Sunnyside and Montsalvat

July 30th, 2013 | Photos, Sunnyside

I recently discovered a direct link between two artists’ communities, the little known “Sunnyside”, and the much better known Montsalvat.

I have already mentioned that frequent visitors to Sunnyside were C. J. Dennis and the sculptor Web Gilbert. Another regular member of the Sunnyside circle was the artist Percy Leason. He is perhaps best remembered these days as the artist who painted the Carlton & United Brewery advertising poster of the bearded prospector standing beside the bar with a glass of beer, with the caption: “I allus has wan at eleven”.

This photo was taken about twenty years ago in Walhalla, another old gold mining town in Victoria. The picture on the right is the Leason poster.

Percy Leason was at Sunnyside before the First World War, but after the War he and his wife built a house in Eltham. As you can imagine, there were not many people living in Eltham in those days.

It was the Leasons’ house that inspired Justus Jorgensen to also build at Eltham.

Here are some photos of Montsalvat that I took during a recent visit.