The O'Shannassy Reservoir supplies water to the Silvan Reservoir, which distributes it to most parts of Melbourne. The dam was completed in 1928 and is an earthfill embankment with a reinforced concrete core wall.This photograph is significant as it provides a detailed insight into the Boards activity and construction of one of Melbourne's most important water supply systems. Furthermore, it is of historical importance to the history of Melbourne while it is representative of shaping Melbourne's environments, transforming and managing land and natural resources, and providing urban infrastructure and services. This photograph also covers the theme of Safety, depicting the safety standards of the time particularly with clothing. Black and white photographmmbw, melbourne metropolitan board of works, melbourne water, silvan reservoir, o'shannassy reservoir, construction, work, men, infrastructure

Bib, ill, maps, p.243.non-fictionAustralia's Submariners are a group with an extremely strong sense of identity that goes well beyond occupational comradeship or the esprit de corps of military life in peace or war. Since 1914, the unique skills, attitudes, values and demands of the work they do and the environment in which they do it have forged unparalleled camaraderie. A camaraderie that extends beyond nationality, embracing submariners past and present of every other nation. No one but submariners understand the experience of diving deep beneath the waves in technology filled tubes of steel, each submariner totally dependent on the other for a safe return to the surface. The ethos of Australia's submariners is based upon these factors and remains strong even when they leave the sea and take up other occupations. Australia's future submarines will certainly present challenges in terms of sophistication, technology and capability however the characteristics of our submariners evolved over previous generations will remain much the same; trained and equipped to meet the challenges; just as they have been met and surmounted so many times, in silence, over a century of service.royal australian navy - submarine forces, submarine warfare

'Drop Zone', is set in an imagined future where decreasing water availability has affected us more dramatically than anyone predicted. The water shortage has become so severe that we have to access water on a first-come first-serve basis, from military-like water ‘drop zones’, like this one, made from modified rain water tanks. These tanks function on three levels: Collected rain water causes the totem sculptures to rise and bloom; evaporation causes the totem sculptures to fall; and an anemometer (device that measures wind speed) drives a process that plays the tank like a giant drum, tuned by the amount of water contained within. This artwork envisions a future for Australia where the impact of decreasing water availability has had a more dramatic effect than any of the predictions. The shortage is so severe that military-like water ‘drop zones’, constructed of modified rainfall storage tanks have been established across the public parks of the City of Yarra for access on a first come, first serve basis. However, as the water is only replenished through rain catchment the tanks may only offer infrequent relief for the City of Yarra residents, standing as hollow reminders of the effects of inaction on the shaping of sustainable national water use.'Drop Zone' was one of three public art works installed in Yarra, in 2011, under the banner of The Environmental Public Arts Project which responded to key features of Council's Environment Strategy: 'Towards Local Sustainability 2008-2020.' The aims of this project included activating public spaces in new and creative ways through the creation of artworks which act as catalysts for further engagement and discussion around environmental themes and issues.Copyright the Artists. Ready-made corrugated water tanks arranged on a site. Situated within the tanks are small totemic sculptures that float on top of the water within the tank.Accompanying plaquesustainability, water, environment, climate change

Station Sign - Railway General By-Laws Poster Since the very early days, Railways have had to have rules for those who travel and those who work on the trains. Some of the rules may refer to social practices of the time, the comfort of passengers or to the safety required in the Railway environment. The Victorian Railways referred to these rules as By-Laws. Not only were there rules, but there may be a fixed penalty (fines) for those who may break them. Being a government body the Victorian Railways had the rules and appropriate action authorised. This poster was issued in 1968 and was one of many that were displayed at most Victorian railway stations. Historic - Victorian Railways - notice board with General By-Laws PosterStation Sign - Railway By-Laws Poster wooden rectangle Station notice board with Railway By-Laws PosterGeneral By-Laws station sign, puffing billy, railway by-laws poster, victorian railways

Robin Boyd designed a supermarket and dwelling in Jordanville (now Ashwood). This design was the unique ctesiphon system of construction where walls and roof form one self supporting unit. This building is registered on Heritage Council Victoria. External perspective of a proposed shop and dwelling and environment. Has a mount, unframed.On the top right "Proposed shop and dwelling at the corner of High Street Rd and Cleveland Rd, Jordanville for Mr W. Wood. Sketch from North End. Robin Boyd architect June '53".ctesiphon, jordanville, robin boyd, heritage, ashwood, ohm2022, ohm2022_27

