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Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Alan King, Kangaroo Ground Presbyterian Church, 28 December 2007
Built in 1878, the orange polychromatic brick structure replaced a slab building which had been used since 1951. The building has changed little with its handsome bricks buttressed on both sides, a slate roof and a Celtic cross on top of the front gable. The carved wooden pulpit and 18 pews are original. The cathedral-style ceiling is fully lined with tongue-and-groove pine boards and the floor is also pine. The walls have arched oblong leadlight windows. In 1977 the congregaton decided not to join the Uniting Church, whcih amalgamated some Presbyterian churches with all the Methodist and Congregational churches in Australia. Together with the store and school, the church is one of Kangaroo Ground's three public buildings. Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p91 The small Presbyterian church in Main Road, Kangaroo Ground, has been a spiritual centre for more than a century. Built in 1878, the orange polychromatic brick structure replaced a rude slab building, which had been used as both a church and school since 1851. Earliest settlers, who were Scottish farmers, had worshipped together since 1841 in a barn owned by farmer James Donaldson and led by a layman called Smith.1 However, from 1843, the Reverend Peter Gunn conducted church services. Prominent early church members include the Donaldson, Bell and Cameron families. In 1851, Samuel Furphy (father of author Joseph) built their first church building, a 30 feet x 18 feet (9m x 5.5m) slab structure on half an acre (0.2ha) donated by Mr Donaldson. Conditions could be very uncomfortable in extreme weather.The green slabs of timber and sapling logs, covered partly with mud, had centimetre-wide cracks, allowing rain and wind through, when not blocked out by folds of paper.2 However this did not deter the first couple marrying there in 1857: John Wilson of Nillumbik and Christina Macpherson of Christmas Hills. The Reverend Peter Gunn seldom visited so it was usually left to Andrew Ross, the settlement’s first teacher and founder of the newspaper The Evelyn Observer, to lead the divine services instead.3 In 1877 the settlers raised £355/19/- and hired architect, Charles Maplestone and builder, Mr Self, to construct today’s church building. Each family rented a pew or pews for ten shillings a half-year; they also paid quarterly subscriptions for the minister’s stipend.4 It was not until 1886 that the church celebrated its first wedding, that of John Bell (junior) from Violet Bank and Elizabeth Charlton of Cunis Nillen. The Sunday School’s first recorded meeting was also held that year. In 1892 a weatherboard vestry was built, and the following year John Bell donated a church bell, which the fire brigade used as a warning for several years. Conditions have varied greatly during the century. In 1893 the Reverend Darroch had to travel more than 2000 miles (3220km) to attend to his scattered parishioners. Then in the Depression, the minister Mr Brown, subsisted only on lodgings with no stipend. The Sunday School ceased for many years because of the small population, but reopened in 1949. The building has changed little with its handmade bricks buttressed on both long sides, a slate roof and a Celtic cross on top of the front gable. The carved wooden pulpit and 18 pews are original and in fine condition. The cathedral-style ceiling is fully lined with tongue-and-groove pine boards and the floor is also of pine. The walls have arched oblong leadlight windows. One window has stained glass commemorating Mrs Jessie Agnes Cameron and her ancestors – the pioneering Bell family. It depicts The Sower because the family comprised farmers who came to a strange land to sow the seeds of their faith as much as their crops. Thistles signify their Scottish ancestry and the pigeons are a symbol of Pigeon Bank, the Kangaroo Ground farming property where Jessie Cameron was born.5 Other historical ties are seen on two marble memorial tablets and carved wooden chairs dedicated to former members. The Church still has the original Bible with gold edged paper, presented by the women of the congregation in 1871, although it is no longer used. In 1977 the Presbyterian congregation decided not to join the Uniting Church, which amalgamated some Presbyterian churches with all the Methodist and Congregational churches in Australia. Together with the store and school, the church is one of Kangaroo Ground’s three public buildings.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, kangaroo ground presbyterian church -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Marguerite Marshall, Strathewen Public Hall, 20 August 2008
Strathewen Public Hall, social and spiritual centre was later lost in the Black Saturday fires 2009. The Strathewen Community decided a community hall was needed in 1901. In 1902 locals built the hall with messmate trees. It was located on the Cottlesbridge-Strathewen Road. The first function was a Grand concert and Balll attended by about 120 people. Several denominations held Church services and Sunday School services in the Hall. It survived several bushfires until after this photo was taken when it was destroyed in Black Saturday, 9 February 2009. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p89 Strathewen was settled late, largely because it was difficult to access.1 Early selectors found it a struggle to survive. They had to do everything themselves, from felling trees for buildings, to taking produce to market along bush tracks that they had helped cut. Small dairy farms were typical but fruit became the district’s prime produce. The first settlers east of Arthurs Creek were brothers John and Duncan Smith whose station Glen-Ard was probably operated as a sheep run. Other early settlers were the Mann family, who were to donate land for the hall, provide postal services and John Mann was an Eltham Shire councillor from 1916 to 1919.2 In 1873 James Mann, his wife Jane and their six children, settled on 207 acres (83.7) (Lang Fauld Farm) on both sides of Eagles Nest Road, from the foot of Mount Sugarloaf to the bank of the Arthurs Creek. In 1883 James took up another selection on Chads Creek. It was very hard work and at times he was well behind with his rent. However the family had a good social life, attending the Primitive Methodist Church at the Arthurs Creek Township and on New Year’s Eve throwing a party for all the locals. By 1874 James Mann’s younger brother, John, selected 311 acres (125.8ha) between Eagles Nest Road and upper Arthurs Creek. He called it Carseburn after his home parish in Scotland. Tragically in 1875 John drowned in the Yarra River, at Richmond.3 John Mann’s oldest son, also John, later purchased Duncan Smith’s land, which he named Violet Glen. He was to give one acre (0.4ha) of this land for the Strathewen Hall site. A Mann family diary written at Carseburn in 1897, tells how the district’s name was selected. Strathewen is derived from ‘strath’ meaning ‘broad mountain valley’ and from the name of Ewen H. Cameron, the local parliamentarian for almost 40 years. ‘George Brain came around to get a petition signed to get a post office up here and we had to vote for a name—Strathewen, Glen-Ard, or Headcorie’.4 It was at Carseburn that a public meeting in 1901, decided to build the Strathewen Hall on the Cottlesbridge-Strathewen Road. In 1902 the locals built the hall with messmate trees. The first function was a Grand Concert and Ball attended by around 120 people and several Protestant denominations took turns to hold church services and Sunday School there. Fortunately the hall has survived bushfires to be the town’s spiritual and social centre.5 The area continued to develop and in 1909 a post office operated somewhere at Strathewen and from around 1916 at Carseburn.6 It was not until 1914 that land was bought to establish the Strathewen State School on School Ridge Road. The residents paid £100 to build it on two acres (0.8 ha) while the Education Department contributed £30 and leased the building annually for £1. When teacher Miss Mary Golding opened the school in 1917, it had no equipment.7 But in 1921 the Education Department provided desks and a hexagonal shelter shed (now a rare style in Victoria) and took control in 1925.8 By 1917 Strathewen was booming.9 George Apted had built a coolstore in 1916, and local orchardists bought storage space until the 1950s. This allowed the area to supply the market in and out of season. Guesthouses catered for growing tourism. In the mid 1920s Mrs Eleanor Sparkes built the guest-house Singing Waters, which operated through the 1930s. Her daughter Mrs Vera McKimmie, ran it until the 1950s and the house remains in Chads Creek Road. In the Great Depression land was cleared for timber to be sold as firewood and there was small scale sawmilling. However the orchard industry diminished for several reasons including the 1939 bushfires and rapid changes in production methods. Today the Apteds still operate an orchard and farm at Glen-Ard, which straddles the border between Strathewen and Arthurs Creek. It includes the southern part of Duncan Smith’s original Glen-Ard selection.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, strathewan public hall -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Marguerite Marshall, Uniting Church, Main Road, Eltham, 19 August 2008
Eltham's original Wesleyan Methodist Church Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p97 The pretty Uniting Church building at the corner of John and Main Roads Eltham has served the community since 1881.1 Originally called the Eltham Wesleyan Church, the church became the Eltham Methodist Church in 1902, the year it united with the Primitive Methodists.2 As the church community developed, influencing and being influenced by the wider community, its buildings changed accordingly. Eltham Wesleyans first worshiped together in 1850 at the home of William and Mary Crozier on 24 acres (9.7ha) bounded by Mount Pleasant Road and Pitt Street. From 1855 the Wesleyans worshipped in a slab-and-bark hut; then in 1858 in a chapel on Henry Street close to Maria Street (now Main Road). Meanwhile, in 1860, the Primitive Methodists opened a brick chapel at the corner of Susan and Bridge Streets. The John Street building – in the Early English Gothic style with biochrome brick window frames, buttress heads and pinnacle – was designed by architects Crouch and Wilson. Church member George Stebbing built the church as he did Eltham’s St Margaret’s Anglican Church and Shillinglaw Cottage. The Church Honour Roll is a poignant reminder of how church members have served the wider community: 27 members enlisted and 11 died in World War One. Despite the Great Depression, 1931 was a time of expansion for the church. Its red-brick hall was opened by prominent Methodist and philanthropist F J Cato of the Moran and Cato Grocery chain. The hall enabled the church to attract people from outside through activities like its gymnasium – with 40 boys and youth participating – and the girls’ callisthenics club, which competed at the Ballarat South Street Competitions. The church also held concerts, bazaars, picnics and sports, with badminton and tennis played on the church court at 23 John Street. Two stained-glass windows commemorate tragic events. A dove representing the Holy Spirit and Comforter marked the death in 1936 of member Effie Lowerson from scarlet fever at 14 years. The other depicting the Biblical story A sower went forth to sow, commemorates Ross Gangell, who died in 1961 at 23 years of a rare blood condition. Eltham’s population expanson resulted in the growth of the church and an extension in 1971, designed by member and architect Colin Jones. The church was linked to the hall and additions included a foyer, vestry, meeting room and toilets. The design reflected the Eltham style of the time, with its simplicity, extensive clear glass, reused baked clay-bricks from the 1881 church, heavy ceiling beams and solomite (compressed straw) ceiling. On June 26, 1977 the church became part of the new Uniting Church in Australia consisting of the former Methodist and Congregational and most of the Presbyterian Churches. In 1981 membership peaked at 159 – about 20 years after most Protestant churches – and continued to reach out to the wider community.3 In 1987, 147 children attended Selihoo, the weekly after-school program organised with St Margaret’s Anglican Church. From 1993, the church with other local churches, participated in LINC (Love in the Name of Christ), helping the wider community in various ways including babysitting, transport, gardening and visiting. Despite such initiatives, church numbers declined, and on June 23, 1996, the church merged with the Montmorency Uniting Church.4 However, the church continued to proclaim its message of love in community service and strong social justice action, such as in Jubilee 2000, supporting debt relief to the world’s 45 poorest countries. Some of the many church members who have had an outstanding impact on the wider community include Philip Shillinglaw, farmer and poet, and Arthur Bird (after whom the Arthur Bird Reserve is named), a pioneer orchardist and the Sunday School Superintendent for 33 years. Others were: the Rev Dr Cliff Wright, who established the Methodist Youth Fellowship and was prominent in the World Council of Churches, the Rev Brian Howe, who became Deputy Prime Minister and Tim Marshall, awarded the Order of Australia in 2000 for his work on salinity.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 uniting church, eltham methodist church -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Alan King, Edendale Farm Homestead, 29 January 2008
Edendale Farm is Nillumbik Shire Council's environment centre situated in Gastons Road, Eltham between the railway and the Diamond Creek. The homestead on the property was built in 1896 and is of historical significance, being the subject of a Heritage Overlay under the Nillumbik Planning Scheme. The Edendale property was originally part of an extensive land purchase in 1852 from the Crown by pioneer Eltham farmer Henry Stooke. He initially purchased 51 acres and later expanded his holdings by purchasing another three adjacent Crown allotments extending northerly from Josiah Holloway's Little Eltham subdivision. Despite clearing the land, Stooke did not build on this property, choosing to live on his property "Rosehill" at Lower Plenty. In 1896 Thomas Cool, Club Manager of the Victoria Coffee Palace in Melbourne purchased 7 acres of the original Stooke land and built the house now known as Edendale. Cool did not farm the land, instead using it as a gentleman’s residence, retiring to Eltham at weekends. In 1918 he purchased an additional 7 acres but in 1919 he sold the property. Later owners included J.W. Cox, the Gaston family and D. Mummery. In the 1980s the Eltham Shire Council purchased the site for use as a Council depot, but this use did not proceed. Subsequently, it was used as the Council pound. The Edendale Farm Pet Education and Retention Centre was established in the summer of 1988/1989 and was set up to replace the existing dog kennels with a high standard pet retention centre. The design style of the building was established to compliment the features of the existing house. It was equipped with 10 retention pens, a veterinary room and a pet education area where school children and other interested parties learnt about pet care procedures. It was later developed into a community farm and was run by an advisory committee and in 2000 it became an Environment Centre. In early 2006 an advisory committee was established for the development of a master plan for future development at Edendale Farm. The committee included Russell Yeoman, a former long-time shire planner and founding member of the Eltham District Historical Society. At the time of filming the Master Plan and future for Edendale was about continuing to develop Edendale as a centre of environment learning and looking at expanding displays and school program, running a lot more of life-long learning and workshops around sustainable living. Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p101 A sharp turn from busy Wattletree Road by the railway line, brings a surprise. Only 1.4 km from Eltham’s centre, sheep feed, blissfully unaware of the hectic suburban activity so close by. At the entrance to the 5.6ha Edendale Farm is another surprise. A work of art that looks like huge tree trunks transformed into bowler and top-hatted men. The Fences Act 1968 by Tony Trembath with Mark Cain and John Doyle, 1996, is classified by the National Trust of Australia as having Regional Significance. The title refers to a government act on disputes between neighbors over the placement of fences and boundaries. This takes a ‘wry swipe’ at a community divided by trivial squabbles. It also celebrates making do with limited resources.1 Further along on the left, the office wall is decorated with a massive Eltham Copper Butterfly, designed by Robert Tickner and made by school children with used plastic bottles and other waste material. Nillumbik Council runs Edendale as an Environmental Education Centre, to help preserve and enhance the local environment. As early as 1988 the former Eltham Shire Council realised Edendale’s importance in meeting people’s needs, particularly of children, to enjoy farmland. The centre, with the Eltham North Reserve to the north - including remnant bushland and open parkland - makes up the major part of the public open space for this area. The council considers this area will become increasingly important to the local community for recreational use.2 Educational programs aim to encourage community involvement to ensure the long-term rehabilitation and protection of natural bushland areas. Edendale is used by people of all ages - from school children to adults - for environmental programs and workshops, as well as for recreation, to enjoy the domestic animals and to picnic. Edendale is also home to the Environmental Works staff who manage reserves and roadsides and support Nillumbik Friends environmental groups. The Friends propagate plants at the nursery, which grows indigenous plants and sells these to the public.3 The centre demonstrates the sustainable living the farm teaches, with features like solar hot water and drive lighting and for the fireplace, logs of recycled cardboard. Edendale has had a varied history as a dog pound and even as a retreat for Thomas Cool, Club Manager of the Victoria Coffee Palace in Melbourne. His single-storey weatherboard house built in 1896, which still stands, was grander than most homes in Eltham. Although such buildings were common in many other parts of Melbourne, Eltham’s poverty and remoteness did not encourage such construction. The Victorian rectangular-shaped house, with a corrugated iron roof and veranda, has elegant large rooms, leadlight windows, ceiling roses, two bay windows and ornately carved wooden fireplace surrounds. Cool bought seven acres (2.8ha) from pioneer Eltham farmer Henry Stooke’s 200 acre (81ha) farm, which he had bought from the Crown in 1852. In 1918 Cool bought an extra seven acres (2.8ha) but in 1919 sold the estate to farmer John Cox. In 1933 Cox sold Edendale to Mrs Elizabeth Gaston, after whom the road leading to the centre was named. The property was owned by several Gaston family members, who called it Edendale, then by a police constable, Douglas Mummery, until the Shire of Eltham bought it in 1970. Oddly Edendale was known as Mummery’s for almost 20 years, although Mummery owned it only for a short time.4 The shire used Edendale as a dog pound until amalgamation with other municipalities in 1996. The pound then moved to the Yan Yean Road, Plenty site, which had been used by the former Diamond Valley Shire Council. To the west and north the centre is bounded by Diamond Creek and on the east by the Melbourne-Hurstbridge railway line. Part of the Research creek forms the centre’s southern boundary.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, edendale farm -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Alan King, The Robins, 13 Kangaroo Ground-Warrandyte Road, North Warrandyte, 2 March 2008
Built by noted artist Theodore Penleigh Boyd, father of architect Robin Boyd. Covered under National Estate, National Trust of Australia (Victoria) Local Significance and Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p111 The Robins at Warrandyte,* was once home to a member of a famous family and is also one of the first reinforced concrete houses in Victoria. The builder, Theodore Penleigh Boyd, born in 1890, was a talented painter1 noted for his works of the Warrandyte bush. He was the father of architect Robin Boyd, author of the Australian Ugliness and the uncle of painter, Arthur Boyd. Penleigh Boyd’s great grandfather was Sir William A’Beckett, Victoria’s first Chief Justice. Penleigh Boyd is considered by some to be an ‘unsung hero’ overshadowed by more famous members of his family. Mornington Gallery Director Andrea May said many believed Boyd ‘had never received the national acclaim that he deserved’.2 Classified by the National Trust3 and part of the Australian National Heritage,4 The Robins is set well back near the end of Kangaroo Ground – Warrandyte Road, unobserved by passers-by. Built in 1913, The Robins has some Art Nouveau influences and is a descendant of the Queen Anne style. It is covered in stucco and has a prominent attic, which Boyd used as a studio. Some parts of the house are up to 33 centimetres thick and built in part with pisé (rammed earth) and in part with reinforced concrete. Amazingly, Boyd built The Robins without an accessible driveway, and only a narrow track along which he had to cart building materials. The journey was uphill and Boyd terraced the land with Warrandyte rock5 without the aid of machinery. At only 33 years, Boyd was killed in a car accident in 1923. He was buried in Brighton near the home of his parents. Several people have since owned the house, including political journalist, Owen Webster. Boyd was born at Penleigh House, Wiltshire, and studied at Haileybury College, Melbourne and The Hutchins School, Hobart. He attended the Melbourne National Gallery School and in his final year exhibited at the Victorian Artists’ Society. He arrived in London in 1911 and his painting Springtime was hung at the Royal Academy. He painted in several studios in England and then worked in Paris.6 There he met painter Phillips Fox through whom he met artists of the French modern school and also his wife-to-be, Edith Anderson, whom he married in Paris in 1912. After touring France and Italy, the couple returned to Melbourne. In 1913 Boyd held an exhibition and won second prize in the Federal Capital site competition, then the Wynne Prize for landscape in 1914. In 1915 Boyd joined the Australian Imperial Force, and became a sergeant in the Electrical and Mechanical Mining Company. However he was severely gassed at Ypres and invalided to England. In 1918 in London Boyd published Salvage, writing the text and illustrating it with 20 black-and-white ink-sketches of army scenes. Later that year he returned to Melbourne, and, despite suffering from the effects of gas, he held several successful one-man shows, quickly selling his water-colour and oil paintings. In his short career Penleigh Boyd was recognized as one of Australia’s finest landscape painters. He loved colour, having been influenced early by Turner and McCubbin. His works are in all Australian state galleries, the National Collection in Canberra as well as in regional galleries.7 His wife Edith was also an artist having studied at the Slade School, London, and in Paris with Phillips Fox. After her marriage she continued to paint and excelled in drawing. In later years she wrote several dramas, staged by repertory companies, and radio plays for the Australian Broadcasting Commission, in which she took part. She was the model for the beautiful red-haired woman in several of Phillips Fox’s paintings and the family hold three of his portraits of her. *Possibly named after the Aboriginal words warran, meaning ‘object’ and dyte, meaning ‘thrown at’.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, kangaroo ground-warrandyte road, north warrandyte, the robins -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Marguerite Marshall, 'Landscape', 60 Lavender Park Road, Eltham South, 24 June 2008
Built by artist and cartoonist Percy Leason in 1927 in what was then New Street but renamed Lavender Park Road in the late 1950s/early 1960s. Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p121 Said to be a genius, cartoonist Percy Leason’s career was at its peak when in 1925 to 1926 he built his home at New Street (now Lavender Park Road) Eltham. The Herald newspaper owner, Sir Keith Murdoch, had hired Leason for his newly acquired Melbourne Punch magazine at a salary of £1750, making him ‘one of the highest paid cartoonists in the world’.1 With this salary and financial help from Murdoch, Leason was able to build his lovely home in Eltham. At the crest of a sweeping drive, the home now two-storey in white brick with a gabled grey slate roof and dormer windows is flanked by an extension built by another owner in the 1980s. Leason lived in the home with his wife, Isabel and children, until 1937, when he left for the United States of America, where he lived until his death in 1959. The four-bedroom house and garden would have been well-suited to bringing up his family and to entertaining their friends in style. Large airy rooms have high ceilings with moulded plaster, timber floors and several are brightened with bay windows. Leason made friends with many of the artists and personalities who gravitated to Eltham. Around 1931 Justus Jörgensen, founder of the Montsalvat Artists’ Colony, helped Leason build his large studio at the back of the house. Another friend was journalist Mervyn Skipper, father of jeweller and sculptor Matcham, and artists Helen and Sonia. Leason’s teacher, artist Max Meldrum, also visited and rented accommodation in Eltham, opposite Wingrove Park. Punch folded in 1925, but Leason continued as cartoonist for Table Talk. In 1926 Leason began the cartoons of a mythical Australian town Wiregrass, which were inspired by Kaniva, his home town. The art gallery in Main Road Eltham was named Wiregrass in Leason’s honour. Leason completed 1000 drawings from 1919 to 1937, which author Garrie Hutchinson claimed, were technically unsurpassed and had regional and universal interest. Leason’s acute observations of country life stemmed from his childhood in Kaniva in Victoria’s western Wimmera, where he was born, the son of a selector, in 1889. Meldrum claimed that Leason could name every plant and the habits of every animal.2 Leason also painted 28 portraits of the last full-blooded aboriginals in Victoria at Lake Tyers in Gippsland, most of which are in a private collection. In Sydney Leason illustrated Henry Lawson’s Selected Poems and worked for The Bulletin. Leason had begun his career at 13 as an apprentice lithographic artist at Sands and MacDougall. He attended night classes at the National Gallery and the Victorian Artists Society. Leason first visited Eltham in 1910 to paint with fellow artist William ‘Jock’ Frater. They camped near Bible and Pitt Streets and along the Diamond Creek on the site of the present Eltham Retirement Centre. Despite his success as a cartoonist, Leason wanted to be recognised as a serious painter and for his anthropological work.3 He was also conservative and felt uncomfortable with the modern art scene in Melbourne.4 So he left for the United States of America to work as a painter. Ironically his time in New York saw the burgeoning of modern art, notably by artists such as Jackson Pollock. But Leason found his niche by running an art school, painting society portraits and illustrating books and magazines.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, landscape, lavender park road, percy leason, new street -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Marguerite Marshall, Former Methodist Church, Plenty, 5 August 2008
In 1924, the Methodist Church opened at the corner of River Ave and Yan Yean Road, Plenty. It was a simple weatherboard gabled building. The church developed a strong community life with celebrations as well as worships, Sundays Schools and social events. It closed in 1979. Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p113 In 1924, the Methodist Church, (which closed in 1976), opened at the corner of River Avenue and Yan Yean Road. Church members including George Starling and Ernest Osmond, built the simple weatherboard gabled building.3 The church developed a strong community life, with celebrations as well as worship through Sunday School anniversaries, picnics, harvest festivals and youth groups. Many volunteers worked hard for the church - teaching Sunday School and ferrying young people to events, sometimes in the backs of trucks and furniture vans. Children from the Sutherland Homes were brought to church by their Matron – a ‘grim martinet’! Members included the Ashton, Reid, Harris, McLachlan, Hopkin, Rose and Stuchbery families. The first wedding was for Vida McLachlan and Ray Stuchbery.4This 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, methodist church, plenty -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Marguerite Marshall, Art Gallery at Clifton Pugh's Artists' Colony, Dunmoochin, Barreenong Road, Cottles Bridge, 5 February 2008
Art Gallery with mural painted by Clifton Pugh (1924-1990) at his Artists' Colony, Dunmoochin, Barreenong Road, Cottles Bridge. Following military service in the second world war, Clifton Pugh studied under artist Sir William Dargie at the National Gallery School in Melbourne as well as Justus Jorgensen, founder of Montsalvat. For a while he lived on the dole but also worked packing eggs for the Belot family saving sufficient to purchase six acres (2.4 ha) of land at Barreenong Road, Cottles Bridge. He accumulated more land and persuaded several other artists and friends to buy land nearby, resulting in a property of approximately 200 acres, stablishing it as one of the first artistic communes in Australia alongside Montsalvat in Eltham. It was around 1951 that Pugh felt he had '"done moochin' around" and so the name of the property evolved. He bought timber from Alistair Knox to build his house on the crest of a hill. Inspired by local goldminer's huts, it was a one room wattle-and-daub structure with dirt floor. Over the years it expanded with thick adobe walls made from local clay, high ceilings and stone floors. All materials other than the local earth were sourced from second hand materials, most found at wreckers' yards. Artists from across the nation were drawn to Dunmoochin, with several setting up houses and shacks on the property, maintaining their independence but sharing their artistic zeal. Artists who worked or resided at Dunmoochin included Mirka Mora, John Perceval, Albert Tucker, Fred Williams, Charles Blackman, Arthur Boyd and John Olsen. In 2002, Pugh's house along with its treasure trove of art and a library of some 20,000 books was destroyed by fire. Traces of Pugh's home remain with the presence of the Victorian doorframe archway with leadlight of intricate design, procured from a demolished Melbourne mansion; and two bronze life-sized female statues created by Pugh and cast by Matcham Skipper. In place of Pugh's house rose two double-storey mud-brick artists' studios topped with corrugated iron rooves curved like the wings of a bird with accommodation for seven. The original studios, gallery and other buildings survived the fire. Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p153 It’s not surprising that artist Clifton Pugh was drawn to Cottles Bridge to establish his artists’ colony Dunmoochin. Undisturbed by the clamour of modern life at Barreenong Road, Pugh was surrounded by the Australian bush he loved, and where his ashes were later scattered. The 200 acres (81ha) of bushland, broken by glimpses of rolling hills, has more than 50 species of orchids and Pugh shared his property with native animals including kangaroos, emus, phascogales, wombats, and diverse bird life. Pugh encouraged these creatures to join him in the bush by creating, with Monash University, a holding station where the animals were raised. Dunmoochin inspired Pugh for such paintings as in a book on orchids and the Death of a Wombat series.1 But his love for the bush was accompanied by the fear that Europeans were destroying it and much of his painting illustrated this fear and his plea for its conservation.2 However it was his house rather than the surrounding bush that was to be destroyed. Tragically in 2002 Pugh’s house, with its treasure of art and library of 20,000 art books, was destroyed by fire. Traces of the beauty of Pugh’s home still remain, however, in the magnificent Victorian doorframe archway with leadlight of intricate design procured from a demolished Melbourne mansion; and two bronze life-sized female statues created by Pugh and cast by Matcham Skipper. Now in place of Pugh’s house, are two double-storey mud-brick artists’ studios topped with corrugated roofs curved like birds’ wings, with accommodation for seven. The original studios, gallery and other buildings remain.3 Pugh grew up on his parents’ hobby farm at Briar Hill and attended the Briar Hill Primary School, then Eltham High School and later Ivanhoe Grammar. At 15 he became a copy boy for the Radio Times newspaper, then worked as a junior in a drafting office. Pugh was to have three wives and two sons. After serving in World War Two in New Guinea and Japan, Pugh studied under artist Sir William Dargie, at the National Gallery School in Melbourne.4 Another of his teachers was Justus Jörgensen, founder of Montsalvat the Eltham Artists’ Colony. Pugh lived on the dole for a while and paid for his first six acres (2.4ha) at Barreenong Road by working as an egg packer for the Belot family. Pugh accumulated more land and persuaded several other artists and friends to buy land nearby, resulting in the 200 acre property. They, too, purchased their land from the Belot family by working with their chickens. Around 1951 Pugh felt he had ‘Done moochin’ around’ and so the name of his property was born. Pugh bought