Historic Painting Site Threatened

 

Development of the Blackburn Lake area near Melbourne, Australia, has been contested by a resident group that includes David McCubbin, a landscape architect whose great-grandfather was artist Frederick McCubbin (1855-1917), who lived near the lake and whose paintings of the area are prized.

Residents of Blackburn Lake, about 12 miles east of Melbourne, Australia, have been fighting against developers for 18 months to preserve a wildlife corridor around the lake, an area memorably painted by Frederick McCubbin. Landscape Architect David McCubbin told The Age that many urban Australians are surrounded by a ?EUR??,,????'??zeroscape of just concrete,?EUR??,,????'?? and their only notion of the ?EUR??,,????'??bush?EUR??,,????'?? is gleaned from a print like that of The Pioneer, painted by his grandfather. The site of McCubbin?EUR??,,????'???s Bush Idyll painting will likely be built on within a matter of months if the government does not intervene, as the Regis development company has approval to build eight homes on the spot.