The Heidelberg School was the first significant art movement in Australia.The name originated in July 1891, when art critic, Sidney Dickinson wrote a review of the exhibitions of works by Walter Withers and Arthur Streeton. Dickinson noted that these artists, whose works were mostly painted in the Heidelberg area, could be considered as the 'Heidelberg School'. Since that time, the Heidelberg School has taken on a wider meaning and covers Australian artists of the late 19th Century who followed plein-air painting. The trail consists of a series of high quality interpretive signs focussing on the internationally- renowned ‘Heidelberg School’ of art.

The signs include reproductions of some of the artists' most famous pieces, located in or near where the artists painted or lived, together with a description of each of the works. This allows visitors to experience not only how the artists interpreted the landscape, but also how the landscape may have changed since the artworks were produced.

The trail recognises the importance of the Heidelberg School and provides a way of learning more about the Heidelberg School Artists and their many fine artworks.

The trail is ideal for tourists, day trippers and the general public who may be interested in the Arts.

You can start anywhere along the trail as it has no particular beginning or end!

Heidelburg School Artist Trail Website

James Alfred Turner began visiting the Maroondah area in the 1880s. He loved the Australian bush and spent the rest of his life painting it almost exclusively. On rare occasions he would take a holiday and there are a few examples of seascapes and open farmland painted during these times away.

Turner bought an eight-hectare (20 acre) property on the corner of Mt Dandenong and Glen Dhu Roads, Kilsyth.   Turner usually travelled around the district by horse and buggy carrying his painting equipment and making sketches of cottages and people at work around their properties. He exhibited with many of the prominent Victorian art societies, as well as public art exhibitions and also sold from his own studio.

Turner paintings listed in exhibition and sale catalogues from the 1880s to the present have mostly rural or bush life titles.  He generally painted small to medium canvases, but was always working on a few large paintings for special shows and exhibitions.  He received awards for his large works, which were exhibited alongside many of the early Heidelberg School artists.  This Artists Trail depicts 6 of J A Turner’s most memorable paintings. To download a copy of Maroondah’s Walks & Trails Brochure go to: http://www.bizmaroondah.com.au/walks&trailsbrochure