some used timber from architect Alistair Knox to build his house on the crest of a hill. Inspired by local goldminers’ huts it was a one-room wattle-and-daub structure with a dirt floor. It was so small that the only room he could find for his telephone was on the fork of a tree nearby.5 Over the years the mud-brick house grew to 120 squares in the style now synonymous with Eltham. It had thick adobe walls (sun-dried bricks) made from local clay, high ceilings and stone floors with the entire structure made of second-hand materials – most found at wreckers’ yards. Pugh’s first major show in Melbourne in 1957, established him as a distinctive new painter, breaking away from the European tradition ‘yet not closely allied to any particular school of Australian painting’.6 Pugh became internationally known and was awarded the Order of Australia. He won the Archibald Prize for portraiture three times, although he preferred painting the bush and native animals. In 1990 not long before he died, Pugh was named the Australian War Memorial’s official artist at the 75th anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli. Today one of Pugh’s legacies is the Dunmoochin Foundation, which gives seven individual artists or couples and environmental researchers the chance to work in beautiful and peaceful surroundings, usually for a year. By November 2007, more than 80 people had taken part, and the first disabled artist had been chosen to reside in a new studio with disabled access.1 In 1989, not long before Pugh died in 1990 of a heart attack at age 65, he established the Foundation with La Trobe University and the Victorian Conservation Trust now the Trust for Nature. Pugh’s gift to the Australian people – of around 14 hectares of bushland and buildings and about 550 art works – is run by a voluntary board of directors, headed by one of his sons, Shane Pugh. La Trobe University in Victoria stores and curates the art collection and organises its exhibition around Australia.2 The Foundation aims to protect and foster the natural environment and to provide residences, studios and community art facilities at a minimal cost for artists and environmental researchers. They reside at the non-profit organisation for a year at minimal cost. The buildings, some decorated with murals painted by Pugh and including a gallery, were constructed by Pugh, family and friends, with recycled as well as new materials and mud-bricks. The Foundation is inspired by the tradition begun by the Dunmoochin Artists’ Cooperative which formed in the late 1950s as one of the first artistic communes in Australia. Members bought the land collaboratively and built the seven dwellings so that none could overlook another. But, in the late 1960s, the land was split into private land holdings, which ended the cooperative. Dunmoochin attracted visits from the famous artists of the day including guitarists John Williams and Segovia; singer and comedian Rolf Harris; comedian Barry Humphries; and artists Charles Blackman, Arthur Boyd and Mirka Mora. A potters’ community, started by Peter and Helen Laycock with Alma Shanahan, held monthly exhibitions in the 1960s, attracting local, interstate and international visitors – with up to 500 attending at a time.3 Most artists sold their properties and moved away. But two of the original artists remained into the new millennium as did relative newcomer Heja Chong who built on Pugh’s property (now owned by the Dunmoochin Foundation). In 1984 Chong brought the 1000-year-old Japanese Bizan pottery method to Dunmoochin. She helped build (with potters from all over Australia) the distinctive Bizan-style kiln, which fires pottery from eight to 14 days in pine timber, to produce the Bizan unglazed and simple subdued style. The kiln, which is rare in Australia, is very large with adjoining interconnected ovens of different sizes, providing different temperatures and firing conditions. Frank Werther, who befriended Pugh as a fellow student at the National Gallery Art School in Melbourne, built his house off Barreenong Road in 1954. Werther is a painter of the abstract and colourist style and taught art for about 30 years. Like so many in the post-war years in Eltham Shire, as it was called then, Werther built his home in stages using mud-brick and second-hand materials. The L-shaped house is single-storey but two-storey in parts with a corrugated-iron pitched roof. The waterhole used by the Werthers for their water supply is thought to be a former goldmining shaft.4 Alma Shanahan at Barreenong Road was the first to join Pugh around 1953. They also met at the National Gallery Art School and Shanahan at first visited each weekend to work, mainly making mud-bricks. She shared Pugh’s love for the bush, but when their love affair ended, she designed and built her own house a few hundred yards (metres) away. The mud-brick and timber residence, made in stages with local materials, is rectangular, single-storey with a corrugated-iron roof. As a potter, Shanahan did not originally qualify as an official Cooperative member.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, art gallery, clifton pugh, dunmoochin, cottlesbridge, cottles bridge, barreenong road -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Marguerite Marshall, Doorway of Clifton Pugh's former house at Dunmoochin, Barreenong Road, Cottles Bridge, 5 February 2008
Following military service in the second world war, Clifton Pugh studied under artist Sir William Dargie at the National Gallery School in Melbourne as well as Justus Jorgensen, founder of Montsalvat. For a while he lived on the dole but also worked packing eggs for the Belot family saving sufficient to purchase six acres (2.4 ha) of land at Barreenong Road, Cottles Bridge. He accumulated more land and persuaded several other artists and friends to buy land nearby, resulting in a property of approximately 200 acres, stablishing it as one of the first artistic communes in Australia alongside Montsalvat in Eltham. It was around 1951 that Pugh felt he had '"done moochin' around" and so the name of the property evolved. He bought timber from Alistair Knox to build his house on the crest of a hill. Inspired by local goldminer's huts, it was a one room wattle-and-daub structure with dirt floor. Over the years it expanded with thick adobe walls made from local clay, high ceilings and stone floors. All materials other than the local earth were sourced from second hand materials, most found at wreckers' yards. Artists from across the nation were drawn to Dunmoochin, with several setting up houses and shacks on the property, maintaining their independence but sharing their artistic zeal. Artists who worked or resided at Dunmoochin included Mirka Mora, John Perceval, Albert Tucker, Fred Williams, Charles Blackman, Arthur Boyd and John Olsen. In 2002, Pugh's house along with its treasure trove of art and a library of some 20,000 books was destroyed by fire. Traces of Pugh's home remain with the presence of the Victorian doorframe archway with leadlight of intricate design, procured from a demolished Melbourne mansion; and two bronze life-sized female statues created by Pugh and cast by Matcham Skipper. In place of Pugh's house rose two double-storey mud-brick artists' studios topped with corrugated iron rooves curved like the wings of a bird with accommodation for seven. The original studios, gallery and other buildings survived the fire. Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p155 It’s not surprising that artist Clifton Pugh was drawn to Cottles Bridge to establish his artists’ colony Dunmoochin. Undisturbed by the clamour of modern life at Barreenong Road, Pugh was surrounded by the Australian bush he loved, and where his ashes were later scattered. The 200 acres (81ha) of bushland, broken by glimpses of rolling hills, has more than 50 species of orchids and Pugh shared his property with native animals including kangaroos, emus, phascogales, wombats, and diverse bird life. Pugh encouraged these creatures to join him in the bush by creating, with Monash University, a holding station where the animals were raised. Dunmoochin inspired Pugh for such paintings as in a book on orchids and the Death of a Wombat series.1 But his love for the bush was accompanied by the fear that Europeans were destroying it and much of his painting illustrated this fear and his plea for its conservation.2 However it was his house rather than the surrounding bush that was to be destroyed. Tragically in 2002 Pugh’s house, with its treasure of art and library of 20,000 art books, was destroyed by fire. Traces of the beauty of Pugh’s home still remain, however, in the magnificent Victorian doorframe archway with leadlight of intricate design procured from a demolished Melbourne mansion; and two bronze life-sized female statues created by Pugh and cast by Matcham Skipper. Now in place of Pugh’s house, are two double-storey mud-brick artists’ studios topped with corrugated roofs curved like birds’ wings, with accommodation for seven. The original studios, gallery and other buildings remain.3 Pugh grew up on his parents’ hobby farm at Briar Hill and attended the Briar Hill Primary School, then Eltham High School and later Ivanhoe Grammar. At 15 he became a copy boy for the Radio Times newspaper, then worked as a junior in a drafting office. Pugh was to have three wives and two sons. After serving in World War Two in New Guinea and Japan, Pugh studied under artist Sir William Dargie, at the National Gallery School in Melbourne.4 Another of his teachers was Justus Jörgensen, founder of Montsalvat the Eltham Artists’ Colony. Pugh lived on the dole for a while and paid for his first six acres (2.4ha) at Barreenong Road by working as an egg packer for the Belot family. Pugh accumulated more land and persuaded several other artists and friends to buy land nearby, resulting in the 200 acre property. They, too, purchased their land from the Belot family by working with their chickens. Around 1951 Pugh felt he had ‘Done moochin’ around’ and so the name of his property was born. Pugh bought some used timber from architect Alistair Knox to build his house on the crest of a hill. Inspired by local goldminers’ huts it was a one-room wattle-and-daub structure with a dirt floor. It was so small that the only room he could find for his telephone was on the fork of a tree nearby.5 Over the years the mud-brick house grew to 120 squares in the style now synonymous with Eltham. It had thick adobe walls (sun-dried bricks) made from local clay, high ceilings and stone floors with the entire structure made of second-hand materials – most found at wreckers’ yards. Pugh’s first major show in Melbourne in 1957, established him as a distinctive new painter, breaking away from the European tradition ‘yet not closely allied to any particular school of Australian painting’.6 Pugh became internationally known and was awarded the Order of Australia. He won the Archibald Prize for portraiture three times, although he preferred painting the bush and native animals. In 1990 not long before he died, Pugh was named the Australian War Memorial’s official artist at the 75th anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli. Today one of Pugh’s legacies is the Dunmoochin Foundation, which gives seven individual artists or couples and environmental researchers the chance to work in beautiful and peaceful surroundings, usually for a year. By November 2007, more than 80 people had taken part, and the first disabled artist had been chosen to reside in a new studio with disabled access.1 In 1989, not long before Pugh died in 1990 of a heart attack at age 65, he established the Foundation with La Trobe University and the Victorian Conservation Trust now the Trust for Nature. Pugh’s gift to the Australian people – of around 14 hectares of bushland and buildings and about 550 art works – is run by a voluntary board of directors, headed by one of his sons, Shane Pugh. La Trobe University in Victoria stores and curates the art collection and organises its exhibition around Australia.2 The Foundation aims to protect and foster the natural environment and to provide residences, studios and community art facilities at a minimal cost for artists and environmental researchers. They reside at the non-profit organisation for a year at minimal cost. The buildings, some decorated with murals painted by Pugh and including a gallery, were constructed by Pugh, family and friends, with recycled as well as new materials and mud-bricks. The Foundation is inspired by the tradition begun by the Dunmoochin Artists’ Cooperative which formed in the late 1950s as one of the first artistic communes in Australia. Members bought the land collaboratively and built the seven dwellings so that none could overlook another. But, in the late 1960s, the land was split into private land holdings, which ended the cooperative. Dunmoochin attracted visits from the famous artists of the day including guitarists John Williams and Segovia; singer and comedian Rolf Harris; comedian Barry Humphries; and artists Charles Blackman, Arthur Boyd and Mirka Mora. A potters’ community, started by Peter and Helen Laycock with Alma Shanahan, held monthly exhibitions in the 1960s, attracting local, interstate and international visitors – with up to 500 attending at a time.3 Most artists sold their properties and moved away. But two of the original artists remained into the new millennium as did relative newcomer Heja Chong who built on Pugh’s property (now owned by the Dunmoochin Foundation). In 1984 Chong brought the 1000-year-old Japanese Bizan pottery method to Dunmoochin. She helped build (with potters from all over Australia) the distinctive Bizan-style kiln, which fires pottery from eight to 14 days in pine timber, to produce the Bizan unglazed and simple subdued style. The kiln, which is rare in Australia, is very large with adjoining interconnected ovens of different sizes, providing different temperatures and firing conditions. Frank Werther, who befriended Pugh as a fellow student at the National Gallery Art School in Melbourne, built his house off Barreenong Road in 1954. Werther is a painter of the abstract and colourist style and taught art for about 30 years. Like so many in the post-war years in Eltham Shire, as it was called then, Werther built his home in stages using mud-brick and second-hand materials. The L-shaped house is single-storey but two-storey in parts with a corrugated-iron pitched roof. The waterhole used by the Werthers for their water supply is thought to be a former goldmining shaft.4 Alma Shanahan at Barreenong Road was the first to join Pugh around 1953. They also met at the National Gallery Art School and Shanahan at first visited each weekend to work, mainly making mud-bricks. She shared Pugh’s love for the bush, but when their love affair ended, she designed and built her own house a few hundred yards (metres) away. The mud-brick and timber residence, made in stages with local materials, is rectangular, single-storey with a corrugated-iron roof. As a potter, Shanahan did not originally qualify as an official Cooperative member.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, art gallery, clifton pugh, dunmoochin, cottlesbridge, cottles bridge, barreenong road -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Marguerite Marshall, Eltham Retirement Centre (Judge Book Memorial Village), Diamond Street, Eltham, 23 October 2006
