Binem ‘Bill’ Grunstein was among the first of the 170,000 ‘displaced persons’ who came to Australia after the upheaval of the Second World War, between 1949 and 1954.
He was a holocaust survivor who had stayed alive by wits and his artistic and design ability. That resourcefulness and skill helped Bill establish a garment business with his wife, Hania, after arriving in Sydney.
Bill painted on weekends and got to know his new city as a result. He joined the Royal Art Society, eventually becoming president. The society acquired premises in lower Walker Street, North Sydney, in 1956, and it may have been that proximity to the harbour that led Bill to discover Balls Head and Berrys Bay.
By the 1950s, Balls Head was regaining its forest cover, having lost almost every tree to firewood gathers and construction workers during the building and consolidation of the nearby Coal Loader from 1916 through to the 1920s.
Berrys Bay had become a favourite subject for artists during those years. Roland Wakelin, who lived in nearby Carr Street, painted the much-loved ‘Down the Hills to Berrys Bay’ in 1916. He introduced the newly arrived Queensland artist, Lloyd Rees, to the area. Lionel Lindsay and Will Ashton were among others who came to paint.
The source of their fascination was the jumble of boat sheds on the eastern side of the bay. The shapes and planes created by the sloping roofs and old iron and wood walls intrigued them.
The sheds also represented something of a disappearing waterfront. Across the harbour, new finger wharves were reaching out into Walsh Bay, Darling Harbour and White Bay, representing a modern working foreshore. The automated Coal Loader on the other side of Balls Head was the most efficient of its kind in the southern hemisphere.
In the late 1950s or 1960s, newcomer Bill Grunstein found the scene appealing as many had done before him. It is likely he painted the sheds in plein air, having set up an easel across the bay on Balls Head. Above the sheds, North Sydney is just beginning to mushroom as the high-rise twin to the city on the south side of the harbour. The artist framed the scene with angophoras, which had returned to the headland.
The untitled oil painting was acquired by North Sydney Council in 2018. The boat sheds have now gone, but Bill Grunstein’s artwork also represents a piece of Australia’s immigration story – an example of someone finding their place in a new home.
Historical Services, Stanton Library, North Sydney Council