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WHEN it came time to find a place for some of her family’s most treasured possessions Julie Scott had to look no further than the Chiltern Athenaeum Museum.
Now 96-years-old, Ms Scott was born, grew up and worked as the bookkeeper for her family’s grocery store in the town.
Scott’s Grocery was started by Miss Scott’s great-grandfather, Robert Scott in 1874 and a succession of family members ran it till 1974.
It was during that time the family acquired two paintings by poet and artist Alfred William Eustace, who was also a shepherd who tended his flocks in the Chiltern region.
Best known for his depictions of agricultural scenes which, for the want of more traditional art material, he painted on Red Box and White Box gum leaves, Eustace also created evocative scenes on canvas.
It is two of those canvasses which have decorated the walls of the family home, Batehoven in High St Chiltern that Miss Scott has recently donated to the museum.
They now hang alongside many of the artist’s gum leaf paintings which have become a featured attraction for the museum.
“The paintings had been in the house from when my grandfather lived there,” Miss Scott said.
“They were just something that was in the house I didn’t take much notice of them as a child.
“The younger members of my family don’t really appreciate them so I thought they really belong in the museum.
“When they started the Eustace collection at the museum I thought it would be the place for them.”
Along with the paintings, Miss Scott has donated part of her grandmother’s wedding dress and a baby’s gown which belonged to her aunt, Alice Scott.
Her grandparents, William and Julia Scott married in Chiltern in 1887.
“I enjoy seeing them in the museum, it’s a way of showing people what was worn in those days,” she said.
“Chiltern is vastly different now from when I grew up.
“The clothes have always just been kept in drawers so it is good to see them out so people can see them.”