Thousands of elderly people at this centre have contributed much. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p161 Thousands of elderly people, who have contributed much to Nillumbik and beyond, have made their home in the treed Eltham Retirement Centre. The centre, which opened in 1956, has housed the disadvantaged in particular, through good times and hard, including floods, fire and even burglaries. As part of the Melbourne Citymission, a non-denominational Christian organisation that cares for people living with disadvantage, the centre was built to celebrate 100 years of the Melbourne Citymission’s work since 1854.1 Standing on a former poultry farm called Willandra (Still Waters), the centre includes independent units, hostel, nursing home accommodation and a Day Therapy Centre, which is available for non-residents as well.2 Despite being metres from the busy Main Road and railway station, the centre provides a quiet oasis on 6.8 hectares bordered by the Diamond Creek to the west, and the railway line to the east. The centre was originally named Judge Book Memorial Village after Judge Clifford Book, Deacon of the Collins Street Baptist Church. Book was also President of the Baptist Union of Victoria and Grand Master of the Masonic Lodge. He was so respected that, at his death, several Pentridge prisoners asked to attend his funeral. In 1993 the centre’s name was changed to clarify that it was part of the Melbourne Citymission. However Judge Book’s name continues in the Judge Book Memorial Garden, opened in 2006. The Diamond Creek has flooded the centre several times, however rarely causing serious damage. Volunteer Alan Field recalls a flood in 1974 when the resident manager Reverend Norman Pearce and his wife, were rescued by boat from their home with their budgerigar. On February 3, 2005, when the creek almost flooded Metzner Hall, 35 ambulances evacuated residents to nearby nursing homes, hostels and local homes. Residents were also evacuated during the 1965 bush fire, but fortunately a change of wind direction saved the centre. Residents have also endured several burglaries. Despite much rebuilding and modernisation over the years, traces of the original farmhouse remain in the administration areas. In 1991 the Willandra Hostel was built and in 2001 the Eltham Lodge Nursing Home with each room having a garden view. Several buildings are named after people who have given special service to the centre including the Norman Pearce Day Hospital after general manager and pastor Rev Pearce. Metzner Hall was named after the Metzner family who had been active in the auxiliary since it began and had donated generously to the Recreation Hall fund.3 A bridge was named after Sister Lila Murray who had worked at the village for 42 years in various capacities including as relieving manager. Field remembers Sister Murray as ‘the Mother Teresa and soul of what the village aspired to, with love and care’. Since 1957 the Eltham Auxiliary, later called the Residents’ Association, has worked to improve the residents’ quality of life by volunteering and raising funds. An outstanding volunteer, Field, who was drawn to the centre in 1971 with his wife Chris, has held positions on the early Eltham boards, auxiliaries and Residents’ Association. Much of his work has been supporting people with no family and those of limited means. He says he and his wife look at their work as having shared ‘our lives with amazing people’. The wealth of experience and wisdom in the Retirement Village has benefited many people, including local school children. Residents have acted as proxy grand-parents at local schools, by assisting small learning groups or telling their life stories. Conversely, students from local schools have visited to perform, or to assist in programs like craft activities. Resident Val Bell, whose mother Rose Bullock lived at the centre before her, sums up the centre’s most important attribute for her: ‘The Christian care. They could not be more caring’.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, diamond street, eltham, eltham retirement centre, eltham retirement village, judge book memorial village -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Alan King, Heritage apple tree, 24 January 2008
This old apple tree situated beside the Plenty River Trail at Greensborough has been associated with Melbourne Founder John Batman. Known as Batman's Tree, this apple tree is on the bank of the Plenty River near Leischa Court, Greensborough. It is said that Melbourne Founder John Batman may have planted the tree and later signed his treaty here with the Aboriginal people. It still bears fruit and its recorded on the National Trust's Register of Significant Trees, as the oldest apple tree in Victoria. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p7 Was This John Batman's Tree? An apple tree on the bank of the Plenty River near Leischa Court, Greensborough, is believed to have belonged to Melbourne’s founder, John Batman. It could also stand where John Batman signed his famous treaty with the Aboriginal people.1 Known as Batman’s Tree, it still bears fruit and is recorded on the National Trust’s Register of Significant Trees, as the oldest apple tree in Victoria. It is ‘Believed to have been planted by either John Batman, (c1837) or Martin Batey (1841)’.2 In 1966 a Horticultural Adviser, Mr Rolfe, after extensive questioning of aged Greensborough residents, wrote: ‘it thus seems fairly certain that the old tree on the banks of the Plenty River is an original Batman apple tree’. Mr Rolfe said that the tree stood on a spot formerly called Wattle Bend: ‘one of the sites claimed to be where John Batman signed his famous treaty with the aboriginals. ‘My main source of information has been interviews with people who attended school in the Greensborough area from 70 to 80 years ago. Their parents were close to the days when Melbourne was founded so information passed on by word of mouth.’ Around 1920 the tree was struck by lightning and a concrete block was placed in the split. The concrete is inscribed with the date 1841 when the tree was thought to have been planted. Not everyone agrees with Mr Rolfe however. Former secretary of the Nillumbik Historical Society, Kevin Patterson, said there was no written evidence to support the claim. But he said the tree had been known to locals for decades as Batman’s Tree. In the 1920s a holiday resort in the area advertised: ‘Come to Greensborough and see John Batman’s tree’. Mr Patterson said it was thought that when Batman died in 1839 his land was sold and a Greensborough man Frederick Flintoff bought seedlings from his orchard for £1 each. This was the only one left.3 Mr Rolfe said: ‘If planted in 1837, or even a few years later, it undoubtedly is the oldest living apple tree in Victoria. Title records of the property on which the tree grows show that the land was a crown grant of F D Wickham in 1840. Mr Wickham was reputed to be a friend of John Batman. All the early settlers prior to the crown grants were squatters, by virtue of Batman’s treaty. This treaty was revoked by the then New South Wales Government, so it is likely that Wickham or an agent was in occupation before 1840. ‘According to Mrs Mavis Latham (John Batman – Great Australian Series, Oxford University Press) when Batman came to Port Phillip in 1835 he brought fruit trees with him. He failed to get a crown grant for his selection on Collins Street, which included 20 acres (eight ha) of orchard and cultivation. His residence became the Government Office and Melbourne grew from wild bushland in 1835 to a town of over 20,000 people by 1841. It is possible Batman visited Wickham and presented him with a tree.’ However a Flintoff descendant in 1933 said Frederick Flintoff ordered his bailiff Martin Batey to transplant the Batman Tree from the Spencer Street orchard to its present site as a memorial to his friend Batman.4 Mr Rolfe spoke to many people, including descendants of the Bateys and Flintoffs and pupils at the Greensborough Primary School. Many had gained their information from a ‘very highly respected’ head master Lewis Amiet at the Greensborough School from 1895 to 1917. He must have gained this information from residents in the district and had this information been incorrect, the parents of the children would have promptly corrected him.’ One woman who attended the school before Mr Amiet’s appointment, said the previous teacher also taught that the tree on the Plenty River was a Batman tree, Mr Rolfe said.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, greensborough, john batman tree, plenty river trail -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Alan King, Reid family graves, Arthurs Creek Cemetery, 30 March 2008
The Arthurs Creek Cemetery was originally the private cemetery of pioneers Agnes and Patrick Reid. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p11 The Hazel Glen property, at Middle Hut Road, Arthurs Creek, which includes one of Victoria’s earliest pioneer buildings, was the forerunner to the Arthurs Creek and Doreen townships. At one time the Doreen Post Office and school were called Hazel Glen. The Hazel Glen State School No 945, before it was moved to its present site, stood on land to the south of Chapel Lane, which had been donated by Hazel Glen owner, William Reid. In May 1895 the post office was renamed Doreen to avoid confusion with the Reid’s address. The Arthurs Creek Cemetery was originally the private cemetery of Hazel Glen pioneers Agnes and Patrick Reid. The Reids with their eight children, arrived in Melbourne in April 1839.1 In 1844 Patrick Reid took over the licence to the Stewart Ponds run of 5120 acres (2072ha). Reid renamed it Hazel Glen, after Hazelden, the name of the Reid estate at Mearns in Renfrewshire, Scotland. Reid built a small cottage from local stone and hand-made bricks, with walls one yard (91 cm) thick, a flagstone floor and a shingle roof. Today two rooms and a store room survive as part of a larger house. Agnes died in 1847 aged 49, and was buried on a hill overlooking Hazel Glen, where it is said she had asked to be buried as it had been a favourite picnic spot.2 In 1858 Patrick died aged 74, and was buried near her. Their son William was to become Whittlesea Shire’s first president. From 1868 he was a Whittlesea Roads Board member, then a shire councillor until shortly before his death in 1923 aged 88. In 1865 the Reid’s burial area was no longer on their property, so it was declared a cemetery site. In 1867 it became the Linton Public Cemetery, being in the Linton Parish. However, to avoid confusion with Linton near Ballarat, the cemetery was renamed the Arthurs Creek Public Cemetery in 1926.3 Arthurs Creek was named after Henry Arthur, a pastoralist and public servant, who ran 1000 sheep lower down the Creek, from 1836 to 1841. It is believed he built his home at the end of today’s Challenger Street in Diamond 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. agnes reid, arthurs creek cemetery, nillumbik now and then (marshall-king) collection, patrick reid, reid family -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Alan King, Golden King Mine poppet-head, Yarrambat Primary School, 1 February 2008
The Golden King Mine poppet-head stands at the school’s Yan Yean Road exit gate. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p23 Early Yarambat - Tanck's Corner Its early settlers, who in the 1840s were amongst the first non-Aboriginal people in the area,1 found life tough as they grazed their sheep and cattle. Yarrambat was then known as Tanck’s Corner or Reynolds Corner, after wood carter, Frederick Tanck, who owned land north of Ironbark Road, at the corner of Yan Yean Road, and Thomas Reynolds, owner of the opposite property. After Reynolds sold his land, the corner became known as Tanck’s Corner.2 In 1929 the district’s name was changed to Yarrambat, believed to mean ‘high hill’ in the Wurundjeri language. Tanck’s Corner was in the centre of gold-bearing country and the district is honeycombed with old tunnels and shafts. However although gold played a dominant role for decades, there was insufficient to develop a substantial township. Meat and agricultural produce made a greater impact.3 Until the mid-20th century the only substantial building was the primary school. The first gold rush occurred around 1860, the second after 1900; then during the Depression, the Government paid men to pan for gold. The first rush attracted hundreds of Chinese people to Smugglers Gully, who constructed round diggings to keep away spirits. Alluvial miners lived along the Plenty River in tents or humpies - some fenced with gardens - and some miners distilled their own ‘plonk’. It was a wild time and bushrangers - and later gangster Squizzy Taylor - were said to hide4 in the old Pioneer Tunnel in Dunne’s Gully between Heard Avenue and Pioneer Road. Mines opposite Tanck’s Corner included Beer’s Line, Golden Crown and Golden Stairs. Some of the big mines had batteries and stampers to process quartz. At first there was plenty of alluvial gold, as much as two ounces to the ton. At times gold was exposed after heavy rains so fossickers panned for gold around orchard irrigation trenches. Gold was mined until 1984 when Yarrambat’s last operating goldmine, the Golden King Mine, in North Oatlands Road, closed. The Clayton family operated it full-time, making a comfortable living and in the 1960s it was the only private family gold mine in Victoria.5 Gold was such an important part of Yarrambat’s history that a gold poppet-head is the Yarrambat Primary School’s logo. The Golden King Mine poppet-head stands at the school’s Yan Yean Road exit gate.6 However this school was built in 1988. The original school No 2054, at the corner of Ironbark and Yan Yean Roads, was opened in 1878 and modified to its present form in the 1920s. In 2000 it was relocated to the Heritage Museum at Yarrambat Park.7 The school, whose first head teacher was Charles Planner, consisted of one room with a three-roomed residence. The school was also the community centre. On Saturday nights it was crammed for dances or euchre parties, community singing or other social events. On Sundays, services for different denominations took turns each week. However the school had its teething problems. Parents accused Charles Planner of neglecting his duties and the school closed several times. When it closed in 1892, only church services continued. Social activities moved elsewhere, such as the tennis club to the Stuchbery tennis court opposite. A sports day and woodchop on Boxing Day around 1900 was held at the Evelyn Hill Hotel, also called Evelyn Arms and Tunnel Hill Hotel, on the Greensborough–Diamond Creek Road. An annual agricultural show in Diamond Creek paraded through the town, and New Year’s Day picnics at the Yan Yean Reservoir included highland dancing and competitions. Also popular were the Indian hawkers who visited every three months, selling trinkets, clothing and other items. One called Jimmy ‘Allem dem Bedi’, gave presents and told stories, played draughts and sold delicious curries he cooked over his camp fire at night.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, golden king mine, tanck's corner, yarrambat primary school -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Alan King, Original Kangaroo Ground Primary School No. 2105 building, Eltham-Yarra Glen Road, Kangaroo Ground, 28 December 2007
Kangaroo Ground's first school began in 1851 with 22 pupils from the district's ten families. It was a single room school located further south on the site, which also served as a Presbyterian church. The first teacher was Andrew Ross. The school building was used as a Post Office between 1854 and 1858 and during 1857 also served as a Court of Petty Sessions. With a growing farming community, a new building was warranted and the original Sate School No. 352 was closed and a new building, State School No. 2105 was oipened October 1, 1878. A residence for Head Teacher Henry Wallace School was erected in 1879 attached to the left of the school building. That residence is now home to the Andrew Ross Museum, which opened in 1993. Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p35 In a corner of the Kangaroo Ground Primary School playground stands an old weatherboard building. This structure, attached to the former teacher’s weatherboard residence facing Main Road, first served as a school in 1878. The former residence, built in 1879, houses the Andrew Ross Museum, which opened in 1993. It is named after the school’s first teacher,1 who also founded The Evelyn Observer newspaper, which began on the site in 1873. Later the printing presses were moved to brick newspaper offices by the Kangaroo Ground Hotel, which became the Shire of Eltham offices. However Kangaroo Ground’s first school began in 1851 for 22 pupils from the district’s ten families, in a slab building further south on this site. Andrew Harkness and other settlers campaigned for the building, which was built on half an acre (0.2ha) donated by local farmer, James Donaldson. Builder was Samuel Furphy, father of the novelist Joseph.2 The single room measuring 30 feet x 18 feet (9m x 5.5m), was unlined and the green slabs shrank, allowing the wind and rain entry through cracks except when they were stuffed with paper.3 The building served as a Presbyterian church as well as a school, where fees were 18 pence a week for education. Young men also attended evening classes there in winter. At one stage, a corner of the room was curtained off for the schoolmaster’s living space, and the platform, which was used for sleeping, was also the pulpit during church services. Teacher Andrew Ross also took church services when the minister was unable to attend, which happened frequently as he had long distances to travel on the bad roads. In 1857 the school building was also used as the Court of Petty Sessions, and from 1854 until 1858, it served as a post office. During the gold rush fossickers on their way to the Caledonia Diggings at Queenstown (now St Andrews) prospected the district, but did not remain long, as the fields were not rich in gold. But the farming community grew, until by 1878 the population warranted the building of State School No 2105 – the present one-roomed tongue-and-groove lined building measuring 49 feet x 18 feet (15m x 5.5m), to accommodate 60 children. The old school, No 352, was closed, and the new one opened on October 1, with Henry Wallace as head teacher, assisted by work mistress Annie Johnston. Early teachers included Messrs Smith, Hamilton and Prosser, with sewing teachers Misses Sweeney, Limerock and Oliver. In the early 1920s a small room was built on the front veranda of the teacher’s residence, and used as a State Savings Bank agency until about 1934. In 1928 the schoolroom’s three-tiered floor was replaced by a flat floor and teacher’s platform (which has since been removed). A half-glassed partition wall then divided the large room into two rooms in which the old style form-type desks were replaced with dual desks. The small playground, surrounded by pine trees and a picket fence, was extended in 1931 with an additional acre or so (0.4 ha) of land. During World War Two the school faced closure because of a fall to seven in the enrolment, but by 1946 it had increased again to 45. Mr Eric Morgan was head teacher and Mrs Margaret Banks was assistant head teacher, a position she held for ten years. In 1955, under the head teacher Mr V Gardiner, who taught there for 13 years, the school won a prize for the best-kept garden and school ground in the inspectorate. A district subdivision increased the enrolment in 1968 to 65 and a bus service was established. After the hall which had been used for lessons was demolished late that year, the pupils met in the original fire brigade meeting room (now the tennis club, diagonally opposite the general store). The new school building with a storeroom and staffroom was built in 1974.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, kangaroo ground, andrew ross museum, eltham-yarra glen road, kangaroo ground primary school no. 2105, kangaroo ground state school, state school no. 2105 -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Alan King, Cameron family graves, Kangaroo Ground Cemetery, Eltham-Yarra Glen Road, Kangaroo Ground, 28 January 2008
