Jarred Parsons has spent his life in the western suburbs, but only became a Wyndham resident 13 years ago. The 41-year-old Parks Victoria communications adviser now lives in Tarneit, and tells Charlene Macaulay why his family has embraced the area.
What’s your connection to the Wyndham area?
We’ve lived here a bit over 13 years. I moved here first for church, because we were bringing our youth group over here … and that’s where I met my wife. We got together and got married, had our wedding photos here at Werribee Mansion and we’ve become quite entrenched here in the community. We’ve been involved with Equip Church, which used to be South West Christian Church. She’s a worship pastor there, so most of our weekends are taken up with planning church stuff and some of the community programs that run through that.
I also work with Parks Victoria, so I’ve got a very strong connection with the mansion and the You Yangs and Point Cook Coastal Park and a few other things we manage here. We can’t think of anywhere else we’d want to be.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up mostly in Melton, and I was at uni in Deakin in Geelong for about three years. I was actually born in Werribee hospital, funnily enough, so it’s ironic that I’ve ended up back here.
What’s kept you in this area?
Definitely my wife and my church, that’s been a big part of what we do and who we are and how we want to do life. Having the connection with the mansion through work is definitely a good addition to that. We built our first house in Tarneit about three years ago … and we’ve got two young girls now, so we’re just getting established and putting down our roots.
If there was one thing you could change in this area, what would it be?
I’d probably want to try and increase community pride, having a real sense of this is a great place to live. I think we’ve been looked down on from the east for decades and I feel like we have got it really good over here.
What are some of your hobbies outside of work?
I like gardening, but I also like a bit of photography.
