In 1857, tanner John Pearson purchased three and a half acres of land in Little Eltham, at the western end of Pitt Street, with a 70-foot frontage to Maria Street (Main Road) and stretching down to the Diamond Creek for £100. He contracted Benjamin Oliver Wallis to build house for him. Wallis, a mason by trade who originated from the Cornish village of Newlyn, migrated to Melbourne in 1853 and was shortly engaged by Richard Warren to build the Eltham Hotel, which opened in 1854. When Warren fell into financial difficulty in 1858, Wallis purchased the hotel. That same year, Pearson constructed a tannery below the house with access to the water in the Diamond Creek. When Pearson became bankrupt in 1867, Wallis similarly acquired the house from Pearson’s creditors in 1868 and lived there until his death in 1896. For some of this time the house was in the name of Wallis’s son Richard but following his death in 1888, ownership reverted to his father. It was purchased by retired teacher Richard Gilsenen in 1899. Gilsenen was made acting head teacher at the Eltham State School in 1906 following the sudden death of head teacher John Brown. In the 1950s the house was bought by retired engineer Dr Alfred Fitzpatrick and his wife Claire who made various modifications to house goats and poultry as well as structural modifications to the house. In the early 1970s, Eltham Shire Councillors Frank Maas and Don Maling proposed an extended communities’ activities program be set up and the Commonwealth Grants Commission was approached for financial assistance. In 1974 a $50,000 Commonwealth Grant was received by the Shire Council to acquire the Fitzpatrick property as part of the planning to establish an extended communities’ activities program. The Fitzpatricks moved next door and Claire taught at the new Living and Learning Centre, which began in 1975, one of the first community education centres in Victoria. Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then /​ Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p59 It’s a centre for sharing knowledge and friendship and it stands on the former hub of Eltham’s original township near Pitt Street. The Eltham Living and Learning Centre, with around 2000 participants a year, began in 1975 as one of the first Community Education Centres in Victoria. Classes ranging from macramé to wine making to environmental living have enriched the lives of thousands of people through the generosity of tutors sharing their skills free of charge. The centre’s heart is the brick cottage, built in 1858 by tanner John Pearson. He bought the three and a half acre (1.4ha) allotment fronting Maria Street (now Main Road) and stretching down to the Diamond Creek. The allotment formed part of a 316 acre (127.8ha) subdivision, owned by Josiah Holloway, called Little Eltham, north of the original Eltham Reserve.1 The allotment then passed through the hands of several speculators before it was sold to Pearson for £100 in 1857. Mr Pearson’s children attended the Eltham Primary School from 1864 to 1867. But creditors took possession of the property when his tannery folded in 1867. It was then sold to publican Benjamin Wallis, who owned the Eltham Hotel at the corner of Pitt Street and Main Road. In 1899 the property was bought by Richard Gilsenan, who became acting head teacher of the Eltham Primary State School in 1906. In the 1950s, retired engineer Dr Alfred Fitzpatrick and his wife Claire bought the property, and made structural changes. Claire, a journalist and community campaigner, modified and built pens for goats and poultry, a stable, a garage and planted fruit trees and a vegetable garden. In the early 1970s a young woman called Carina Hack approached Gwen Wesson at the Diamond Valley Learning Centre (Victoria’s first Community Education Centre) about starting a community centre. Following Wesson’s suggestion, Hack spoke to Shire President Alistair Knox ‘one bleak rainy afternoon, sipping hot drinks and discussing life’.2 Eltham Shire Councillors Frank Maas and Don Maling proposed a community activities program and the council received a $50,000 Commonwealth Government Grant for this venture.3 The Fitzpatricks sold their property to the council and moved next door and Claire taught at the new centre, which Hack named. Eltham obviously wanted such a centre as Hack recalls. ‘During the next two months we had about 50 volunteers working day, night and weekends, scrubbing down, plastering and painting walls, replacing floors, repairing fences, recycling furniture, sewing curtains and cushions, donating furniture, toys, equipment, clean-ing and gardening…’4 The first enrolment day saw a queue stretching up the driveway nearly to the gate and the first sessions attracted 270 people a week. Soon the outbuildings were converted into pottery studios and a large workshop. From 1979 the Eltham Art and Craft Market was held in the centre’s grounds and the Friends of the Centre ran it from 1980. A former program coordinator, Margaret Johnson, remembers enrolment day in the late 1970s and 1980s, when hundreds of people would queue – and some even camped overnight! Overnighters were greeted in the morning with fresh tea and toast. Another tradition was The Enrolment Day Cake with Recipe, given to volunteers. ‘One happy Enrolment Day fell on February 14 and let’s just say that St Valentine found some willing participants, paying $2 for a kiss.’5 Meanwhile the participants’ children could play at the Council Eltham Lower Park house in Hohnes Road, later in Susan Street. But the centre has had difficulties too. In 1990 a fire destroyed the stable and the police suspected arson. However the pavilion was built in its place.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, benjamin oliver wallis, claire fitzpatrick, don maling, dr alfred fitzpatrick, eltham living and learning centre, frank maas, john pearson, richard gilsenen, tannery

