An update from Bronwyn Walkley

I’m writing to congratulate and thank everyone in the Friends of Eaglemont Village for their ongoing support, and for the beautiful and ongoing tributes to John in the gardens around our Village and neighborhood.

As you know, he was a fierce net-worker and advocate for our neighborhood, and I’m sure you realise how happy he would be to see the amazing array of foliage and flowers the gardens are producing.

The garden seat tucked into the Fairy Garden is a beautiful addition to the area, made from locally harvested and dried silky oak. Whenever our extended family come for a visit we make a point of going to sit there, and it is a place I love to go to reflect and remember.

Inevitably, things change. The native plant nursery on our garage roof has slowly been wound down, and almost all the plants have now been planted. Liz Dawson has taken over the seed bank and future propagation, thank you Liz. One of John’s recent presents to himself (he liked to choose his own presents to make sure he got what he wanted) was a magnificent set of graduated sieves for harvesting seeds in the wild. I have passed these on to Miriam from the Society for Growing Australian Plants, who is delighted and will put them to good use. Miriam donated the native plants which were given out at John’s funeral service in The Centre, and I’ve had many updates of how the plants are doing in their new homes.

One of John’s other lifelong passions was woodcraft, and he could turn his hand to anything and everything associated with wood. However, even he would have perhaps acknowledged that his collection was a bit too large for our spaces. I reached out to the Victorian Wood Workers Association for advice on how to best re-home the collection of wood, machinery and tools. Through them, I met John Monument and Michael O’Dwyer from the Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre. Michael is the Director of the programs and spaces which contribute to the recovery of clients of the Royal Talbot, and is always in need of quality wood. I was happy to donate the many boxes of wood John had set aside for his cutting boards and boxes, and they have gone to a very good place where they are fully appreciated. Steven Lake and I were invited to see the impressive facilities, and meet some of the people who work and volunteer there.

I then met Damien Wright who is an internationally award-winning craftsman working in Northcote, and close friend of Michael and John. You can see his work on his website wrightstudios.com.au.

Damien’s particular interest is in working with 10,000 year old redgum, sourced through mines. It is usually waterlogged, and has to be very carefully dried to preserve it for reuse. Damien had recently lost his long-term partner, who had conducted the delicate drying operation for him. I was able to donate John’s kiln to Damien, where it will continue to be put to good use. Damien also purchased a number of John’s woodworking hand tools. He too invited me to his workshop to see how he was using and respecting the tools.

Through Damien, I met Duncan Young, who you can find on Instagram as duncanyoungdesign. Duncan had been working at the Jam Factory in Adelaide and on his return to his home in Melbourne has decided to set up his own home workshop. He purchased almost of all of John’s woodworking machines, and again, I am so grateful that they will go on being used to make beautiful furniture and art.

Finally, through selling John’s chopstick making kit, I met Brandon Tang, a part time furniture designer and maker. He makes wooden grazing boards and wanted to include matching chopsticks. He was glad to be able to purchase most of John’s specialty rainforest timber collection, and passed some of it on to a local wood-turning group in Donvale.

If, as a friend of John’s, you would like a tool as a keepsake which reminds you of him, in the future we will organize an opportunity for you to do so.

The removal of the wood and machines from John’s workshop is allowing us to make use of the space as a home gym for James, and a place to park the car. We are also keeping a display of some of John’s work in the area to honor his talent, and as a reminder that this was a very happy place for him.

Bronwyn Walkley.