ELTHAM - ARBOR DAY, 10 Oct 1973. School children of the Shire of Eltham planting trees (previously planned to take place during the visit of Sir Rohan Delacombe to the Shire on 19th September, 1973 but cancelled that day due to inclement weather). REF: 783 SOURCE: Shire of Eltham (Eltham District Historical Society) Eltham Town Park would later be renamed Alistair Knox ParkBlack and white photographeltham, arbor day, alistair knox, alistair knox park, eltham town park

ELTHAM - ARBOR DAY, 10 Oct 1973. School children of the Shire of Eltham planting trees (previously planned to take place during the visit of Sir Rohan Delacombe to the Shire on 19th September, 1973 but cancelled that day due to inclement weather). REF: 783 SOURCE: Shire of Eltham (Eltham District Historical Society) Eltham Town Park would later be renamed Alistair Knox ParkBlack and white photographeltham, arbor day, alistair knox, alistair knox park, eltham town park

ELTHAM - ARBOR DAY, 10 Oct 1973. School children of the Shire of Eltham planting trees (previously planned to take place during the visit of Sir Rohan Delacombe to the Shire on 19th September, 1973 but cancelled that day due to inclement weather). REF: 783 SOURCE: Shire of Eltham (Eltham District Historical Society) Eltham Town Park would later be renamed Alistair Knox ParkBlack and white photographeltham, arbor day, alistair knox, alistair knox park, eltham town park

ELTHAM - ARBOR DAY, 10 Oct 1973. School children of the Shire of Eltham planting trees (previously planned to take place during the visit of Sir Rohan Delacombe to the Shire on 19th September, 1973 but cancelled that day due to inclement weather). REF: 783 SOURCE: Shire of Eltham (Eltham District Historical Society) Eltham Town Park would later be renamed Alistair Knox ParkBlack and white photographeltham, arbor day, alistair knox, alistair knox park, eltham town park

ELTHAM - ARBOR DAY, 10 Oct 1973. School children of the Shire of Eltham planting trees (previously planned to take place during the visit of Sir Rohan Delacombe to the Shire on 19th September, 1973 but cancelled that day due to inclement weather). REF: 783 SOURCE: Shire of Eltham (Eltham District Historical Society) Eltham Town Park would later be renamed Alistair Knox ParkTwenty four black and white photographs, some multiple copies of various sizeseltham, arbor day, alistair knox, alistair knox park, eltham town park, montmorency primary school

ELTHAM - ARBOR DAY, 10 Oct 1973. School children of the Shire of Eltham planting trees (previously planned to take place during the visit of Sir Rohan Delacombe to the Shire on 19th September, 1973 but cancelled that day due to inclement weather). REF: 783 SOURCE: Shire of Eltham (Eltham District Historical Society) Eltham Town Park would later be renamed Alistair Knox ParkBlack and white photographeltham, arbor day, alistair knox, alistair knox park, eltham town park

ELTHAM - ARBOR DAY, 10 Oct 1973. School children of the Shire of Eltham planting trees (previously planned to take place during the visit of Sir Rohan Delacombe to the Shire on 19th September, 1973 but cancelled that day due to inclement weather). REF: 783 SOURCE: Shire of Eltham (Eltham District Historical Society) Eltham Town Park would later be renamed Alistair Knox ParkBlack and white photographeltham, arbor day, alistair knox, alistair knox park, eltham town park, panton hill primary school

Opposite the Shire Council Depot (formerly Fayrefield Hat Factory and now Eltham Fort Knox). Comment from David Taylor (via Facebook 2/4/2018): My family home was at 216 Rattray and I remember Powell's old garage on the right where the servo is now decades before the road was excavated. They had an aviary (very exciting for a very young child) and hand pumped kerosene.Colour photographmontmorency, streets, rattray road, sherbourne road

