Vol. 14, No. 1, July/August 2002 HISTORY arboretum /abo'ritom/, n., pi. -ta /-te/. a plot of land where different trees or shrubs are grown for study or popular interest. [L: a plantation of trees] AUSTRALIAN GARDEN HISTORY SOCIETY Mission The Australian Garden History Society will be the leader in concern for and conservation of significant cultural landscapes and historic gardens through committed, relevant and sustainable action. PUBLICATION Australian Garden History is the official journal of the Australian Garden History Society and is published six times a year. ENQUIRIES Toll Free 1800 678 446 Phone (03) 9650 5043 Fax (03) 9650 8470 E-mail info@gardenhistorysociety.org.au Web-site www.gardenhistorysociety.org.au AGHS Office Gate Lodge, 100 Birdwood Avenue Melbourne 3004 Postal Address As above SUBSCRIPTIONS (GST inclusive) For 1 year Single Corporate $48 Family $63 $75 Youth $20 (under 25 years of age) ADVERTISING RATES (GST inclusive) 1/8 page $132 (2+ issues $121 each) 1/4 page $220 (2+ issues $198 each) 1/2 page $330 (2+ issues $275 each) Full page $550 (2+ issues $495 each) Inserts $440 for Australia-wide mailing Pro-rata for state-wide mailing EDITOR Nina Crone, 15 Acacia Rd, Promontory Views, VIC, 3959 Ph: (03) 5663 2381 E-mail: ncrone@dcsi.net.au DESIGN Small Dog Design E-mail:design@smalldog.com.au PRINTING FRP E-mail: frp@netconnect.com.au ISSN 1033-3673 Contents Viewpoint: the Smothering of a Sydney Gem 3 Mark Brandon deplores the loss of a historic landscape in Sydney. A Colonial Legacy 5 Carol Mansfield traces the history of the State Nursery and arboretum at Hamel in Western Australia. Von Mueller's Trial Ground 10 Brian Voce captures an historic arboretum on film Clover Arboretum 12 Nina Crone visits an unusual arboretum in the Victorian Alps. On Tour: Maria Island 13 Nina McCorquedale and Ivan Pearson describe the fascination of a small island explored by Nicolas Baudin in 1802. Gardens of the Imagination - an invitation 15 Photographs from Sally Dakis set the scene for garden visits during the National Conference in Hobart later this year. Working Bee Site: a Productive Garden on the Goldfields 17 Mandy Stroebel details her plan for the garden at Tute's Cottage in Castlemaine. From the Bookshelf 21 Marion Pennicuik, Trevor Nottle and Nina Crone review some recent publications. Items of Interest • Action 23 Diary Dates 28 Cover: Looking up into the pinetum planted on a steep bank at Jephcott Arboretum, Ournie, NSW. A magnificent stand of towering sugar pines in the Bago State Forest near Batlow provides a cathedral-like experience for visitors. Photos: Brian Voce COPYRIGHT © Australian Garden History Society 2001 . All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form for commercial purposes wholly or in part (other than the circumstances outlined in any agreement between the author/artist/photographer/illustrator and the Society) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Permission may be granted subject to an acknowledgment being made. Copying for private and educational purposes is permitted provided acknowledgment is made in any report, thesis or other document which has used information contained in this publication. 2 - Vol. 14 No. 1 July/August 2002 Australian Garden History NATIONAL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE Viewpoint By Mark Brandon The smothering of a Sydney gem The need to remedy the acute shortage of facilities and beds in Sydney's eastern suburbs has generated the proposal for extensions to The Scottish Hospital. In this case the need for aged care facilities has overwhelmed consideration of heritage and landscape issues. The Terraces, 1860-1866, showing the villa with terraces below it. Photo: Mitchell Library Sydney, Small Picture File It is ironic that the very topography that is an asset to the site, enabling rainforest plantings to attain their natural size and form, has also hidden the value of the site from the 'outside world'. If the site had been more highly visible, perhaps the development would have fronted more opposition. Perhaps too public apathy towards the value of a garden is in play here. Too often the historic and aesthetic values that a garden contains are overlooked. If the current proposal goes ahead the overlay of buildings across the terraces and along the eastern, northern and western boundaries will impact on the site, and make the villa and landscape terraces scarcely visible. As a result the site will no longer be able to be 'read' and understood by future generations as a former 'gentry estate'. Although support for this heritage-listed site has been forthcoming, and many people have opposed the development, approval for the proposed extensions was given earlier this year. It has been acknowledged that the hospital is of significance, but while it is desirable to see that it continues to function in its current location, the history of the site cannot be ignored. PATRON Margaret Darling CHAIRMAN Peter Watts VICE-CHAIRMAN Richard Heathcote TREASURER Elizabeth Walker SECRETARY Helen Page EXECUTIVE OFFICER Jackie Courmadias ELECTED MEMBERS Max Bourke ACT Colleen Morris NSW Stuart Read NSW Dianne Wilkins SA Malcolm Wilson NSW STATE REPRESENTATIVES GabrielleTryon ACT James Hoskins NSW Glenn Cooke QLD Miriam Hansman SA Deidre Pearson TAS Helen Page VIC Anne Willox WA BRANCH CONTACTS ACT/MONARO/RIVERINA BRANCH Gabrielle Tryon, 4 Anstey St., Pearce, ACT, 2607 Ph: (02) 6286 4585 E-mail: gmtryon@ozemail.com.au QUEENSLAND BRANCH Glenn Cooke, PO Box 4572 West End, QLD, 4101 Ph: (07) 3846 1050 E-mail: glenn.cooke@qag.qld.gov.au History of the site In 1832 Governor Bourke made land grants along Glenmore Road to 'the Gentry' of the New South Wales colonial administration. Nine acres of land were given to John Manning, Registrar of the NSW Supreme Court. This allotment was called Deep Dene. The site was subsequently sold twice and then subdivided in 1847. Over two acres of the original allotment became The Terraces, now known as The Scottish Hospital. The creator of the major improvements on the site was without a doubt Henry Burton Bradley who owned the property from 1848 to 1873 and built an impressive villa on the land. He had the series of sandstone terraces constructed down the slope in front of the villa and these gave the name. The Terraces, to the property. Bradley, reputed to have been a talented horticulturalist and garden enthusiast, employed George Harwood as head gardener. Harwood later took up the position of Superintendent of the Sydney Botanic Gardens under Joseph Maiden. 1 The two-acre site subsequently changed hands several times but fortunately, the elaborate gardens and terraces continued to be well maintained and highly regarded. Their appeal was described in evocative terms in the 1882 sale notice: "...THE GARDEN is so well known, and enjoys so high a repute for tasteful arrangement and sylvan beauty as scarcely to need comment... EDUCATED AND JUDICIOUS ARBORESCENCE pervades the whole which may be fitly described as one brilliant mass of MAGNIFICENT TREES AND RARE SHRUBS of mature growth, glorious in height, perfect in form, exquisite in symmetry, clumped and clustered together in a most attractive manner, so as to form a broad, effective picture, bright with nearly perpetual bloom, delightfully secluded as if in the deepest heart of a sequestered wood. ..." 2 Today the garden still has the flavour of the Victorian era. The variety of plants are typical of the 'collector-mania' which occurred at this time. Plants were gathered from around the globe to transform gardens, showing the owner's great taste and conquest over nature. Trees such as the Fig and Kauri Pine, at The Terraces, would have been considered exotic SOUTH AUSTRALIAN BRANCH Miriam Hansman, 66 Alexandra Ave, Rose Park, SA, 5067 Ph: (08) 8333 0043 SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS BRANCH James Hoskins PO Box 104, Goulburn, NSW, 2580 Ph: (02) 4822 1940 SYDNEY & NORTHERN NSW BRANCH Malcolm Wilson 10 Hartley St, Rozelle, NSW, 2039 Ph: (02) 9810 7803 TASMANIAN BRANCH Deidre Pearson, 15 Ellington Rd., Sandy Bay,TAS, 7005 Ph: (03) 6225 3084 VICTORIAN BRANCH Helen Page, O'- AGHS, Gate Lodge, 100 Birdwood Ave„ Melbourne, VIC, 3004 Ph/Fax: (03) 9650 5043 E-mail: helenpage@bigpond.com WESTERN AUSTRALIAN BRANCH Edith Young, 21A Corbel Street, Shelley,WA,6148 Ph: (08) 9457 4956 E-mail: eyoung@vicpark.wa.gov.au EDITORIAL ADVISORY PANEL Convener: Anne Latreille Members: Richard Aitken Max Bourke Paul Fox David Jones Megan Martin Prue Slatyer Christopher Vernon Vol. 14 No. 1 July/August 2002 Australian Garden History 3 The garden leading up to the villa, 2002. Photo: Mark Brandon for the period. Garden layout during the Victorian period saw an increase in ornamental horticulture and a decrease in the need for subsistence planting. Carefully placed exotic trees surrounding a lawn was the preferred landscape setting. The manicured lawns, utilised as outdoor parlours, became the place for the well-to-do to meet and socialise. At The Terraces people would have been entertained on the lawns and terraces adjoining the villa. The villa at The Terraces is significant as one of the few remaining 'gentry mansions' in Paddington associated with Governor Bourke's 'gentry settlement' of the 1830s. 3 Unlike the other 'gentry estates', it remains generally intact within the original landscape setting. In 1901 Dr Alexander McCormick purchased the property and engaged architect G. Sydney Jones to design a hospital around and encompassing the villa. It is said that Dr McCormick found the garden, created by Bradley, so restful and conducive to convalescence that he decided to maintain it as originally conceived and in its state at that time.' 1 Previous medical superintendents and CEOs of the hospital, who saw the beauty of the gardens, and who endeavoured to maintain the landscape, have also expressed this sentiment. 