Section 1. Notes on the use of this resource Section 2. Policy support statements. Aboriginal Studies Policy Statement of Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Incorporated (VAEAI) National Principles and Guidelines for Aboriginal Studies and Torres Strait Islander Studies, K-12 Principles for the Introduction of Aboriginal Perspectives in the Curriculum of the Catholic School (Catholic Education Commission of Victoria Policy 1.3, 1987) Section 3. Language, culture and viewpoint: issues of terminology Section 4. Units of work Unit 1. Koorie people of south-east Australia: a contemporary view Unit 2. On sacred ground Unit 3. Koorie life in the pre-contact era Unit 4. Mulla Meea-Baa Gnuenjall: a long time ago, and today Unit 5. The land we share: human stories in the environment Unit 6. Frontier wars Unit 7. Aboriginal mission stations and reserves in Victoria Unit 8. Land, law and indigenous Australians Section 5. Directory of indigenous organisations and affiliated groups/?agencies. National organisations Victorian organisations Catholic Education Commission of Victoria Indigenous Education personnel Organisations within regions of the Archdiocese of Melbourne Organisations within regions of the Ballarat Diocese Organisations within regions of the Sale Diocese Organisations within regions of the Sandhurst Diocese Cultural centres/?camps across Victoria.maps, b&w photographsvaeai, history, curriculum development, koorie studies, catholic education commission of victoria, secondary school education,

Karl Duldig’s ceramic bowl is a particularly interesting example of Karl’s ability to creatively respond to a new environment with a fresh visual repertoire, in this case, the flowering Eucalyptus in a design reminiscent of traditional European folk art. The bowl is an excellent example of the utilitarian and decorative studio pottery produced by Karl and his wife Slawa Horowitz-Duldig between 1944 and 1960. Clay was an important medium for Karl. When he was forced to flee Austria for Switzerland, working with clay became a convenient medium; and he continued to expand his use of clay in Singapore. In Australia his work in clay extended from domestic hand-made pottery to public sculptures and architectural reliefs. In 1944 Duldig purchased a kiln, which was installed in the garage of the family’s St. Kilda flat, soon after a pottery wheel was acquired. It was the beginning of a cottage industry that supplemented the family income during the war years and beyond. Duldig initially sold his decorative ceramic wares through a local florist in St. Kilda, and subsequently through shops such as the Chez Nous French Art Shop (Howey Place) and Light and Shade (Royal Arcade), and the Primrose Pottery shop in Collins Street. The Primrose Pottery shop was an extremely important commercial outlet, and hub, for emerging artists, potters and designers from 1929 until 1974. Its proprietors Edith and Betty MacMillan worked closely with their suppliers, commissioning and taking items on consignment. In the post war period important Melbourne studio potters such as Allan Lowe, Arthur Boyd, John Perceval and Neil Douglas exhibited and sold domestic wares in the Primrose Pottery shop. The Duldigs studio pottery provides a counterpoint to the ceramics produced at Arthur Merric Boyd Pottery in Murrumbeena, which was established in 1944 by Arthur Boyd, John Perceval and Peter Herbst. The emphasis on painterly decoration was important and the AMB potters also produced simple household wares decorated with Australian flora and wildlife, for example Neil Douglas also made small bowls decorated with the fairy wrens, lyrebirds, gumnuts and eucalypts. Ann Carew 2016The Duldig Studio’s collection of ceramics has national aesthetic and historic significance. It contains a representative sample of works of art in ceramics created by Karl Duldig during his lifetime, including small sculptures, as well as functional and novelty items for the tourist market during the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. The artist’s working methods and the development of his practice are comprehensively demonstrated in the collection. This in-situ collection demonstrates the philosophy of the Vienna Secession and its inheritors that handcrafted, simple functional domestic wares might enrich both the lives of the maker and the user. This bowl is part of a collection of ceramics that has national historic significance in providing a rich illustration of an immigrant and artistic experience, and touching on the themes of settlement adaptation of artistic practice. The collection is also associated with places of cultural and historical significance in Melbourne such as the Primrose Pottery Shop, and the story of Australian studio ceramics in the post-war years. Ann Carew 2016Cream earthenware bowl with flowering gum motif and sponged green background.Duldig in script incised under.