Opposite the Shire Council Depot (formerly Fayrefield Hat Factory and now Eltham Fort Knox). Comment from David Taylor (via Facebook 2/4/2018): My family home was at 216 Rattray and I remember Powell's old garage on the right where the servo is now decades before the road was excavated. They had an aviary (very exciting for a very young child) and hand pumped kerosene.Roll of 35mm colour negative film, 4 stripsFuji 100montmorency, rattray road, sherbourne road, streets

ELTHAM - ARBOR DAY, 10 Oct 1973. School children of the Shire of Eltham planting trees (previously planned to take place during the visit of Sir Rohan Delacombe to the Shire on 19th September, 1973 but cancelled that day due to inclement weather). REF: 783 SOURCE: Shire of Eltham (Eltham District Historical Society) Eltham Town Park would later be renamed Alistair Knox Park Bridge Street in backgroundBlack and white photographeltham, arbor day, alistair knox, alistair knox park, eltham town park

Designed for Dome Contructions Pty. Ltd.ink, acetate

ELTHAM - ARBOR DAY, 10 Oct 1973. School children of the Shire of Eltham planting trees (previously planned to take place during the visit of Sir Rohan Delacombe to the Shire on 19th September, 1973 but cancelled that day due to inclement weather). REF: 783 SOURCE: Shire of Eltham (Eltham District Historical Society) Eltham Town Park would later be renamed Alistair Knox Park Main Road to left and Bridge Street to right - looking southeastBlack and white photographeltham, arbor day, alistair knox, alistair knox park, eltham town park, main road, bridge street

ELTHAM - ARBOR DAY, 10 Oct 1973. School children of the Shire of Eltham planting trees (previously planned to take place during the visit of Sir Rohan Delacombe to the Shire on 19th September, 1973 but cancelled that day due to inclement weather). REF: 783 SOURCE: Shire of Eltham (Eltham District Historical Society) Eltham Town Park would later be renamed Alistair Knox Park Looking north along Main Road; Eltham Shire Office in distanceBlack and white photographeltham, arbor day, alistair knox, alistair knox park, eltham town park, main road, eltham shire office

ELTHAM - ARBOR DAY, 10 Oct 1973. School children of the Shire of Eltham planting trees (previously planned to take place during the visit of Sir Rohan Delacombe to the Shire on 19th September, 1973 but cancelled that day due to inclement weather). REF: 783 SOURCE: Shire of Eltham (Eltham District Historical Society) Eltham Town Park would later be renamed Alistair Knox Park Main Road and Our Lady Help of Christians Church in backgroundBlack and white photographeltham, arbor day, alistair knox, alistair knox park, eltham town park, main road

ELTHAM - ARBOR DAY, 10 Oct 1973. School children of the Shire of Eltham planting trees (previously planned to take place during the visit of Sir Rohan Delacombe to the Shire on 19th September, 1973 but cancelled that day due to inclement weather). REF: 783 SOURCE: Shire of Eltham (Eltham District Historical Society) Eltham Town Park would later be renamed Alistair Knox Park Note the lad playing with the yo-yo; all the craze at that time, generally branded with Coca-Cola or FantaBlack and white photographeltham, arbor day, alistair knox, alistair knox park, eltham town park, yo-yo

Alistair Knox was an architect and builder who came to Eltham in 1948. Influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright and Walter Burley Griffin, he sought to create buildings that would blend into the landscape, enhanced by the planting of indigenous flora. The post-war shortage of building materials made traditional construction expensive. Adobe (mudbrick) provided a cheap and plentiful alternative, and one which would be aesthetically pleasing. Mud-brick manufacture was a problem at first. Sonia Skipper had been experimenting with Eltham clays for years to find the best mix for making bricks and render. Alistair employed her as building foreman on several of his sites. By the 1980s, he had brought mud-brick and earth building into the Australian mainstream, and a Knox-designed house had become highly desirable. Sonia said that he would craft a bespoke earthen house to fit with his client's lifestyle. He was drawn to the environmental movement, publishing three books on housing and the environment, and speaking on radio. He also served on the Eltham Shire Council 1971-1975, was Shire President 1974 and was instrumental in re-establishing the Eltham Community Festival in 1975. Alistair died in 1986 and is buried in a small garden setting at Eltham Cemetery.Born Digitaleltham cemetery, gravestones, heritage excursion, alistair knox