5 The hospital was constructed in the Arts and Crafts style and is significant as an uncommon example. Moreover it is the oldest, continuously functioning private hospital still operating in its original building. This reflects the fabric of the development of the hospital as a living institution. 4 Dr McCormick donated the property to the Presbyterian Church in 1926 and the site was renamed The Scottish Hospital. The last example of Rushcutters Valley 'gentry estates' Today the site is of value to the local area for the amenity it provides and for the mature specimens of 19 ,h and early 20 th century plantings of rainforest species that it contains.' The rarity of this vegetation in the local area can clearly be seen in an aerial photo from the 1960s showing the site and surrounding areas. The Terraces contains the only substantial area of vegetation in the vicinity. It should be regarded as an asset for its innate beauty rather than a potential development site. The Terraces is the only property of the 1830 gentry estates of Rushcutters Valley that retains its original 1840 land extent around the villa (albeit with the villa partly obscured by later hospital building works). 8 Of the ten or so early 'gentry grants' only two remain, The Terraces and Engehurst, but while The Terraces villa still exists on its two-acre site, only small segments of the Engehurst villa remain. The only other villa of this early period, but not of the 'gentry grants', is Juniper Hall, built by Robert Cooper in 1824 and now sitting on perhaps half its original area. 9 Heritage landscapes and curtilage v, buildings The value of The Terraces villa and the early hospital building has mostly been respected in the proposed development. However, the very thing that generated emotion and gave these earlier developments amenity, the landscape, appears to have been ignored by the proposal, being treated as an opportunity for potential hospital expansion. The landform and landscaping are what gave both the villa and the original hospital their appeal and contributed to their heritage listing. 10 Architects Tropman and Tropman outlined areas that would have least impact on the extant vegetation on the site." The current proposal seems to covet the most valuable areas of the site and in doing so threatens much of the vegetation. Although heritage listed trees will be retained, 69 other trees will be removed, many of them mature. Considering that alternative layouts for development are possible, discounting the value of the landscaping of the grounds of The Scottish Hospital is unacceptable. Acknowledgment Many thanks to Warwick Mayne-Wilson for providing much background information and for his tireless support for the conservation of the site over the last few years. 1 The National Trust of Australia (NSW). 2000. 'Response to Woollahra Council in regard to development application IDA 310/00'. 2 Sydney Morning Herald , 12 August 1882. Auction description of the property by Richardson & Wrench. 3 Tropman and Tropman Architects. 1997. 'Conservation Management Plan - The Scottish Hospital', p.3. 4 1989. The Scottish Hospital News - circulated to Hostel and Nursing Home residents. 5 John Gibbins, CEO at the Scottish Hospital c. 1990-1996, personal communication. 6 Tropman and Tropman Architects. 1997. op. cit. p.3. 7 Bradley planted the now massive Fig, Pine and Kauri trees, while McCormack planted the ring of five Weeping Lilly Pilly ( Waterhousia floribunda ) in memory of his son who was killed in the First World War. 8 Mayne-Wilson & Associates. 2000. 'Emergency Nomination to the State Heritage Register of The Scottish Hospital Formerly Known as The Terraces, Cooper St, Paddington'. 9 Mayne-Wilson & Associates. 2002. 'Notes on the Gentry Estates Created By Governor Bourke 1824-34. Their Contribution to the Beginning of Paddington and Their Demise (except for The Terraces/Scottish Hospital), p.2. 10 Warwick Mayne-Wilson, personal communication. 11 Tropman and Tropman Architects. 1997. 'Conservation Plan - The Scottish Hospital - Site Plan -Possible Sympathetic Development Zone', p.9. Aerial Photograph c.1960 showing how the grounds of The Scottish Hospital are the sole remaining 'gentry' garden estate of the 1830's subdivision of Paddington. Mark Brandon is a landscape architect with a particular interest in the management of mature landscapes. He is a committee member of the Sydney and Northern NSW Branch of the Australian Garden History Society. 4 Vol. 14 No. 1 July/August 2002 Australian Garden History View east across frame-yard to shade-house and potting shed, c.1930. Photo: Courtesy Don Ross A Colonial Legacy, Carol Mansfield Established in 1897 the Western Australian State Nursery at Hamel, 116km south of Perth, pioneered the propagation and cultivation of both exotic and indigenous trees. For over 60 years it was renowned as a show place, with arboreta of mature exotic trees set in several acres of immaculately kept ground, surrounded by experimental pine plantations. Conservator of Forests: John Ednie Brown At the time the State Nursery was founded in 1897 the huge and sparsely populated colony of Western Australia was enjoying a hard-won upturn in its economic conditions. The decade following the inauguration of responsible government in 1890 was one of enormous confidence as the Kalgoorlie goldfields attracted labour and cash, and increases in trade brought much improved transport facilities. Realising the need for some control over Western Australia's valuable hardwood forests, the State Bureau of Agriculture engaged John Ednie Brown to report on the state's native forests and suggest means for their conservation and utilisation. Appointed Western Australia's first Conservator of Forests in 1895, he had formerly been Conservator of Forests for South Australia, and before that Director-General of Forests in New South Wales.’ Flaving travelled widely throughout the State for six months, the Conservator presented his first Report to the colonial government in June 1896. He expressed concern that steps were not being taken to avoid the over-cutting of local timber. Anticipating an increase in the demand for softwood as the state expanded and population increased he regarded the establishment of a nursery 'as an absolute necessity' in order 'to begin planting these exotic trees, and thus eventually make the Colony independent... of outside supplies of their timber.' 2 This first Report declared that the nursery would require 'an average sandy loam soil with a fair amount of humus in it' and 'plenty of fresh water in or near the site' as well as convenient means of transport. About 50 species were put forward for trial. They included Pinus (pines for ship and house building), Acer (sycamore for furniture), Auracaria (Norfolk Island Pine for ship-building and flooring) and Carya (hickory for furniture and axe-handles). Implicit in this Report and the subsequent Progress Reports, was the suggestion that the recommended trees, and the choice of their subsequent plantation sites were to be somewhat experimental, given the pioneering nature of the work in conditions which were unfamiliar to both the Conservator and his nursery staff. 3 The early years: 1897-1916 By 1897 the Conservator reported that a Woods and Forests Department had been set up under the Department of Lands and Surveys and that already there were experimental plantings of seeds, such as pine, sandalwood and wattle, within designated reserves. A resident manager/nurseryman Australian Garden History Vol. 14 No. 1 July/August 2002 5 Bill Ross in yard for 'hardening off' young trees c.1930. Note the 'dipping tanks' for hand watering. Photo: Courtesy Don Ross View east to Ti-tree shade-house with terra cotta pots on left, c. 1930. Photo: Courtesy Don Ross was appointed and pending the selection of a suitable site, a temporary nursery was rented at Guilford, a well-established town 13km east of Perth, before trying a site at Bunbury, a coastal town 180km south of Perth. The latter site was not satisfactory and was quickly abandoned. 4 Twelve months later the Conservator was proudly announcing that '15 acres of deep, black alluvial bottom lands, . . . admirably suited to the growing of such trees as Oaks, Elms, Sycamore, Catalpa, and Walnuts etc.' had been purchased at Drakesbrook, on the railway line 113km south of Perth. It was part of the estate of Lancel de Hamel, former lawyer and Member of Parliament for Albany, hence the district's local name. 5 Ednie Brown lost no time in setting up the new establishment. He reserved an adjoining 50 acres of higher ground for the nursery, upon which was already 'the Nurseryman's house, stables, shade-houses, potting shed, implement shed, etc.' and 'a paddock for the department's horses'. He explained that 'For the use of the plants which are raised in the shade-houses, the water from the creek is pumped up in pipes by a windmill.' A complete list of 333,931 trees raised during the 1897 season included over 50,000 pines of various species (including Pinus insignis and P. halepensis), 15,000 natives such as Acacia pycnantha (Golden Wattle), Eucalyptus callophylla (Marri), E. citriodora (Lemon Scented Gum), and E. corynocalyx (Sugar Gum). Exotics such Schinus molle (Pepper Tree), Catalpa speciosa, Populus dilitata, Salix aurea and S. viminalis (Golden and Weeping Willows) and Dracaena draco (Dragon Tree) were also grown. 