Great Hall at Montsalvat built 1938-52, designed by Justus Jorgensen Covered under National Estate, National Trust of Australia (Victoria) State Significance, Victorian Heritage and Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then /​ Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p129 At first glance, Montsalvat, the artists’ community at Hillcrest Avenue, Eltham, could belong to another time and place. The French provincial Gothic-style buildings blend picturesquely with the introduced and native trees and farm animals on the five hectare property. But Montsalvat belongs very much to today’s Eltham, having inspired much of its creative activity and style. The use of mud-brick and recycled building materials, for which Eltham is so well-known, was largely popularised by Montsalvat. Montsalvat – unique in Victoria and probably in Australia – is registered by the National Trust and National Estate.1 Montsalvat, named after the castle of the Knights of the Holy Grail, has attracted artists and intellectuals since it was founded in 1934. For years at weekends, artists, lawyers, philosophers, politicians and others, who shared a love for what Montsalvat stood for, gathered for a meal and stimulating discussion. The focus for this gathering of talent was Justus Jörgensen, an eccentric man with vision and charisma. It was Jörgensen’s foresight that saw the creation of Montsalvat, which in 1975 was formed into a trust to benefit the Victorian people. The property was then valued at about three million dollars. It is now visited by thousands of people annually. Born in 1894 and brought up a Catholic, Jörgensen had trained as an architect. He later studied painting at the National Gallery School under artist, Frederick McCubbin, then joined the studio of artist Max Meldrum. In 1924, Jörgensen married medical student Lillian Smith, and with artist friends they travelled to Europe to study the great masters. In London Jörgensen exhibited in several major galleries. One of his still life paintings was included in the book The Art of Still Life by Herbert Furst, which featured 100 of the greatest ever still life paintings.2 In 1929, Jörgensen returned to Melbourne where Lil, now qualified, worked as an anaesthetist at St Vincent’s Hospital. They bought a small house in Brighton and Jörgensen rented a large building in Queen Street for his studio until the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria bought it in 1955. While designing and overseeing the building of a studio for his friend the famous cartoonist Percy Leason, in Lavender Park Road, Jörgensen decided to buy land for a country retreat in Eltham. So the building of Montsalvat began. Jörgensen gathered around a dozen of his friends and students from his Queen Street studio. They set to work, first at weekends then some decided to live permanently on the site. Jörgensen had seen mud-brick buildings in Spain and recognised that Eltham’s clay soil was ideal for mud-bricks and although labour intensive, it was a very cheap way of building. Jörgensen’s students and friends worked under his direction with the help of local tradesmen, including carpenter, Len Jarrold and later stone mason, Horrie Judd. In return Jörgensen would give the students a painting lesson or two. It was the Great Depression when many were out of work. Jörgensen also inspired people to give generously of money and materials. With their help Jörgensen found second-hand materials for building. Friends donated slate for roofing, discarded firebricks were used for flooring and windows and doors and a cast-iron circular staircase came from a wrecker. The students’ day started at 7am with building and domestic chores, shared equally between the sexes. The first building was used by his friends at weekends and then became a home for his wife Lil. It consisted of three rooms and an attic under a high-pitched roof. Jörgensen then built a similar structure with the same high-pitched roof as a more permanent home for his students. The two buildings were joined together with a tower and a studio for Jörgensen. While excavating for the studio a reef of yellow mud-stone was found and then used in construction. The next building was the Great Hall, to be used for dining, exhibitions and meetings and completed in 1958, after a halt during the war. Whelan the Wrecker donated the stone-framed windows from the building that housed the Victorian Insurance Co. in Collins Street, which had been demolished in the 1930s. The swimming pool was donated and cubicles were built for the students with their initials marked in tiles on each doorstep.1 One of Jörgensen’s great abilities was to recognise how to use material which harmonised. He would comb through wreckers’ yards for what he needed. Regarding his buildings as sculptural pieces, his first consideration was for the aesthetic quality of a building and only then for its functionality.2 At Montsalvat, Jörgensen found he was able to put his ideas into practice without compromise and those who worked with him had to conform to his ideas. With the Jörgensens, the colony’s original nucleus consisted of the Skipper family – Mervyn and wife Lena, daughters Helen and Sonia and son Matcham,who was to become an eminent jeweller and sculptor represented in National Gallery collections throughout Australia and in European museums.3 Other members were Arthur Munday, Lesley Sinclair, Helen Lempriere, Ian Robertson, John Smith, George Chalmers, John Busst and Sue Van der Kellan; also Jörgensen’s three sons – Max, Sebastian and Sigmund – and Saskia, Sonia Skipper and Arthur Munday’s daughter. Montsalvat went through some hard times when local gossips spread rumours of sexual shenanigans at Montsalvat. However Montsalvat also had many local supporters – especially amongst the local tradespeople. The colony was certainly unconventional – with Jörgensen’s wife Lil (and son Max) and life-time partner Helen Skipper, (mother of Sebastian and Sigmund) living at Montsalvat. Sonia Skipper says in her biography that the group were ‘very conscious of their responsibilities to each other and a desire to make their relationships work’.4 By World War Two many buildings around the Great Hall were completed. Jörgensen was a pacifist, as were most of his students. Some of the Montsalvat community enlisted while others engaged in essential services like dairy farming and market gardening for the war effort. It was then that Jörgensen constructed farm buildings. After the war many well-known personalities such as Clifton Pugh, landscape gardener Gordon Ford, and builder Alistair Knox, were drawn to Montsalvat. They learnt that building was not a ‘sacred cow’ only for professionals, but that anyone who was willing to get their hands dirty could do it. The post-war shortage of materials also encouraged builders to follow Montsalvat’s lead in reusing materials. When Jörgensen died in 1975, his influence did not – thanks largely to the vigilance of his son, Sigmund, who became its administrator. The weekend dinners have gone, but in 2008 about 14 artists still work at Montsalvat – some living there – including a couple who have been there since its early days. Under Sigmund’s direction Montsalvat further expanded its activities which included festivals, art exhibitions, concerts and weddings. Sigmund completed the Chapel, then the Long Gallery next to the pool, After the barn burnt down, he replaced it in 1999 (the builder was Hamish Knox, Alistair’s son) with a new gallery and entrance and added a restaurant. Sigmund has been careful that any new building blends in with the character of Montsalvat. In 2006 Montsalvat was restructured for its continued financial viability and with the help of Arts Victoria a new executive officer was appointed. A representative board from the wider community was established, which includes members from the former Montsalvat Trust including Sigmund Jörgensen – who is now the heritage and arts adviser to the new company Montsalvat Ltd.5 Today, visiting Montsalvat one still sees artists, students and visitors enjoying the unique and beautiful surroundings.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, eltham, great hall, montsalvat

