It's the kind of experience that fewer children get these days — the Sunday drive to nanna and pop's house.
Artist Julie Ellitt has built up an entire exhibition of drawings based on that experience.
Her family would hop in the car at their Cremorne home every Sunday and drive to Rockdale to visit Ivy and David Bush, her mum's parents.
"Nanna cooked a roast and the whole extended family sat in the backyard and talked all afternoon," she said.
"The aviaries full of beautiful birds were in the background."
Ms Ellitt, who now lives in Potts Point but often visits family in St George, was fascinated by those birds and spent many hours looking at them.
Her grandfather had a most unusual job. He collected birds for Taronga Zoo in the 1950s and 1960s — a job that involved months in regions known for exotic birds, including New Guinea.
Often the birds stayed in the backyard aviary before being transferred to the zoo.
"Most of our family had an aviary in those days; it was a family thing," Ms Ellitt said.
For her first big exhibition Ms Ellitt, 55, chose St George.
She had heard good things about Hurstville Museum & Gallery and it seemed fitting that Birds in Paradise should be shown close to the source of inspiration.
Though this exhibition is dedicated to drawings, Ms Ellitt is also a photographer with a visual arts degree from the Sydney College of the Arts.
Hurstville Mayor Con Hindi said the council was committed to promoting arts.
Applications are open for exhibition space in 2016.
Birds in Paradise will run until Sunday, July 26.