6 Until his untimely death in October 1899, aged only 50 years, Ednie Brown's reports exude enormous pride in the State Nursery, exhibiting a passionate, almost philanthropic attitude to the cultivation and conservation of trees. More than once he expresses a desire to 'beautify the place' and to encourage the 'notion of tree-planting' among the general public. Ornamental tree were distributed to institutions such as churches, postmasters, the Zoological Gardens, schools, Roads Boards, cemeteries and hospitals. Surplus stock was also supplied free of charge to any landowner, and in the nursery's first year 6,000 trees were distributed to schools and townships on Arbor Day. 7 As well as the State Nursery, the State Bureau of Agriculture opened an Experimental Farm from 1898 until 1910. It was managed by George Berthoud, a self-taught, and highly regarded agronomist from Victoria. It is said that the freesias and babianas that carpet Hamel in spring have spread from one of Berthoud's gardens. 8 6 Nursery management 1897 to 1916: Alfred McFarlane In addition to the departmental reports already quoted, there is a collection of early, though incomplete, Forest Department files in the State Records Office in Perth. These contribute enormously to the understanding of the day-to-day running of the Hamel Nursery, a typical example of a late nineteenth century colonial nursery. Little is known of Alfred McFarlane, the first manager, save that he was 44 years old when appointed, and he was 'a man from one of the Agricultural Colleges of the Colonies and well versed . . . in cultivation'. One long-time resident recalls McFarlane as being so bandy-legged that, as boys will, he and his young friends composed a rude schoolyard ditty featuring 'Bandy Mac'. Be that as it may, he must have run an efficient establishment with minimum labour, and he collected mail from the train each morning, before distributing it from the Post Office which operated from his home. 9 McFarlane's diary, started on September 151897, his first day at Hamel, suggests a man with enormous energy. He and an assistant spent three days carting goods from the station by horse and dray; by the fourth day they were already planting cuttings! A week later a case of cuttings arrived from Victoria, and four more men had been taken on as day labourers. After only two years the State Nursery was reported to 'reflect great credit on the exertions of Mr McFarlane . . . who has veritably changed the wilderness, in the shape of a Ti-tree swamp, into a smiling garden'. 10 By 1900 there appears to have been one salaried forestry cadet with occasional labourers engaged for seasonal work such as the 'rowing out of pines' in winter. Given that the annual production of seedling trees was upwards of 150,000, all of which required sowing, watering, weeding, re-potting, and planting out, this was quite an achievement." The same year, 1900, it was necessary to erect a fumigation chamber in accordance with the Insect Pest Amendment Act of 1898, in order to ensure that all trees were free from 'fungi, blight and other disease'. As this would add considerably to costs it occasioned some discussion, but it was felt important that the government set a good example to private nurserymen. Current environmental health laws would certainly preclude any such potentially lethal process, involving as it did the creation a 'deadly gas' from cyanide of potassium, sulphuric acid and water, in a specially constructed and treated calico 'tent'! 12 Vol. 14 No. 1 July/August 2002 Australian Garden History While Alfred McFarlane was clearly in charge of the nursery, it is evident that the Conservator of Forests and his successors, took an extraordinarily close interest in the business. For instance all requests for materials, such as pots, labels or hessian, were required to go through the Forests Department: even a single hose and nozzle needed the Conservator's blessing. When seed was needed, it was the Conservator who procured it locally, or wrote a letter to the Curator of the Botanic Gardens, Brisbane, or the Conservator of Forests, India. Sometimes the selection of seed appears to have been influenced by a choice of trees more suitable for the eastern states of Australia. For instance Lane- Poole ordered Callitris arborea from Capetown, only to be warned that, in its native habitat, the tree required regular winter snowfall to thrive.’ 3 The Conservator was kept informed of all activities including the compilation of seed and stock lists, and the preparation and packing of consignments which went by rail. In the early years trees were available in either pots (30/- per 100), 'bamboos' or 'bare-rooted' (25/- per 100), as indicated on the nursery's lists. These were compared with the market price, stated as '£5-0-0 per 100 trees'.’ 4 Although the white population of Western Australia had increased from about 46,000 in 1890 to about 180,000 by 1900, it was still a very small place, as reflected in this close monitoring of the Nursery and its manager. As horticultural expertise was at a premium, personal contacts were important and the names of other significant Perth gardeners such as Daniel Feakes at Government Gardens, or John Braithwaite, City Gardener, appear in early records as sharing their local knowledge. 15 1916-1926: Alfred Ken and Charles Lane-Poole Alfred Ken was appointed Nursery Manager in September 1916, so it is assumed that McFarlane resigned after 20 years service, when he would have been approaching 64 years of age. Ken was 40 years old, hailed from Victoria and expressed unfamiliarity with Western Australia's climatic conditions. 16 This period is notable for the complete re-siting and re-building of the potting shed (weatherboard with shingle roof), the large shade-house (timber framework with brushwood walls and roof), and a new, heavy timber, tank-stand - all embarked upon by Ken's initiative in March 1917. Given this was the time of the First World War, when labour and materials could have been in short supply, the flurry of activity is surprising. Plans were drawn up and put out to tender, with work completed in July of the same year by a Mr Bushell from Subiaco, using timber supplied by Whittakers. Of particular significance was the re-siting of these buildings to the lower land, west of the railway, 'so as to bring them down to the stream . . . and also do away with the difficulty of pumping water'. At the same time a hydraulic ram was installed in the creek, replacing the old windmill. Early photographs show the attractive, well-kept nature of these buildings and their grounds. They contributed considerably to the presentation of the nursery, and set the pattern of care and maintenance for the next 40 years. 17 Charles Edward Lane-Pole, a young, professional forester, was appointed Conservator in 1916 and took the opportunity to request detailed lists of nursery expenditure. As well as concern over the costs of running the nursery on what almost amounted to an altruistic basis, there emerged the recognition that the department was unable to exercise control over which trees were planted by public bodies, nor could it monitor their care. 18 Lane-Poole, in the spirit of his predecessor, Ednie Brown, wrote an impassioned paper assessing the value of the State Nursery against its cost. Fie emphasised its value as a training ground for young foresters, its experimental work, and its aesthetic purpose. Ever conscious of the risk of over-cutting the native forests, he argued that Plamel supported settlers' attempts to replant trees lost by intense clearing and ring-barking. In spite of protests from private nurserymen it was decided that nursery stock should be sold at cost price, although trees would still be free to public arboreta and government authorities. 19 By this time the nursery was making a profit, and in all other respects the Conservator and his manager were maintaining the tradition set by McFarlane and Ednie Brown in the colonial period. Thousands of pine trees were raised for plantations all over the south-west of the state, while hundreds of ornamentals continued to be distributed to Roads Boards, hospitals, the Railway Department and the Zoological Gardens. The arboretum provided much interest as the first of the exotics such as Catalpa speciosa, Sequoia gigantea (Wellingtonia), Cedrus deodara (Deodar), and Araucaria bidwillii (Bunya Bunya), planted in the very early years 'to serve as object lessons to the public', were reaching maturity. 20 Signs were erected near the highway and by the railway line, advising when the pine plantations had been first planted and identifying the particular species. A special signpost was commissioned for the main turn-off, notifying people that the State Nursery was open for inspection. By the time Alfred Ken resigned in 1926 the nursery at Flamel had established a proud reputation. 21 Looking west across the railway line to nursery entrance, c.1930. Photo: Courtesy Len Purcell Mature and Significant Trees Growing at Hamel in 2002 Araucaria araucana Monkey Puzzle Tree Araucaria bidwillii Bunya Bunya Pine Araucaria heterophylla Norfolk Island Pine Brachychiton diversifolium Kurrajong Camellia japonica Camellia Castanospermum australe Moreton Bay Chestnut Cerapetalum gummiferum New South Wales Christmas Bush Cinnamon camphora Camphor Laurel Cupressus macrocarpa Cypress Ficus macrophylla Moreton Bay Fig Ficus rubiginosa Port Jackson Fig Ficus hillii Hill's Weeping Fig Platan us hybrida London Plane Quercus canariensis Algerian or Canary Oak Quercus suber Cork Oak Telopea speciosissima New South Wales Waratah Australian Garden History Vol. 14 No. 1 July/August 2002 7 > 1926-1962: Bill Ross and Bert Purcell On Ken's resignation the Forests Department engaged two full-time, resident salaried staff. Assistant Forester William (Bill) Ross, although only 24 years old, was promoted to Officer-in- Charge, while the new role of Nurseryman went to Herbert Leonard (Bert) Purcell, aged 31 years. With the declaration and supervision of new forest reserves and the development of new pine plantations all over the south-west of the state increasing demands were placed on foresters. Bill Ross was required to survey and oversee many of these areas which necessitated leaving the propagation and nursery work to Bert Purcell. Both men are remembered as modest and conscientious, devoted to their work and the life at Hamel. 