Six year old Judith Furphy was the first person known to have been buried at Kangaroo Ground Cemetery in May 1851. The cemetery is situated on an ancient river bed with exposed Nillumbik sands. The rest of the district is formed from black volcanic soil which was hard to dig. According to local historian Mick Woiwod (deceased) the site may have been a burial ground for the local Wurundjeri people as the exposed softer sands were always their prefered camping sites. The Hon. Ewen Hugh Cameron who lived at Pigeon Bank and was the Member for Evelyn for 40 years (1874-1914) was buried here in 1915. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p39 The Wurundjeri people might have buried their dead on the site of the Kangaroo Ground Cemetery, according to local historian Mick Woiwod. Kangaroo Ground was a premier hunting ground, but camping on the black volcanic soil would have been uncomfortable. Unlike most of Kangaroo Ground, its cemetery, on an ancient river bed, comprises a rare exposure of Nillumbik sands – always the preferred campsite for Aboriginal people. The cemetery area is the only place where the soil was soft enough to dig a grave easily.1 Six-year-old Judith Furphy was the first person known to have been laid to rest at the Kangaroo Ground Cemetery. She died on May 17, 1851, from a chill caught by resting on wet grass. Local Andrew Ross wrote ‘..no public burying place existed nearer than Melbourne. The case being considered urgent, a general meeting of the settlers took place on the evening of the 17th……. The result was the selection of unoccupied crown land …….which was subsequently granted by Government for a public cemetery.’2 Judith was buried the next day on May 18. Her grave was marked by the trustees with a plaque, which unfortunately states nine years old, when she was probably only six. Judith came from an illustrious family. Her brother, Joseph, was the author of Such is Life and other works. Another brother, John, developed and manufactured the famous Furphy water cart, which distributed water to World War One soldiers along with the latest rumours. Hence the name Furphy entered the Australian idiom, as synonymous with ‘rumour’. Judith’s father Samuel helped build the first Kangaroo Ground church school. Inside, near the entrance of the cemetery, on Yarra Glen Road, stand a rotunda and a water tank. Occasional benches invite mourners to pause and remember. The gate with wrought iron and brick supports, bears the inscription ‘Erected by Sir Ewen and Lady Cameron in memory of their daughter, Flora Margaret’. These are only two of the famous people connected with this cemetery. The Hon. Ewen Hugh Cameron JP and MLA from 1874 to1914, who lived at Pigeon Bank, Warrandyte Road, was buried here in 1915. Unrelated, but with the same name, was Sir Ewen Cameron who had been Minister for Health and was laid to rest there in 1964. Sir Herbert Gepp, a leading industrialist and the former owner of Garden Hill, at Yarra Glen Road, was buried there in 1954.3 Many of the more imposing tombstones belong to the earlier graves. Unfortunately bushfires have cracked several. But this adds to the melancholy attractiveness of the cemetery, graced by some beautiful eucalypts, cypress and pines. Early pioneering families represented at the cemetery include Armstrong, Barr, Bell, Harkness, Jardine, Johnston, Rogerson, Stevenson, Thomson and Walters. Armstrong and Bell were among the first families to come to the district and Stevenson owned the district’s first sheep station. It took in much of present day Christmas Hills, which was the name he gave his sheep station. Harkness was the first to suggest a Kangaroo Ground school be built, and one of the first to suggest establishing the Eltham District Road Board. Many of these families leased pastoral land before the mid-century and bought land when it came on sale in 1849. In the cemetery’s early days sections were devoted to the major Christian denominations (mainly the Protestant) and one section was set aside for ‘other’ or ‘non-believers’. However in modern times burial plots have not been placed in areas according to religious beliefs.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, kangaroo ground, eltham-yarra glen road, agnes bell cameron, agnes cameron (nee bell), cameron family, edward aubrey haughton, eugene cameron, evelyn florence cameron, ewen hugh cameron, gravestones, jane armstrong, jane bell, jessie agnes haughton (nee cameron), jessie cameron, john donald cameron, kangaroo ground cemetery, neville cameron, simon armstrong, vera cameron, william bell armstrong, wurundjeri -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Alan King, Eltham Court House, 730 Main Road, Eltham, 28 December 2007
The Eltham Court House is Eltham's oldest public building. It was classified by the National Trust in 1977. In 1857 five Eltham residents petitioned the licensing magistrates of the Heidelberg district asking for better police protection, including from itinerant gold prospectors who turned to crime when their quest was unsuccessful. In response the Eltham Courthouse was constructed in 1860. Over the years it has also been used for other activities, including for electoral polling purposes, inquests, early meetings of the Eltham Roads Board and even as an overflow classroom. This type of localised solution is characteristic of the self-reliance preserved in Eltham today. The court house is an important symbol of the spirit which makes Eltham distinctive as a community. The Eltham Courthouse is historically significant because its construction was intended to emphasise the centralised control over law and order in the Colony of Victoria in the wake of the 1852 Snodgrass committee report on the Victorian police force and the resulting Police Regulation Act (1853). The nature of the Court House planning and use of architectural devices make the building's function easily interpreted. The arrangement of rooms, with public entry and clerical rooms to the rear, and the use of raised floor levels throughout these spaces to signify relative rank is easily perceived. The distinction in entries, public, magistrate and person-in-custody, and the existing court furniture enhances appreciation of this building. The Eltham Court House is one of only two intact examples in the state of this simple design with projecting entry. The building is of architectural significance because it retains intact early features. These include use of handmade bricks, simple decoration, roof trusses, timber ceiling boards, original windows, doors and associated hardware and a collection of court furniture. Additions to the court house have been done in a manner which did not interfere with the fabric of the original building. Typical cases heard before the Court of Petty Sessions included financial debt, straying livestock, theft, assault, drunkenness, public disorder, truancy, motor vehicle offences, unregistered animals and failing to have children attend school, or be vaccinated. The courthouse operated for over 120 years before it closed in 1985. In April 2021, Nillumbik Shire Council authorised restoration of the building and furnishings. The extensive works required for the total restoration of this highly valued heritage building was undertaken by Ducon Building Solutions and other specialist contractors. Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Victorian Heritage National Trust of Australia (Victoria) State significance Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p65 A demand for better police protection resulted in the building of the Eltham Courthouse and the police residence beside it. In 1857 five Eltham residents petitioned the Heidelberg district licensing magistrates. They pointed out that Eltham had two hotels, a population of about 1000, and many strangers employed on the public roads. Yet the nearest police were at Heidelberg eight miles (12.8km) away, or at the Caledonia Diggings 21 miles (33.7km) away.1 Subsequently the courthouse and then the police residence, near the corner of Main Road and Brougham Street, were built in 1859/60. The courthouse is Eltham’s oldest public building and the National Trust classified it in 1977. It ceased operation in 1984 and has since been used by local groups. There are only six other known examples of similar small brick country courthouses in Victoria . For £536, a Mr Duncan built the courthouse – a neat, narrow, oblong building with handmade orange bricks. Its gabled roof and porch are covered with brown slate tiles and it has 12-paned windows. Inside, the roof is peaked and the courthouse is still ventilated by oblong slits near the ceiling. Most of the fine carved timber and upholstered furniture is original. The original prisoners’ door, now permanently closed, led from the police station to the dock. Builders, Langridge Wright and Witney built a timber police station (since demolished) and a brick residence to its north,2 for £1150/7/-. Built around the same time were the lock-up behind the residence, also later demolished, and the two-storey orange brick stables. The former police residence also has a brown slate roof and handmade bricks. The front veranda roof is made of corrugated iron, as is the roof of the back weatherboard extension. The application for police protection was approved within a few months and police operated from a cottage rented at ten shillings a week and owned by William Jarrold. This was probably the one at the corner of Main Road and Dalton Street called Jarrold or White Cloud Cottage. In 1858 a second constable was appointed to Eltham following a fight at the hotel. The timber police office a replica of which was built in the early 1990s is at the building’s side. The lock-up was demolished following the relocation of the police to a new station in about 1952. The residence has been used as the Eltham District Historical Society centre since 1997. Records show court cases were held at Eltham before the courthouse was built, but the location is unknown. Some court cases were not very different from those today. In 1891 a man was charged with being drunk while in charge of a horse and was fined ten shillings. The courthouse was used for other purposes during its long history. It was probably used as a polling place as indicated by old photographs of election-day crowds outside. The Eltham Road Board met there from the early 1860s until 1868 when the Board transferred to Kangaroo Ground. During the same period the Road Board Secretary used the courthouse as an office until 1867 when it was transferred to his home at Wingrove Cottage. The courthouse was also used as an overflow classroom for the Dalton Street school in 1875. The two buildings can further link us with Eltham’s early days through Police Department correspondence. The first constable-in-charge was George Reid. In 1860 a letter to The Argus newspaper signed ‘A Sufferer’ declared the Eltham police were not active enough in their duties. The writer suggested that the ‘very snug’ police quarters were too comfortable, and he detailed various incidents including one of an alleged break-in to the Road Board Secretary’s home. But the Board Secretary, C S Wingrove, wrote to the Police Department refuting The Argus letter saying he had received full co-operation from Sen. Constable Peter Lawler.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, eltham court house, main road -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Alan King, St Andrews Anglican Church, St Andrews, 30 January 2008
Built c.1868, St Andrew’s Anglican Church is Nillumbik Shire’s oldest timber church and is historically, socially, and spiritually significant to the Shire of Nillumbik. The church is historically significant because it may have given its name 'St Andrews' to the town (another suggestion is that the name came from the local hotel), it is also historically significant as one of only four buildings that remain from the Caledonian goldfields era of Queenstown (now St Andrews) and one of only a handful of buildings that survived the 1960s bushfires. The church is historically, socially, and spiritually significant because it has played an important part in community life for more than 150 years; a proposal to move the church in 1984 met with strenuous opposition. Much of the fires on Black Saturday 2009 were the north of the town. The town itself remained intact - as did this heritage building. Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. National Trust of Australia (Victoria) Local significance Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p69 The St Andrews Anglican Church and former St Andrews Primary School, are two reminders of the district’s early days, when it was founded on gold. St Andrews, then called Queenstown, was the earliest goldfield in the Caledonia Diggings.1 It was the Upper Diamond Gold Mining and Administrative Centre, with 3000 miners. Queenstown was also the seat of the Court of Petty Sessions. The church and school then stood close to European and Chinese stores, three hotels, a brewery and a quartz mill.2 In 1861, Queenstown was officially proclaimed a township. From 1865, the name Queenstown was interchangeable with St Andrews, until 1952, when the town was officially named St Andrews. As gold declined from the early 1880s, Queenstown changed dramatically into a settlement of small farms. St Andrew’s Anglican Church, built in 1868, is the Shire’s oldest timber church and possibly gave its name to the township.3 The small timber church was opened on November 1, 1869, by the Dean of Melbourne. Anniversary tea meetings helped raise funds, and in 1889, a three-bedroom parsonage was built alongside. In 1910, the vicar, the Rev Selwyn Chase (and friend of the Scouting Movement’s founder, Baden Powell), established the 1st Queenstown Scout Troop, only two years after Scouting began in Australia. The church was important to the lives of many local residents who were baptised, married and had funeral services there. But by the 1950s the population had decreased and so did the weekly attendances. Around the mid-1960s the church closed, then fell into disrepair. So in the mid 1980s it was sold to the Education Department and was under threat of relocation or demolition. However this caused such opposition from locals,4 that instead, the Anglican church leased it as part of the Panton Hill parish5 and it was reconsecrated in 1987. Queenstown’s first school was held in a tent after transferring from Andersons Creek, Warrandyte.6 From 1858 a church school, Caledonia Diggings, stood west of the main road, a quarter of a mile (0.4km) before Buttermans Track. In 1882 the school was moved from a leased building, owned by headmaster Robert Harris, into a larger building on the corner of the School and the Heidelberg-Kinglake Roads. It had been moved from Smiths Gully and included a teacher’s three-roomed residence.7 In 1887 the school was replaced by the Queenstown State School No 128, although it was also called Caledonia Diggings until 1891. In 1956 it was renamed St Andrews. Still standing, this building is now used as the St Andrews Community Centre and the residence is leased for private use. The original timber-lined room remains alongside the extensions, and is distinctive with its high ceiling and tall small-paned windows. In 1984 a new school was built 500 metres west of the old school. Many residents have contributed much to St Andrews but one family that has done so for several generations is the Harris family. Robert Harris was an active member of the St Andrew’s Anglican Church, and worked hard at improving the town’s amenities until his death in 1887. He was a signatory to the successful 1863 petition to the Chief Commissioner of Police, against the proposed removal of the Court of Petty Sessions and police station at the Caledonia Diggings. The police station stayed in the town until 1917. Harris was Head Teacher of Queenstown State School from 1864 to 1874, then of the Smiths Gully school until it closed in 1882, and he continued teaching at Panton Hill until his death. His son, Robert Charles Harris, was editor and printer of the local newspaper, The Evelyn Observer, from 1873 until 1915. Robert’s son, William Shelley Harris, served in the Boer War and in World War One. In 1928 he became Kinglake National Park’s first park ranger. Robert’s daughter Elizabeth, taught needlework at Queenstown State School, and later ran the post office in Kinglake.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, st andrews, st andrews anglican church -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Alan King, Panton Hill Primary School, 27 March 2008
