The development Edna Walling designed

Dear Trad Padders,

If you scroll down the sidebar you will come cross my links which are categorised.  One whole category is dedicated (with many links) to one woman: Edna Walling.  By the time you work your way through those links you should have a good idea of who Edna Walling was and why she and her work are so admired.

In the long ago, Edna undertook some real estate development.  The development was named Bickleigh Vale and is situated in the the outer eastern Melbourne suburb of Mooroolbark.  In Edna's time, this area would have been rural or semi-rural.  To-day it is suburban and, unless you know where to look, it is easily missed.  The development is situated around Bickleigh Vale Road, off Pembroke Road in Mooroolbark.

The road is a dirt/gravel road.  I think it is likely to be a "local road" where the local residents take responsibility for their own road.  It wanders between tall trees which appear, remarkably, never to have seen a bushfire.  Many of the houses are timber so I think the residents are probably very fire conscious since the old timber homes would probably burn like paper.

Recently one of the houses came up for sale and it had a great promotion in real estate section of The Age, one of Melbourne's major dailies.  I include some of these for your interest and titillation.  BTW, one needs something more than bottletops to purchase n this neighbourhood.

Related reading:

 

The Vision of Edna Walling: Garden Plans 1920-1951 

The Unusual Life of Edna Walling 

 

Gardens in Australia: Their Design and Care 

A Gardener's Log 

THE GARDEN MAGIC OF EDNA WALLING 

The gardens of Edna Walling 

EDNA WALLING'S YEAR: Ideas and Images from All Seasons 
Australian Roadside 
Letters to garden lovers 
Happiest Days of My Life 
Cottage and garden in Australia 
Gardens in Time : In the footsteps of Edna Walling 

Julia Gilliard, Prime Minister of Australia - where she lives

Picture from here.

Dear Trad Padders, I hesitate to bring politics over here.  I keep that to The Network.  But I ask your indulgence because Australia has just elected its first woman Prime Minister, Julia Gillard ,and you will find quite a bit of rejoicing  over at The Network about this.  

There is a little post at The Network - written before the sudden events which have thrust Julia into this most senior position in national affairs  - which suggests a place for Julia in a revised factional order of things.  Please go and have a look.

But over here at the The Trad Pad where we are interested in houses and gardens and the domestic,  I am so pleased that The Age has decided to keep us updated on the Prime Minister's domestic arrangements.  

But Julia is not Everywoman - except perhaps in terms of a certain generation, a certain demographic.  She has a male partner but is not married.  She has chosen not to have children - and, if a woman wishes to dedicate herself to a political life, this may not be a negative choice.  And Julia has announced that she will not move to The Lodge until she has been elected to office by the Australian people.  Five stars for this, Julia.  She says she is quite happy with her house In Altona and her flat in Canberra, our national capital.  The Age has given us some insight into the domestic arrangements of our new Prime Minister. 

Related reading:

Georgian Revival Architecture: Oval Office, the Lodge, Quadrangle Club, Albert Hall, Canberra, All Souls Church, Unitarian (Washington, D.c.) 

The Prime Minister's Lodge: Canberra's Unfinished Business

Official Residences in Australia: Government House, Canberra, Old Government House, Queensland, Admiralty House, Sydney, the Lodge