22 Having emigrated from England after the First World War, Bert Purcell was in the right place at the right time. The advertisement to which he replied called for 'a nurseryman with experience in the raising and planting of trees . . . Wages were £5 per week and a house was provided for a weekly rent of 4/-.' As a young man Purcell had served an apprenticeship on Lord Astor’s Clivedon estate. He was taken prisoner while on active service in France, and returned there after the war to work for the Parisian firm of seedsmen, Vilmorin Andrieux et Cie. Friends of Bert Purcell recall his considerable professional knowledge and his willingness to share it. 23 Very little documentary evidence of this period has survived, but it has been possible to draw on the clear memories of Burt Purcell's son Len, and Bill Ross's son Don, both of whom grew up at Hamel in the 1930s and 1940s. Their photographs from the period show the beautifully maintained potting shed and shade-house erected 20 years or so previously, while mature Norfolk Island Pines and Canary Island Palms witness the early Federation planting of Alfred McFarlane. There are also many tales of the beautiful grove of mature camellias, and of the waratahs (Telopea speciosissima), rarely cultivated in Western Australia, yet still blooming beside the creek at Hamel. 24 The Conservator of Forests continued to maintain a close relationship with the nursery and the production of young pine trees continued to be a priority, with the distribution and sale of ornamental trees receiving the same attention. By 1939, there was an increasing demand for native trees. Leptospermum laevigatum was proving more popular than Cupressus. The former is now regarded as weed that is supplanting native species in Western Australia. 25 Both Purcell and Ross took a keen interest in unusual plants. Len Purcell can recall his father, who regarded seed germination as a challenge, putting 'difficult' seed in small calico bags, and leaving them to warm in a tin near the hob of the wood stove. Similarly Bill Ross, who had a special interest in native trees, spent many a holiday travelling through the state's South-West with his wife, visiting colleagues and collecting rare seed for the nursery. As a result of this, many more significant trees, both native and exotic, can be found in the vicinity of the nursery, and to the east of the railway line, near the original dwellings of the nursery staff. 26 Production methods until 1965 It is interesting to look at the production methods in detail, for such labour-intensive routines have long been superseded. Soil for seedbeds and pots was dug from pits alongside the banks of the creek. Seed was germinated and started in seedbeds in a section of the open frame-yard before being transferred to small terracotta pots. The pots were settled into the large shade-house and watered daily by hand from a watering can, until they ready to be returned to the frame- yard. Wooden frames lined this area supporting roll-down blinds made of hessian. Kerosene tins were used, cut in half either way depending on the size of the young trees they were to accommodate. After use, pots were washed in the large galvanised water troughs and a pine stick wrapped with hessian functioned as a dish mop. Boxes were assembled on site from sawn pinewood stored in the shed. To fulfil an order, pots were brought from the frame-yard to the workbench in the potting shed. The pots were tipped over, banged on the hardwood board, tipped out and dropped onto paper. This was twisted round and the trees placed standing upright in wooden boxes. The young seedling trees were protected by hessian tacked over the top of the box like a tent. In 1926 forestry apprentice Currie noted: 'Kerosene cases are used for packing pines in: a box with one side knocked out will hold 500 pines. Two men can lift and pack 10,000 pines a day.' Large orders or larger trees would be rolled up in hessian parcels of 100 trees and protected by straw of Watsonia leaves, scythed off for the purpose. After labelling they were taken by horse and cart to Hamel siding for consignment by rail. 27 The end of an era It would be unrealistic to expect 19 ,h century nursery practices to be economically viable well in the 20 th century, although one has to admit to an element of nostalgia for 'the good old days'. Economics aside, the 1960s marked a dramatic increase in environmental awareness, necessitating a change in attitude to land care. Die-back disease ( Phytopthera ) was damaging Western Australia's native forests so an urgent programme of trial planting of native species was initiated to assess their die-back tolerance. Thousands of trees were also needed for site rehabilitation as a result of bauxite and other mining. Similarly, efforts were being made to replant vast areas of agricultural land degraded by years of over-clearing resulting in excessive salinity. Thus, where previously up to 200,000 young trees had been raised it was now necessary to aim for 1,000,000 - mainly pines and eucalypts. The nursery had to be enlarged, both for ease and hygiene in propagation and the convenience of management. Alex Hart, professional forester and Officer-in-Charge at the time, described the situation as 'a whole new ball game'. The old shade-houses were extended and the brushwood was replaced with synthetic shade-cloth. It was thought that the old brushwood could cause a build-up of die-back, of which earlier staff were probably unaware. An electric pump was installed in the creek and the watering system upgraded for overhead watering. 8 Vol, 14 No. 1 July/August 2002 Australian Garden History Supplies requested by Alfred McFarlane 1900-1901 1900 June 1 2 yards double width calico (for shading plants in open frames from frost) July 4 2lbs x 1 / 2 " tin tacks 1,000 wooden labels 1 coil hay-band July 10 2 cwt bone meal 2 cwt superphosphate 1 cwt rock salt for horses October 16 2,000 x 4" pots @ £5-0-0 per 1,000 November 2lbs Paris Green for caterpillars 1901 May 1 1,000 wooden labels 28lbs 2", No.12 wire net 4lbs x V 2 " tin tacks 1 coil hay-band 1 roll of hessian address cards advice cards October 7 3,000 x 3" flower pots 1,000 x 4" flower pots @ £7-15-0 in total December 24 13lbs sulphate of ammonia as 'stuff not growing as well as it should' Deliveries were handled by truck since consignments would go all over the south-west of the state to areas not serviced by rail. Shade trees and ornamentals continued to be grown and sold to members of the public living outside the metropolitan area, with an informative brochure of the available trees. 28 By 1988 the Department of Conservation and Land Management (the former Forests Department) was operating several other nurseries in the state, and a policy of rationalisation resulted in Hamel being leased by 'Greening Australia'. This non-government organisation continued to produce native and exotic seedlings for land revegetation and general horticulture until 1995 when the lease was taken over by a private nurseryman. Up to 1,500,000 seedling trees are still grown there annually, for plantation investment companies as well as for government departments and land care groups. A retail garden centre of ornamental trees and shrubs has also been developed recently. 29 Sadly, time and financial restrictions have taken their toll on the once park-like grounds of the State Nursery. In spite of these vicissitudes many mature and significant trees can still be found in the vicinity. More than 100 years after John Ednie Brown selected the site for the State Nursery, it is satisfying to know his choice was well-founded. It also adds considerably to one's interest on seeing an ancient Dragon Tree at the old Fremantle Gaol, or the fiery-red pyramid of a Flame Tree in a city park, to speculate as to their source. 30 Acknowledgments Sincere thanks to Mrs Mary Hargreaves for initiating and encouraging my interest in the nursery at Hamel. Special thanks to Mr Len Purcell, Mr Don Ross and Mr Alex Hart for providing photographs and responding so willingly to my questions, also to Mr Don Alexander and Mr John Jackson for sharing their considerable knowledge of the Hamel site and its history. Mr Richard Hordacre gave generously of his time, and the staff at 'Greening Australia' and CALM, Woodvale, were equally helpful. 1 Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 3, Melbourne University Press, 1969, pp. 261-262. 2 Report on the Forests of Western Australia, June 1896 in Votes and Proceedings of Parliament, 1896-1897, Vol. 1. 3 ibid. 4 Western Australian Blue Book, 1898. Woods and Forests Department, Annual Progress Report 1897/98, Battye Library Perth. 5 Woods and Forests Department, Annual Report, as above. 'Lancel de Hamel, Obituary', West Australian, 27 November 1894, p. 3. 6 Woods and Forests Department, Annual Report, as above. 7 Woods and Forests Department, Annual Report 1899, Battye Library, Perth. 8 Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture, June 1898, in Votes and Proceedings of Parliament 1899, Vol, 2. 9 Forests Department File 208, Hamel State Nursery, Vol.1, 1899, AN80/1, Acc.934, State Records Office, Perth. Don Alexander, personal interview, December, 2001. 10 Annual Report of Woods and Forests Department, December 1899, in Votes and Proceedings of Parliament, 1900. 11 . Forests Department File 752/23, Hamel Nursery Diary 1897-1900, CALM Library, Woodvale. 12 Forests Department File 208, Hamel State Nursery, Vol. 1, 1899. For more on this see also A. Despeissis, The Handbook of Horticulture and Viticulture of Western Australia, Perth, 3. ed. 1921. 