Elderslie Memories
Inspired by holidays at my Grandmother's Farm at Elderslie, Tasmania, my painting is how I remembered the old homestead on the hill named "Ferndale". I remember as a child my family singing Mockin' Bird Hill a popular song by Patti Page at that time, the songs lyrics has similarities to this property. Sadly the homestead; its dilapidated barn across the creek, and the old fruit trees are now completely gone, bushfires have destroyed all traces of the farm's features that I still remember as if it were yesterday.
It was the early 1950's, and the homestead was completely off the grid; with reliance on kerosine lamps, a wood fuel stove for cooking, tank water, a meat safe hung on the tree, and the irregular deliveries of bread and milk.
In my painting you can just see the track leading from the left, and then a path winding up to the homestead, also visible is an old rickety bridge that I crossed many times with my uncles and Grandfather to fetch water from the creek when the tank was empty. One day an eel slithered out of the water bucket we were carrying back to the homestead, I thought it was a snake, and I was frightened at the time.
The kangaroos and Wombats depicted on my painting were a common sight around the property, and I loved walking along the trails made by these animals.