online, locals are uniting around one cause. They want the far-right to be far from here.
“Would love to get involved in making sure Nazis don’t set up shop in our area, or anywhere for that matter,” one Hurstbridge local wrote.
“Absolute insanity that this guy is our neighbour,” another wrote.
“Be careful approaching him or his fiancée. Parents, be aware. He’s intentionally targeting teenagers and young men when enlisting, weaponising every dumb *ss culture war talking point with slick words to push kids towards violent extremism.”
Other locals promised they’d “make (neo-Nazis) feel as unwelcome as possible”.
“Nazis should not be comfortable anywhere,” they wrote.
“Hate would be a valid response to neo-Nazis. As would dismay, sorrow, the need to act, anger, disgust.
“If you’re feeling nice and chill and calm about Nazis being bankrolled to live in huge discreet properties to suit their future Nazi gathering needs, that would be the problem. That’s how the whole Adolf Hitler thing started.”
Sewell joins run club, members ‘do NOT want him’ there
Diamond Creek is a four-minute drive from Hurstbridge. It’s there that Sewell had joined a boxing gym before owners discovered who he was and kicked him out.
Days later, news.com.au can reveal that Sewell also joined a running club in Diamond Creek and members are trying to get him removed from that, too.
A member of the Diamond Creek Parkrun group told news.com.au that Sewell was spotted at several of their events this year.
“I am a participant at the Diamond Creek parkrun and we have had the unfortunate luck of having Thomas Sewell attend our event a number of times this year,” the person said.
“The community do NOT want this person at our event, or any other parkrun event, for that matter.”
The runner said Sewell “came, stayed at the back and didn’t hang around afterwards — that has been his approach on the days he has turned up”.
“I am seriously concerned about the access he has to young vulnerable males at an event like Parkrun, especially considering his history of using physical activity as a method of recruiting young minds in the past.”
Reporters understand that Parkrun is aware of Sewell’s attendance. The organisation has been approached for comment.
It might be news to Sewell that locals don’t want him in Hurstbridge. Speaking to followers via Telegram last week, he said people “shake my hand everywhere I go”.
“They reach out to me, they tell me that they believe … that they believe in me personally,” he said.
“That has absolutely emboldened (me) when I’ve been at my lowest low.”
He told The Age that journalists were “engaging in a smear campaign” timed to coincide with the challenge to hate speech legislation.
One Hurstbridge resident who spoke to news.com.au questioned why Sewell moving into town was such a big deal.
“My understanding is that Thomas Sewell has lived in the area for about a year, yet most residents were unaware of his presence until his personal address was posted on a local page,” the person said.
“That raises an obvious question: If nobody even knew he was here, what exactly has changed?
“Perhaps you should question why the focus has become one individual (renting) a property when there are broader issues of prejudice and intolerance within the community that have existed for years.
“Hurstbridge often presents itself as progressive and inclusive, yet my experience has been that residents hold deeply hypocritical views on race, sexuality and other social issues.”
Sewell is mounting a challenge in the High Court against the government’s new hate speech laws.
The White Australia Party versus the Commonwealth, according to Sewell, is the real story that deserves telling.
Most locals in Hurstbridge wish he would tell it somewhere else.
The massive property where Sewell has been living has been removed by several real estate websites as well as the agency Jellis Craig, which sold the listing in July last year for $2.35 million.
This article, originally titled ” ‘Insanity’: Tiny town on Melbourne’s fringe revolts over ‘whites only’ plans“ by Rohan Smith, is republished from news.com.au in the public interest. You can read the original here.