13 Forests Department Files 208 and 742, Hamel State Nursery, Vols 1 & 2, 1899. 14 Forests Department Files 208 and 742, as above. Forests department File 752/23, Hamel Nursery Diary 1897-1900. The reference to 'bamboos' is of interest. The diary notes the 'McLure left for Perth to procure bamboos for tubes.' He is later 'cutting bamboos'. 15 Appleyard, R.T. 'Western Australia: Economic and Demographic Growth 1850-1914', in C.T. Stannage, A New History of Western Australia, Perth, 1981. Forests Department Files 208, 742, & 166, Hamel State Nursery, Vols 1, 2, & 3, 1899 and 1902. 16 Forests Department File 667, Hamel Nursery, Vol. 5, 1916. 17 Forest Department File 352, Hamel Nursery, Quarters, Buildings, Stables, 1912. 18 Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 9, Melbourne University Press, 1983, pp. 660-661. Forests Department File 667, Hamel State Nursery, Vol 5, 1916. 19 Forests Department File 667, as above. 20 Woods and Forests Department, annual Report, December 1899. 21 Forests Department File 580, Hamel Nursery, General Correspondence, 1919. Forests Department File 657, Purcell, H., Overseer, 1926. 22 Forests Department File 657 as above. Don Ross, personal interview. 23 Forests Department File 657, as above. West Australian, 20 March 1962, p. 24. Mary Hargreaves, personal interview, august 2001. 24 Mary Hargreaves, Len Purcell, Don Ross, personal interviews. 25 Forests Department Annual Report, June 1929 in Votes and Proceedings of Parliament, 1929. 26 Len Purcell, don Ross, personal interviews. Currie, J. H., Monthly Forestry Notes for 1926, Hamel forests District. CALM Library, Woodvale. 27 Len Purcell, personal interview. 28 Alex Hart, personal interview, February 2002. 29 Department of Conservation and Land Management, Annual Report 1987/1988. Greening Western Australia, Annual Report 1994/5. Richard Hordacre, personal interview, August 2001. 30 For the influence of the State Nursery within the context of the Federation era see Oline Richards, 'Public Parks and Recreation Reserves in Western Australia: the Federation Years 1890-1914' in Planting the Nation, ed, Georgina Whitehead, AGHS, Melbourne, 2001. After a career in nursing Carol Mansfield's love of travel led to an interest in gardens which she has combined with a passion for historical research. Australian Garden History Vol. 14 No. 1 July/August 2002 9 While the combination of environment, soil and rainfall have made their contribution, one wonders what marvellous green thumbs old Edwin must have had. Edwin Jephcott was one of those pioneering souls whose energy and capacity for hard work make one wince. He was a builder, farmer, collector and plantsman. Edwin left England in 1861 with his family and disembarked in Brisbane where he worked in the Botanical Gardens for three years. In 1864 he moved to the Upper Murray to build a house for a cousin at Colac in the Corryong district before selecting a pastoral site for himself at Ournie on the Upper Murray. His substantial dwelling housed several generations of Jephcotts, but is now reduced to stone chimneys. It was witness to many literary nights with visitors such as Miles Franklin, 'Banjo' Paterson and Henry Lawson joining Edwin's son Sydney, also a published poet, in readings in the large living room. Edwin began planting the arboretum soon after obtaining his property. He was friendly with the then Director of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens, Baron Ferdinand von Mueller who, wishing to find out how trees from England, Europe and America would fare in Australia, supplied Edwin with species collected from all over the world. In return, Edwin and Sydney provided von Mueller with many hundreds of native Australian plant specimens for the National Herbarium in Melbourne. Edwin has one of the specimens named after him. Grevillea jephcottii is an unspectacular plant native to the area. It grows on nearby Pine Mountain which, according to Graham Jephcott, Edwin's great great-grandson is the biggest rock in the world, substantially more massive than Uluru. Today, some of the surviving trees in the 15-acre arboretum are believed to be unique examples growing in Australia. They also may prove to be an arboreal treasury since 'pure' seed of the resident Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) has been exported back The Jephcott family. Edwin great-grandson of the original Edwin, with wife Lois and sons Max and Graham. 10 Vol. 14 No. 1 July/August 2002 Australian Garden History The Jephcott Arboretum is located on the banks of the Murray River at Ournie, an Aboriginal word meaning platypus, about 25km out of Tumburumba. Annual rainfall is around 770 mm with temperatures in winter down to freezing point and up to 35° C in summer. Much of the arboretum is on rich river flats. The Jephcott Arboretum has lost many trees over the years from bushfire, storm, old age and other causes - two Washington Palms (Washingtonia robusta) have succumbed in recent times to the destructive beaks of Sulphur Crested Cockatoos. What of the future? Certainly old age will catch up with many specimens (and perhaps the cockies too will continue their destructive course), while other trees may well have centuries of life ahead of them. The original plantings will inevitably decline, but the Jephcott family is busy planting new trees - replacing and replicating some specimens, but introducing many new species, with a predilection for the rare and unusual. A steep slope leads up from the flats to the road, with densely planted conifers below the road and more species planted park-like across the road. The soil pH averages 6.2 over the site. Pinus species dominate the plantings, but there are many interesting specimen trees including various oaks, elms and planes. V jio- ' Ky 43 F All that remains of the original Jephcott house. The family plans to rebuild it is an interpretive centre and a place for music and poetry too. Max Bourke, president of the ACT, Monaro, Riverina Branch of AGHS, admires an enormous Holm Oak. Picturesque setting of Jephcott Arboretum. to Scotland where the indigenous species has lost some of its original vitality, according to Graham. A Dutch Elm (Ulmus x hollandica), far from the ravages of Dutch Elm disease, maybe one day will play a part in rehabilitating the species. Willow species are included in the arboretum, but as is common in Australia they naturalised along the banks of the river too. There they did a good job holding the river banks together and preventing erosion, until in a rush of environmental correctness, bureaucracy took a hand and removed the willows which were replaced with an expensive rock levee. In the process, a large group of resident platypus disappeared overnight. Happily, in recent times, Graham has spotted a platypus, so perhaps they are returning. Graham also remembers as a child seeing large numbers of brolgas. These too have gone. The Jephcott family is committed to restoration of the site, but has not been willing to follow up offers of official assistance. Students from the Burnley Campus of the University of Melbourne have been enthusiastic in assisting with 'dead- wooding 1 , weed eradication and other tasks and another offer of help comes from the ACT, Monaro and Riverina Branch of the Australian Garden History Society, which visited the site in April. President Max Bourke said the branch was interested in documenting the site, its history and significance to include the Jephcott Arboretum in the series of booklets on historic gardens published by the ACT Branch. Brian Voce is a freelance writer and producer of films and video features. He lives in Bungendore where he and his wife Marcia formerly had one their gardens, Birchfield, included in the Australian Open Garden Scheme. The 150ft Sequoia dominates the river flat. The River Murray flows through the property. The stand of London Plane trees in the arboretum. Australian Garden History Vol. 14 No. 1 July/August 2002 11 Clover Arboretum By Nina Crone A locally crafted seat complements a tree trunk at Clover Arboretum. In 1991 curiosity led Penny Cummings to look behind some enormous boulders beside the Bogong High Plains Road, about half way between Mt Beauty and Falls Creek. She discovered the rocks were hiding history and she determined to add to that history. What Penny found was the site of Clover Village, home to workers on the Kiewa Hydro Electric Scheme. The State Electricity Commission of Victoria had constructed Clover Dam and Power Station on the East Kiewa River in 1941-42 and then added a cluster of 17 houses. They were mere shells of buildings so that interior walls could be arranged to suit the individual families dwelling in them. As the villagers were encouraged to develop gardens, stone terraces, flights of steps and roadside kerbing soon appeared on the steep slope. Exotic trees, mainly European species, were planted as French, German, Yugoslav and English workers were employed in the Clover Power Station in the post-war period.. The misty, damp climate and the restricted light in the deep valley was unhealthy for people, but the trees grew well, creating a distinctive patch of colour among the native species in the surrounding Alpine National Park. In the 1950s the SEC condemned the houses and removed them but the solid stonework footings, terracing and steps remained. Penny's research revealed that the site was then named an arboretum which local people often used for picnics. In 1975, the Department of Conservation closed the arboretum in a endeavour to maintain native vegetation in the National Park. The result was a neglected, unloved and unwelcoming area overrun by blackberries, privet, honeysuckle and periwinkle. Penny believed it