In what is likely to be a marquee event on May 5, the contents of "Romalo" in Magill, the Italianate home of Bunty and the late Warren Bonython will be auctioned. Tenders have closed for the purchase of the house, which had been occupied by the Bonythons for 90 years.
The sales follows the death of Warren Bonython, pioneer of the Heysen Trail named after South Australia's most famous artist, Sir Hans Heysen.
Warren, who died at the age of 95 on April 2 last year, was the brother of Kym Bonython, a jazz enthusiast and art dealer with an eye for large abstract and modern figurative paintings.
However, there are no such paintings nor traditional paintings in which another brother Hugh specialised, illustrated in the on line interior shots of the property as offered for sale by the real estate agents Toop & Toop. These photographs were still visible on Saturday.
The auction of the contents is expected to be held in a grand marquee in the grounds. Mossgreen appears to have beaten local auction houses to the sale which, judging from the photos, is possibly best held in Adelaide.
They illustrate big heavy furniture such as late Victorian desks and long case clocks which might easily be placed in large South Australian stone mansions and lots of carpets which come in handy during Adelaide's particularly cold winters.
The textiles reflect the long distant background in the textile industry by Bunty. Her husband Warren was a more austere person with a background in chemical engineering and a love of long distant walks and climbs, from Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa to the Flinders ranges.
The Heysen Trail is a long distance walking track in South Australia running from Parachilna Gorge in the Flinders Ranges via the Adelaide Hills to Cape Jervis in the Fleurieu Peninsula, and was largely the brainchild of Warren who had walked it. He had suggested it in 1969 but political obstacles and objections from land and property owners at various points set back its development.
The house is described with some reliable accuracy as a most gracious residential estate and one of the state's landmark residential properties.
Nestled into an expansive 14,280sqm of land (approx. 3.53 acres), it has 12 principal rooms, 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, numerous sitting rooms and studies.
There is a swimming pool and offsetting the visible evidence of oils on canvases "a relatively blank canvas for garden lovers to create your own wonderland."
Two substantial stone barns are located to the east of the estate and are character buildings in their own right.
The interior photographs on the website were taken in rooms where there was less substantial clutter to enable more airy, well lit views.
Adelaide is likely to see a further flurry of auction excitement on March 30 when auctioneer Jim Elder with rooms in North Adelaide sells the David Dallwitz Collection.
Dallwitz was a South Australian jazz musician and artist who was awarded an Order of Australia for services to music in 1986. He died in 2003.
Associated with the foundation of the Contemporary Art Society in South Australia he painted bold strong images and after 1979 tended to focus on his painting and printmaking, the latter especially featuring in the catalogue of the Elder sale.
Warren Bonython, explorer and conservationist, likewise received a gong (an AO) for services to Australia.
Caught up in the impending preparations for a flurry of auctions, the managing director of Mossgreen Auctions, Mr Paul Sumner, could not be contacted for comment.
Another link to the past however comes with the closure of the Eva Breuer Gallery in Sydney.
Established 20 years ago the gallery in Moncur Street, Sydney is to close on May 31 four years after the death of the woman who established it as one of Sydney's most vibrant art spaces, in two small rooms in the street's celebrated "Number 96" building.
