"What sort of a place is Wiregrass? Cripes, it's just a town up the bush, an ordinary sort of a place with ordinary sort of people. It's a go-ahead place Wiregrass, not only in the arts. It's got running water, and electricity, and isn't far behind in the fashion stakes either. No, Wiregrass is a buzzing metropolis. Lots of motor cars. A Beehive Store, Printery, a Mechanics Institute, a Mayor and the Royal, that's the pub!"
Percy Leason grew up in Progress Street, across from the railway where his father worked as the local grain merchant. It was a hive of activity and allowed Percy to meet many people in the district as they delivered their wheat on horse-drawn carts. As Percy grew older, he helped to stack the weighed bags onto railway carriages and often lay on the bags, listening to the conversations around him. He memorised people's appearances and mannerisms and later drew them in his sketchbook, creating valuable references for what would become his Wiregrass cartoon series.
Percy Leason rose to fame and in 1924 became Australia's highest-paid cartoonist. His Wiregrass series, inspired by his childhood in Kaniva, portrayed the humour and heart of rural life during the 1920s and 1930s. This was a period of rapid change in Victoria. Motor cars appeared on dusty roads, electricity transformed homes and businesses, and improved communications connected rural communities to Melbourne and the wider world. At the same time, families faced droughts, the hardships of the Great Depression and changing social attitudes. Through his Wiregrass cartoons, Percy Leason imagined how the people of a small country town might have viewed these events, creating a unique and often humorous record of life in the bush.
Family friendly trail featuring:
Percy Leason grew up in Progress Street, across from the railway where his father worked as the local grain merchant. It was a hive of activity and allowed Percy to meet many people in the district as they delivered their wheat on horse-drawn carts. As Percy grew older, he helped to stack the weighed bags onto railway carriages and often lay on the bags, listening to the conversations around him. He memorised people's appearances and mannerisms and later drew them in his sketchbook, creating valuable references for what would become his Wiregrass cartoon series.
Percy Leason rose to fame and in 1924 became Australia's highest-paid cartoonist. His Wiregrass series, inspired by his childhood in Kaniva, portrayed the humour and heart of rural life during the 1920s and 1930s. This was a period of rapid change in Victoria. Motor cars appeared on dusty roads, electricity transformed homes and businesses, and improved communications connected rural communities to Melbourne and the wider world. At the same time, families faced droughts, the hardships of the Great Depression and changing social attitudes. Through his Wiregrass cartoons, Percy Leason imagined how the people of a small country town might have viewed these events, creating a unique and often humorous record of life in the bush.
Family friendly trail featuring:
- Visitor Centre exhibition
- Post Office mural
- Interactive trail signage
- Distance: Approx. 450 metres (7 minute walk.)
- Suggested time: 45 minutes
- Guided tours available
- School and small groups welcome (Educational resource pack coming soon)
Explore our Wiregrass video series, and please contact us if you'd like to be featured in further videos.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For further reading, see the book Percy Leason: An Artist's Life This well researched and beautifully written biography on Leason features the artist’s entire career as a painter and cartoonist renowned for his depictions of Australian society in the 1920s and 1930s. Although the book is now out of print, copies can be obtained from Castlemaine Art Gallery.
Further background reading: see Percy's memoirs of growing up in Kaniva here. Percy Leason memoirs
Contact: All enquiries, please contact project coordinator Helen Hobbs, Ph 0429 888 250 or email [email protected]
Further background reading: see Percy's memoirs of growing up in Kaniva here. Percy Leason memoirs
Contact: All enquiries, please contact project coordinator Helen Hobbs, Ph 0429 888 250 or email [email protected]
Acknowledgement
Kaniva and District Progress Association gratefully acknowledges the Local History Grants Program and Public Record Office Victoria, supported by the Victorian Government through the Community Support Fund. We also gratefully acknowledge the ongoing support of Percy's daughter Nancy, and grandsons Mike Fenton and David Kuhfahl.
Special thanks to Jenny and Rodney Anderson, Su Jamison, Peter Perry OAM, Kaniva & District Historical Society and Kaniva residents, without whom this project would not be possible.
Images © Percy Leason Estate - courtesy of State Library Victoria, National Library Australia, and private collections.
Special thanks for financial and in kind contributions from the following people: Australian Art Trails - Annette and Eric Green, Sharon Merrett, Helen Hobbs, Glenn and Katrina Smith, John Carter, Richard Hicks, R&G Elliott, Windmill Cafe, Kaniva Pharmacy and Lumberjack Creative. And in memory of Barbara Collins, Jack and Marj Mills for their generous donations.
PROJECT UPDATES:
July 2024: Initial meeting held for community feedback. Video stories commenced.
August 2024: Pop up meeting for mural feedback. State Library visit. Permission requested to WWSC for exhibition in Visitor Centre and trail.
September 2024: Pop up meeting to select cartoon files. Mural panels and cartoons ordered
October 2024: Kaniva Show cartoon workshop, show cartoon displays, cartoon category promotion. Cartoon files prepped and mural design created (featured above).
November 2024: Painting of the mural underway. Call for people who have memories of the Post Office, to be part of video stories.
December 2024: Mural installed at the Post Office.
January 2025: Mural launch, call for businesses to display a cartoon, and people willing to share video stories.
May 2025: Council approvals finalised and project resuming.
June 2025: Test signs created and installed.
July 2025: Businesses visited and individual signs, stories and videos discussed.
Jan 2026: Large artwork commenced
May 2026: Draft signage and brochure proofed
June 2026: Signage has started to arrive and is being installed over the next few weeks.
July 2026: Signage installed and Walking tours commencing 31st July.
Project Background
Mike Fenton, grandson of Percy Leason visited Kaniva in 2003 from America, with a view to setting up a Percy Leason gallery, but it was deemed too difficult to manage from overseas. In 2013, with the assistance of WWSC's Mary Lu Amos, KDPA applied (unsuccessfully) for the small towns transformative arts grant. This was a big project and aimed to highlight all three of Kaniva's famous artists. It included a variety of elements including a Percy Leason gallery in the old Kaniva Shire Chambers, plus outdoor cut-out art installations and stop motion animation, with digital nighttime projection of Percy Leason's cartoon characters. We then applied in 2022 through the small history grant unsuccessfully and tweaked our project to apply again successfully in 2023.