could be regenerated. She put posters about in Mt Beauty and Tawonga, established a 'kitty' by selling home-made preserves at the monthly Saturday market, and attracted a band of supporters and helpers. In 1998 as the Friends of the Clover Arboretum they set up working bees to clear and restore the site. The boulders that blocked the entrance were removed as were fallen trees and dead wood, grant applications were completed and support came from Parks Victoria. Today the Clover Arboretum has a small parking area, interpretive signage, labelled trees, and the former village streets have become walkways. There is a display about the arboretum in the Mt Beauty Visitor Information Centre where Ken Bell is preparing to publish a descriptive brochure outlining the history of the arboretum. Chairman of the Friends group, Mark Ghirardello, a trained horticulturist, has a clear vision for future development - some seating in sympathy with the site and the establishment of a small alpine collection for horticultural study and research. The group has already purchased an attractive rustic seat from a local craftsman. The clearing of weeds has led to the reappearance of old village plantings - mint, daffodils, alstromeria, aquilegias and other garden species. Additional appropriate bulbs have been planted. The autumn crocus, flowering on my visit, was a part of a donation from a Friend. It provides subtle colour without threatening the concept of an arboretum as there is certainly no intention of turning the site into a botanic garden. Specimen trees include horse chestnut (Aescu/us hippocastanum), a vigorous flowering cherry (Prunus serrulata), a golden rain tree ( Koelreuteria paniculata), an impressive deodar cedar ( Cedrus deodara), and a maidenhair tree (Gingko biloba) which doggedly survives the snowfalls. Autumn colour comes from Fraxinus oxycarpa Raywood, Quercus coccinea, Acer palmatum, A. negundo, Cedrela sinensis and Liriodendron tulipifera. When these deciduous trees become bare the evergreens assert themselves - a pair of Juniperis communis frame a stone staircase and like Chamaecyparis lawsoniana look splendid under a coating of winter snow. Whatever the season the Clover Arboretum puts on a fine show: blazing colour in autumn, dramatic silhouettes in winter, blossom in spring and leafy shade in summer. Each autumn the 'Friends' bring bounty from their own orchards to their indefatigable treasurer, Penny Cummings. She turns it into apple mustard, jams and jellies for the market stall that continues to help fund and advertise her dream made real. Further Reading: The Age, 3 February 2001 Lisa Habermann 'Arboretum flowers, as gardeners honor the past'. Acknowledgments: Sincere thanks are due to AGHS members Mike and Liz Dexter, who introduced me to Clover Arboretum, to Penny Cummings and Mark Ghirardello from the Friends of Clover Arboretum who provided an account of its development, and to Ken Bell from the Mt Beauty Information Centre for giving an insight into the Kiewa Valley and the Alpine Park. 12 Vol. 14 No. 1 July/August 2002 Australian Garden History On Tour Text by Nina McCorquedale and Ivan Pearson Photographs by Ivan Pearson Maria Island The voyage of Matthew Flinders in the Investigator has received much attention this year and, together with an interest in the botanising of Robert Brown and the natural history drawings of Ferdinand Bauer, has inspired many exhibitions and symposia. Flowever Tasmanians recall that an equally impressive expedition under the command of Nicolas Baudin gathered scientific material in the waters of south-eastern Van Diemen's Land making two landfalls on Maria Island, in February and June 1802. In glorious autumn weather 18 members of the Tasmanian Branch of the Australian Garden History Society spent a most interesting day visiting the remnants of the settlement of Darlington on Maria Island which is situated 16km off the east coast of Tasmania. Its aboriginal name was Toarra-Marra-Monah but in 1642, Abel Tasman named it in honour of Maria Van Diemen, the wife of the Governor-General of Batavia. Two hundred years ago the French explorer Nicolas Baudin arrived at Maria Island, in his vessel the Geographe. Here he made detailed studies of the Tyreddene Aboriginal people and mapped Schouten Island and the Freycinet Peninsula areas, named after the Freycinet brothers Louis and Henri who were on the expedition. The naturalist, Franqois-Auguste Peron, discovered aboriginal burial tombs on the island, and was impressed by the abundance of dolphins, whales and seals. Lieutenant Governor Arthur established a convict settlement at Darlington in 1825. Prisoners included 5 Maori chieftains, captured during uprisings in New Zealand. Initially all convicts lived in log and bark huts or tents but as supplies were short many succumbed to scurvy, ulcers and boils. More permanent buildings were eventually erected using stone from the island and the commissariat store (1825) and the penitentiary (1830) are still standing. Work consisted of clearing the land to grow barley and wheat, and vegetables such as potatoes and turnips. Hop fields were established and New Zealand flax was grown for sailcloth. Industries included basket, rope, mat, cloth, blanket and shoe making, tanning (using willows), timber cutting and pottery. Lime, extracted from the huge fossil cliffs, was exported to Hobart Town to make mortar for the building trade. The settlement was abandoned in 1832, due to frequent absconding, apparently lax discipline and the opening of the model prison at Port Arthur. A second convict period, begun in 1842, lasted until 1850. During that period 400 acres were under crops: 300 acres of wheat, 23 of potatoes, 16 of hops, 15 of turnips and 7 of miscellaneous vegetables. Livestock numbered 2,000 sheep and 6 pigs. There was a hospital where many medicinal herbs Intrepid AGHS explorers and ranger in front of remnant cottage gardens (c. 1880). were grown, and today herd-hound and comfrey can still be found. The mess room, miller's cottage, chapel, hop kiln, barn and ruins of the religious instructor's house as well as the cells at Point Lesueur, named after Charles Lesueur, an artist with Nicolas Baudin's expedition, can still be seen today. An Italian entrepreneur, Diego Bernacchi, obtained a lease to the island in 1884. He felt the area had promise for winemaking, silk production, fruit growing and tourist development. He planted fruit trees, mulberry trees and vineyards, none of which remain today. However the vineyard terraces where 200 employees tended the 180,000 vines, are still visible. Grape varieties included cabernet sauvignon, golden chasselas, white hermitage, black hamburg, muscatel, riesling, chasselas, tokay and 'burgundy'. Samples of Bernacchi's wine won medals in London. The remnant fruit trees were all ring-barked by sheep in recent years. Cement works were set up in the 1880s utilising the fossil limestone found on the island. Darlington was renamed San Diego, and the island was promoted as the 'Riviera of Australia'. The Grand Hotel, originally part of a sanatorium complex, was opened in 1888. Gardens were established and an avenue of Monterey cypresses (Cupressus macrocarpa) was planted. Many of these trees still remain but are in danger of collapsing due to their height and spread. The massive trees have their branches interlinked, and if one is toppled it is feared that all might follow suit. With an average lifespan of 70 years for the species, it is thought they may survive another 10 to 15 years. Happily, replacements are being grown. Remnant gardens can also be seen around the workers' cottages known as the 'Twelve Apostles', and at the site of the Bernacchi family home where a feature is the elaborate pigeon loft. Pigeons were used for carrying messages between the mainland of Tasmania and Darlington. Signor Diego Bernacchi departed in 1895 as a result of bankruptcy caused by bank collapse in the depression of the early 1890s. His many enterprises were still in fledgling, unproductive phases, and the Italian simply ran out of finance. Australian Garden History 13 Vol. 14 No. 1 July/August 2002 "Stores, Maria Island" watercolour painting of the Commissariat Store by T.J. Lempriere, c.1826. (Courtesy Mitchell Library, Sydney) Cupressus macrocarpa and a lone West Australian gum (Eucalyptus ficifolia). Remnants of 1880s cottage garden showing Cordyline australis. The island was left to a few visiting tourists and graziers, until Bernacchi returned during the First World War. A cement company was formed in 1920 and new buildings were erected. This activity too, ended in the depression of the 1930s and following the collapse of the cement works only a few families remained on the island, existing on farming or fishing. In 1971 Maria Island was declared a National Park and animal and bird species thought to be endangered were transferred to the island - Cape Barren geese, Bennett's wallabies, Forester kangaroos and Flinders Island wombats. Unfortunately many of these animals, as well as possums, sheep and cattle have eaten their way through much of the historic gardens. A misguided attempt to recreate the extinct pygmy emu was made by collecting undersized emus and establishing them on Maria Island. Their progeny was normal sized, a nuisance to visitors and subsequently re-located. Rangers currently 'manage' (cull) the animals each June/July, using university zoology field studies for guidance. A variety of non-locally indigenous plants can be found on the island. These include Cordyline australis, Eucalyptus ficifolia and grevilleas. Most planting consisted of exotics such as agapanthus, agave, casuarinas, belladonna, milkweed, hawthorn, edible and ornamental figs, and hydrangeas. During spring daffodils, jonquils, bluebells, moonflower, marigolds and the Bethlehem Star spring up. The hawthorns are uniquely sculpted by browsing animals and have no leaves on the outside of the bushes. There is one Araucaria araucana (Monkey Puzzle Tree) and a few remaining Lombardy poplars. Thomas Lempriere, who arrived at Darlington in 1826 to serve as Commissariat Clerk and was later storekeeper at Sarah Island and Port Arthur, described Maria Island as 'one of the sweetest spots in Van Diemen's Land.' The students of Orford Primary School agree. In 2002 they maintain a web-site about Maria Island www.tased.edu.au/schools/orfordp. Commissariat store, looking south to the avenue of Cupressus macrocarpa that leads to the penitentiary area Those who attend the AGM at the annual conference know Ivan Pearson, a retired pharmacist, for his work as 'electoral officer' and as husband of the Tasmanian branch president. Nina McCorquedale has recently become a member of AGHS. She is joint partner in a busy medical practice and has particular interest in sports medicine. 