The Panton Hill Primary School building, which has served the community since 1889, was not the area's first. Kingston School (an early name for Panton Hill) opened in May 1865. This was replaced in 1871 when the Panton Hill School number 1134 opened and in 1874 the school moved to its current location [September 2023] where many additions and renovations have taken place to meet the needs of local children in the 21st century. Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p63 The Panton Hill Primary School building, which has served the community since 1889, was not the area’s first. In 1871 Henry Edelman opened a Common School in a paling-clad hut, replacing the Kingstown No 786 school. The two-acre (0.8ha) site of crown land had previously been held under Miners Right. In 1875 the Education Department bought a building on the main road for State School No 1134, for £200 and remodelled it as a school.4 Panton Hill had as one of its teachers, Frank Tate, who was to become one of Victoria’s most influential educational reformers. It was his first school, when he began teaching on January 22, 1884, as a 20 year old.5 The following month Robert J Harris was appointed to the school and remained as head teacher until his death in 1887. His son R C Harris was apprenticed to Mr Rossiter, editor of the first local paper. The Evelyn Observer, first published in 1873. Harris later bought the newspaper which remained a family business until the 1920s. J Hughes of Cherry Tree Road succeeded Harris as teacher at Panton Hill and sold his land for the school site. Though now unrecognisable, the school building includes the classroom of the last Smiths Gully State School No 1737, which was built in 1882, and moved to Panton Hill in 1894. From 1922 each school day began with the ringing of the bell, which is still in its stand, and is an unusually old memorial of this kind. To accommodate the growing population, the building was remodelled, with additions in 1923 and classrooms were added in 1955, 1963 and 1970. The former teacher’s residence is the only surviving 19th century dwelling in the centre of Panton Hill, and is now used as part of the school. The residence was originally rectangular but is now L-shaped. Similar weatherboard State School buildings in the shire from this period are the Kangaroo Ground and the St Andrews Primary Schools. All were standard Education Department/Public Works Department designs.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 primary school -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Alan King, St Matthew's Church and Hall, Panton Hill, 27 March 2008
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 -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Marguerite Marshall, St John's Anglican Church, Diamond Creek, 7 September 2008
The building was designed by Charles Maplestone of Heidelberg, son-in-law to Anthony Beale of St Helena. Maplestone was a prominent architect who came out to Australia with his family in 1852. The foundation stone was laid by Mrs Isabella Maplestone on 11th November 1867. The bricklayers for the church were George Stebbing, H Limmer, H Spicer and a Mr Timm while Thomas Day was the stonemason. Another three years were to pass before sufficient money could be raised for its completion. It was opened by Bishop Perry on 1st November, 1870. The church bell which hung under a tree for 50 years until it was incorporated in the parish hall was brought out from England and presented by Charles Orme. In 1916, the estate of George Martin Pizzey left sufficient money to build the red brick hall, which still stands today (2023) though in January 1969 the hall and bell tower were badly damaged by bushfire. Coincidentally the former home of benefactor, George Pizzey was destroyed in the same fire. Of particular significance are the interior and exterior of the church, the Sunday school and hall with emphasis on pre-World War I fabric (excluding the 1990s additions) and the three coloured glass windows currently suspended in the 1990s entry foyer. In 2011 further alterations were made to the front of the Church. The church is historically significant because it was the oldest public building in the former Diamond Valley Shire, is amongst the oldest buildings in the Shire of Nillumbik and is associated with the early settlement of the Diamond Creek district. The church is historically, socially and spiritually significant because it has been a place of worship for over 150 years and continues to be, an important meeting place in the Shire. The church is aesthetically significant for the three stained glass windows executed by the noted stained glass manufacturers, Ferguson & Urie, as well as the supporting coloured glass windows in the church. The Sunday school & parish hall is architecturally significant because the hall is a well executed and preserved example of the work of noted church architects, North & Williams. It is historically significant because it is connected with local parishioner and Melbourne industrialist, George Pizzey, who bequeathed funds for its construction. Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. National Estate Ntionl Trust of Australia (Victoria) Local significance Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p85 St John’s Anglican Church stands like a beacon on the hill on Main Street, Diamond Creek. Today the church has a large congregation, but its early years were marked by a small congregation struggling to find enough money to survive. It was gold in Diamond Creek that resulted in the building of this National Trust registered property.1 This church is far removed from William Wilson’s humble barn (later the Bowling Green) where the first Anglican church services were conducted – probably the first in the district.2 In the mid 19th century services were infrequent as the Rev Francis Hales, travelling on horseback, also conducted services elsewhere, including at Heidelberg, Coburg, Kinglake, Arthurs Creek, St Andrews and Kangaroo Ground. In 1860 Diamond Creek came under the jurisdiction of the Eltham Parish. Until the mid 1860s the Diamond Creek settlement included only about 20 families who were struggling farmers. But this changed when gold was found in 1862. Then the township grew to 200 families, including miners, civil administration workers and shopkeepers. The resulting growth of Church of England adherents prompted them to petition the Government in 1866 for land to build a church. The area chosen, on which the original building still stands, was at the centre of the proposed township. Today church leaders believe that this conspicuous location is one of the reasons for its exceptional growth. Prominent architect Charles Maplestone designed the building as he did the Presbyterian Church at Kangaroo Ground. St John’s, which is still intact, was built in the Gothic Revival style with the traditional rectangular plan of a central nave and sanctuary at the end. It is typical of small churches built in Victoria at that time, with polychromatic hand-made bricks, a porch, diagonal buttresses and a slate roof.3 The church was officially opened by Lord Bishop Perry on November 1, 1870. But during the next 40 years, due to the varying fortunes of gold mining, the church struggled to remain viable. In 1909 it separated from the Eltham Parish to form a parish with Greensborough. Life became more difficult with the privations of World War One. Then disaster struck in 1915 when fire destroyed the Diamond Creek Gold Mine, wiping out the major livelihood of most parishioners. However the church’s morale was lifted in 1916, when it received a bequest to build the red brick hall, from late parishioner and prominent leather manufacturer, George Pizzey. As prosperity grew, in 1924 the congregation separated from Greensborough, but they rejoined in the 1930s Depression. In the 1950s the wider population soared, impacting on St John’s, and it became a separate parish, becoming responsible for six churches at St Andrews, Hazel Glen, Hurstbridge, St Helena and Yarrambat. As parishioner numbers outgrew the building, extensions were added in 1989 and then in 1993, blending in well with the original building. Church members have made a huge contribution to the local community. John Ryan was a Heidelberg Shire Councillor for 25 years from 1931, Mayor in 1939 and headed several local sporting and other organisations. His son Jock became a clergyman and a local historian heading the Nillumbik Historical Society. Another parishioner, Dr Ted Cordner, came to Diamond Creek in 1920. One of his sons Donald, who was a local doctor, won the Brownlow Medal, was President of the Melbourne Cricket Club and President of the Melbourne Grammar School Council. Roy ‘Monty’ Vale was a state Liberal MP and was related to May Vale, a member of the Heidelberg School of Artists.4 In the early 21st century St John’s Anglican Church is one of the fastest growing congregations in Melbourne. References: St Johns Anglican Church complex, Sunday School and Parish Hall 61 Main Street DIAMOND CREEK, NILLUMBIK SHIRE. (2023, June 7). Retrieved from https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/64023 Diamond Creek, VIC. – St John’s Anglican (2023, June 7). Retrieved from https://www.churchhistories.net.au/church-catalog/diamond-creek-vic-st-johns-anglican 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, st john's anglican church, diamond creek -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Alan King, Southernwood, cnr Bolton and Brougham Street, Eltham, 30 January 2008
Walter Withers once lived at the corner of Bolton and Brougham Streets, Eltham. Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p105 Walter Withers, one of Australia’s most famous artists, once lived in Southernwood, the weatherboard house at the corner of Bolton and Brougham Streets, Eltham. Withers, one of the first prominent artists to live in Eltham, was known for his lyrical paintings of the Australian bush and is associated with the Heidelberg School of artists.1 Withers was born in 1854 at Handsworth, Warwickshire, England, the grandson of an artist. He studied art at the Royal Academy of Arts, London. But in 1882 his father, opposing an artistic career for Withers, ordered him to go to Australia. However, after working as a jackaroo on several country properties for 18 months, Withers resumed painting in Melbourne, where he enrolled in evening art classes at the Melbourne National Gallery school of painting under G F Folingsby. Employed as a draughtsman by William Inglis & Co, then by Ferguson & Mitchell, lithographic printers, Withers produced portraits in black-and-white for several periodicals. His work was exhibited in the Old Academy, Melbourne. At this time he met and became life-long friends with artists Frederick McCubbin, Tom Roberts and Louis Abrahams.2 In 1887 Withers went to England and married Fanny Finn. They lived in Paris for awhile, where Withers studied at the Academie Julian. After his return to Melbourne in 1889, Withers lived at the artist camp at Eaglemont, then moved close to the Charterisville mansion, where he established a studio and sub-let cottages to other artists. Around 1892 Withers opened a Collins Street studio, had his first exhibition, and started giving painting classes. One of his pupils was Norman Lindsay,3 also to become a prominent artist. Withers had long been attracted to Eltham, but had to wait until 1903 to live there, after the railway line was extended to Eltham in 1902. He could then commute to the painting classes he gave in Melbourne.4 Withers lived on the two and a half acres (1.0ha) Bolton Street property with his wife and five children. They were joined for a short time by prominent painter Sir Hans Heyson who took lessons from Withers. Withers added a studio to the Queen Anne/Edwardian style seven-bedroom home, which had been built in 1891. Each bedroom included a fireplace and most rooms had 12 foot high (3.6m) ceilings. The house retains several fine leadlight windows. Withers painted his largest canvas The Return from the Harvest in 1905, at his Eltham studio. He is represented in national, state and regional galleries, and in many private collections in Australia and abroad. In 1904-05 Withers was president of the Victorian Artists’ Society. Withers at times stayed during the week at his studio in Oxford Chambers, Melbourne, and on weekends and holidays with his family at Eltham. Withers lived in Eltham until his death in 1914, aged 60 years. He had been plagued by rheumatism and in later life by heart and lung disease. It is said he died of a stroke peacefully in a rocking chair in front of the lounge-room fire. He is buried at St Helena in the St Katherine’s Anglican Church cemetery.5 In 1983, the auction of the house sparked fears that it would be pulled down, or substantially altered. Fortunately the new owners decided to retain the house. Some security was given to the house’s future when it was later included in the Heritage Overlay to the Nillumbik Planning Scheme. The property is also important because it is one of only a few left in the district, which were once owned by noted artists. These include three in Warrandyte: one formerly owned by Penleigh Boyd, another by Frank Crozier, and the other by Danila Vassilieff; and two in Eltham: Percy Leason’s in Lavender Park Road and Justus Jörgensen’s Montsalvat. A small park at the corner of Bible and Arthur Streets, Eltham is named in Walter Withers’ honour.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, bolton steet, brougham steet, eltham, southernwood, walter withers house -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Alan King, Stonygrad, 34 Hamilton Road, North Warrandyte, 30 January 2008
Vassilieff dynamited rock from his own property to build his house. Stonygrad is reminiscent of a grotto and in parts, of a sculpture. Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p135 Stonygrad, the home built by Expressionist painter and sculptor Danila Vassilieff, is reminiscent of a grotto and in parts, of a sculpture. Vassilieff, who amongst others influenced painter Sydney Nolan and Albert Tucker, was a member of the artists group the Angry Penguins.1 He was also a highly regarded art teacher at the nearby Koornong Experimental School and taught at Eltham High School. Art critic Robert Hughes described Vassilieff’s painting as ‘lyrical without social commentary’, and said Vassilieff was ‘the most oddly neglected artist in recent Australian History’.2 Vassilieff, who was born in 1897 in Russia, had an unusually adventurous life before he settled in Warrandyte. The 12th of 18 children, he lived on a farm in the Don Basin. Vassilieff trained with the Imperial Military Academy at St Petersburg and fought in World War One as an officer in the White Russian Army against the communists. In 1920 he was captured, then escaped from prison, stole a horse and rode bareback 150 miles to the Black Sea, helped at first by Tartar freebooters. He then travelled to India, Shanghai and arrived in Queensland as a refugee in 1923 where he began painting. He and his wife Anisia bought a sugar farm near Ingram,3 and later he constructed railway lines at Mataranka, in the Northern Territory.4 In 1929 Vassilieff went to Brazil for formal art training from former fellow-officer Dmitri Ismailovich, but he soon left to travel up the Amazon River. He then worked as a sidewalk artist in the West Indies and travelled for two years in England, France and Spain. In 1937 he arrived in Melbourne where he lived until his death in 1958. His first major Australian series was the Carlton streetscapes and from 1951 he sculpted in local hard limestone.5 Vassilieff rejected all dogma and regarded religious subjects as suitable only for decorative arts. In 1944 he helped defeat a communist attempt to take over the Contemporary Art Society. For a short time, from around 1955, Vassilieff taught at various Victorian schools.6 The Angry Penguins painted mainly between 1937 and 1947, and included Arthur Boyd, Albert Tucker, Sidney Nolan and Joy Hester. The group formed as they felt isolated from European thought and art (including Surrealism) from which their work was derived. They were also angry at what they considered to be the complacency and insularity of their society. They maintained Australians at first were scarcely aware of the threats of the Wall Street Crash and Hitler and were little interested in the Spanish Civil War. The Angry Penguins also objected to the White Australia Policy. Hughes said although most of the Melbourne Expressionists in the 1940s were unskilled and their work crude in style, they helped jolt Australian painting from its pastoral complacency. Their style influenced nearly every painting produced by significant figurative artists in Melbourne in the 1950s such as Charles Blackman. From 1939 Vassilieff built Stonygrad, mainly with local stone. The house stands at the end of a private road surrounded by trees with the quiet occasionally broken by the sounds of bellbirds. To build his house Vassilieff dynamited rock and cut trees from his own property. The original section of the three-level house is of irregular-shaped pieces of solid stone, exposed inside like the exterior. Vassilieff later built sections with timber and brick. Inside is rustic and cave-like, and several rooms are linked by arched openings with no doors. One undulating wall was carved out of rock from which two sculptured heads protrude. Several ceilings are of rough-hewn logs and the built-in table and bookcase are rough, as is a timber ladder leading to a bedroom. Not for the elderly or unsteady! Yet the general impression in the muted light is beautiful, with artistic originality.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, danila vassilieff, hamilton road, north warrandyte, stonygrad -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Marguerite Marshall, Eltham Community and Reception Centre, 2 October 2006