This work forms a pair with Untitled #4 (fox bones – pattern) / This work draws on ideas of death and the traces of a body that death leaves behind / The work aims to confront the viewer with the concept of death, but it is not morbid or macabre in its consideration of it / Instead of fear the work presents a quiet and beautiful image that aims to portray a feeling of acceptance in the inevitable destruction of one's body / In this work the bones of a deceased fox were meticulously cleaned, bleached and layed out for photographing / No digital manipulation was used to arrange the bones / The same bones from the same fox were rearranged and used for the other work in this series. This work was completed in 2012 as part of the artist's residency in 2011 at Birrarung, Laughing Waters (Laughing Waters Artist in Residence program - LWAIR) managed by Nillumbik Shire Council / Works produced there take inspiration from the natural landscape and the creatures living within that particular environment.Print - digital photograph printed on hahnemuhle photo rag paper / edition 2 of 8 + 2 artist prints / Individual fox bones placed/layed out on a white background and arranged in an orderly fashion according to size and shape / Beige/neutral in colour / Blonde timber frame.No signatures / no personal markings / no framers identified. digital print / fox / bones / ordered / photograph / laughing waters / birrarung / imam / death

This work forms a pair with Untitled #3 (fox bones – ordered) / This work draws on ideas of death and the traces of a body that death leaves behind / The work aims to confront the viewer with the concept of death, but it is not morbid or macabre in its consideration of it / Instead of fear the work presents a quiet and beautiful image that aims to portray a feeling of acceptance in the inevitable destruction of one's body / In this work the bones of a deceased fox were meticulously cleaned, bleached and layed out for photographing / No digital manipulation was used to arrange the bones / The same bones from the same fox were rearranged and used for the other work in this series.This work was completed in 2012 as part of the artist's residency in 2011 at Birrarung, Laughing Waters (Laughing Waters Artist in Residence program - LWAIR) managed by Nillumbik Shire Council / Works produced there take inspiration from the natural landscape and the creatures living within that particular environment.Print - A digital photograph printed on hahnemuhle photo rag paper / edition 2 of 8 + 2 artist prints / Individual fox bones placed/layed out on a white background and arranged in an outward circular pattern. Beige/neutral in colour / Blonde timber frame. No signatures / no personal markings / no framers identified.digital print / fox / bones / pattern / photograph / laughing waters / birrarung / imam / death

Entry into the 2009 Nillumbik Prize. Angela holds a Masters of Fine Art and has worked with clay for over 20 years. Her work is held in collections around Australia.Angela Nagel's creative practice is informed by an interest in the human condition, universal symbols, mythology and Jung's theory on the 'collective unconscious'. Her hybrid part human/animal creatures reference introduced species and indigenous Australian animals as a way for her to explore a personal mythology, and narrative, of home and environment. Recent work is developing around the relationship of ceramics to other materials such as glass, printmaking and found objects. Angela holds a Masters of Fine Art and has worked with clay for over 20 years. Her work is held in collections around Australia.Human and animal like figure in the stance reminiscent of classical sculpture. Hand built ceramics with engobes, oxides, glaze and gold leaf Medium: Porcelain, oxide, underglazeangela nagel, nillumbik shire council collection, victoria, nillumbik prize, ceramic

Pugh was one of many artists who brought an Australian experience to attention. His landscapes reveal the colour and textures of the natural bush, often with a dramatic emphasis. His reference to the harshness of the bush consistently arises, with angular forms dominating the composition. White Choughs in the Landscape is typical of his representations of the bush as a dynamic environment. White Choughs in the Landscape, 1958, created by Clifton Pugh - a celebrated Australian artist known for his landscapes and portraiture as well as (three-time) winner of Australia’s Archibald Prize. This piece plays a significant role within the Nillumbik Shire Collection due to Pugh’s strong connection to the local land where he settled in Cottle’s Bridge in 1951, purchasing 15 acres and named it Dunmoochin. Artists, potters and others settled at Dunmoochin and formed the Dunmoochin Artists Co-operative in order to collectively protect the land. Numerous renowned artists worked or resided at Dunmoochin including: Rick Amor, Fred Williams, Albert Tucker, Frank Hodgkinson, Mirka Mora, John Olsen, John Percival and John Howley amongst others. Upon his death in 1990 he left an art collection and extensive properties at Dunmoochin to be appreciated and utilised by artists for years to come White Choughs in the Landscape is typical of Pughs' representations of the bush as a dynamic environment. The brittleness and fragility of the landscape is recorded in the surface of the work, where paint is applied in thin layers.Signed 'Clifton Sept. 1958'clifton pugh, dunmoochin, white choughs

