Photographer Sean Fennessy and stylist Jess Lillico live in a brick and timber pavilion high on Wurundjeri land overlooking hills of blue–green eucalyptus. In this extract from Bush Modern, they share what drew them, and many others, to this landscape.
We both grew up in country Tasmania, meeting during our university days in Hobart, a picturesque southern outpost close to national parks and beaches. Our move to Melbourne, a city of 5 million people, was culturally energising but left us feeling disconnected from nature. The next decade was spent moving between inner-city share houses and, eventually, into a sturdy 1970s red-brick apartment overlooking a racetrack, while we established our careers. As we became increasingly experienced in our jobs, styling and photographing beautiful high-end homes, we developed an appreciation for architecture and fine craftsmanship, even as we craved an aesthetic that felt more ‘real’.
Like many city folk, we would make occasional day trips to Melbourne’s bushy outer suburbs of Warrandyte and Eltham for the simple pleasure of walking among trees and watching the calming flow of the Birrarung. On warm days we would join the crowds at riverside swimming holes. At some point we realised the homes were quite nice, too. They were vastly different from the ornate Victorian-era cottages of the inner city, and with many of the classic mid-century calling cards: flat roofs, wide eaves, split levels, clerestory windows. But there was also something altogether more organic about these homes. The soft, uneven texture of mud brick was common, punctuated by hefty timber beams. Intriguing native gardens were naturalistic and strewn with boulders. Eventually, the name ‘Alistair Knox’ infiltrated our consciousness and we began the hunt for our own outer-suburban home among the gum trees.
The region in which we settled — historically known as Eltham Shire, now divided between several municipalities, most notably Nillumbik (a Woi-wurrung word meaning ‘shallow earth’) — lies around 30 kilometres north-east of Melbourne’s city centre. Here, the rocky hills and clay soils proved a natural barrier to development in a city that has otherwise expanded steadily over sandy plains for nearly 200 years, its unquestioned British sensibilities leading to an often-uninspired architectural landscape.
Over time, the bush communities that formed along the path of the Birrarung developed a formidable sense of independence, nurtured by the artists and free thinkers who made their homes there, seduced by the valleys, mists, and sense of tranquillity — not to mention the affordable land prices. This maverick spirit permeated the wider district, spilling over into certain parts of neighbouring shires.
The catalyst for this architectural evolution arrived in the late 1940s, when post-war building supply shortages collided with the thriving non-conformist community. With banks reluctant to provide financing to a part of the city considered ‘hillbilly’, the people turned to the earth and began building their own homes from mud bricks. Although an earth-building revival was also emerging in the desert landscapes of New Mexico, here, in the bushy urban fringe of Melbourne, the differences in style were striking.
Pioneering local building designer Alistair Knox — whose influences included Frank Lloyd Wright and Walter Burley Griffin, alongside a deep appreciation for utilitarian Australian farm buildings — led the charge with an early burst of creativity. In doing so, Knox laid the foundations for one of the first truly ‘Australian’ architectural movements. One that considered the environment above all, spoke to the needs of the community, and was attainable within the economic conditions of the day.
Well into the 1970s Eltham Shire continued to attract those eager to escape city life and build houses ‘of the land’.
Bush Modern by Jessica Lillico and Sean Fennessy (Thames & Hudson, Australia).
Photography Sean Fennessy