The Eltham Community and Reception Centre was Australia's first public mud-brick building. Commissioned in 1977 by Eltham Shire Council, led by Shire president (and architect) Robert Marshall, architects Whitford and Peck were asked to design a multipurpose facility in mud-brick and timber. The official opening was performed by the Hon. R.J. Hamer; E.D., M.P., Premier of Victorai on Saturday, April 22, 1978. Architects: Whitford & Peck Pty Ltd Quantity Surveyor: D.J. Cant & Associates Structural Civil Engineers: Charlett & Moore Pty Ltd Landscape: Peter Glass, Dennis Edwards Mech Elec: Lobley Treidel & Partners Pty Ltd Acoustics: Riley Barden & Kirkhope Builder: L.U. Simon Pty Ltd Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p177 The Wiggles performed there, so has the ABC’s Play School. New citizens have made their vows, volunteers have been honoured, school children have performed, weddings celebrated and people mourned at funerals. Since 1978 the Eltham Community and Reception Centre at the corner of Pitt Street and Main Road, has provided a beautiful and quintessential Eltham environment for people from all over Melbourne. Recognised as Australia’s first public mud-brick building, the centre was built partly on the site of the parsonage of the former Methodist Church (now the Uniting Church).1 Commissioned by the Eltham Council headed by President Robert Marshall, architects Whitford and Peck were asked to design a multipurpose facility in mud-brick and timber. Following public consultation, it was agreed to build a centre for dances, exhibitions, films, plays or concerts. The results – at a cost of around $620,000 – captured the Eltham rustic style. The building – in soft tones of mud-brick and timber and immense floor-to-ceiling windows – overlooks the Diamond Creek and sporting fields. Eltham’s strong artistic heritage is reflected in the centre. Although the lighting is not ideal for a gallery and labels cannot be placed on walls, the centre hosts the Nillumbik Art Awards and displays around ten to 20% of the Nillumbik Shire Art Collection, usually for around a year at a time.2 On permanent display, close to the entrance, is local artist Clifton Pugh’s White Choughs in the Landscape. Further to the right is the Walter Withers Gallery, named after a local member of the Heidelberg School of artists. As part of the Eltham Gateway opposite the Eltham Hotel, the centre stands on what was once part of the Eltham Town Centre along this section of Main Road, then known as Maria Street. On the same site once stood the house and flour mill owned by Henry Dendy, best known as the founder of Brighton, although he lived longer in Eltham. Beside the drive is a wheel-rim tool with accompanying plaque, illustrating a technology important during the horse-powered age and now almost completely gone, as has the blacksmith’s shop that had housed it nearby. The implement is a platform for fitting iron tyres to the wooden rims of cartwheels. Beneath it is a capsule placed in 1985 to commemorate Victoria’s 150 years, which is to be opened in 2035. Although the plants, forming part of the landscaping by Peter Glass and Denis Edwards, are largely indigenous and other native species, some exotic plants are protected as an important link with the site’s past. Planted at the front around 1920, is a large Peppercorn tree with two joined trunks growing from the base, and close by is a Bhutan Cypress (Cupressus torulosa). Three other Peppercorn trees fringe the drive. The building includes two halls – the larger seating 250 people – and a large foyer overlooking trees and ovals. Both halls have retractable rear walls providing varying spaces as required, and guests can use several external decks. A site for outdoor theatre has been carved out of the natural slope outside the entrance. The Bricklayers Union refused to use the traditional mud-bricks, which weigh more than 22kg. As a result the mud-bricks were redesigned to reduce their weight and were laid back-to-back to produce a wall of normal thickness.3 The centre’s massive timber frame is reminiscent of timber bridge construction, with infill panels of mud-brick.4 In accord with the rustic style are colossal rough-sawn posts, bolts and steel brackets. The combination of mud-brick, exposed feature timber framing and creative design in this centre, characterises Eltham’s innovative buildings and the social movement behind them from the 1940s to the 1970s.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 community and reception centre, mudbrick construction -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Alan King, Memorial to Peter Brock, Ferguson's Paddock, Hurstbridge, 23 January 2008
Ferguson’s Paddock, Hurstbridge. A plaque on a boulder commemorates Peter Brock. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p167 On a rock in Ferguson’s Paddock, Hurstbridge, a plaque commemorates Peter Brock. It includes the words: ‘Boy from Hurstbridge without special privileges, grew to become champion of racetracks around the world but he never forgot his beginnings’. Brock came from a well-established local family. Born in Hurstbridge in 1945, he lived in Anzac Avenue as a child, attended the Hurstbridge Primary and Eltham High Schools and lived in the district most of his life. His father Geoff owned the Diamond Valley Speed Shop in Greensborough. Brock’s forbears were amongst the area’s earliest settlers. From Scotland, the Brocks arrived in Tasmania in 1830, to graze sheep. Family members moved to Sunbury, then Preston, grazing sheep in the Bundoora area. John Brock owned Janefield, possibly named after his wife. In 1855 he granted around two acres (0.8ha) of his estate for a school.1 In 1866 Lewis Brock bought 264 acres (107ha) in Nutfield, the first non-Aboriginal person to own that land. They planted an orchard, then from around 1935, Brock’s uncle Sandy and his grandfather Lewis, ran a dairy on the property. In the 1980s Brock and his then partner Bev, bought most of the property, which they sold after their separation in 2006.2 Brock’s father was a Hurstbridge Football Club President, but Brock’s uncle Sandy, of Brocks Road, Doreen, has been particularly active in local affairs. He was President of the Mernda Football Club (then Plenty Rovers), President of the Panton Hill Football League and he founded the Arthurs Creek and District Landcare Group. He also gave more than 50 years of service to the Whittlesea Agricultural Society, the Volunteers for Australian Football and the Doreen Rural Fire Brigade. Community service was important to Brock too. Brock, with his then partner Bev, established the Peter Brock Foundation in 1997, the year he retired from full-time V8 Supercar racing. The Foundation’s grants have included $100,000 towards the upgrade of a walking track in the Hurstbridge Parklands and other projects include a holiday house for the families of child cancer victims.3 Brother Lewis saw Brock as a spiritual person, who had a great affinity with people. He saw Brock as a role model of someone who could achieve their dreams. ‘The family didn’t have much money, yet that didn’t stop Peter realising his dreams. He was strong and didn’t let difficult times crush him.’4 Despite his later successes, Brock’s most treasured trophy was for running 100 yards (91.4m)at his primary school in 1955, and he appreciated his head master Ted Griffiths’ encouragement of his sporting endeavours. At high school Brock became captain of Everard House. In his first year he bought a 1928 Austin 7 for £5. He cut the car into a box shape with an axe and enjoyed driving it – despite it having no brakes - at his grandparents’ farm at Nutfield. The turning point in Brock’s life came at age 23, when he built an Austin A30 in an old henhouse in Wattle Glen, using a Holden engine. He was laughed at until it won the Australian Sports Sedan Championship in 1968. Brock’s career then took off and he became a professional driver. Brock won Australian motor sport’s best-known event, the Bathurst 1000, nine times. Brock endured a bitter split from Holden in 1986 over control of his Holden-backed vehicle modification business and a car performance-enhancing device he called the ‘energy polariser’– despite it having no scientific evidence to support its claims. But Brock returned to Holden in 1994.5 Then in 1997, aged 52, Brock retired from fulltime V8 Supercar racing. However he continued to race at motor sport events. Brock won several awards, including an Order of Australia Medal in 1980, the Australian Sports Medal in 2000, and the Centenary Medal.6 On September 8, 2006, Brock died; after his car hit a tree during the Targa West Rally in Western Australia.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, ferguson's paddock, hurstbridge, peter brock memorial, peter brock -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Alan King, Sign: Clara Southern, Heidelberg Artists Trail, Main Road, Research, 2008
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.1 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.2 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.3 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, heidelberg artists' trail, main road, research (vic) -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Archive Box, Shire of Eltham War Memorial
Material relating to the Shire of Eltham War Memorial located at Garden Hill, Kangaroo Ground. Also known as The Eltham Shire War Memorial Tower, Shire of Eltham Soldiers' Memorial and Kangaroo Ground War Memorial Park. Includes photocopies, newspaper clippings, correspondence and more beginning from early history 1919-2009. Contents: Archive Box 1 Folder 1 (Publication Proofs) The Tower of Remembrance and War Memorial Park On Garden Hill at Kangaroo Ground, Victoria 1919-2010 Folder 2 (Up to 1960) 1. Binder with plastic pockets. Photocopies. Minutes of the Kangaroo Ground War Memorial Bazaar Committee, 1922-1926 EDHS Newsletter No. 123 November 1998 PRESIDENT'S REPORT ACQUISITION FROM NILLUMBIK SHIRE'S MEMORABILIA Recently found in a storage box of old Shire of Eltham items was a school size, blue lined black covered writing book. It is recognized as the minute book and cash receipt book of the period 1922-1926 when the Memorial Park Committee, who it seems were part of the Shire of Eltham Soldier's Memorial League, was requested to raise funds for building the Shire of Eltham War Memorial Tower at Kangaroo Ground. History tells us that the tower, which is currently being refurbished, was officially opened by the Governor General of Australia, Lord Stonehaven on 11.11.26. The ladies invited to the first meeting at the Shire Hall did so on 21st September 1922. The minutes book reads: Present: Mesdames Bell, Bourchier, McMahon, Gosling, Cockcroft, Wraight, E Coutie, R Rogers, A Jones, AH White, Davies, Everitt and the Misses Lacey, Harris, N Weller, Gosling, Bell and D and G J Bourchier. These people became the Kangaroo Ground Memorial Bazaar Committee along with others named at further meetings. They conditionally accepted the role of raising funds, their condition being that the Bazaar Committee be given representation on any committee empowered to deal with the memorial in proportion to the amount of money raised by the bazaar'. The Andrew Ross Museum has the original book. We at Eltham District Historical Society have two photocopies for public perusal. 2. Transcriptions of newspaper articles 1919-1920. 6 pages. 3. Photocopy of program for thanksgiving service July 6th, 1919 held at Public Hall, Panton Hill. 4. Photocopies: a. Kangaroo Ground, The Advertiser, 17 Oct 1919 (working bee) b. The Advertiser August 1920 – advertisement for coach between Eltham and KG. c. Anzac Memorial Service, The Eltham & Whittlesea Shires Advertiser & Diamond Creek Advertiser, April 14, 1922 and April 28, 1922 d. Anzac Day services. April 27, 1923 e. Photocopy Anzac Commemoration, local newspaper, May 2, 1924 f. Shire of Eltham Memorial Service, The Advertiser April 23, 1926 g. Eltham Shire War Memorial Advertiser August 13,1926 h. Eltham Shire War Memorial The Advertiser October 26, 1926 i. Eltham The Advertiser, December 17, 1926 j. Kangaroo Ground April 26, 1929 5. Photocopy. Eltham War Memorial Tower article, The Advertiser, November 19, 1926 6. Typed transcription of parts of newspaper articles for three titles, November 1926 7. Transcription. Public Notice, October 16, 1926 8. Photocopy Kangaroo Ground Armistice Day local newspaper, November 25, 1927 9. Photocopy Kangaroo Ground Armistice Day local newspaper, November 16, 1928 10. Photocopy Kangaroo Ground, local newspaper, April 26 1929 11. 3 Original Copies. One Hardback. Dedication of memorial official brochure, 1951 original but damaged 12. Photocopy with notes from G.G. relating to the land transfer/acquisition/contract via White and Gepp. Folder 3 (1961-1970) 1. Original newspaper article: Place with a view at Kangaroo Ground, The Age, May 11, 1963, p18 Folder 4 (1981-1990) 1. Newspaper article, Memorial a fire watch. Diamond Valley News, March 16, 1982, 2 original copies. 2. Newspaper article. An Obvious Monument by Russell Yeoman article with photo: Network Nov/Dec 1984, p14. Folder 5 (1991-2000) 1. Original newspaper article: “Kangaroo Ground Tower is top spot”. Thought to be from a tourist information free newspaper, Mountain Country, Summer [1993] p39. 2. Newspaper article with reference to quoins – a contrasting edging or corner stone on the façade of a stone or brick house. Age August 2000 3. Program. Service program for Remembrance Day commemoration ceremony, 1996. 4. Speech by Harry Gilham for Remembrance Day commemoration ceremony, 1996 5. Newspaper article: Remembrance, Diamond Valley News, 20 November 1996 6. Word Document. A Tower of Strength by Dean Stewart April 1997 7. Newspaper articles: Tower group needed, Diamond Valley News, September 17, 1997, p3 and advertisement “Nillumbik, Nominations for Kangaroo Ground Memorial Tower and Grounds Advisory Committee”, Diamond Valley News, September 17, 1997 8. Newspaper article: Council apology; scaling new heights, 1997 about Aboriginal Reconciliation. Probably Diamond Valley News ca 1997. 9. Photocopy / Newspaper Article: Two newspaper clippings, “Memorial with a view” 30 April 1997 and “Funds boost to restore tower to its former glory”, Diamond Valley News, 3 December 1997. 10. Newspaper article: Kangaroo Ground Tower of Remembrance Nillumbik Mail, 9th August 2000 and Research notes (July 2000) by Harry Gilham pertaining to photo in August 2000 newspaper article. 11. Photocopy. Newspaper article: New lease of life for tower (Concept plan) Nillumbik Mail, September 27, 2000 12. Photocopy: 4 pages, War Memorials of Victoria; a pictorial record, c.1994 Folder 6 (2001-2010) 1. Newspaper article: $10,000 to start refurbishment, Nillumbik Mail, Feb 21, 2001 2. Circular. KG War Memorial Advisory committee circular August 2001 3. Newspaper article: Tower group retained 4. Program for re-dedication of the Kangaroo Ground War Memorial Tower 8th November 2001 with copies of pages 65-70 of from The Tower of Remembrance and War Memorial Park 1919-2001 (see Folder 1) - Speaking notes from the day from Nillumbik Shire Mayor, Cr. Sigmund Jorgensen and Harry Gilham and Speech by John Landy, Governor of Victoria 5. 2 pages of Harry Gilham notes – Draft of ‘book’ notes ‘Thank you’ for rededication ceremony to be held Thursday, Nov 8, 2001 - list of invitations, notifications and acknowledgements. 6. Proposed running sheet. Re-dedication of KGT. November 8, 2001 7. Newspaper article (2 copies) Century of war service, DVL November 14, 2001 page 6 8. Letter. Gov. John Landy to Harry Gilham. Thank you for visit. [2001] 9. Newsletter Clipping: Governor of Victoria re-dedicates KG War memorial Tower, Nillumbik News (NSC) Christmas 2001 10. Newspaper article: War Memorial to be restored: DVL November 19, 2003 11. Newspaper article: Memorial Facelift Sept 29 2004. 