Eaglemont

By Anthony Noack

Eaglemont is a short work of fiction that follows the development of the Melbourne suburb of Eaglemont and the changing landscape of the adjacent Yarra Valley.

The narrative follows a young boy who wanders through the suburb with a sketch book full of old pictures and cuttings. As he opens this book, he interacts in his imagination with the historical characters that shaped the land around him.

Through his travels, we discover the story of the original inhabitants of Mount Eagle, the Heidelberg School of Artists who made it for a time their home and explore the lands reconstruction by one of the nations most influential architects, Walter Burley Griffin.

The book will be of interest to anyone with a concern for the changing face of the wider Australian landscape.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anthony Noack
• Release date: Mar 7, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458056894

Anthony Noack

Anthony Noack is a playwright and writer from Australia.

Book preview

Eaglemont

By Anthony Noack

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Cover Image

Arthur STREETON

Australia 1867 – 1943

Golden Summer, Eaglemont 1889

oil on canvas

81.3 x 152.6 cm

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Copyright © text Anthony Noack 2011

First published 2008 by Ginninderra Press

The air was rapidly heating up as James made his way along Heidelberg Road to where the first of the secret entrances lay. The footpath was cracked like an over-boiled egg and weeds popped up at intervals through its fractured surface, the sole stubborn protesters demonstrating against the dead roof placed rudely over the earth.

The young boy had only been outside a few minutes but his bronzed skin was already taking on the translucent sheen of a late summer’s sweat. He’d dressed for the weather, with a loose T-shirt and old grey shorts. School and its dreary lessons had finished months ago, but he still wore the shorts as they were well worn in and comfortable. He had a whole new uniform now, all stiff and scratchy. It would take time to get used to, like many things.

James stepped off the footpath and through the shaded entrance of a narrow and leafy lane. The morning sunlight streamed through slits in a wooden fence and he let his chopped-up shadow lead him through to the irregular slice of land behind the housing divisions. He moved quickly through this small park and on up to Outlook Drive, where he met the secret stairs.

The sweet smell of warmed blossoms greeted him as he stepped up the old railway sleepers half-hidden by long, dangling leaves. On his left a conifer stood tall, like a sentinel, guarding the rusted fence line. On the right, there was a white house with peculiar windows and wide eaves. The house was bent around in a U shape and James stood to examine it whenever he passed. Even though they often got in the way of his travels around the hill, James was very interested in houses. Like a landscape, they could be passed by and through without a second thought or, with the right eyes, stared at for hours.

James took out his battered sketchbook and opened it to a page full of pictures of long-gone landscapes. He examined the old images and then ran his finger over a collection of dried gum leaves pasted in the lower corner. As he studied the animated pages of his book, imagination took hold and the secret began its work. The concrete crumbled as the earth drew breath again and the floral perfume was replaced by the fresh smell of eucalypt. As the fences fell away, wild grasses and ghostly trunks were revealed in the land behind them. It reminded James of watching

Reviews for Eaglemont

[juzzeau · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A lyrical and historically rich wander through Eaglemont. For someone who knows the area well, this was a pleasure to read. The central character of the young boy was well drawn and his musings suffused the novella with melancholic reflections on the rate of urban development, the suppression of nature and the loss of indigenous ways of inhabiting the land. At the same time, the pleasures to be taken in the natural beauty of the area, the paintings of the Heidelberg school artists, and the skills of Walter Burley Griffin's urban planning were powerfully evoked.