L-R: Prof. J. Neill Greenwood, Messrs. H. Hewitt and A.B. Blair (Sec.), Prof. W.A. Laver (Chairman) and Mr. W. Thorn. Source: Dr. Edith J. Hewitt from The Argus, 11 Jan 1930This photo forms part of a collection of photographs gathered by the Shire of Eltham for their centenary project book,"Pioneers and Painters: 100 years of the Shire of Eltham" by Alan Marshall (1971). The collection of over 500 images is held in partnership between Eltham District Historical Society and Yarra Plenty Regional Library (Eltham Library) and is now formally known as the 'The Shire of Eltham Pioneers Photograph Collection.' It is significant in being the first community sourced collection representing the places and people of the Shire's first one hundred years.Digital imagesepp, shire of eltham pioneers photograph collection, kinglake, committee of management, a.b. blair, h. hewitt, kinglake national park, prof. j. neil greenwood, prof. w.a. laver, w. thorn

Artist Lindsay Edward and wife Jan built a house designed by Alistair Knox at 151 Old Eltham Road, Lower Plenty. See article on home designed by Alistair Knox for Lindsay Edward, teacher, at 151 Old Eltham Road, Lower Plenty. The home was originally featured on the cover of the January 1953 issue of Home Beautiful magazine and was revisited in the March 1969 issue. See registration record No. 01649. Lindsay Edward Biography: 1919: 26 August Lindsay Maurice Edward was born in Melbourne. 1937: 4 – 9 May Exhibition - Heidelberg art exhibition (SLV collection) 1939: Art student at the National Gallery of Victoria 1940: 7-14 October Exhibition Heidelberg art exhibition. (SLV collection) 1941: November - Exhibition Heidelberg Art Exhibition 1942: Lindsay was an art student living at this 14 Park Cres. Fairfield. Occupation Art student. He most likely painted this painting around this time. c.1942 – 1944: Enlistment for military service in World War 2 in Casino, NSW. 1944: Rank of Sergeant. 1944: Exhibition Seddon Galleries (Melbourne) 1945: Exhibition Seddon Galleries 1946: Exhibition Exhibition of Past Students of the National Gallery of Victoria 1947: Submitted “Self- portrait in the Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of NSW 1948: Lived in London for a year and married a fellow artist ? Knox. 1949: Returned from London 1949: Electoral Roll Residence– 16 Mount Street, Ivanhoe 1950: October Exhibition Stanley Coe Galleries, 435 Bourke Street, Melbourne 1951: 19 Nov. - 9 Dec. Exhibition An exhibition of present day art of Victoria Victorian 1951 Commemoration Committee in conjunction with the Victorian Artists' Society, 1951: (SLV Collection) 1953: October Exhibition Melbourne Contemporary Artists Exhibiton 1954: Exhibition Melbourne Contemporary Artists Exhibition 1958: Victorian artist and educator Lindsay Edward won the £500 prize for the wall decoration of the Queensland Library - . Edward was born in 1919 and had studied at the National Gallery of Victoria. In 1958 he was head of the painting section of the Royal Melbourne Technical College (now RMIT) and had only recently begun experimenting with mosaic. The Centennial mosaic covers a wall 68 feet (20.72 metres) in length and 14 feet (4.26 metres) high. In a Melbourne Age article in July 1958 Edward described the mural as ‘not a literal subject’ rather as ‘a basic formation of organic forms indicating growth and development’. 1960: Exhibition Eltham Art Show (SLV collection) 1963: Exhibition October 28-November 17 - Argus Gallery, 290 Latrobe Street, Melbourne and at Hassall's Roadside Gallery, Eltham and at Gallery A and at Russell Davis Art Gallery. (SLV Collection) 1963, 1967, 1977 and 1980: Electoral Rolls – Residence Old Eltham Road, Lower Plenty. Occupation Teacher 1966: Exhibition Art Show -Austin Hospital Appeal (Heidelberg) (SLV collection) 1970s: Head of Art Department RMIT where he established a fine art collection. 1982: Exhibition Bolitho Gallery Canberra http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article116467780 1988: 28 July – Exhibition Recent Paintings Darwin Performing Arts Centre (SLV Collection) 1993: Exhibition Solander Gallery, Canberra 2007: January Died and is buried in Eltham Cemetery 2007: Obituary in Age Jun 2, 2007 - LINDSAY Edward's retirement as head of the fine art department at RMIT in August 1979 signalled the end of an important chapter in the art Sources: ART CONTEST. (1939, March 2). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 8. Retrieved October 16, 2016, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12103185 ART EXHIBITION AT HEIDELBERG (1941, November 25). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 6. Retrieved October 16, 2016, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8218682 ART EXHIBITIONS (1945, October 3). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 7. Retrieved October 16, 2016, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205639922 EX-GALLERY STUDENTS' SHOW (1946, October 15). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 3. Retrieved October 16, 2016, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22386440 https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/1947/ Art World Busy (1949, February 26). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 12. Retrieved October 16, 2016, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22706197 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22781141 ART NOTES (1953, October 13). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 2. Retrieved October 16, 2016, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206462733 Design, color in art show (1954, October 5). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 9. Retrieved October 16, 2016, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23453359 https://artcollection.its.rmit.edu.au/?p=rmit-gallery-about Cinema (1993, October 7). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), p. 7 (Good Times). Retrieved October 16, 2016, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article127509819 Queensland Centenary Artwork (includes image) http://queenswharf.org/places/former-queensland-state-library-wall-decoration-and-sculpture/ Eltham Cemetery http://www.elthamcemetery.com/index.php/search oil on paper board 31.5 x 37.5 cm signed "Edward" lower rightInscribed on back "The Malt House Lindsay Edward 15 Park Cres Fairfield"fairfield, malt house, lindsay edward, home beautiful, home beautiful magazine, alistair knox

The beautiful Yarra river lies before us; the scar or 'toe hold' tree lies in front of Cam to the right Heriitage Excursion - Kileavey Walk and TalkBorn Digitalactivities, eltham district historical society, heritage excursion, kileavey, parks victoria, laughing waters road, eltham, wurundjeri

Article on home designed by Alistair Knox for Lindsay Maurice Edward, teacher, at 151 Old Eltham Road, Lower Plenty. The home was originally featured in Home Beautiful magazine in 1953 and was revisited in the March 1969 issueMagazine, 92 pages , 28.5 cm Digital scan of magazine article saved as searchable PDF documentN/Aalistair knox, home beautiful magazine, lindsay edward, lower plenty, old eltham road, susan edward

Victorian Artists Supplies was established in 1987 in this beautiful mud brick building.Colour photographmain road, victorian artists supplies, mud-brick

Chris Pittard is a painter who has been working with clay for over 15 years. Pittard studied Fine Arts at RMIT and VCA and has exhibited paintings for a number of years. Pittard divides his time between teaching, drawing and painting and working in the ceramics studio where he creates distinctive pieces. Chris Pittard's ceramic pieces translate the narrative to the vessel. His vessels speak to us about our place and even his personal stories become more universal expressions.In early 2005 there was a flood which raged through the creeks cutting through the Shire of Nillumbik (Eltham). Not usually affected by catastrophe, these surging waters destroyed bridges and threatened roads. When the water subsided along the banks of the creek, trees had fallen, flotsam and jetsam piled up and even weeks later the long grass flattened by the flood continued to map the raging waters flow. The combination of slightly threatening and destructive forces and eerie beauty interested me. This at a time when world events of a far more horrific and tragic nature where presented to us by strangely beautiful coloured photos in our daily papers. These connections may not be obvious but it was certainly something I was thinking about while making this ceramic piece.flood, chris pittard, eltham, nillumbik

Walter Withers was a significant Australian landscape artist and a member of the Heidelberg School of Australian Impressionists. In 1903 Withers bought 'Southernwood', a house on 2½ acres (1 ha) at Eltham, to which he added a studio. Because of ill health, he lived during the week at his studio in Oxford Chambers, Melbourne, and on weekends and holidays with his family at Eltham until his death in 1914. The Eltham rail bridge is a unique and valuable historic relic of an earlier steam locomotive transport era in the Diamond Creek Valley and has long formed an important part of a magnificent Eltham landscape. When built in 1902 it was close to the terminus point of the Heidelberg-Eltham rail extension, on the route of the proposed Diamond Valley Railway that was then planned to continue much further up the valley towards Kinglake. This bridge is situated in attractive river-valley parkland amidst the tall and spreading manna gums and candlebarks of the Diamond Creek Valley. The Alistair Knox Park river-valley landscape, of which the timber trestle bridge is an important visual component, has been classified by the National Trust. Large manna gum and candlebark trees adorn the adjacent creek banks, and historic Shillinglaw Cottage is also part of this much-prized Eltham landscape. Eltham is home to a historic wooden railway trestle bridge. Mainly of timber-pier and timber-beam construction, but varied by a few longer steel-joists spans on timber piers at the main stream channel, this substantial bridge has almost two hundred metres of timber deck. Built in 1902, it is the only railway bridge of predominantly timber construction that is still in regular use as an integral part of Melbourne's metropolitan electric railway network and one of extremely few timber rail bridges in the State that still carry trains. Apart