Diaries of Tim Burstall November 1953 to December 1954. Tim Burstall lived in Eltham. Tim Burstall, the celebrated director of Stork, Alvin Purple and numerous other definitive 'ocker' comedies, is credited with shaking the moribund Australian film industry out of its torpor. But long before that, in the early 1950s, he began keeping a diary to record the world of the group of 'arties' and 'intellectuals' he was living among in Eltham, then a rural area outside Melbourne, where cheap land was available for mudbrick houses and studios, and where suburban rigidities could be mercilessly flouted. Burstall was in his mid-twenties, with two young sons and an open marriage with his wife, Betty. Eager to become a writer, to go against the grain, he kept a record almost daily-of the parties and the talk in pubs and studios, about art and politics and sex, of Communist Party branch meetings and film societies, of political rallies and the first Herald Outdoor Art Show. Somehow, while holding down a public relations job in the Antarctic Division and juggling his love affairs and obsession with the beautiful, brainy Fay, he wrote 500 words almost every day. Betty, according to the diaries, kept the show on the road, feeding friends after the pub, milking goats and working in her pottery making bowls and mugs, which Tim sometimes decorated at weekends. These Memoirs of a Young Bastard, as Burstall dubbed himself and them, are among the most evocative Australian diaries of modern times. Burstall can write. He has an eye for the telling detail, an unerring ear for cant and pomposity and, most endearingly, an ability to mock himself-always from the perspective of a bloke of his generation. Source: Publisherxxiv, 343 p., [18] p. of plates : ill., maps, ports., facsims. ; 27 cm.ISBN 9780522858143diary, motion picture director, film director, author

(Kangaroo Ground-St Andrews Road) “Rymers” Corner – shifting Hawthorn hedges on Tompkins property Council’s Drott 6 Woods Drott 9 August 1960 Showing hedge in rear already transported EDHS_05569-55 (EDHS_05577-3/4) and EDHS_05569-56 (EDHS_05577-5/6) - Hawthorn Hedges, Kangaroo Ground 50-50 ELTHAM, CUT THE HEDGES! While all of us are talking about the road toll, Eltham Council must have been in long recess. Around Kangaroo Ground are farmers’ hawthorn hedges shrouding dangerous corners on busy roads. If the council does not insist on their removal for a distance clear enough for safe driving, then it must be held culpable for the accidents that are bound to happen. – WAKE UP (Melbourne) ELTHAM, CUT THE HEDGES! 50-50 (1960, 6 January), The Sun (News clipping held in SEA_74-1_007) ‘BAD HEDGES’ WILL GO “We know there are some bad hedges on corners in the Kangaroo Ground area, but roadworks this year will eliminate them,” the Eltham Shire secretary, Mr Maxwell B. Watson, said yesterday. A reader in 50-50 yesterday complained of farmers’ hawthorn hedges obscuring drivers’ views at bad corners on busy roads in the Kangaroo Ground district. Mr Watson said the roadworks were deviations to remove the sharp turns, and the road would cut back into paddocks. The hedges would go at the same time. Meanwhile, the shire had power to require owners to cut back hedges, and this would be done if specific instances were reported and found justifiable. ‘BAD HEDGES’ WILL GO (1960, January 7), The Sun (News clipping held in SEA_74-1_007)Record of various Shire of Eltham infrastructure works undertaken during the period of 1952-1962 involving bridge and road reconstruction projects, sometimes with Eltham Shire Council Project Reference numbers quoted. It was during this period that a number of significant improvements were made to roads and new bridges constructed within the shire that remain in place as of present day (2022). In many situations, the photos provide a tangible visible record of infrastructure that existed throughout the early days of the Shire. The album was put together by or under the direction of the Shire Engineer, J.A. McDonald.infrastructure, shire of eltham, 1960-08, garden hill, kangaroo ground, kangaroo ground-queenstown road, kangaroo ground-st andrews road, rymers corner, bulldozer, drott

(Kangaroo Ground-St Andrews Road) “Rymers” Corner – shifting Hawthorn hedges on Tompkins property Council’s Drott 6 Woods Drott 9 August 1960 Showing method of lifting clumps of Hawthorn EDHS_05569-55 (EDHS_05577-3/4) and EDHS_05569-56 (EDHS_05577-5/6) - Hawthorn Hedges, Kangaroo Ground 50-50 ELTHAM, CUT THE HEDGES! While all of us are talking about the road toll, Eltham Council must have been in long recess. Around Kangaroo Ground are farmers’ hawthorn hedges shrouding dangerous corners on busy roads. If the council does not insist on their removal for a distance clear enough for safe driving, then it must be held culpable for the accidents that are bound to happen. – WAKE UP (Melbourne) ELTHAM, CUT THE HEDGES! 50-50 (1960, 6 January), The Sun (News clipping held in SEA_74-1_007) ‘BAD HEDGES’ WILL GO “We know there are some bad hedges on corners in the Kangaroo Ground area, but roadworks this year will eliminate them,” the Eltham Shire secretary, Mr Maxwell B. Watson, said yesterday. A reader in 50-50 yesterday complained of farmers’ hawthorn hedges obscuring drivers’ views at bad corners on busy roads in the Kangaroo Ground district. Mr Watson said the roadworks were deviations to remove the sharp turns, and the road would cut back into paddocks. The hedges would go at the same time. Meanwhile, the shire had power to require owners to cut back hedges, and this would be done if specific instances were reported and found justifiable. ‘BAD HEDGES’ WILL GO (1960, January 7), The Sun (News clipping held in SEA_74-1_007)Record of various Shire of Eltham infrastructure works undertaken during the period of 1952-1962 involving bridge and road reconstruction projects, sometimes with Eltham Shire Council Project Reference numbers quoted. It was during this period that a number of significant improvements were made to roads and new bridges constructed within the shire that remain in place as of present day (2022). In many situations, the photos provide a tangible visible record of infrastructure that existed throughout the early days of the Shire. The album was put together by or under the direction of the Shire Engineer, J.A. McDonald.infrastructure, shire of eltham, 1960-08, garden hill, kangaroo ground, kangaroo ground-queenstown road, kangaroo ground-st andrews road, rymers corner, bulldozer, drott

