This major publication uncovers the history of art, architecture, and design in Frankston, Victoria, and the surrounding areas of Baxter, Carrum, Langwarrin, and Mt Eliza. It also embeds the fifty-year history of McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park as an integral part of the region’s history.

The book begins with the art of the Bunurong people from pre-colonisation through to the present day, then continues with nineteenth-century colonial views of Frankston, before focusing on local resident and visiting luminaries such as Harry and Annie “Nan” McClelland, Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin, Sir Daryl and Lady Joan Lindsay, Sir Keith and Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, the renowned Boyd family of painters and potters, and Frankston-born contemporary artist Rick Amor.

Other chapters explore responses to the coast, including Stanley Kramer’s cult-classic film On the Beach (1959), post-WW2 modernist architecture and stained glass, public art and memorials, and the history of McClelland Gallery, which is so integral to the Frankston region.

Winner Victorian Community History Awards 2023 Collaborative Community History Award.