from its important continuing social function as a carrier of rail transport for the Hurstbridge line, this impressive bridge and its beautiful parkland environs contribute much to the character of Eltham township and that town's special reputation as an historic centre of environmental and conservation concerns. This section of the Diamond Creek Valley was the subject of a Walter Withers painting in the earliest years of the twentieth century and has strong historic links with our Heidelberg School of painters. Watercolour painting on paper of Eltham's Trestle Bridge in the middle of the day. A small section of the wooden bridge is located to the left of the painting. The focus is predominately on the wattle, manna gum and candlebark trees that is to the right of the bridge. The golden hues typically represent the australian sunlight and landscape. "W.W" in gothic script on the lower right side of the painting. Not dated. withers, eltham, trestle bridge, railway, watercolour

A habitat corridor and it strengthens the community. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then /​ Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p185 Barak Bushlands lie west of the Diamond Creek on the corner of Falkiner Street and busy, noisy Main Road. They form part of an important habitat corridor linking the Yarra River to the Kinglake National Park.1 Manna Gums, tawny frogmouths and platypuses are some of the indigenous plants and animals that have made their home there. The bushlands are the result of more than nine years of hard work by the local community with the Nillumbik Council, to transform a degraded flood plain into this refuge of natural beauty. In 1997, shortly after moving into the new Riverside Estate on Falkiner Street, Eltham, several residents noticed the sorry state of the Diamond Creek and surrounding area. Part of it was used as a cow paddock and although small patches of vegetation survived, the area was infested with weeds, rabbits, rubbish and drainage from the housing estate. At various times the 4.4 hectares had been used as a market garden and for shire stock piles. The residents began to restore the area by revegetating land along the Diamond Creek. In 1998 they established the Friends of the Diamond Creek Falkiner Street Reserve2 and 35 families joined from the 90-house Estate. Carolyn Mellor, as the Friends’ Land Manager, undertook a four-year horticulture course to guide this massive project for a volunteer organisation. Since 1999, she has been the Friends’ President. In 1999 the Friends urged the Nillumbik Council to undertake a feasibility study into establishing a wetland system and urban forest. Work began in 2002 with Nillumbik Council funding the project, supplemented by government grants. The Friends also received grants from Melbourne Water and Parks Victoria.3 Aided by the Friends and other community members, the Council created the Barak Bushlands consisting of a forest, a wetland, a bridge, a path and open space. The beautiful wetland treats most of the estate’s stormwater runoff. Storm water is filtered through plants in the wetland ponds then is released slowly into the billabong, before flowing into the Diamond Creek. The wetland also helps to minimise flooding and the improved water quality provides a flora and fauna habitat. The Friends and other volunteers planted more than 27,000 plants, more than one third of which they grew from seeds they collected at Lower Eltham and Wingrove Parks. Eltham High School students planted thousands of these through a Year Eight program introduced for this purpose. Other groups who assisted were: Green Corps, local Scouts and Guides – 2nd Montmorency, 1st Diamond Creek and 1st Eltham Cub Packs, Eltham College students, Eltham East Primary School, Landcare members, Eltham Lions Club and the Eltham Baptist Church. To maintain enthusiasm for the mammoth task, the Friends and other volunteers ‘adopted’ trees to water and wrote their names on the stakes. In 2004, to recognise the area’s original occupiers, the reserve was named Barak Bushlands. William Barak, who lived from 1824 to 1903, was the last chief of the Yarra Yarra tribe of the Wurundjeri-willam people.4 Traces of these original inhabitants remain in scar trees (bark sections removed to make a shield or canoe). That same year the Friends’ group was a finalist in the prestigious Federal Government, Banksia Environmental Awards. The Friends have also participated in Clean Up Australia, removing tonnes of rubbish and regularly testing the billabong, wetland and creek, for pollutants. For years the Friends, together with the Australian Platypus Conservancy, have tagged, measured and checked the health of platypuses from the Diamond and Mullum Mullum Creeks. With Latrobe University the Friends have conducted night walks to view owls, possums, bats and sugar gliders.5 Challenges for the council and the Friends continue with a large rabbit population, some vandalism, weed eradication and maintenance. However, thanks to this community effort, locals can now escape confined urban living on small blocks of land and enjoy the beauty of indigenous plants and animals. Working together has also strengthened the local community,This collection of almost 130 photos about places and people within the Shire of Nillumbik, an urban and rural municipality in Melbourne's north, contributes to an understanding of the history of the Shire. Published in 2008 immediately prior to the Black Saturday bushfires of February 7, 2009, it documents sites that were impacted, and in some cases destroyed by the fires. It includes photographs taken especially for the publication, creating a unique time capsule representing the Shire in the early 21st century. It remains the most recent comprehenesive publication devoted to the Shire's history connecting local residents to the past. nillumbik now and then (marshall-king) collection, barak bushlands, diamond creek (creek), eltham

