You may associate idylls with the rustic, the rural, the pastoral, the peaceful, the innocent and the gently unsophisticated.
You may mainly associate idylls with everyday life in non-urban areas in pre-industrial times, or not as the case may be.
Perhaps the idea of an idyll is mainly a figment of the imagination with no actual basis in reality, whether in the past or present.
What, then, is an Australian idyll?
How is it possible to experience the idyllic in Australia, or anywhere else, with environmental disasters, experiences of violence and other unpleasantness?
You may associate the idyllic with a village-like Utopia and with Arcadia and with the natural aspects of vernacular architecture.
You may associate the idyllic with humble lives, and with humble origins.
You may associate the idyllic with dwellings merging into nature, including reasonably comfortable rural shacks, simple huts, chalets and log cabins as well as, or instead of, picturesque cottages.
You may associate the idyllic with rustic furniture, possibly made from logs and recycled materials, including pallets and second-hand items.
The idyllic may be associated with the Japanese concept
of wabi-sabi, and with the 19th century Arts and Crafts movement in Britain and elsewhere.
It may be associated with the practical use of plaster, and even a few decorative uses of it.
It may be associated with practical uses of terracotta, and even a few decorative uses of it.
It is often associated with wood, and stone, and cobblestones.
An Australian idyll does, however, require effective, long-lasting damp proofing and fire proofing.
You may be aware that death is everywhere, even amidst youth and vitality and budding blossoms.
An idyll is a diversion from thoughts of death, destruction and competitiveness. It is the opposite of the stark newness and mass production of modernism. It is also the opposite of the contrived, ironic kitsch of postmodernism.
You may not usually associate an idyll with progress.
You may associate it with crafts.