When Paul Plunket was only 5 years old, around 1960, he was drawn to an old print that his Grandmother had on the wall of her house. It was a print of the painting by J. A. Turner as featured in last issue of this newspaper. Paul was so surprised when he saw the image of the painting in the newspaper that he contacted the paper and arranged to show the framed print and describe how he came to have it in his possession. Paul’s Grandmother, Ina Plunket, was the one who framed the print and when she passed away in 1985 the print was bequeathed to Paul of course as she knew how much that print meant to her Grandson as he was growing up.
Paul says he always loved the image but did not know the history of it as he grew up. He describes how the painting has so much fine detail of what life was like in those days back in 1898. One can see the people in the painting using gum-tree branches to swat the fire out. Tools are easily seen, and it is not hard to see how difficult it would have been in those days to save the homestead. No local CFA fire truck on hand in those days.
Paul says that the original artist did over 200 paintings of Victoria. He lived in Melbourne and his work was immensely popular with many of his paintings reproduced onto postcards which to this day are highly sought after by collectors. Paul has been living in Leongatha over 30 years now and his Grandmother, Ina, lived in Ascot Vale.
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