Six year old Judith Furphy was the first person known to have been buried at Kangaroo Ground Cemetery in May 1851. The cemetery is situated on an ancient river bed with exposed Nillumbik sands. The rest of the district is formed from black volcanic soil which was hard to dig. According to local historian Mick Woiwod (deceased) the site may have been a burial ground for the local Wurundjeri people as the exposed softer sands were always their prefered camping sites. The Hon. Ewen Hugh Cameron who lived at Pigeon Bank and was the Member for Evelyn for 40 years (1874-1914) was buried here in 1915. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then /​ Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p39 The Wurundjeri people might have buried their dead on the site of the Kangaroo Ground Cemetery, according to local historian Mick Woiwod. Kangaroo Ground was a premier hunting ground, but camping on the black volcanic soil would have been uncomfortable. Unlike most of Kangaroo Ground, its cemetery, on an ancient river bed, comprises a rare exposure of Nillumbik sands – always the preferred campsite for Aboriginal people. The cemetery area is the only place where the soil was soft enough to dig a grave easily.1 Six-year-old Judith Furphy was the first person known to have been laid to rest at the Kangaroo Ground Cemetery. She died on May 17, 1851, from a chill caught by resting on wet grass. Local Andrew Ross wrote ‘..no public burying place existed nearer than Melbourne. The case being considered urgent, a general meeting of the settlers took place on the evening of the 17th……. The result was the selection of unoccupied crown land …….which was subsequently granted by Government for a public cemetery.’2 Judith was buried the next day on May 18. Her grave was marked by the trustees with a plaque, which unfortunately states nine years old, when she was probably only six. Judith came from an illustrious family. Her brother, Joseph, was the author of Such is Life and other works. Another brother, John, developed and manufactured the famous Furphy water cart, which distributed water to World War One soldiers along with the latest rumours. Hence the name Furphy entered the Australian idiom, as synonymous with ‘rumour’. Judith’s father Samuel helped build the first Kangaroo Ground church school. Inside, near the entrance of the cemetery, on Yarra Glen Road, stand a rotunda and a water tank. Occasional benches invite mourners to pause and remember. The gate with wrought iron and brick supports, bears the inscription ‘Erected by Sir Ewen and Lady Cameron in memory of their daughter, Flora Margaret’. These are only two of the famous people connected with this cemetery. The Hon. Ewen Hugh Cameron JP and MLA from 1874 to1914, who lived at Pigeon Bank, Warrandyte Road, was buried here in 1915. Unrelated, but with the same name, was Sir Ewen Cameron who had been Minister for Health and was laid to rest there in 1964. Sir Herbert Gepp, a leading industrialist and the former owner of Garden Hill, at Yarra Glen Road, was buried there in 1954.3 Many of the more imposing tombstones belong to the earlier graves. Unfortunately bushfires have cracked several. But this adds to the melancholy attractiveness of the cemetery, graced by some beautiful eucalypts, cypress and pines. Early pioneering families represented at the cemetery include Armstrong, Barr, Bell, Harkness, Jardine, Johnston, Rogerson, Stevenson, Thomson and Walters. Armstrong and Bell were among the first families to come to the district and Stevenson owned the district’s first sheep station. It took in much of present day Christmas Hills, which was the name he gave his sheep station. Harkness was the first to suggest a Kangaroo Ground school be built, and one of the first to suggest establishing the Eltham District Road Board. Many of these families leased pastoral land before the mid-century and bought land when it came on sale in 1849. In the cemetery’s early days sections were devoted to the major Christian denominations (mainly the Protestant) and one section was set aside for ‘other’ or ‘non-believers’. However in modern times burial plots have not been placed in areas according to religious beliefs.This collection of almost 130 photos about places and people within the Shire of Nillumbik, an urban and rural municipality in Melbourne's north, contributes to an understanding of the history of the Shire. Published in 2008 immediately prior to the Black Saturday bushfires of February 7, 2009, it