12. Folder. Collection of maps and context Yarra Water proposal to build water tanks 13. Newspaper clipping. Pressure on with new tank. Re installation of water tank near site. DVL March 2, 2005 14. Folder of emails and designs from Dennis Ward re poppies and prostrate rosemary for formal garden around base of tower April 2005 15. Folder. Letters and paperwork re the Victorian Government “Community Cabinet” and invitation for community groups to speak directly with a government minister. Actual submission not included in folder. 16. Newspaper clipping. Time to remember among the poppies, Diamond Valley Leader, 9 November 2005, p1 and 17. Newspaper clipping. Lone pine company for souls. DVL 9 November 2005 18. Folder. Restoring Community War Memorials Grants Program. Application and associated paperwork 2005/2006 January 2006 19. Newspaper article. Shared views. Valley Weekly, June 21 2006 20. Newspaper article: Kangaroo Ground, Restoration on schedule, DVL October 2006? 21. Newspaper article. Towering over the terrain. The Age August 8, 2009 22. Photocopy. Nillumbik Shire Council. Policy and service report re lease of land to Victoria Police for police radio communications and re-building of radio tower. December 9, 2009 23. Schematics: A3 photocopies, Kangaroo Ground memorial Tower, front and rear view, Tom Manley, 17 Apr 2001 Folder 7 (2011 on) 1. Magazine article and cover. Cover story – The Kangaroo Ground Memorial Tower, The Genealogist, March 2010 2. Newspaper article. (2 copies) Photo and caption. Diamond Valley Leader, July 14, 2010 3. Newspaper notice: Notice of application for a planning permit to construct radio communications tower, DVL, October 10, 2012 4. Copy. Reference enquiry to National Film and Sound Archive. 10 September 2012 5. Copy letter. Quotation/estimate for Shire of Nillumbik on renovation and underpinning of old care takers cottage, KG. 30 September, 2012 6. Story. The Kangaroo Ground Tower of Remembrance by Amy Shaw. Yarrambat Primary School Year 6 History speech, 2014. 7. Program: Remembrance Day service, 11th November 2014 8. Newspaper article. Tribute to bravery DVL, November 19, 2014. 9. Minutes. MAC meeting. 2 September 2016. Folder 8 (Interpretative Signs Grant 2000-2001) 1. Folder. Various including Letters. EDHS Grant project: Kangaroo Ground Park and Tower of Remembrance interpretative signage from Parks Victoria 2000-2001. Folder 9 (Miscellaneous) 1. Folder Gilham collection. Google earth images of Tower, Extract describing history of Tower, including honour roll for WW1 and WW2, 8 pages, Extract describing history of Tower, including honour roll for WW1 and WW2, 3 pages, 2002 and 2004; Kangaroo Ground Tower; Southwell-Keely M.; WAR MEMORIALS IN AUSTRALIA; 8 pages, https://web.archive.org/web/20080722161554/http://www.skp.com.au/memorials2/pages/30054.htm) 2. Letter. Undated, unsigned re application to council to proposed work to police radio masts behind caretaker’s cottage. 3. Brochure: Heritage Nillumbik. Includes cover photo and other information about site. Published by Nillumbik Shire Council. About 2006. 4. Folder of notes and photocopies of various Certificates of Title for property 5. Inward loan documents. Two. Andrew Ross Museum inward loan for collection items from “War Memorial Tower” 2003 6. Photocopies of postcards of Soldiers War Memorial: One taken c.1926 before completion around base, on colour print on paper (enlarged) of Soldiers War Memorial postcard c.1930s prior to gun placements with typed text pasted on and additional detail version mounted on card with handwritten explanatory notes by Harry Gilham. 7. Photocopy of photo of tower 1944 with guns in place from Gordon and explanatory notes plus A4 photo paper print of image (photoshopped cleaned up). 8. Miscellaneous photocopies of photos taken by Harry Gilham of Memorial Park entrance, model tower in font of tower entrance, caretaker’s cottage, spiral staircase, Menin Gate sign and possibly planting of Lone Pine. Folder 10 (Fire Spotting Operations) 1. Biographical notes on Herman Motschall 1969-1981 2. Newspaper article, Memorial Tower top site for fire spotter, Diamond Valley News, May 15, 1973. 3. Proper Officer's report on an addition to the Kangaroo Ground Memorial Tower for Fire Spotting purposes: "This report covers the history of the tower, its uses, and reasons why it should be put to greater use, benefiting the Shire Council and ratepayers" Includes detailed commentary around the proposal to use the Shire of Eltham War Memorial at Kangaroo Ground for fire spotting. From Shire of Eltham archives. H. J. Masefield Property Officer. 4. Eltham Shire Council meetings 14 and 24 September 1973 references to fire watching facilities. Summary of end of season reports from spotters 1965-1973. 5. Newspaper clipping; Memorial a fire watch by Marguerite Marshall Diamond Valley News 16 March 1982 6. Letter: Cover letter from Dennis Ward 20 Feb 2006 architect for CFA Cabin design and Proposal to upgrade the fire spotting cabin, 2007 including a cost and concept plan dated 7 February 2009. 7. Newspaper article. From that first puff of smoke – horror. Diamond Valley Leader, Feb 25, 2009, p. 7 8. Invitation: State Government announcement of refurbishment of KGWM Fire spotting tower 19 October 2009 9. Newspaper article. Tower– up, Black Saturday watch. Cover and page. Diamond Valley Leader, October 28, 2009 10. Invitation. Opening of newly upgraded fire spotting tower, 11 April 2010 11. Newspaper article. Incredible luxury at fire spotting tower, Diamond Valley Leader, April 21, 2010, p, 5 12. Printout of plan of base of tower including comms cabinet and ladder to CFA cabin. Dated 17/6/2010 Archive Box 2 Folder 11 (Moor-rul Viewing Platform) 1. Agenda. Planning and building committee 12 March 2003 Application for construction of a viewing platform and road entry refurbishment and coach parking bay. 2. Envelope. Letters, paperwork and emails, mainly from Dennis Ward re roof design for the viewing platform and order for poppy seeds. 2005 3. Newspaper article (enlarged and laminated). Stolen Red gum seats sap new project’s momentum. (Local paper), April 3, 2007 4. Convenor’s Notes – Opening of the Viewing Platform at Kangaroo Ground, Shire of Nillumbik 5. Folder. Nillumbik Reconciliation Charter. Opening of the Moor-rul viewing platform 17.4.2008. Compiled by Harry Gilham. Includes newspaper clipping, speech, photocopy of photos with captions. 6. Newspaper article. View from the hill is a thrill. Heidelberg and Diamond Valley Weekly, April 22, 2008 7. Newspaper article. A platform towards reconciliation. Diamond Valley Leader, 23 April 2008. 8. Newspaper article: 6 reasons to visit Hurstbridge, The Age, Jun 6 2012 9. Article: Aboriginal cultural values and heritage management issues 10. Folder: Material relating to design and construction of viewing platform Folder 12 - Shire of Nillumbik Advisory Committee 1. 2011 Diary, Harry Gilham, Kangaroo Ground Advisory Committee 2. Photocopy. Newspaper clipping. Nillumbik Council seeking nominations for new Kangaroo Ground Memorial Tower and grounds advisory committee. DVN 17 Sept 1997 3. Letter. From NSC to Dean Stewart re heritage listing status. 12 July 1998. 4. Business paper for NSC Council meeting: KG Memorial Tower and Grounds advisory committee, 12 March 2002. Includes Terms of Reference Folder 13 - Friends of Kangaroo Ground War Memorial Park Inc. 1. KG Tower and land occupational health & Safety (guidelines) for volunteers 2. Supplementary notes (not related to fire spotting) from Friends group or advisory group of Kangaroo Ground War Memorial Park including design of seating, proposed budget for works, hand written notes from meeting by H.G. about 1999. Folder 14 - Soldiers. 1. Folder of material pertaining to men from the Shire of Eltham who enlisted in WW1 and for whom the Shire of Eltham War Memorial was dedicated. 2. Folder on residents from Shire of Eltham who died in WW2 1939-1945 with listings of each from Commonwealth War Graves Commission, WW2 Nominal Roll for Eltham 3. Newspaper article: Mates join to recall past, Diamond Valley News, November 16, 1994 4. Newspaper article: Board replaced, Diamond Valley News, September 2, 1998 about Hurstbridge RSL Honour Roll Board 5. Newspaper article: Keeping the memories alive; VP Day honoured, Valley Weekly, August 17, 2005 6. Newspaper article: In our hearts; Tributes for war heroes, Diamond Valley Leader, November 9, 2005, p1 7. Newspaper article: Service honoured, Diamond Valley News, Leader, April 23, 2008 8. Newspaper article: Salute to last men standing, Diamond Valley Leader, April 20, 2011, p1 and Last of the world warriors, pp8-9 9. Newspaper article: We will remember, Diamond Valley Leader, April 25, 2012, p3 10. Newspaper article: Family legacy builds whole town, Diamond Valley Leader, Oct, 2013, p15 11. Photos and details of Honour Boards in the shire 12. Miscellaneous notes by Harry Gilham Folder 15 – Welcome Home Committee Meeting Minutes. 1. Extracts from Welcome Home Committee Meeting Minutes 18 August 1917 to 14 August 1919. Folder 16 – World War One Local Enlistments. 1. Lever arch binder containing records of local enlistments by name from the Diamond Valley including extracts from Commonwealth War Graves Commission records. Includes Newspaper article clipping "Digger's marker of respect: Temporary cross a poignant find after eight decades in dusty garage"; Sunday Herald Sun, November 10, 2024, p33 concerning Private Harry Conway who died April 1918 and whose tempory grave marker cros now housed at Montmorency-Eltham RSL. Archive Box with documentsharry gilham collection, fire spotting, kangaroo ground, shire of eltham war memorial, masefield h. j., cfa, kangaroo ground war memorial park, shire of eltham soldiers' memorial, eltham shire war memorial tower, harry conway, montmorency-eltham rsl sub-branch -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Document, Certificate as to Trustees of Wesleyan Church land, Lot 20 Henry Street, Little Eltham North, 7 Oct 1901
The Trustees for Lot 20 Henry Street were declared by the Wesleyan Methodist Church on 7 October 1901 to be Revd. Barnabas Shaw Walker, Minister of the Pentridge Circuit, Joseph Cooper, Gardener of Keelbundora, Samuel Jeffrey, Farmer of Jika Jika, Francis Thomas, Farmer of Doncaster and sometime of Keelbundora, John Brown, State School Teacher, William John Taylor, Gardener, Robert David Taylor, Gardener and Isaac Hill, Dealer, all of Eltham. Originally purchased in 1856 from Thomas Roberts, Yeoman of Little Eltham, for £10 for use by the Wesleyan Chapel, represented by indentured Trustees, Rev. Barnabas Shaw Walker, Minister of the Pentridge Circuit, Francis Thomas, Farmer of Keelbundora, William Harriman, Blacksmith of Nillumbik, Nicholas Rodda, Farmer of Nillumbik, Aaron Grimshaw, Farmer of Greensborough, Joseph Cooper, Gardener of Keelbundora, Peter Dredge, Scholmaster of Jika Jika and Samuel Jeffrey, Farmer of Jika Jika. Lot 20 of Subdivision of Portion 13, Section 4 of the Parish of Nillumbik in the County of Evelyn was located on the southern side of Henry street in Little Eltham North, where the current Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church is situated. It became the location of the Eltham Rechabite Hall. In 1893 a new hall was built and further enlarged in 1919. At the commencement of 1922, the property was purchased from the Independent Order of Rechabites with publicly subscribed funds and a new hall built at a cost of £750 and improved road access constructed to reduce the grade, running from Dudley Street to Henry Street. This hall was eventually replaced with the new Shire Offices and Hall built on the corner of Arthur Street and Main Road, which was opened in 1941. Traces the earliest history of the Eltham Public Hall in Henry Street and the various names, occupations and abodes of the Trustees associated with the propertyeltham public hall, eltham rechabite hall, eltham wesleyan chapel, francis thomas, henry street, james abel marsland, james massland, john brown, joseph cooper, little eltham north, rev barnabas shaw walker, robert david taylor, samuel jeffrey, trustee, william john taylor, little eltham, isaac hill -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Newsletter, Newsletter, No. 256 February 2021
Contents: • A Very Special Year by Jim Connor • A Very Different Year • Heritage Walk – Woodridge Wander – Saturday 6th March with Russell Yeoman • My School Excursion by Rose Dumaresq • Our Coronavirus Pandemic Year by Liz Pidgeon • Eltham Cemetery Shares Unique Christmas Stories by Rita Woolley • Mud Brick in the Nillumbik Shire by Frank Taylor • . . . from Dust to Dust by Neil Douglas • William (Jock) Frater • Eltham Cemetery Stories by Richard Pinn o John Wright Murray o Thomas Henry Orford • Contacts for the Eltham District Historical SocietyThe Shire of Eltham Historical Society was formed in October 1967. The first newsletter of the Society was issued May 1978 and has been published continuously ever since on a bi-monthly basis. With the cessation of the Shire of Eltham in late 1994, the Society's name was revised to Eltham District Historical Society and this name first appeared with issue No. 103, July 1995. The collection of the Society's newsletters provides a valuable resource on the history of the Society's activities, office bearers and committee members, guest speakers and subjects of historical interest pertinent to the former Shire of Eltham and the Eltham District.A4 newsletter distributed to members (Digital and A4 photocopy)newsletter, eltham district historical society, covid-19, coronavirus pandemic -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Journal - Newsletter, Newsletter, No. 272 October 2023
Contents: • Vale - Sue Law - 27th September 1937 - 8th August 2023 • Our Next Meeting - 7.30pm Wednesday 11th October 2023 • Heritage Excursion - Saturday 4th November 2023 - Eltham Gateway Walk • Eltham Films by Richard Pinn • Serendipity In Eltham by Terry Beaton • Alan Marshall by Jim Connor • Nillumbik Historical Society 50th Anniversary by Liz Pidgeon • Eltham East Primary School 60th Anniversary • The MEN behind the Names – Eltham Roll of Honour Board (Part 2) by Terry Beaton • Local History Centre Room Names • Eltham Cemetery Stories by Liz Pidgeon o Beatrice Wanliss Morrison, nee Irvine, 1899-1989, Naturalist and Community volunteer • Experience Eltham Cemetery by Julia Drew The Shire of Eltham Historical Society was formed in October 1967. The first newsletter of the Society was issued May 1978 and has been published continuously ever since on a bi-monthly basis. With the cessation of the Shire of Eltham in late 1994, the Society's name was revised to Eltham District Historical Society and this name first appeared with issue No. 103, July 1995. The collection of the Society's newsletters provides a valuable resource on the history of the Society's activities, office bearers and committee members, guest speakers and subjects of historical interest pertinent to the former Shire of Eltham and the Eltham District.A4 newsletter distributed to members (Digital and A4 photocopy)newsletter, eltham district historical society -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Document - Map, Victoria. Department of Crown Lands and Survey, Town of Eltham, Parish of Nillumbik, County of Evelyn, 2 October 1929
Township of Eltham, Parish of Nillumbik, County of Evelyn / lithographed at the Department of Lands & Survey Melbourne 5th June 1888, amended 2 October 1929 This amendment from the 1888 original shows the reserve for the the State School marked as permanent with dimensions added to Main Road and block frontages along Main Road between Mount Pleasant Road and Dalton Street and Metery Road Possibly photocopied from a copy held at PROV by Harry Gilham whilst resaerching Eltham Primary School history in 1995.a. armstrong, a. lavard, arthur c. allan, arthur c. allen, b. bowatere, baxter street, benjamin oliver wallis, bolton steet, c. souter, c.s. hain, cemetery reserve, charles brown, charles newman, charles symons wingrove, christopher caldwell, church of england, d. anderson, dalton street, david ballard, e. james, e.m. peck, edward dumaresq, eltham town, ely street, f.e. falkiner, f.m. peck, falkiner street, flint street, g. buckingham, g. drabble, george stebbing, godalmin street, h. peck, h.c.whess, h.h. farquharson, h.j. bews, henry stooke, j. goer, j. mcdonald, j. mclaren, j. roberts, j.b. knagers, james irish, jane bailey (nee matthews), john l. smith, john mason, john scott, john smith, joseph stevenson, joseph verse, k. wingrove, k.e. dunstan, kerby street, kirby street, location tbd, m. coman, map, michael o'shea, o.b. mccutcheon, p. & g. tumbull, p.k. mccaughan, p.p. cotter, porter street, pound reserve, robert hepburn, roman catholic church, s. evans, samuel dagley, samuel phillips, samuel ramsden, t. upton, t. watkins, t.a. stark, t.c.b. batt, t.p. cross, thomas grant, thornton street, w. adam, w. blain, w. long, w. watkins, w.f. ford, w.h. hull, w.r. belcher, w.t. schultz, william thomas, eltham primary school, eltham state school, eltham state school no. 209, quarry reserve