Entrance to Stillwell Valley (at edge of Emerald Lake). Graham and Helen Stillwell (now Swaine) with Aunt Gwen Stillwell and friends. Grandfather, Bertie Stillwell opened Emerald Lake in 1941.Bertie Stillwell was a Councillor with Fern Tree Gully Council. Stillwell's Deviation is located off Avons Rd, Avonsleigh.Black & White photograph. stillwell-valley; bertie-stillwell; emerald-lake-park; helen-swaine;

Kith Kiln was the site of a short lived charcoal kiln designed to provide an alternative to petrol during World War 11 when there was a fuel shortage. Local history has been told by Genseric (Bill) Parker and the reflections collected by Friends of Kirth Kiln (under the auspices of Parks Victoria).The booklet is significant because it tells the story of the development of the Kirth Kiln Park in Gembrook, from the Friends perspective.The park is not only historical but is also of great environmental significance and it forms part of community life in the district. Green soft cover booklet of 128 pages. The front cover has 2 photos; the top one of the caretakers compound with Forest Commission huts and the bottom photo is of the Lake, taken from the dam on Tomahawk Creek. The back cover has a diagram of the Kiln logo.Fireside Stories with Genseric (Bill) Parker and Lorna Parker. Reflections collected by Friends of Kirth Kiln.kirth kiln, genseric parker, parks victoria, gembrook, charcoal burner

