Reminiscences of environmental artist Neil Douglas as told to Abbie Heathcote. Kangaroo Island stories, living naturally, bumbling through the Depression, Robinson Crusoe gardening, trials of a conservationist, health and home, artist friends, aninal friends. Illustrated by Neil Douglas and incudes photographs of his home and garden at Bend of Islands.1. Paperback; 140 p. : ill. ; 25 cm. 2. Hardback (missing dust jacket); 140 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.ISBN 095950950xstories, social customs, alternative lifestyles, kangaroo ground, gardening, reminiscences, bend of islands, conservation, neil douglas, abbie heathcote, environment,

In May 1972 an alternative lifestyle festival gathering was staged on the Sunbury Village Green area. The sculpture, using recycled building materials, was displayed for the gathering.A black and white photograph of a sculptured monster which has been constructured from recycled building materials. It has been called the 'Growth Monster'. A woman and three children are looking at the art work.recycling, alternative lifestyle festivals, sunbury village green, george evans collection

It’s hard to believe, as look at Alistair Knox Park, that this whole area was a tip in the 1960s. Although now valued as a natural attraction, the hills and lake are human made, with the hills built on mounds of rubbish. School children planted many of the trees. Many of the large eucalypt trees are remanent of the original bushland. The park has a National Trust Landscape Classification. It was close to this location that the Eltham Obelsik was originally located in 1919 and had to be relocated when roadworks were undertaken to widen the intersection. The park is named for Knox who was a local designer, builder and advocate for an alternative lifestyle, best known for use of mudbricks. Tomorrow's history documented todayeltham, jim connor collection, main road, eltham gateway, alistair knox park

Published Leura, NSW : Second Back Row Press, 1985 150 p. : ill., plan. ix, 150 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. First published: Canterbury, Vic. : Mullaya Publications, 1975. ISBN 0909325642 Summary Development of the Australian environmental building, using conservation principles including mud brick, timber and iron buildings, by Alistair Knox. Contents: The idea The first building The conflict The earth building movement Murphys Creek Homestead Post-war architecture and natural building Pseudo affluence Crises and correctives Landscape and landscape building Country houses The Australian identity Timber buildings'Corrugated iron Alternative lifestyle Fathers and sons Postscript Appendices: Planning for mud brick Soil types for mud brick Includes photographsPaperback; 150 p. : ill., plan. ix, 150 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.houses, buildings, mudbrick, mud brick construction, alistair knox

A discussion of Australia's bland suburbs, and the rise in brick home-building, and the alternative of urban high-rise living. Alternative leisure lifestyles associated with each are outlined. Multi-storey flats, European migration, the unplanned ghettoisation of different groups are discussed. What are the needs for a new era of Australian housing? New initiatives are outlined.Original manuscript of the chapter titled 'The Neighbourhood' (pp32-43) by Robin Boyd in the book "Living and Partly Living", by Ian McKay, Robin Boyd, Hugh Stretton and John Mant, published by Nelson, Sydney 1971.Typewritten (c copy), pencil, quarto, 29 pagesChapter in a book.neighbourhood, neighborhood, suburbia, planning, conformity, brick home, timber home, flathouses, housing commission, european immigration, swinger hill, ian mackay, merchant builders, landscaping, robin boyd, manuscript

