Prologue:

On a warm August afternoon in 1926, a “Meadow Party” was held at Glengarriff House on Mountain View Road. Visitors overlooked the verandah to the distant Dandenong Ranges, Mount Donna Buang, Mount Riddell, Toolebewong and Juliet of the Yarra Ranges, and Mount Sugarloaf in the Plenty Ranges. Much to their surprise and delight, the entertainment was provided by a mass of wildflowers and the songs and dances of thrushes, robins and wagtails. Today, the remnant bush at the corner of Mayona Road and Mountain View Road is home to the endangered Eltham Copper butterfly, and a popular after school hangout spot while waiting for Mum or Dad. More recently, our suburb was a trove for budding explorers with painted old fence palings becoming a suburb-wide game of hide and seek during the covid-19 lockdown.

Mountain Views speculates on a wider communal embrace of people and the land, intertwining a linear gallery with a lookout to re-engage with the views which gave the road its name. The timber structure stands gently, turning between the trees and balancing itself on the slope for above-canopy views. The charred, bent timber layers are sewn together with a myriad of unique, locally crafted ceramic blocks which dot the structure like the wildflowers of the under-storeys. The blocks provide a housing for current and future exhibitions of local paintings by budding or seasoned artists.

1. Advertiser (Hurstbridge, Vic. : 1922 - 1939), Friday 27 August 1926, page 2

2. Monty Wallys, Suburb wide game initiated by Laura Jayne, a local Monty resident, during 2020 Covid-19 lockdowns