14 Vol. 14 No. 1 July/August 2002 Australian Garden History fro vUifr 4©iwc. wperb La§ frke AlAfrionAl Conference /VWtbroofc., garden of conference ckAlriHAn, /VW 3 *P AfCtQ, bAlAncex kUi-oric And confrernporAr^ dtiiqn - kedgei, roiti. And A 4fone-ed^ed pofrA^er tolfrk cUiinArq kerb4 and ornA>nenfrAt floioer4 And ve^efr Able*. SfonCVuX/iC, on frke Soofk fit. %.lvtr ntAC LAUnCtiton, A foTMAl ^n^lcXk QAfdtn Utfrk MtMOTAbU- WttV, copper beeck, U-^ldAmbAr. Ike booit Utfrk cfr4 nofAble fAnU-^kfr ulndoiai dAfre* bAcfe. fo I?l4. dUo . . . Ia Uobdff CorLndd, A ClA*4cCAl foo*Al ^Arden, And A-SVvfcCUi- ulfrk Ifr* juA^nlflcenfr cotlecflon of plAnfrX. Tke kerlfrAge lafred lAndxeApe* of fWf AfBu/r And iJlnd^rovC ftdJLL C^drden dnd iJdlfe., frke uorfc. of tculpfror f’efrer AdAnu. Australian Garden History Vol. 14 No. 1 July/August 2002 15 Working Bee Site Tute's Cottage, Castlemaine Re-creating a Miner's Productive Garden By Mandy Stroebel There could scarcely be a greater contrast between the two working bee sites that the Victorian Branch has established in Castlemaine. Buda, 1 the nineteenth century villa garden developed by the jeweller and silversmith Ernest Leviny covers several blocks on one side of the town while Tute's Cottage is a tiny plot on the other side of town. Together they offer a complementary insight into gardening on the Victorian goldfields. A brief history of Tute's Cottage Straddling a road reserve and a Crown creek reserve between Greenhill Avenue and Forest Creek Channel, Castlemaine, is an old rubble-stone cottage, Tute's Cottage. It is listed in the Victorian Heritage Register as a place of "historical, architectural, archaeological and social significance to the State of Victoria", being "a rare vernacular stone cottage of the gold rush period" 2 and the last gold rush cottage to be occupied under a Miner's Right in Castlemaine. Today Tute's Cottage is owned by the State Government of Victoria and managed by the Mt Alexander Diggings Management Committee. Tute's Cottage is located on Ten Foot Hill, the site of one of the many gold rushes in Central Victoria in the early 1850s. Edwin Stocqueler's 1858 painting Castlemaine from Forty Foot Hill indicates Ten Foot Hill was still being mined at the time Tute's Cottage was built in 1858. The cottage takes its name from James Tute, who occupied it from 1922 to 1936 under a Miner's Right and whose offspring occupied it under that Right until 1997 when the last occupant died and ownership reverted to the Crown. It was formerly known as Hannan's Cottage, John Hannan being the original occupant of the cottage from 1858 to 1903. A good fruit garden Adjoining Tute's Cottage is a vacant allotment the likely site of the "good fruit garden" 3 referred to in the Mount Alexander Mail on 21 July 1903 in an advertisement for the sale of the property. It is this allotment that the Mt Alexander Diggings Management Committee is interested in reinstating as an educational and tourist resource to provide an insight into the domestic lives of miners in the Victorian goldfields in the 1850s and 1860s. After 1855, a Miner's Right entitled the holder not only to a mining claim but also to a 'residence area', being 20 perches of land for a house and garden. The purpose of granting a residence area was to encourage miners to cultivate their own fruit and vegetables, at the time carted to the goldfields from Geelong and Melbourne and sold at "vastly inflated prices". 4 Apart from a couple of old grape-vines and a few fruit trees of uncertain age, there is little evidence today of the "good fruit garden" at Tute's Cottage. Documentary and physical evidence of the appearance and development of the site is minimal. It is not clear whether the fruit garden was established before or after the diversion of Forest Creek in the 1860s. 5 At the time it was built in 1858, Tute's Cottage was about 80 metres south of Forest Creek. 6 Today, the position of the old pepper tree and grape vine teetering on the edge of the Forest Creek Channel embankment suggest that they were part of a larger garden through which the new channel was subsequently cut. Whether the garden at Tute's Cottage comprised only a "good fruit garden" or was a kitchen garden typical of early colonial subsistence gardens comprising vegetables, fruit and grapevines is open to conjecture. The physical and documentary evidence of goldfields productive gardens suggests that Tute's was probably such a subsistence garden. Richard Daintree's 1858 photograph View of Castlemaine Town depicts, in the foreground, an enclosed allotment that appears to contain rows of vegetables. The letters of Owen Jones, owner of nearby Prospect House (a cottage of similar age to Tute's but now demolished), indicate that Jones grew both vegetables and fruit in his allotment.® There is also physical evidence throughout the central Victorian goldfields not only of abandoned orchards but also vegetable patches (garlic and herbs are still evident near the ruins of miners' cottages in the State Forests surrounding Castlemaine). The history of the development of Prospect House provides useful material for the reinstatement of the productive garden at Tute's Cottage. The garden at Prospect House was a quarter-acre garden established in 1852 and fenced in 1853. 9 Owen Jones planted his first garden in 1853: "...after the first rains had set in for the winter me and my boys cultivated a piece of ground about a quarter of an acre. We had to act the Robinson Crusoe in picking up the onions and other things that the storekeeper threw away and in a few months it grew and was a green patch in a wild desert. This is six years ago and I have made application to purchase it at various times as I have made it my home and planted it with fruit trees ...,". 10 In July 1854, Jones ordered vine cuttings from John Bailey & Son, Hackney Nursery, Adelaide and a wide variety of fruit trees, including apples, pears, plums, peaches, apricots, nectarines, figs, quinces, cherries and loquats. 11 Proposed design for the productive garden The design for the reinstatement of the productive garden at Tute's Cottage comprises varieties of vegetables, fruit and vines likely to have been cultivated by miners in Castlemaine 16 Vol. 14 No. 1 July/August 2002 Australian Garden History Tute's Cottage c.1914. From the album of Miss A.M.E. Bale, courtesy Robyn Annear during the gold rush. The design is based on available physical and documentary evidence of productive gardens in the goldfields as well as gardening manuals published in the 1850s and 1860s. It is likely that to establish his fruit garden, Hannan enclosed it either with a hedge or a rudimentary picket fence of split timber fixed to split rails or barked saplings to prevent subsequent "rushes" on the 20 perches allocated to him as a residence area. Today, the allotment is surrounded by picket, paling, wire and corrugated iron fences and accessed through a double metal wire gate. The design proposes replacing the fences with split timber close paling or picket fences and a single hand gate constructed of wooden picket.' 2 The advice of George Smith in The Cottage Gardener to plant "a fence of evergreen round the garden, to supersede the unsightly wooden ones now so universally used" 13 has not been adopted as all but one of the evergreen fences recommended by Smith are now noxious weeds in central Victoria. A hedge of rosemary, to be propagated from cuttings of the parent originally planted at the Welsh Village near Castlemaine, forms the boundary between the ornamental garden surrounding the cottage and the productive garden. The layout of the productive garden is simple: "beds or plots for vegetables, vines and fruit trees ... a subdivision of rectangles". 1 ' 1 It is based largely on instructions in gardening manuals of the period, such as Smith & Adamson's The Australian Gardener (1858), T.C. Cole's Gardening in Victoria (1860) and George Smith's The Cottage Gardener (1862). 