documents sites that were impacted, and in some cases destroyed by the fires. It includes photographs taken especially for the publication, creating a unique time capsule representing the Shire in the early 21st century. It remains the most recent comprehenesive publication devoted to the Shire's history connecting local residents to the past. nillumbik now and then (marshall-king) collection, kangaroo ground, eltham-yarra glen road, agnes bell cameron, agnes cameron (nee bell), cameron family, edward aubrey haughton, eugene cameron, evelyn florence cameron, ewen hugh cameron, gravestones, jane armstrong, jane bell, jessie agnes haughton (nee cameron), jessie cameron, john donald cameron, kangaroo ground cemetery, neville cameron, simon armstrong, vera cameron, william bell armstrong, wurundjeri

Stations of the Cross by Clifton Pugh is a contempooray art piece in four sections making up 11 stations of the cross. It was commissioned by the Catholic parish in Eltham (Our Lady Help of Christians) in 1961 Published: Nillumbik Now and Then /​ Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p81 Art is an important means of nurturing faith at Our Lady Help of Christians Church, Henry Street, Eltham. The Stations of the Cross by Clifton Pugh and The Crucifix with the Ascending Jesus by sculptor Charles Rocco are two of the fine works that enhance the parishioners’ worship. These two inspiring works of art were added in 2001 – long after Roman Catholics began worshipping in Eltham around 1864. This beautiful worship centre was built following hardship and change – for parishioners have endured their church being destroyed by fire and have built four churches since they first worshipped together. Before 1864, according to local legend, a visiting priest administered sacraments in the parlour of former convict-turned-respected citizen Thomas Sweeney at Sweeneys Lane, Eltham.1 The first church was blessed in September, 1865, by the Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Goold. It stood on an acre (0.4ha) of land in Little Eltham as that area was known then, near the present Fordhams and Main Roads and was part of the Heidelberg Church Parish. In 1912 the church was relocated to a new building on the present primary school site at 1 Henry Street. This was closer to the town centre, which had moved from Little Eltham after the railway line was extended to Eltham in 1902.2 In 1958 the church split from the Sacred Heart parish, Diamond Creek, to become a parish in its own right, with Father Tom Curran as inaugural priest. Not long after in 1961, a fire destroyed the church and huge working bees under the prominent Catholic builders, the Sibbel brothers, rebuilt and extended it, using the original altar from the first church. It was then that builder and parishioner Herman Sibbel asked his friend, artist Clifton Pugh, to paint the Stations of the Cross for the church. But the priest, Father Curran, neither approved of Pugh’s bohemian reputation nor liked the paintings, so they were hung in the corridor of Our Lady’s Primary School instead. The parishioners almost sold the paintings in 1989 to pay for major school renovations. However the paintings remained there for about 40 years, until 2001, when the church was extensively renovated by Father Barry Caldwell. Another change awaited the church, as it outgrew its building, later to be used as the school hall. So, in 1976, the present church was built across the road. Three beautiful stained-glass windows depicting the Passion, Death, Resurrection and the presence of Christ’s Spirit, link these with the church’s experiences. The first depicts a bushfire in Eltham, referring to their church damaged by fire. Another represents the Resurrection of Christ with new growth on a blackened stump and the Holy Spirit is represented by the Southern Cross. A window depicting Our Lady Help of Christians by parishioner Bill Peperkamp, was donated by parishioners to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of Father Desmond G Jenkins’ ordination to the priesthood on July 27, 1977. This, with the statue of Mary, creates a Marian shrine. In the 14 Stations of the Cross painted on four masonite panels Pugh captures the pathos of the suffering Christ and his disciples.3 The figures are stylised, except intriguingly, that of Pontias Pilate, who looks like Clifton Pugh. Charles Rocco’s sculpture is an extraordinary Jesus figure being raised from the Cross. The delicate stainless steel mesh of the figure creates a sense of the power of God over death. The organ, built in 1868 by George Fincham and Sons, was first installed in the All Saints’ Anglican Church, East St Kilda, then in the St Andrews Church, Clifton Hill. It was rebuilt into a modern instrument with a donation from parishioner Jim Murray, in memory of his wife Gwendolene Mary.4 Church members created their own work of art in front of the entrance, by painting designs and messages on 700 tiles. This work indicates the strong church family and faith expressed in art, that awaits the worshipper inside.This collection of almost 130 photos about places and people within the Shire of Nillumbik, an urban and rural municipality in Melbourne's north, contributes to an understanding of the history of the Shire. Published in 2008 immediately prior to the Black Saturday bushfires of February 7, 2009, it documents sites that were impacted, and in some cases destroyed by the fires. It includes photographs taken especially for the publication, creating a unique time capsule representing the Shire in the early 21st century. It remains the most recent comprehenesive publication devoted to the Shire's history connecting local residents to the past. nillumbik now and then (marshall-king) collection, art, clifton pugh, stations of the cross, our lady help of christans, installation