Nicholas Nedelkopoulos is an established artist, his work is represented in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the National Gallery of Australia and in numerous International and Australian Public and Private Collections. His work has been included in major historic exhibitions: the National Gallery of Australia's Federation touring exhibition, The Australian Bicentennial Folio and Victoria's 150th Anniversary exhibition curated at The State Library of Victoria and National Gallery of Victoria. He has a Diploma of Fine Arts from Victorian College of the Arts, a Master of Fine Art from the University of Melbourne (Victorian College of the Arts) and has a Doctorate from Monash University. Nedelkopoulos' work is based strongly in graphic tradition which can be seen throughout all of his media.'The Sneeze' alludes to a feverish response, an irritation, a period of temporary discomfort, or a sign of sickness. On a visit to Eltham in 1995 Nedelkopoulos became aware of the disquiet felt by many residents because local government was not in the hands of elected representatives. 'The Sneeze' is an allegorical work, which serves as a reminder of this period in our municipal history. Nedelkopoulos has constructed an environment similar to a theatre set in which every element is a symbol to be deciphered. Whether you read the red-nosed figure as democracy being challenged by the political circumstance, as representing the unelected commissioners surrounded by the criticism of the community, or as another player in the story, to unravel the meaning of individual elements will provide direction and add weight to your interpretation. Without knowledge of the artist's intention the work can convey quite straightforward messages and responses. For example, the misery of hayfever in Spring, or how germs spread from a single sneeze. Such ideas are relevant and provide the metaphoric basis for a more in-depth analysis.Pastel drawing on paper. Image depicts a small black figure with a small monkey on a lead. The figure has a red nose to which he is holding a tissue. He is walking through what appears to be a flowering forest.nedelkopoulos, the sneeze

A typical Olsen painting combines an implied aerial view with an ambiguous and seemingly unpremeditated figuration. His characteristically quizzical line and irregular squiggles and dots deftly render countless organisms, large and minute. Their environment is conjured through loosely brushed and stained expanses of colour (on canvas or hardboard) and lines which sometimes read as geological mappings. In Olsen's work there is no foreground/ middle ground/ background, nor any sign of European landscape's concern with "human scale." Instead he employs simultaneously the contrary vantages of naturalist and geographer. 'Tropical Rain Shower' by John Olsen forms one of the eight artworks represented in the Bodford Terrace Suite. Eight of Australia's finest artists were brought together to create a folio of lithographic prints to celebrate the restoration of historic Bodford Terrace. Printed at the Druckma Press by John Robinson under the supervision of master printer Jock Abbott. The folio edition was limited to 300 signed and numbered folios. The lithographs were printed on special heavy weight french Arche's paper in accordance with the tradition of this artistic medium. Lithographic print on paper.Signed John Olsen '78, lower right hand corner. Edition 179/300bodfford terrace collection, john olsen, tropical rain shower

Kate Hudson's highly patterned and decorative prints reflect her love of Australian birds and flowers from her immediate environment, as well as oriental art and her training in textile design. Her work is influenced by the Australian artist (printmaker) Margaret Preston and the vases depicted in her prints are based on the ceramic works of her husband Stephen Hudson. The wattle depicted is the Acacia Terminalis (Sunshine Wattle), a shrub or small tree that grows to six meters in height. It’s an Australian native commonly found in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.A reduction coloured lino print. A ceramic vase with a black and white target print at its' centre holds a bunch of Acacia Terminalis (Sunshine Wattle). The vase rests on an orange table cloth decorated in white stylised flowers. The background is light pink. Hand written in pencil: low left '8/26'; bottom centre ' Wattle and Circle Vase'; low right 'Kate Hudson' hudson, linocut print, sunshine wattle, acacia terminalis, still life, margaret preston, ceramics, textiles, orient

'Tiles from the Boomerang Studio' is a prototype of the work 'Year 2052', created while Mooney was an Artist in Resident at Laughing Waters in the Boomerang studio in 2002. Records of flora were collected in and around the Gordon Ford garden in Laughing Waters Road. The work 'Year 2052' is made up of '77' tiles and was acquired by Geelong (Regional) Art Gallery in 2003. Whilst working at the Boomerang studio, local based artist Mooney noticed that “a battle raged in the bush between non-indigenous plants and indigenous plants”. She also noticed how humans “invade” land, changing the surrounding environment and causing irreversible damage. This work is an interpretation of the fragility and value of Nillumbik’s indigenous flora and of its conflict with introduced species. The title of the work (Year 2052) and look of these ‘fossilised specimens’ asks viewers to cast themselves into the future and to look back at today. “These tiles have been found; an incomplete record of flora collected in and around the Gordon Ford garden in Laughing Waters Road. The tiles appear to have been made at the beginning of the millennium. The viewer is asked to contemplate which species are missing”. Mooney works with collected indigenous items to emphasis the beauty of their natural shapes, while at the same time introducing selected materials of contrast or sympathy. Her work creates a great sense of “stillness and peace, of simplicity and connection with the natural world as well at the vanishing Australian bush.”This work is made up of seven handbuilt earthenware oval/round clay 'tiles' - (eight pieces - with one tile intentionally broken), brown in colour and bisque and blackware fired, giving a matt black ash coating on each of the tiles' surface. Each tile has an imprint of a floral specimen indigenous to the Laughing Waters area in Eltham. Each tile has an imprint of the following specimens: tiles, earthenware, flora, indigenous, bisque, boomerang, ford, laughing waters

