"Back to Sunnyside"

[Stephen Whiteside]

Not sure where to post this, but I'll try here.

I want to let ABPA members know about a new festival, "Back to Sunnyside", that is taking place in Kallista in Victoria's Dandenong Ranges on Friday August 31st and Saturday September 1st. It's not a bush poetry festival, and it's not a folk or country music festival, but it will have elements of bush poetry. There will be performances, and workshops for both adults and children.

There will also be an exhibition of local art and historic photographs, a choral performance, a showing of the silent movie 'The Sentimental Bloke', and much more.

"Sunnyside" refers to the nearby property that was owned by Garry and Roberta Roberts in the early decades of the 20th century. It was here that C. J. Dennis finished writing 'The Sentimental Bloke' in 1913/14. He dedicated the book to Garry and Roberta.

The Roberts were very wealthy, and dedicated patrons of the arts. Garry worked for the Melbourne Tramway & Omnibus Company, and arranged for obsolete horse-drawn tram cars to be towed into the paddocks around the homestead for extra accommodation for their many friends. C. J. Dennis was given one all for himself.

Other frequent visitors included:

Mrs Aeneas Gunn (author of 'We of the Never Never')
Hal Gye (who illustrated most of Dennis' books)
David Low (who illustrated Dennis' first book, and went on to international fame as the inventor of 'Colonel Blimp')
Web Gilbert (a sculptor - amongst his many works is the Matthew Flinders statue outside St. Paul's Cathedral in Melbourne)
Percy Leason (a painter - partly responsible for the iconic 'I allus has one at eleven')
Harold Herbert, John Shirlow and Alick McClintock (also painters)

Tom Robert was also an occasional visitor. He painted an oil portrait of Garry Roberts. (They were not related.)

The festival has its own web-site, but it is still in its infancy. It can be found here:
http://www.sunnysiders.org.au/

I am confident it is going to be a great festival!