Alistair Knox Park, an oasis of peace and beauty. Covered under National Trust of Australia (Victoria) Landscape Significance and Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then /​ Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p173 It is hard to imagine that the Alistair Knox Park, an oasis of peace and beauty beside busy Main Road, Eltham, was once the township’s rubbish dump. It was only in the 1970s that the tip was transformed into this beautiful six hectare space, which later earned it a National Trust Landscape classification. Before its life as a dump, the area was used for small farms. Thanks largely to the foresight and efforts of local environmental builder Alistair Knox, the park was designed sympathetically with the character of the wider Eltham landscape. Then, appropriately, the park was named after Knox, who was an Eltham Shire Councillor from 1971 to 1975 and Shire President in 1975. The park designers were four major forces in the urban bush landscape garden –Knox, landscape designer Gordon Ford, artist Peter Glass and landscaper Ivan Stranger.1 The National Trust citation for the park, originally called Eltham Town Park, includes the Eltham railway trestle bridge and the Shillinglaw Cottage. The citation states ‘the semi-natural setting of the parkland provides a landscape which is evocative of the history of the area’. Manna Gums (Eucalyptus viminalis) and Candlebarks (Eucalyptus rubida) are significant features. Most of the park’s construction was directed by Bob Grant, Superintendent of the Parks and Gardens Department for the Eltham Shire Council. First plantings occurred in Arbour Week in 1973, then the lake and botanic area were completed in 1975, with Federal Government funding, and the toilet block in 1978. Bounded by the Eltham railway line, Panther Place, Main Road, Bridge and Susan Streets, the park is in a valley about a kilometre wide overlooked by steep hills at the east and west. The Diamond Creek flows through it and the picturesque historic timber trestle railway bridge edges the north. Informal plantings of Australian indigenous and native species in open and undulating grassed settings blend with the natural landscape of the Diamond Creek to the west. The bush-style plants, particularly around the creek, balance with open lawns, paths and a cascade flowing from a small lake to another below. A footbridge over the creek leads to the park’s west. The park includes an adventure playground and barbecue areas. The park stands on part of the land bought from the Crown in 1851 by Josiah Holloway, who subdivided it into allotments and which he called Little Eltham. Most of the land was subdivided into residential lots, but the creek valley, on which the park stands, was subdivided into farm-size lots, used mainly for orchards and grazing. One of the earliest owners was John Hicks Petty, who in 1874 bought a plot from Holloway. Other families who owned properties in that area, included Rees, Clark, Waterfall, Graham, Hill and Morant.2 In 1901 the railway was built through the area. Jock Read, an Eltham resident since around 1920, remembers several farms in the 1920s and ’30s that occupied the site of today’s park. A poultry farm, which extended from present day Panther Place, was owned by the Gahan family. Next to that farm was another for grazing cattle owned by Jack Carrucan. Beside this was land owned by John Lyon. A doctor lived beside this, and at the north-west corner of Bridge Street and Main Road stood a memorial to the soldiers who died in World War One, which was later moved to the RSL site. Mr Read also remembers other farms and orchards west of the creek In the early 1960s the Eltham Council began buying these farms and in the late 1960s turned the areas east of the Diamond Creek into a garbage tip. When this was filled above the creek’s flood plain, the tip was moved to the west of the creek.This collection of almost 130 photos about places and people within the Shire of Nillumbik, an urban and rural municipality in Melbourne's north, contributes to an understanding of the history of the Shire. Published in 2008 immediately prior to the Black Saturday bushfires of February 7, 2009, it documents sites that were impacted, and in some cases destroyed by the fires. It includes photographs taken especially for the publication, creating a unique time capsule representing the Shire in the early 21st century. It remains the most recent comprehenesive publication devoted to the Shire's history connecting local residents to the past. nillumbik now and then (marshall-king) collection, alistair knox park, eltham