The first sculpture awarded the Shire of Eltham 'Art in Public Places' Award/Commission. The Judges were Inge King, Jenny Zimmer and Daryl Jackson. The work deals with the juxtaposition of suburban and rural surroundings. This scupture is a typical example of the artist's oevre of the period. This sculptre is site specific and refers to the nature of the environment. The colour - bushfire red / sienna - alludes to the history of fire in the urban/rural fringe and the title, as well as the sculpture's shapes, forms and material refer to the natural and local elements. Judges report noted: "The most vital and expressive work for the site...with a great sense of dynamic movement and vibrant colour. Its' abstract forms will enliven the surroundings and the urban and natural environment. This work is the most appropriate for the site and expressive of the dynamics of an evolving community in which artistic discourse and debate has always thrived." The work has acquired the status of a major landmark from the National Trust. The Breeze is an abstract work made out of welded steel and painted in enamel in bush fire red / sienna. It comprises a series of flat, cut-out shapes, interlocking at different angles, giving the impression of being hinged together rather than fixed. The work references nature and the built environment. Its geometric shapes suggest man-made structures within industry and suburban life, while rural areas can be identified by the organic flame-like shapes fanned by the wind. The circular cut-out in the eye mimics the sun, symbolising the intense heat of the Australian climate, while the colour red alludes to the history of bushfire within the urban and rural fringe. N/Apublic art, ginger, red, sienna, elements, steel, abstract, breeze, fire, sculpture

Commissioned by Nillumbik Shire Council - 1997 The selection panel in the commissioning process to this 'extraordinary acquisition' was Rhonda Noble, Director of La Trobe University Museum of Art, Jeph Neale, Eltham Roundabout Advisory Group, Chris Marks, NSC Curator of Collections, Geoff Glynn, NSC Manager of Infrastructure Development.'Nest' highlights the indigenous flora and fauna of the Shire. The stiff, coarse grass used to create the nest is indigenous to the area and the eggs are like those of the spotted quail thrush, a ground-nesting bird of the Shire. The circular flow or placement of the eggs recalls the revolution of the seasons and nesting cycles. There is a tall light pole above the eggs, shining down at night. The effect is of a giant incubator. Enrichment and nurturing of the larger environment can be associated with this sculpture. This work resembles a large bird's nest, with three egg-like forms of fibreglass covered in a pebble render, set on sand. The nest is positioned within the paved boundary of the roundabout. The nest shape has been created out of stiff, coarse indigenous grass, periodically trimmed so the view is not obstructed. The eggs are a brown-speckled, creamy yellow colour. The three eggs are arranged in a ring, with the narrow end of each pointing to the large end of the next, in a circle that mimics the flow of traffic. N/Apublic art, nest, eggs, eltham, ekphrasis2017, mosaic, pebbles, roundabout, spotted quail thrush

Michael Wilson learnt the craft of Goldsmithing after seeing well known sculptor and silversmith Matcham Skipper working in his studio at Montsalvat in and around 1970. This work is a gift to the Eltham Community in recognition of his twenty five years of developing his goldsmith skills and operating his business within the Shire. Wilson officially opened his commercial premises in 1985. Michael Wilson is a local jewellery maker. His work is influenced directly by the environment in which he lives. This sculpture is representative of his distinctive style of work as a nationally and an internationally recognised Designer and Goldsmith. Made of steel and powdercoated in aluminium with a concrete base. Decorative elements such as the ring encasing the cicada and the cicada's wings are guilded with 24ct gold leaf. The steel rod is burgundy in colour with the cicada painted a dark olive green to represent the 'Green Grocer' variety common in Eltham. The colours used in this sculpture match the surrounding Elm and Ash trees in the landscape. N/Apublic art, cicada, wilson, gold, green grocer, jewellery

