Lelda Sunday Reed (Baillieu ‘22) attended St Catherine’s School when she was fifteen years old from 1920-1922.

She studied painting at the Bell-Shore School from 1932 to 1934 and in 1932 Sunday married John Reed. Together they bought a run down dairy farm and named it Heide after the nearby town of Heidelberg.

Heide became a haven for progressive modernist artists, writers and poets. The Reeds’ friendship and ever generous hospitality supported the now famous artists Sidney Nolan, Charles Blackman, Joy Hester and Albert Tucker. This recognition and encouragement of artistic talent underwrote the beginnings of the Modern Art movement in Australia.

The Reeds led an unconventional lifestyle at Heide. Sunday’s love of food and fresh ingredients resulted in her creation of the now famous Kitchen and Heart gardens. Sunday was also mother to Sweeney, their adopted son.

Sunday and John Reed were two of Australia’s most significant Art collectors and benefactors donating the Ned Kelly series, painted by Sidney Nolan at Heide, to the National Gallery of Australia.

In 1967 the Reeds built a modernist house nearby the old farm house and named it Heide II which they later sold to the Victorian Government together with a significant proportion of their Art collection. It was officially opened to the public as The Heide Park and Art Gallery in 1981, the year of Sunday’s and John’s death.

October 2010