On Thursday 8 August at 10am the Greythorn Traders Association in partnership with Trentwood at the Hub will open an exhibition at the Greythorn Community Hub located at Centre Way, Balwyn North, chronicling the early days of Greythorn as published in the Greythorn Gazette.
18 copies of the Greythorn Gazette published between 1960 and 1962 will be on public display in the open gallery at Trentwood at the Hub and sure to delight as you walk through the exhibition that covers the news, advertisements and comings and goings of the area more than 60 years ago.
The exhibition opening will be followed by morning tea.
The exhibition is open til 31 October for the public to view.
The History – Keeping the community connected
The Greythorn Gazette – 1960-1962
The first traders’ newsletter was called The Greythorn Gazette.
Pharmacist Donald (Don) Wood, whose statue proudly stands on the corner of Tannock Street and Doncaster Road on the footpath in front of Greythorn Cellars edited The Greythorn Gazette.
Donald (Don) Wood, who settled in North Balwyn in 1948, opening his modern chemist shop (283 Doncaster Road) in 1953. The pharmacy was designed and subsequently renovated in 1963 by the legendary Australian architect, Robin Boyd. After its extensive remodelling in 1963 by Boyd, the papers of the day reported it was a showpiece of shop design, which architects from England and South Africa visited to study.
Don and his wife, Lilian, worked in the pharmacy. Lilian was a trained chiropodist and cosmetician, while Don had studied pharmacy by correspondence when stationed in New Guinea during World War 2. After he was demobilised in 1945, Don ran the family pharmacy in Kew, before establishing the Greythorn pharmacy.
He was a founding committee member of the North Balwyn RSL, the first president of the Greythorn Traders Association, and briefly edited The Greythorn Gazette, a newsletter for residents, to which Lilian also contributed.