1996 Nillumbik Art in Public Places Award (installed late 1997). A biennial program that ceased in 2007. The program commissioned artists to make and install public art in various sites around the Shire. Award judges that year were Tony Trembath and artist Peter D. Cole. Susie Kumar has a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree from RMIT and Naomi Kumar has a Bachelor of Fine Art in photography degree from VCA. The Kumar sisters designed the sixty meter gently curving bench in response to the topography of the site, Conventry Oval. The sculpture is designed to describe the boundary between the formal oval and the natural creek bank and a considered relationship to the bike track and the river. It forms a link between the activities and aesthetics of its environment. The work is a comical interpretation of the utilitarian public bench. From a distance the bright red runners (the colour of the local football team's stripe) appear to float about the surrounding green. One end of the work is straight and finished. The other remains 'unfinished' hence allowing for the concept of unlimited extension. The 'legs' (steel hurdles) are arranged with a sense of movement and rhythm in sympathy with the activities happening around the work and with the stands of trees in he background. 'Benchmark' also serves as a functional purpose; providing a choice of places to sit to watch action on the oval. Stainless steel, timber (Victorian Ash) and red enamel paint. Sixty meter long red bench that gently curves in response to Conventry Oval. Bolted on top of evenly spaced stainless steel hurdles, four rows of timber runners are joined to provide unbroken continuous lengths. The bench stands on a framed bed of crushed rock (Lilydale topping).N/Abench, sport, wood, victorian ash, stainless steel, public art, ekphrasis2017

In October 2000, Council invited three artists from the region (Deborah Halpern, Matcham Skipper, Tony Trembath) to submit designs for a sculpture / public art work for the Eltham Town Square. The commission was paid for by supermarket giant Safeway (Woolies) as part of its supermarket permit, which required them to contribute to beautification work in the Town Square.This is the first of three parts. The 'Spirit of Nillumbik' is a celebration of the artistic spirit of Eltham and surrounding communities. Each area is identified through the flora and fauna represented in the panels. The work honours the many creative artists and architects, past and present, who have built homes and shaped lives and livelihoods with their unique creative spirit. Halpern describes her work as a public expression of their individual and collective visions. Halpern acknowledges these contributions to our hand-made history and the influence they have on the character and identity of Eltham and Nillumbik. Five picture and six woven balustrades each made out of welded steel / organic wrought iron and coated with wax. Imagery (flora - plants, landscapes and fauna - animals, birds, reptiles, insects) are all based on the local environment. There is also a relevant aboriginal presence amongst each of the panels. Each panel represents the different areas that make up the Shire. 'Water' for Warrandyte, 'Kangaroos' for Christmas Hills, 'Cockatoos and 'Valley Creek Flats' for Hurstbridge, 'Wombats', 'Bluetongues' and 'Possums' for St. Andrews/Kinglake, 'Orchids' for Panton Hill, 'Cows' and 'Grapevines' for the Kangaroo Gound Hill landmark. N/Apublic art, nillumbik, fauna, flora, wrought iron, balustrade, halpern, laurence, kangaroo, eltham town square, spirit, warrandyte, christmas hills, kangaroo ground, hurstbridge, kinglake, panton hill, water, valley creek flats, cockatoos

Piers Bateman was a local artist, held in very high esteem by his peers and community. He was born in Perth in 1947, moving to Eltham in 1955 as a young child with his family. In 1966 Bateman moved to London for eighteen months to develop his craft. In 1969 he settled in St Andrews, where he built a studio. The St Andrews locale is said to have been a strong influence on his work. Bateman’s talent was such that he was promoted and mentored by such ilk as Charles Blackman, Clifton Pugh and Arthur Boyd, among others. Bateman’s work is an intimate dialogue with the environment, renowned for his paintings of the outback, wilderness frontiers and the sea. He spent a year in the mid-seventies sailing the Greek Islands and the French canals to Amsterdam. In 1980 Bateman and Marcus Skipper embarked on a trans-Australian venture to the red centre and across northern Australia from Cairns to Broome. In the mid-eighties Bateman returned to the Mediterranean, before returning to the Australian outback in the late-eighties. His international career continued on an upwards trajectory between the Australian outback and European seas, providing a unique contrast throughout the course of his career. Bateman's work questions our relationship with the natural world, and in particular, reconciling our colonial heritage with our indigenous past. This line of questioning and his genuine response to place is the key to Piers Bateman’s work, for which he is lauded and celebrated. On September 4th 2015, Piers Bateman died in a boating accident on the NSW coast line. Piers Bateman was an instinctive painter whose inspiration came from nature. He reworked and scraped off the paint, moving it around until forms and colours of the landscape took shape. Although Bateman lived in Spain and Italy, his time in Europe made him aware of the contrast between the two continents and the bright clear light that defined the Australian landscape. At the time of this work, Bateman was living in St. Andrews, but travelled regularly to New South Wales and South Australia on painting trips. The ‘Grass Tree’ Xanthorrhoea johnsonii (commonly known as ‘blackboy’) is indigenous to these areas. It is a uniquely Australian, slow growing plant with twenty-eight species growing within Australia. Old examples of this tree are survivors of many wild fires, which can cause their blackened trunk, of one to two metres, branch into two or more heads. These heads consist of thick, rough corky bark, surrounded by long, wiry leaves and flowers that produce seed capsules with hard black seeds. The tree’s ability to be one of the first to flower after a wild fire ensures a food source for many insects and birds.Oil on canvas painting. Detail of three grass trees resting on the side of a mountain/hill. Green and gold palette throughout depicting the colours and light of the Australian landscape. Hand written, low right in capitals: 'BATEMAN'bateman, grass trees, xanthorrhoea johnsonii, landscape