Professor Ernest Edgar Kurth of the University of Tasmania, invented a faster, simpler and cleaner way to produce charcoal on a continuous basis during the second world war. The charcoal was used to produce a combustible gas in motor cars, as a substitute for petrol, which was heavily rationed. The first batch of charcoal was produced in February 1942 and continued until the end of the war. Wood from stringybark trees was cut into lengths and fed into a kiln which converted it into charcoal. The Kiln is located on Beenak Road, 7km north of Gembrook. It has great historical significance, particularly as an alternative supplier of fuel during the second world war. It is a State Registered facility, managed by the Friends of Kirth Kiln and the park is managed by Parks Victoria Green soft covered book of 150 pages, with a photo of 2 men and a boy out in the bush with 3 fires burning.Contains a Prelude about Ernest Edgar Kurth written by Alfred Klink (2013) and a Foreward by John Sullivan (Heritage Officer of Parks Victoria). There is an Acknowledgement page, with recognition given to the grant provided by the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. e.e. kurth, kirth kiln, charcoal kiln, parks victoria

Programme for annual community awards and citizenship affirmation ceremonies. Citizen of the Year 2025 Nominee certificate - Robin Carter (RDHS)Welcome by Cr Kylie Spears, Mayor Thank you for joining us today at Maroondah City Council's Australia Day event at Ringwood Lake Park. Today is a free community event and an opportunity to celebrate our great city and nation in an inclusive and positive way. As Mayor, and for everyone attending the day, the Citizenship Ceremony will be a wonderful moment as we get to witness people from so many different countries embrace Australia, and Maroondah, as their new home. Citizenship is a representation of your commitment to the ideals and values of your adopted country, Australia. Becoming an Australian Citizen today indicates that you have chosen to take a significant step to be a full member of the Australian community. Maroondah City Council is especially proud that you have taken this step with us. On behalf of Council I also wish to congratulate all nominees in the Maroondah Australia Day Awards. I hope each nominee is proud of the contribution they make to our community. We appreciate your time and effort to make Maroondah a great place to live, work and play. While you're here, please take the time to discover this wonderful park and the facilities it offers, including the popular all-abilities playspace and the historical mining site (at the rear of the park) that provides an insight into the history of antimony mining in Ringwood in the 1870s. We hope you will enjoy the day with your family and friends. Awards include - Community Event of the Year - Maroondah Rotary Club Gala Night, Young Citizen of the Year - Shannon Freeman, and Citizen of the Year nominations - Kathy Adams, Ian Barnes, Andrew Brownlie, Heidi Butler-Moore, Robin Carter, Nicole Fernley, Marrianne Fry, Peter Rogers, Wendy Scott, Jonathon Tan, Heather Telford, Ken Weller.

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. 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. 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. 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

Warrandyte artist, Clara Southern, features on the Artists Trail. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then /​ Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p189 Since early in the 20th century this district has attracted artists and other creative people. So much so, that Eltham has been compared to the Left Bank in Paris, New York’s Greenwich Village and London’s Bloomsbury. That is until the 1970s when Eltham rapidly expanded into a suburb. However many artists still flourish not only in Montsalvat, Dunmoochin and the Bend of Islands but elsewhere in Nillumbik. Some artists who have worked or lived in Nillumbik are well-known nationally and internationally. Artists are attracted to the hilly district’s subtle colours, unique light and the Yarra River and Diamond Creek. The railway’s extension to Eltham in 1902 brought artists to paint for the day or to camp. Then many settled in Eltham, perhaps also because the poor quality land, far from the city, was cheap. Following World War Two they found they could build houses and studios cheaply by making their own mud-bricks. The flexible material, with its warm tones blending into the bush, also satisfied their aesthetic sensibilities. As early as 1900, Will Longstaff, known for his painting The Ghosts of Menin Gate at the National War Memorial in Canberra, lived at Stanhope in Peter Street, Eltham, later to become the home of intellectuals Clem and Nina Christensen. Members of Australia’s first significant art movement, the Heidelberg School of Artists, painted in Eltham, Warrandyte and Diamond Creek. Walter Withers lived at the corner of Bolton and Brougham Street, Eltham and taught Sir Hans Heysen, who for a short while stayed with the Withers family. In Warrandyte were Clara Southern, whom Frederick McCubbin taught at the National Gallery School and Penleigh Boyd, who is represented in all Australian state galleries and the National Collection in Canberra. May Vale, daughter of politician William, lived in Diamond Creek. With Jane Price they feature on the Heidelberg School Artists Trail, part of which runs through Nillumbik. The trail includes signs each displaying a reproduction of a painting by an artist and located near where the artist lived or painted. In Nillumbik the trail includes parts of Warrandyte, Eltham in the Alistair Knox Park, Main Road shopping precinct and Wingrove Park, the Research walking track on Main Road and the Diamond Creek Reserve. In 1916 artist William ‘Jock’ Frater lived at the corner of Arthur and Bible Streets, Eltham. Before then, Frater, with other artists including Percy Leason (who moved to Eltham in the mid 1920s) painted in Eltham on weekends. They camped near Bible and Pitt Streets and along the Diamond Creek where the Eltham Retirement Centre now stands.4 In 1921, painter Peter Newbury (father to painter David Newbury, who was born in Eltham) moved to Cromwell Street, Eltham. Max Meldrum, the first Australian painter to formulate a consistent theory of art largely based on tone,5 taught local artists Alan Martin, Clarice Beckett, Peter Glass and Justus Jörgensen. Meldrum visited Eltham then rented a house there for 18 months opposite Wingrove Park. In 1934, artist and architect Justus Jörgensen and his doctor wife Lil and friends built Montsalvat, the artists’ colony. Montsalvat has played an important part in attracting artists to Eltham and its mud-brick, pisé, stone and recycled building materials has had a major influence on Eltham’s built environment. Jörgensen’s students who also helped him build Monstalvat included Arthur Munday, Lesley Sinclair, Helen Lempriere, Joe Hannan, Helen, Sonia and jeweller/sculptor, Matcham Skipper. Among artists who visited Montsalvat were Clifton Pugh and Angry Penguins’ artists Albert Tucker and Arthur Boyd. Some who painted after World War Two were Alan Martin of Eltham and Warrandyte artists Frank Crozier and Harry De Hartog6, one of Melbourne’s first painters influenced by Cubism.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, clara southern, main road, research (vic), heidelberg school artists trail