Plum Cottage is covered by Heritage Overelay HO256 in the Nillumbuk Planning Scheme This two-lot land holding was created as a subdivision and sold to Charles Stuart McNeil by May 1955. Sometime in the period 1955-1960, the builder-designer, John Harcourt had created a pise house on the site, straddling the two subdivision lots. The designer, John M. Harcourt was a pioneer builder in pise-de-terre and mudbrick in the Eltham Shire, Eltham being synonymous with alternative lifestyles and building practises until the onset of suburbia in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. This hipped-roof house is set high above Main Road on a V-shape plan characteristic of the Arts & Crafts style, with rammed earth or pise walls, timber joinery and a cement tiled roof. The V shape plan was used by important English and Eltham Arts & Crafts designers. The use of natural materials such as stone and timber construction is an essential part of the Arts & Crafts style and Harcourt’s work. So too is the application of the style on both the exterior and interior of the house as a holistic concept. The house adjoins the Lim Joon adobe house built and designed by Alistair Knox in the same era (HO119), thus forming a distinctive pair, both using an uncommon plan form. This house was identified in the Shire of Shire of Eltham Heritage 1992 as contributory to the Eltham Gateway Conservation Area, then proposed as an urban conservation area (now Heritage Overlay Area). Land Ownership Emily Jane Smith of 12 Woodside Street Fitzroy owned Crown Allotments 1 & 2 Sections 14, 27 by August 1918, selling to William Henry Smith of 12 Woodside Street, Nth Fitzroy May 1921. (John) James Isherwood of Main Road, Eltham owned the property by 1928 (the year of his death) with the beneficiary of his estate and next owner of this site being his widow, Minnie Maria Isherwood of Cemetery Road, Eltham. His holding in Main Road included parts of what was described in rate records as allotments1 & 2 Section E6. In the late 1930s, early 1940s her son Alfred John Isherwood was also rated for the land around this site, with the rated nett annual value varying between £2 and £5. Alfred Isherwood also lived at Main Road, Eltham with his wife Ellen: her early death at the age of 24 was reported in the Argus of 1923. Part of the Isherwood land was divided off and sold to Charles Stuart McNeil by May1955. Sometime in the period 1955-1960, the builder-designer, John Harcourt had created a pise house on the site, straddling the two subdivision lots. The house is visible on an aerial photograph from 1960s. Reputedly the house was called Plum Cottage and erected for Harcourt’s mother-in-law. A garage was added in 1959. Charles McNeil died in1971 aged 87: he was the son of Don McNeil and Margaret Arkell. Available rate records from the construction era start in the of the 1970s (1972-3) and list Mr H.C. & M/S A.V. Charity at 616 Main Road Eltham of this property with a nett annual value of $740. More recent valuer's data describes the property as lots 1 & 2 LP25668, located in the Central Riding of Eltham Shire, owned by Ann Valerie Charity and later, in 1990, by the Chincarini family. Building Description This hipped roof 11 .5 square house is set high above Main Road on a characteristic-shape plan and has rammed earth or pise walls, timber joinery and a cement tiled roof. The V-shape plan was used by Important designers such as C.F.A. Voysey (UK) who interpreted medieval domestic architecture as part of the Arts & Crafts style of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The pise walls are covered with a textured render while the cement roofing tiles are also seen in the Harcourt Hill examples. Reputedly the ceiling joists are of a deep section and span long lengths with no need for hanging beams in the roof space. The ceilings are low and panelled in main rooms with apparently Caneite soft board infill panels between the exposed ceiling beams. These are painted white but may have been stained at one time. The focus of the house is the large living area with its vast random stone fireplace. Significance Plum Cottage is significant to the locality of Eltham because: Historically: • Plum Cottage is closely associated with the important historical theme of earth construction evident in Eltham and elsewhere in the Shire since theear1y Arts & Crafts inspired creations at Penleigh Boyd's The Robins (1912, HO101) and those at Montsalvat (1934-, HO82) but more prominent from the Second War period when earth building in Eltham was promoted in national periodicals as an alternative building method that avoided the building materials shortages of that era; • The choice of the earth building technique also expresses the theme of refuge or alternative living, synonymous with Eltham in the early to mid 20th century; • as a good example of domestic architecture from John Harcourt who was the first major post Second War figure in an important phase of Eltham’s earth building development, using his characteristic Old English or Arts& Crafts style that relies in this case on the pise wall construction, pitched roof forms, exposed ceiling joists, half timbering, random stonework, and panelled internal wall finishes. Architecturally: • Plum Cottage's pise wall construction is uncommon among the early earth-walled structures in the Shire, that are mainly of adobe or mud brick, and as a building material is uncommon among the Shire’s suburban dwellings generally which are clad typically with either fired clay bricks or timber boarding. Aesthetically: • Plum Cottage is a good and well preserved example of a modern Old English or Arts & Crafts style earth-walled building in the Shire • For the proximity of the significant Lim Joon adobe house designed by Alistair Knox adjoining to the north, providing a distinctive earth wall house pair, with uncommon plan forms. Reference Heritage Assessment of Plum Cottage, 616 Main Road, Eltham; Graeme Butler & Associates 2010main road, eltham, property, houses, (john) james isherwood, alfred john isherwood, ann valerie charity, arts and crafts style, charles stuart mcneil, chincarini family, eltham gateway zone, emily jane smith, h.c. charity, heritage assessment, john harcourt, john m. harcourt, lim joon house, main road eltham, minnie maria isherwood, pise construction, plum cottage

Originally these mantles where produced to be used in gas street lights in Europe and North America cities.There use started in 1891. These mantles were used before electrical power street lighting was installed. They have been used ever since until safety concerns regarding radiation from their thorium infused particles made alternate mobile lamps more attractive. The age of open flame recreational lighting is fast coming to a close. The greater use of battery and generator powered lighting(ease of operation) has brought the costing of these alternative lighting to an acceptable level. The age of miniaturisation and volatility of the open flame has seen a greater swing to smaller and more stable lighting. These incandescent gas mantles were initially used in the Coleman White Gas LanternsThe Kiewa Valley, with its closeness to the Victorian Alps, allows greater opportunity for the "happy" campers to enjoy the outdoors. The lighting provided by the incandescent gas lamps allow the adventurer at heart to enjoy an alternative lifestyle and still having the comforts of "home" at their finger tips. The numerous camping facilities in the Kiewa Valley and the upper alpine region is testament that those living in the cities need a break from the day to day grind and go to a quieter and more spiritual environment. Artificial lighting, as provided by mobile apparatus, is highly valued by the urban gypsy. The outdoor recreational industry has significantly provided for, if only at holiday time, an industry that has a relatively high employment rate and beneficial to local communities.The gas mantle is in a fabric, pear shaped, of rayon fabric impregnated with cerium. It's appearance is similar to a very small fishing net. The fabric is very ply-able until it is heated by an open flame then it becomes more rigid and lets out an incandescent white light. Its colour is white to off white. It has a draw string fastened a t the bottom (to wrap around the flame source)lighting, gas, heating, camping, outdoor equipment lamp

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

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