John Dudley was a well-known local artist who lived in the Shire during the 50s, 60’s and 70s. He was represented by Wiregrass Gallery in Eltham. Formerly two separate galleries: The Eltham Gallery and The Wiregrass Gallery. The Wiregrass Gallery opened on 4th February 1977 at Station Entrance, Eltham, Victoria and closed on the 19th November 1989 when its lease expired. The gallery then moved in early 1990 to 559 Main Road Eltham, the premises of the Eltham Gallery and from then on operated under the name Eltham Wiregrass Gallery. This work is of the local environment and an excellent example of the artist’s work practice.A visual language of shape, form and colour (abstract) to create a composition referencing the physical and emotional experience of landscape. Blended colours of dark blues in background and warm yellows in foreground. Signed 'Dudley' red paint, lower left.landscape, abstract, eltham

Dean Bowen is renowned for his charming, child-like aesthetic and unique thematic interplay between the urban and rural as well as humans and animals. Bowen has developed a distinctive and humorous symbolic language that filters through each work. His highly charismatic and whimsical renderings of animals, human characters and Australian environments celebrate the vicissitudes of life, evincing the simple pleasures of human habitation within the artificial and the natural world. The work and thoughts of Jean Dubuffet, particularly those which focus on the philosophy of 'Art Brut', give support to Dean's belief that untrained artists are more honest, that artists interested in emulating the art of children are trying to regain the pure expression they lost with childhood. 'The Offering' was a finalist in the Nillumbik Art Awards in 1997. The work refers to the act of giving back, rather than taking which Bowen sees as more prevalent in our Western society. While the image is childlike, the expression of the boy is a mixture of sadness and happiness, knowing and naivety, youth and age. The smile has a Mona Lisa quality and the earthy and sensuous colours suggest landscape. When realising the images he relies on memory rather than observation so that the struggle with drawing and representation sometimes doesn't work. The style of the drawing and the flat space relates to the graphic style of cartoons and caricature. The intuitive and the imaginative are essential elements in his work. lower right 'Dean Bowen '97'

The (logging) truck carries a representation of John Glover’s painted landscapes, which Cox has painted on a solid block of wood. John Glover is one of Australia’s most celebrated colonial landscape painters. Born in England, he was a highly successful water-colourist and painter of landscapes in the tradition of French artist Claude Lorrain. Arriving in Australia in 1831, Glover adapted his picturesque style and luminous technique to his new surrounds, creating naturalistic and atmospheric paintings of Australian nature, settler life, and Aboriginal culture. Working out of doors, Glover developed an understanding of the unfamiliar Australian landscape, especially the twisting forms of native eucalyptus trees. His direct experience of nature, as both pioneer settler and painter, resulted in a new approach using a subtle palette of olive greens, ochres, misty greys and intense blues, and layered glazes of mauve, grey and gold, to portray Australian light and atmosphere. Dale Cox continues the ongoing preoccupation and tradition of landscape painting in the Nillumbik area and our impact on the environment in a contemporary way. The truck creates a playful nexus between painting (representational landscape) and sculpture, purposely bluring boundaries across these traditionally distinct disciplines. ‘Ghost’ seeks to convey the idea that when we remove something significant from a location, like the landscape itself, the remaining ‘place’ changes to become a new ‘place’. This may seem self-evident until we think more deeply about location and landscape. The white truck is a ghost, an ethereal, transient being that spirits away an entire place, forever removed from itself, and forever changed. Logging wild trees can never be like harvesting a ‘crop’. Logging removes a landscape, and changes a place forever. The ‘packaging’ of this painted landscape highlights the anomaly between commodity and our environment. Dale Cox was a local artist and this work was highly commended at the 2012 Nillumbik Prize. White plastic toy (logging) truck with a landscape painting on a wooden block. The landscape painting is reminiscent of paintings by colonial artist John Glover. N/Alandscape, truck, sculpture, environment, john glover, colonial, painting, ghost, nillumbik prize

