By Mikayla van Loon
Exploring the somewhat unknown history of three naturalists who set up camp in Mount Evelyn over a century ago has led three historians to a shortlisted nomination in the 2024 Victorian Community History Awards.
Mount Evelyn History Group’s Janice Newton, alongside Paula Herlihy and Karen Phillips, authored the book The Woodlanders of Walden Hut in 2023 and were announced as part of the shortlist on Tuesday 4 March.
The book tells the story of E Brooke Nicholls, Charles Barrett and Claude Kinane, founders of the Walden Hut located on the Olinda Creek, who went on to be some of the most notable naturalists and writers of the early 1900s.
But more than that the book documents the Victorian and Australian nature writers who shaped the understanding of the country’s flora and fauna.
“Paula and Karen and I are thrilled to be shortlisted and I was a bit surprised because I didn’t feel it was truly a local community history (text), because I had tried to link it into nature writers in Australia, but focusing mainly on the Victorian ones,” Ms Newton said.
“So it wasn’t, strictly speaking, a community history, but yet I’m so pleased.”
From 1903 to 1907 Nicholls, Barrett and Kinane observed and recorded what they saw, writing a series of articles which would feature in The New Idea: An Australasian Journal for Women.
“They’re very beautiful descriptions of the Olinda Creek and the birds and what it looks like in the dawn and then the dusk,” Ms Newton told Star Mail before the launch of the book in September 2023.
“We give examples of their writings, it’s a very poetic but also scientific appreciation of nature. So they write romantically or sensually about nature and how it feels and looks and the colours and the scents.”
Ms Newton said she essentially wrote the book in such a way that it was “a rationale for the council, really, to remember them somehow” which led to the installation of a detailed signpost at the location of Walden Hut along the Olinda Creek Trail.
“The sign’s great and it’s just lovely to imagine these fellows going down and observing all the nature they can,” she said.
The Woodlanders of Walden Hut, paired with further research which was circulated in the History Group’s newsletters, acknowledged the contribution of Nicholls, Barrett and Kinane in initiating the development of nature writing and this award nomination further recognises the importance of this field of work.
Despite this, Ms Newton said nature writing remains less celebrated in Australia than it does overseas.
“The US have courses at university, and they have segments in bookshops, and so, yes, environmental writing is very well accepted as a category, but it’s fairly new in Australia, but I think it’s grown a little bit,” she said.
The Woodlanders of Walden Hut was named as one of 39 history publications and projects shortlisted across 11 prize categories including the Victorian Premier’s History Award.
“Victoria has a strong history and these dedicated storytellers have worked tirelessly to help all Victorians better understand our past – I congratulate them on their nomination,” Government Services minister Natalie Hutchins said.
The Victorian Community History Awards are presented by the Public Record Office Victoria in partnership with the Royal Historical Society of Victoria and supported by the State Government.
“By sharing historical books, articles, oral histories, exhibitions and creative projects, these nominees help us all to better understand our past. I thank our nominees for their contribution to Victoria’s history,” a Public Record Office Victoria director and keeper of public records spokesperson said.
The awards ceremony will be held on Monday 24 March, something Ms Newton said she, Ms Herlihy and Ms Phillips were all looking forward to attending.
