St. Matthew's Church has historic significance as the town's church and physical and social focus for the community. The standard design buildings are good examples and important streetscape elements. The war memorial cross is the area's monument to the 20th century wars and its modest scale in comparison with the granite Eltham and towered Kangaroo Ground memorials illustrates the lack of affluence in the town and surrounding area. The grouping of church, school, store and post office is typical of country villages throughout Victoria. The Radiata Pine plantings are significant as an intact line of shelterbelt planting typical of the early 20th century. (Bick Study 1992) Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then /​ Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p63 Panton Hill’s first church services were held in a simple building made of paling timber, opposite the Hotel de France. The building was also used for Sunday School, a school and a hall.1 The St Matthew’s Church and hall at the corner of Church Road and Kangaroo Ground-St Andrews Road, were built in the early 20th century in the standard rectangular style of the times. The intact belt of Radiata Pines was common at that time. The war memorial concrete cross is the area’s monument for the 20th century wars. It is much more modest than those in Eltham, and particularly in Kangaroo Ground, demonstrating those townships’ comparative affluence.2 Early settler J Hughes, who donated the land to the Church of England, was the first to be married at St Matthews when he married Rachel Coutie. In later life he became a minister of religion.3 One much-liked preacher was George Hollow, who with his sister playing the harmonium, conducted church services at Panton Hill, St Andrews and Christmas Hills, for many years.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, panton hill, st matthew's church, panton hill war memorial

The property is a classic example of what made Eltham famous from the late 1940s to the 1960s. Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then /​ Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p149 The first view of the large double-storey house at Yarra Braes Road, Eltham South, is of a jutting roofline over a balcony, reminiscent of a large sailing vessel or galleon – very appropriate, considering the name of one of the first owners, Le Gallienne. The Downing-Le Gallienne property is a classic example of what made Eltham famous from the late 1940s to the 1960s and attracted so many artists and intellectuals to the area. Set in a largely indigenous bush-style garden, the mud-brick and timber house was built by Alistair Knox. It was built for economist Richard Downing, to become a founder of the welfare state in Australia and Chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Commission, and musician and composer Dorian Le Gallienne. Le Gallienne was a pioneering composer of modern music in Victoria before 1945, whose works included the Symphony in E.1 He wrote several pieces of film music for Eltham Films, including The Prize, working with its writer and artistic director Tim Burstall. Le Gallienne was also a music critic for The Argus and later for The Age. In 1967 the music critic Roger Covell argued that Le Gallienne’s Symphony, was ‘still the most accomplished and purposive . . . written by an Australian’.2 According to Alan Marshall the main inspiration behind the building that evolved from 1948 to 1964 was Le Gallienne. ‘He was able to see value in the simplest things and many who worked there had their eyes opened for the first time to the Eltham environment, to the bush and the trees and the fauna which lived there.’3 The garden included no formality, no lawns, nor exotic plants. ‘Natural informal growth came right up to their doors and so did the indigenous birdlife.’4 This informal style – consisting of mass and void – was to be developed and popularised by landscaper Gordon Ford from the 1950s. The large mud-brick and timber house, which was built in four stages and has three separate but linked sections, began as a small weekend retreat for the couple. In 1948, Downing and Le Gallienne (Dick and Dor to their friends), asked Knox to build the 36 x18 foot (11mx5.4m) building with a pitched slate roof. It was built on a concrete slab and included a fireplace, which is still in use. The second wing was built in 1954 after Downing had returned from working at the International Labour Office and the couple decided to live there full-time. The third section was built after the death of Le Gallienne in 1963, aged 48. He is buried in the Eltham Cemetery. When Downing married widow, Jean Norman (nee McGregor) and had to accommodate a large family, including her six children and one of their own, the last stage was built by 1964. At that time the house was considered one of the largest mud-brick houses in Victoria. It consists of five living areas, including a small ballroom. Several artists helped Knox build the Downing-Le Gallienne house, which was one of his first of mud-brick. They included painter Clifton Pugh, artist John Howley and actor Wynn Roberts. Ellis Stones had landscaped the first wing and Gordon Ford set the boulder steps and made a pool as part of the landscaping he completed. Inside, the mud-bricks are largely whitewashed with pine-lined ceilings and Oregon beams. A winding timber staircase in the front extends behind a glass window from the ground floor to the top. The property, of a little more than 0.5 ha, is bordered by Parks Victoria land, which extends to the Yarra River.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, dorian le gallienne, downing-le gallienne house, eltham, mudbrick construction, mudbrick houses, richard downing, yarra braes road

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