Painter, printmaker and installation artist John Wolseley was born in Somerset, England. He lived and worked throughout Europe before relocating to Australia in 1976. His work explores how people dwell and move within landscape. Wolseley see's himself as a hybrid mix of artist and scientist; one who tries to relate the minutiae of the natural world - leaf, feather and beetle wing - to the abstract dimensions of the earth's dynamic systems. Using techniques of watercolour, collage, frottage, nature printing and other methods of direct physical or kinetic contact Wolseley finds ways of collaborating with the actual plants, birds, trees, rocks and earth of a particular place. George Baldessin was one of the first artists John Wolseley met when he arrived in Australia in 1976. Both immigrated to Australia and connected through this shared experience. They were both at 'Realities Gallery' with Marianne Baillieu in the 1970s and 80s. George Baldessin (1939-1978) was born in San Biagio di Callalta, in the Veneto in Northern Italy and arrived in Australia ten years later. A printmaker and sculptor he built his bluestone studio at St Andrews (Nillumbik) in 1971 with his partner Tess and the three Hails brothers, Rob, Doug and Don. Made of recycled materials the studio today contains all of George’s equipment including the large press, which he modelled himself with the help of Neil Jeffrey (Enjay Presses). George won many prizes throughout his career and is represented in many of Australia's public art collections including his famous 'Pears' sculpture in front of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. In 1975 he represented Australia in the Sao Paulo Biennale, before living and working in Paris until his return to St Andrews in 1977. In 1978 George was killed in a car accident aged 39 years. In 2001 Tess returned to St Andrews to reclaim the run-down studio and reconstitute it as The Baldessin Press & Studio - a printmaking retreat. It operates in George’s memory, so that artists may continue to create, perpetuating the generous spirit of George. 'Life world of the Longicorn beetle' is one of eight prints in the 'Baldessin & Friends commemorative folio. The folio was conceived by Tess Edwards as a fundraising initiative in celebration of the The Baldessin Press & Studio's fifteen year anniversary, and as a way to honour George Baldessin's memory. The Baldessin Press & Studio is a not-for-profit organisation created in memory of the late George Baldessin (1939-1978), whose original studio is now open to the public for creative use and as a practical legacy to living artists. The Studio is located in St Andrews, Nillumbik. The folio is a unique coming together of seven very different and acclaimed artists who are connected by their friendship to the missing eighth member, George Baldessin. Communion and collaboration with nature are central to Wolseley's practice. He assembles different drawing methods to represent a kind of inventory or document about the state of the earth. His interest is to paint the processes and energy field of the living systems of this land. 'Life world of the Longicorn beetle' is his continued exploration of Australia's natural eco-systems. The beetle attacks the eucalypt and in the process of tunnelling into the wood of the tree leaves scribbly patterns. The work celebrates the cycle of life, and the wisdom and delicacy of these creatures. This three dimensional work consisting of three layers of paper is a varied edition, offering just the slightest difference between each print, reflective of variation in nature. The found log used as a woodcut acknowledges the interconnectedness of nature and living beings; the log is not apart from the art and the beetle has become an active artistic collaborator. An intimate and layered print of a tree log with line trails from the Longicorn beetle. Patches of pink, yellow and orange watercolour placed randomly. Woodcut from found log and etching on chine-colle with water colour on Gampi (top layer), Mulberry (middle layer) and Arches (bottom layer) paper. In pencil (handwritten): low plate: left '14/25' (edition); centre 'Life world of the Longicorn beetle' (title); right 'John Wolseley' (signature); low paper: right emboss 'GB' (Baldessin Press & Studio monogram)woodcut, etching, chine-colle, landscape, environment, longicorn beetle, print, baldessin, ekphrasis2018, eco, mixed media

Pamphlet from the Victoria Conservation Trust asking for bequests to continue their work of conservation.Pamphlet from the Victoria Conservation Trust asking for bequestsenvironment, victoria conservation trust

News from the Cootamundra Walk Advisory Committee describing work being done with the help of various organisations.parks and reserves, williams road, blackburn, goodwin street, cootamundra walk, blackburn high school environment awareness group, skillshare, nunawading, greening australia, burnley agricultural college, city of nunawading, nunawading indigenous plants project