Alistair Knox was an architect and builder who came to Eltham in 1948. Influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright and Walter Burley Griffin, he sought to create buildings that would blend into the landscape, enhanced by the planting of indigenous flora. The post-war shortage of building materials made traditional construction expensive. Adobe (mudbrick) provided a cheap and plentiful alternative, and one which would be aesthetically pleasing. Mud-brick manufacture was a problem at first. Sonia Skipper had been experimenting with Eltham clays for years to find the best mix for making bricks and render. Alistair employed her as building foreman on several of his sites. By the 1980s, he had brought mud-brick and earth building into the Australian mainstream, and a Knox-designed house had become highly desirable. Sonia said that he would craft a bespoke earthen house to fit with his client's lifestyle. He was drawn to the environmental movement, publishing three books on housing and the environment, and speaking on radio. He also served on the Eltham Shire Council 1971-1975, was Shire President 1974 and was instrumental in re-establishing the Eltham Community Festival in 1975. Alistair died in 1986 and is buried in a small garden setting at Eltham Cemetery.Born Digitaleltham cemetery, gravestones, heritage excursion, alistair samuel knox

Postcard as part of a series produced by Shire of Nillumbik for a children's photo project "Nillumbik Naturally" developed by FOCUS FORCE cleebrating Children's Week 2000. Words and photo by Janelle Chambers (Age 13). The logo for the Nillumbik Tourism Assocation Inc is stamped on the front of the postcard. This seat was placed in Alistair Knox Park in commemoration of the end of the Shire of Eltham after Victorian Council amalgamations with the words "Shire of Eltham 1871-1994" included on the back wooden plate of the seat. A similiar seat was placed in the Montmorency Shopping Centre referencing the west riding of the Eltham Shire, which incuded Montmorency. Digital file only - Digitised by EDHS from a scrapbook on loan from Beryl Bradbury (nee Stokes), daughter of Frank Stokes. Also physical postcard (used) alistair knox park, beryl bradbury (nee stokes) collection, janelle chambers, nillumbik tourism association, wattle, seat, children's week, commemoration

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. 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. 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

October Meeting (Newsletter No. 242, Oct. 2018) At our Society meeting at 8.00pm on Wednesday 10th October 2018 we will explore ideas about what is considered to be the ‘Spirit of Eltham’. We will view a video produced for the Shire of Eltham in response to the 1985 Victorian Local Government Commission Report titled ‘The Restructure of Local Government in Victoria – Principles and Program’ (the Morris review). The recommendation was to amalgamate the Shires of Eltham and Diamond Valley, something that Eltham Council did not support as being appropriate for the shire or compatible with the ‘Spirit of Eltham’. We will also be fortunate to have a presentation on this theme by Lynnsay Prunotto, a local architect, who is also involved in community planning activities, as well as some insights from Hamish Knox on his experience of growing up and working for many years in the region.1:29:41 duration Digital MP3 File 32 MB audio recording, eltham district historical society, hamish knox, lynnsay prunotto, meeting, society meeting, spirit of eltham

This is an Irish-Australian novel written in 1922 by Doctor Gerald Baldwin (c.1868-1942). New Zealand born Dr Baldwin was in Warrnambool from about 1900 to 1915. He took over the medical practice and small private hospital of Dr Thomas Scott in Banyan Street, Warrnambool. In 1915 he disposed of the hospital to Sister Ingpen who renamed it ‘Alveston’. Dr Baldwin then practised in Richmond, Melbourne. He wrote novels and plays, with his best-known work being the novel, ‘In Racing Silk’. As well as the novel, ‘Grey Town’, the Historical Society has an original program of a performance in 1914 by the Warrnambool Dramatic Society when Dr Baldwin was in Warrnambool. The program featured a play written by Dr Baldwin, ‘Father O’Flynn’, set partly in Dublin. This book is important because it is a novel written by a local doctor, Gerald Baldwin . He had considerable success with his writings in the early part of the 20th century. This is a hard cover book of 262 pages. It has a red cover with gold and black lettering on the front cover and on the spine. The colouring on the spine is very much faded. The book is a novel with 26 chapters and contains a full page sepia-coloured sketch at the beginning of the story. dr gerald baldwin, history of warrnambool, grey town novel

