Only a few days
ago, on April 1st, I was given the key to my new writing studio, one
of nine writers’ rooms beautifully nestled inside a Gothic Victorian house in
Melbourne. Glenfern, built in 1857, was the home of Captain Theodore and Lucy
Boyd and their ten children in the late 1800s. Their third son, Arthur, married
Minnie a Beckett and this painting couple were the grandparents of the famous
painter, Arthur Boyd – one of several famous artistic and literary Boyds.
I am so taken with
the romance of it all – the amount of creative talent that has emerged from
within these very walls, I now occupy a
little space known as Studio 4 that once would have over looked lush gardens
and a tennis court.
In the past week,
as I have climbed the stairs to prepare my new room, I could almost hear the
ghostly sounds of Lucy’s ten robust children sprinting past me on the narrow landing…I
ascend slowly, counting each step as my hand glides over the worn wood of the original
banister, hoping that if I walk slowly enough with receptive ears and
imaginative mind, somehow the tales of this grand old house will mysteriously seep
out from the old wood to reveal little secrets about the large family who once
lived here.
It has been the
book “The Boyds” (in audio version) by biographer, Brenda Niall that has really
expanded my knowledge of early Melbourne settlement. In particular, Niall
weaves together a coherent and well researched tale to include the complex
background of the careers of the Boyd family. This spans four generations of painters,
writers, sculptors, architects and details their trials and tribulations, their
family homes both in Australia and overseas, and so much more….
Glenfern was
considered a fashionable house in the gold rush days of the 1850s and in
Captain Theodore Boyd’s time, by 1882, the four acre property (not far from my
present home) had an orchard of 150 trees, including oranges and lemons. There
was a vegetable garden, a rose garden, a fowl house with wired-run for 50 hens.
The land had room for several horses and cows, stables, a tennis court, a croquet
lawn and a charming home (well known for its hospitality), with windows opening
onto the broad, shady veranda. Captain and Lucy Boyd held many a wonderful
party in the plush and spacious downstairs parlour.
One hundred and
thirty years later….
Whose room would
this have been? Whose room do I sit in to peer out from the small window under
a steep gable as they might have done? Who would have slept up here with a view
over the tennis court - sadly, now a car park for neighbouring flats. Could it
have been the bedroom shared by three mischievous boys or the young children’s
nursery? Could it have been the Nanny’s sleeping quarters or a guest bedroom?
Could it have been the very room where Captain Boyd died?
One hundred and
thirty years later…
Thanks to Writers’
Victoria (and many generous sponsors), I now have the opportunity to enjoy a
privileged writing nook in this restored National Trust house. Over the next
six months, in the bright and quiet space of Studio 4, I am determined to finish
writing the book I keep promising myself to self-publish later this year.
But first things
first…
I must make my
writing nest FEEL ‘just right’ - with little knick-knacks and inspiring prints
from my favourite artists, Miro, Cézanne, Van Gogh - with a pot of pink cyclamens
on the long white bench as well as photos of family, soft toys, comforting rugs
to cover the old sofa, a bright orange teapot and matching tea cups, a canister
of French Vanilla coffee, a thermos flask, a stereo with harp CD, a place for
my laptop…it all has to be ‘just right’ – and THEN, I think, next week, this
‘blind’ writer can feel comfortable enough in her decorated visual space to
-
just write and
write!
© Maribel
Steel 2012
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