opening Gatehouse Shop at Nyerimilang Park Kalimna West Victoria. Nyerimilang Park under management of Parks Victoria, shop built and operated by Friends of Nyerimilang volunteersBlack and white photograph of Minister of Environment Mark Birrell parks, social history

Colour photograph of eleven people believed to be Friends of the Environment seated around a picnic table in what appears to be Lions Park Eastern Beach Lakes Entrance Victoria. Also another colour photograph of a man collecting seeds from grass in bushland coastal banksia in backgroundenvironment, politics, conservation

40 p.; 24 cmnon-fictionA history of Wilson Botanic Park, including its geological history and palaeobotany, and chapters on pre-European history and Aboriginal settlement, European settlement, the growth of the township of Berwick, the Wilson Quarry, the gift of the site to the people of Berwick, and the growth of the park since its opening in 1992.berwick (vic.), wilson botanic park, george lindsay wilson, fay wilson (nee duff), george pritchard harvey wilson, james wilson

Colour photograph of Janet Trotter, Ray Dingey, Allen Trevorrow, Allyson Horne, Dorothy Trevorrow, Bev Pinnow, Marion Holding, Ian Ashcroft, Dorothy Shroder, Matt Palmer, Mark, Joe Stephens Friends of Nyerimilang with Friends of Mt Worth at Long Service Awards held at Nyerimilang Park Kalimna Victoriaclubs, volunteering, award ceremony

From its earliest days, the Ithacan Philanthropic Society has conducted an annual family picnic held at country towns on Melbourne's urban fringe. For many years Bacchus Marsh was a popular venue where this picnic group was photographed. Women would prepare delicious traditional Greek food and families would group together to enjoy a wonderful picnic spread. The annual Ithacan Picnic has been a very important event on the society's social calendar. In the early days, as many of the families ran family businesses such as fruit shops, fish shops and cafes, Sunday was the only break they had away from their work. The picnic gave them a chance to relax and to catch up with extended family and friends. Today the picnic continues to be an extremely popular day for the members where generations of Australian Ithacans get the opportunity to reunite. A black and white photograph of a large group at a picnic standing and sitting around and enjoying a picnic meal which has been spread out on the ground. Three cars are parked in the background under the trees.

Newspaper clipping of an article about Australian forces fighting in the Middle East doing a radio broadcast for friends and families at home. Exact date is unknown but during WWII. VX 27898 Corporal Thomas John Morris Thomas (Tom Thomas) donated several items to Cranbourne RSL. He served in the Australian Corp Signals in WWII both in Australia and overseas. He was born at Womerah on 9/11/1906 and died at Koo Wee Rup 16/06/1984. He enlisted at Yarram on 1/7/1940 and was discharged at Royal Park on 9/3/1945.Newspaper clipping adhered to brown support card with note typed by a typewriter down left side.Printed: "SOLDIERS' VOICES HEARD IN RADIO GREETINGS' Typewriter: "STH GILAND SOLDIER - CPL. TOM THOMAS VX 27898"newspaper article, wwii