(Kangaroo Ground-St Andrews Road) “Rymers” Corner – shifting Hawthorn hedges on Tompkins property Council’s Drott 6 Woods Drott 9 August 1960 Showing method of lifting clumps of Hawthorn EDHS_05569-55 (EDHS_05577-3/4) and EDHS_05569-56 (EDHS_05577-5/6) - Hawthorn Hedges, Kangaroo Ground 50-50 ELTHAM, CUT THE HEDGES! While all of us are talking about the road toll, Eltham Council must have been in long recess. Around Kangaroo Ground are farmers’ hawthorn hedges shrouding dangerous corners on busy roads. If the council does not insist on their removal for a distance clear enough for safe driving, then it must be held culpable for the accidents that are bound to happen. – WAKE UP (Melbourne) ELTHAM, CUT THE HEDGES! 50-50 (1960, 6 January), The Sun (News clipping held in SEA_74-1_007) ‘BAD HEDGES’ WILL GO “We know there are some bad hedges on corners in the Kangaroo Ground area, but roadworks this year will eliminate them,” the Eltham Shire secretary, Mr Maxwell B. Watson, said yesterday. A reader in 50-50 yesterday complained of farmers’ hawthorn hedges obscuring drivers’ views at bad corners on busy roads in the Kangaroo Ground district. Mr Watson said the roadworks were deviations to remove the sharp turns, and the road would cut back into paddocks. The hedges would go at the same time. Meanwhile, the shire had power to require owners to cut back hedges, and this would be done if specific instances were reported and found justifiable. ‘BAD HEDGES’ WILL GO (1960, January 7), The Sun (News clipping held in SEA_74-1_007)Record of various Shire of Eltham infrastructure works undertaken during the period of 1952-1962 involving bridge and road reconstruction projects, sometimes with Eltham Shire Council Project Reference numbers quoted. It was during this period that a number of significant improvements were made to roads and new bridges constructed within the shire that remain in place as of present day (2022). In many situations, the photos provide a tangible visible record of infrastructure that existed throughout the early days of the Shire. The album was put together by or under the direction of the Shire Engineer, J.A. McDonald.infrastructure, shire of eltham, 1960-08, garden hill, kangaroo ground, kangaroo ground-queenstown road, kangaroo ground-st andrews road, rymers corner, bulldozer, drott

(Kangaroo Ground-St Andrews Road) “Rymers” Corner – shifting Hawthorn hedges on Tompkins property Council’s Drott 6 Woods Drott 9 August 1960 EDHS_05569-55 (EDHS_05577-3/4) and EDHS_05569-56 (EDHS_05577-5/6) - Hawthorn Hedges, Kangaroo Ground 50-50 ELTHAM, CUT THE HEDGES! While all of us are talking about the road toll, Eltham Council must have been in long recess. Around Kangaroo Ground are farmers’ hawthorn hedges shrouding dangerous corners on busy roads. If the council does not insist on their removal for a distance clear enough for safe driving, then it must be held culpable for the accidents that are bound to happen. – WAKE UP (Melbourne) ELTHAM, CUT THE HEDGES! 50-50 (1960, 6 January), The Sun (News clipping held in SEA_74-1_007) ‘BAD HEDGES’ WILL GO “We know there are some bad hedges on corners in the Kangaroo Ground area, but roadworks this year will eliminate them,” the Eltham Shire secretary, Mr Maxwell B. Watson, said yesterday. A reader in 50-50 yesterday complained of farmers’ hawthorn hedges obscuring drivers’ views at bad corners on busy roads in the Kangaroo Ground district. Mr Watson said the roadworks were deviations to remove the sharp turns, and the road would cut back into paddocks. The hedges would go at the same time. Meanwhile, the shire had power to require owners to cut back hedges, and this would be done if specific instances were reported and found justifiable. ‘BAD HEDGES’ WILL GO (1960, January 7), The Sun (News clipping held in SEA_74-1_007)Record of various Shire of Eltham infrastructure works undertaken during the period of 1952-1962 involving bridge and road reconstruction projects, sometimes with Eltham Shire Council Project Reference numbers quoted. It was during this period that a number of significant improvements were made to roads and new bridges constructed within the shire that remain in place as of present day (2022). In many situations, the photos provide a tangible visible record of infrastructure that existed throughout the early days of the Shire. The album was put together by or under the direction of the Shire Engineer, J.A. McDonald.infrastructure, shire of eltham, 1960-08, garden hill, kangaroo ground, kangaroo ground-queenstown road, kangaroo ground-st andrews road, rymers corner, bulldozer, drott