The footbridge which extended from the facility to the landscaped garden and water features is now gone. The footbridge and garden were previously part of a former hat factory in Sherbourne Road Eltham which has in the past been used for various purposes and presently a self storage business. The Karingal Yallock Creek passes through the front of the land and the creek environs are the subject of significant and unusual landscaping works, including some cascading water channels. Some of the landscaping was damaged by the Christmas Day floods of 2011, but the main elements remain intact. The landscaped area (as distinct from the factory itself) is the subject of a Heritage Overlay under the Nillumbik Planning Scheme. The basis of this overlay is a Heritage Report by Graeme Butler and Associates in 2006. As well as an assessment of the landscaped area, it includes one background information on the history of the site (although a complete history would require more research). The site was part of Crown Portion 3 of the Parish of Nillumbik that remained as the Montmorency Farm until early in the twentieth century. The 1911 subdivision of this farm created Lot 7 of some seven acres, which is the site of this factory. The Heritage Report lists the various owners of the site. From the rate records and aerial photos it is concluded that the site was used as an orchard and farmland until the 1940s. William F Crellin, orchardist, owned the site from 1912 to 1923. Then Edmund Williams owned it until 1951. In 1955 the site was owned by Rupert V. Kirsch and this is the name anecdotally associated with the hat factory, where the well-known brand of Fayrefield Hats were manufactured. There is some belief that this was built about the time of the Second World War and that hats for the armed forces were made there.fay bridge collection, eltham, fayrefield hat factory, foot bridge, sherbourne road, footbridge, fort knox eltham

alistair knox park, diamond creek trail, significant tree

fay bridge collection, 2016-10-13, alistair knox park, diamond creek (creek), eltham

Comparison photo: SEPP_0715 Part of a presentation by Peter Pidgeon to the Society, 13 August 2022 showcasing a series of photographs taken by John Henry Clark over the period 1895 to 1930. John Henry Clark was the youngest of three boys born to William Henry Clark (1823-1877) and Maria White (1843-1914). He and his brothers, William Charles Clark (1872-1945), Clement Kent Clark (1874-1912) operated a photography business (Clark Bros.) from 25 Thomas Street, Windsor near Prahran during the period c.1894 to 1914. Following death of Clement in September 1912 and their mother in 1914, the Clark Bros business appears to have dissolved, the premises demolished, and a new house was under construction in 1915. John set up business independently in 1914 operating out of 29 Moor Street, Fitzroy where he is registered in the 1914 and 1915 Electoral Rolls. By 1916 John had relocated to Eltham where he continued his practice as a photographer and took many of the early images around the district of Little Eltham. Around 1930 John changed professions and opened a small cobbler's shop in 1931 near the pond opposite Dalton Street adjacent to the Jarrold family cottage. He never married and continued his profession as a bootmaker from this little shop, maintaining a close relationship with Mrs Jarrold for the rest of their lives. His bootmaker shop remains today beside the Whitecloud cottage and is one of only three remaining shops in the area from the early 20th century.Comparative photo taken 2022 with one taken from same location over 100 years earlier by noted local photographer J.H. ClarkBorn Digitaleltham, j.h. clark photo (2022), bridge street, alistair knox park

alistair knox park, bridge street, bridge street bridge, eltham

Reproduced (in black and white) Page 107 of "Pioneers & Painters"This 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 image Various prints and colour reversal filmsalistair knox, eltham local characters, sepp, shire of eltham pioneers photograph collection, pioneers and painters

Four-fold DL size colour brochure printed both sides2013, eltham community festival, eltham festival, program, rotary eltham town festival