Elements throughout the garden coexist with the home’s architecture creating perspectives to reflect and appreciate the ingenuity of the property’s design.
Steve the Handyman comes full circle: holding a windsabre from the newest chapter in his career as the creator and founder of Grandpa’s Toyworks.
One of Mount Eliza’s most beautiful properties falls away towards a tributary of Balcombe Creek on Wooralla Drive. Steve Morrison has called number 200 on the road to the wineries his home for the last 25 years, and along with wife, Bonita, they share nine children and seven grandchildren.
Steve The Handyman, as he’s known to many in Mount Eliza, started his career as a graphic designer after graduating with a degree in industrial design. Now, more than 40 years on, he’s come full-circle, via an enviable career, to build toys he says grandparents of today’s children will remember. There are stilts, billycarts, wind sabres and more that have landed at a time when a technology driven generation of children are discovering for the first time the great outdoors and playing on the streets again until dusk.
With an active mind that never seems to stop creating, Steve built a successful printing and design firm in the heyday of advertising excess before giving up liquid lunches and weekly trips to Sydney. He’s been fixing and building at any number of properties around Mount Eliza as Steve the Handyman for almost 15 years now but lockdowns gave him another opportunity to innovate in his enviable woodworking shop.
It’s easy to forget Tully’s is down the road and The Village a couple of minutes the other way with a garden as impressive as its owner.
The property at 200 Wooralla is a sprawling pile where wisteria’s fleeting season gives way the languishing perfume of the rose from early spring to late autumn. Meanwhile, rolling hills submit to a gentle creek and beyond, a series of paddocks. Each is shaded by a mature row of pine nut trees, planted as Steve’s retirement plan. “They’re worth more than their weight in gold,” he explains. “But to get them, you have to shake the tree. Really hard!” Demonstrating, it’s clear the shade is a more valuable asset these days than the nuts glued tightly within their cones.
A series of paddocks are separated by rows of pine nut trees providing excellent shade and Steve’s golden opportunity.
Steve points out the heavy lifting required to bring the property to life. “We backed a tractor in to clear the blackberries and found the creek, and along with the neighbours next door, who also rode, we took down some fences so the kids could ride thought both properties.”
With the manège spilling forth from the home’s outdoor living, it’s easy to imagine it as a stage of sorts as Steve’s children practiced their equestrian routines.
The scene is as unique as Mount Eliza itself. The undulating landscape gives way to homes that peak out towards the bays whilst the railway track beyond signals a bygone era when farmers relied on the train to move produce to the city and goods back to the peninsula.
Horses have played a starring role in the life of the Morrison family. As Steve explains it, “All the kids rode. At one stage I had five of them in pony club.”
A bridge across the creek leads from the landscaped gardens to the shaded paddocks.
“I rode until the kids got better than me.” His daughters Georgia, Lily and Molly rode for Toorak College with one of his son’s, Ben, representing Peninsula.
Almost 20 acres proved a lot to manage, which is when the breeding of Spanish (Andalusian) horses entered the picture. The paddocks, stables, yards and manège soon followed and are maintained to a high standard.
Today, the property is a clear reminder of Steve’s legacy on the Mount Eliza community more broadly. A few horses are still agisted and a loggia looks out towards a paddock adjacent to the home. The joy and sense of discovery awakened on entering the gates is rewarded at every turn, reflecting the journey of a man for whom being interesting is a product of his broad and productive interests.
A customised billy cart from the Grandpa’s Toyworks collection.
Grandpa’s Toyworks
Saturday 10am – 3pm
200 Wooralla Drive
https://www.grandpastoyworks.com.au/
Five Live Loves of Steve Morrison
Community “I love the fact we talk and people want to talk.”
Location Mount Eliza is far enough away to be lovely but you can still work in the city every day.
The Village “It has a bit of a country feel.”
Support “90% of my work is local. When I started Steve the Handyman I was busy!”
ShopAte Guy and his team produce one of the best café experiences anywhere in the world.