15 In accordance with the instructions in Cole's Gardening in Victoria, a gravel walk surrounds the vegetable garden and the orchard, and narrower gravel paths intersect the vegetable beds and orchard rows. While it is unlikely that the original tenants of Tute's Cottage would have constructed such a formal arrangement of paths, the future use of the garden as an educational and tourist resource favours the use of gravel, rather than grass paths. They are better suited to large volumes of traffic and require less maintenance. The gentle slope of the land in a north to north-westerly direction will be retained and the garden beds will be created without any formal terraced effect. Vegetable beds and borders will either be mounded and edged with herbs and strawberries, or surrounded by vertical slate slabs (and not bottles or bones which were also popular materials during this period 16 ). Wooden posts and rails will provide support for grape-vines and rustic frames or bush poles for peas and beans. Mew of Castlemaine Town. Photo: Richard Daintree 1832-1878. From La Trobe Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria Proposed plants for the productive garden The varieties of vegetables, fruits and vines selected for the productive garden were chosen from seed and plant catalogues of the 1850s and 1860s, published in the Mount Alexander Mail and by Melbourne nurserymen. These included J.J. Rule, Smith & Adamson and J.C Cole, 17 who were likely suppliers of seeds to Castlemaine agents such as the Talbot Drug Store. The selection is also based on documentary evidence, including Owen Jones' letters relating to the garden at Prospect House and newspaper articles in The Mount Alexander Mail and Our Daily News. It has proved difficult to source the varieties of vegetables cultivated in the 1850s and 1860s (particularly peas and potatoes) in Australia today. For this reason, the vegetable garden is smaller than initially planned. The emphasis of plantings in the garden is, therefore, old varieties of fruit trees, which is in keeping with the 1903 description of the garden as a "good fruit garden". Fruit trees and berries selected for the garden ensure a continuous supply throughout the year: plums and grapes in summer; apples, pears and quinces in late summer to mid¬ winter; and strawberries, gooseberries and currants in spring and early summer. Trees for the garden have been sourced throughout Victoria from Badger's Keep, Chewton (apples), Keith Robertson, Creswick (pears and quinces) and Goodmans Pty Ltd, Bairnsdale (plums, gooseberries and currants). Permanent vegetables, such as seakale, rhubarb and artichokes, will be planted along the front fence and four small vegetable plots will be planted with old varieties of beans, cabbage, spinach, endive, onions, leeks, carrots, radishes, parsnips, herbs and green manure crops. Maintenance and future possibilities A maintenance schedule for the productive garden has been developed in accordance with calendars for operations in Smith & Adamson's The Australian Gardener and Cole's Gardening in Victoria.' 8 A crop rotation system will be adopted in the cultivation of the vegetables and wherever possible, organic methods of cultivation and control of pests, diseases and weeds will be applied. The schedule provides for frequent sowing of vegetable crops to reflect the nature of the storage facilities of the time. Since storage safes and ventilated cupboards or cool rooms were the only places for storing vegetables, vegetables were sown in small quantities over a period of time. 19 It is proposed that the produce from the garden will be sold at the Wesley Hill market on Saturday mornings. Proceeds will be applied to the upkeep of the garden. It is hoped that members of local horticultural associations and school groups will be involved in the establishment and maintenance of the garden. Australian Garden History Vol. 1 4 No. 1 July/August 2002 17 Plant List Key Botanical Name Common Name A.s. Allium sativum Garlic C.m. Crambe maritima Seakale C.c. Cynara cardunculus Globe Artichoke R.r Rheum rharbarbarum Rhubarb R.g. (G) Ribes grossularia Green Gooseberry R.g. (W) Ribes grossularia White Gooseberry R-g- CO Ribes grossularia Yellow Gooseberry R.p. Ribes petraeum Red Currant R.o. Rosmarinus officinalis Common Rosemary V.'MA' Vitis vinifera 'Muscat of Alexandria' (also known as 'Muscat Gordo Blanco') Grape V.'F' Vitis vinifera 'Muscat a Petits Grains' (also known as 'Frontignac') Grape C.o.'A' Cydonia oblonga 'Apple' Quince C.o.'O' Cydonia oblonga 'Orange' Quince M.'BO' Malus domestica 'Blenheim Orange' Apple m :c Malus domestica 'Cleopatra' Apple M.'CG' Malus domestica 'Cornish Gilliflower' Apple P. 'AB' Prunus domestica 'Angelica Burdett' European Plum P.'CGD' Prunus domestica 'Cole's Golden Drop' European Plum P.'GG' Prunus domestica 'Green Gage' European Plum P.'DC' Pyrus communis 'Doyenne du Comice' Pear P.'JM' Pyrus communis 'Josephine de Malines' Pear P. 'WN' Pyrus communis 'Winter Nelis' Pear T.t. Tetrogonia tetragonioides New Zealand Spinach C. 'GC' Cichorium endivia 'Green Curled' Endive B.r. Brassica rapa Chinese Cabbage B.'D' Brassica oleraceai var. capitata 'Drumhead' Cabbage R. 'BS' Raphanus sativus 'Black Spanish' Radish Pc. Phaseolus coccineus Scarlet Runner Bean P.'W' Phaseolus vulgaris 'Windsor Long Pod' French Bean P.s. *Pisum sativum Pea A.'BS' Allium cepa 'Brown Spanish' Onion A.c. Allium cepa Shallot A. 'M' Allium porrum 'Musselburgh' Leek S.t. *Solanum tuberosum Potato D.'BW' Daucus carota 'Belgium White' Carrot P. 'HC' Pastina casativa 'Hollow Crown' Parsnip O.m. Origanum majorana Marjorum Pc. Petroselinum crispum Parsley S.m. Satureja montana Savory T.v. Thymus vulgaris Thyme T.r Trifolium repens Clover (White) B.v. Barbarea vulgaris Cress (Winter) L.s Lepidium sativum Cress S.a. Sinapsis alba Mustard S.v. Fragaria vesca Alpine strawberries * Yet to source specific early and late varieties. * FIG “"■WlANTTED wrmoroNamus WIRE GATE Edwin Stocqueler (1829-95) Castlemaine from Ten Foot Hill 1858 Oil on canvas 65 x 92cm Courtesy Pioneers and Old Residents Association , Castlemaine. 18 Vol. 14 No. 1 July/August 2002 Australian Garden History Plan of Proposed Productive Garden at Tute's Cottage, Castlemaine, Victoria CREEK 6ED toUNDARYA T ° f " * ,mt .-OfuAT LVA U. ROAD Site Plan Tute's Cottage Australian Garden History Vol. 14 No. 1 July/August 2002 19 Acknowledgments I am indebted to David Bannear (Chairman of the Mt Alexander Diggings Management Committee), Robyn Annear (local historian and writer) and Kevin Walsh (local horticultural consultant) who provided me with access to their historic archives relating to Tute's Cottage and gardening in the goldfields in the 1850s and 1860s. Thanks also to Helen Page for encouraging me to use Tute's Cottage as the subject for my studies in garden restoration. 1 See Cuffley, Peter 'Buda Garden' , Australian Garden History Voi 11, No.4 January/February 2000. 2 DNRE, Victorian Heritage Register, No. HI838. 3 Research Report by Robyn Ballinger, Attachment 8.6. to Ivar Nelson, DNRE, Conservation and Management Plan, Tute's Cottage, Castlemaine, Victoria, July 1999, p. 8. 4 Hunt, S., "Vegetable Plots and Pleasure Gardens of the Victorian Goldfields", Forgotten Histories and Lost Objects of Australia, McCalman, L, Cook, A. & Reeves, A. (eds), 2001, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 5 In a report in the Mt Alexander Mail , 25 May 1860, it was noted that 'one or two persons' had been instructed to remove their property to make way for the excavation of the new Forest Creek channel: see Research Report by Robyn Ballinger, Attachment 8.6. to Ivar Nelson, DNRE, Conservation and Management Plan, Tute's Cottage, Castlemaine, Victoria, July 1999, pp.5 - 7. 6 DNRE, Victorian Heritage Register. 7 Reilly, D & Carew, J., Sun Pictures of Victoria: the Fauchery-Daintree collection, 1858 , 1983, Library Council of Victoria, Melbourne. 8 Bradfield, R., Owen Jones: Labour Pioneer on the Castlemaine Goldfield, 2000, Castlemaine Mail, Castlemaine, p. 140. 9 Robyn AnneaPs notes relating to the history of Tute's Cottage and other similar cottages on Ten Foot Hill; Research Report by Robyn Ballinger, Attachment 8.6. to Ivar Nelson, DNRE, Conservation and Management Plan, Tute's Cottage, Castlemaine, Victoria, July 1999, p. 7. 10 Letter from Owen Jones to the Earl of Derby dated 1859 reproduced in Bradfield, p. 140. 11 Letters from John Bailey & Son dated July 1854 reproduced in Bradfield, pp. 145 -148. 12 Cuffley, P. Cottage Gardens in Australia, 1983, The Five Mile Press Pty Ltd, Melbourne, pp. 131, 135. 13 George Smith's The Cottage Gardener: comprising the kitchen, fruit and flower garden, and choice collections of horticultural, vegetable, and agricultural seeds; also, a catalogue of the best and most suitable fruit trees and vines adapted for the district, 1862, Comb & Co., Ballarat, p.6. 14 Cuffley, p. 202. 15 Smith & Adamson’s The Australian Gardener: being a complete system of gardening as practised in Victoria, containing all necessary practical information on the leading subjects of the kitchen garden and the orchard, 1858, Abbott & Co., Melbourne and Cole's Gardening in Victoria: containing full directions for the formation & general management of a good garden, together with a comprehensive calendar for the operations of each month in the year, T.C Cole Richmond Nursery, 1860, Fairfax & Co., Melbourne George Smith's The Cottage Gardener: comprising the kitchen, fruit and flower garden, and choice collections of horticultural, vegetable, and agricultural seeds; also, a catalogue of the best and most suitable fruit trees and vines adapted for the district, 1862, Comb & Co., Ballarat. 16 Cuffley, p. 94, 100; Hunt, p.272. 17 See, for example, Catalogue of Plants Cultivated for Sale by J.J Rule at the Victoria Nursery, Church Street Richmond, 1857, W.H. William, Melbourne and Descriptive Catalogue of Fruit Trees, Vines, etc Cultivated for Sale by John C. Cole, Richmond Nursery, 1868, Clarson, Massina & Co, Melbourne. 18 See footnote 15. 19 Cuffley, p. 205. Mandy Stroebel is a horticulture student at the Burnley Campus of the University of Melbourne and regional campuses and lives on a rural property near Castlemaine. THE GREEN BOOK COMPANY Specialist Booksellers in Gardening, Horticulture, Natural History and Conservation. 10% Discount (on RRP) to all AGHS Members PO BOX 5255 Burnley,Vic. 3121 Ph: 9427 8866 Fax 9427 9066 sales@greenbook.com.au FREE MAIL-ORDER CATALOGUE AVAILABLE Choices for Collectors Thomas Pakenham, Meetings with Remarkable Trees, George Weidenfeld & Nicholson Ltd (1996), Hardback. Also in paperback, Phoenix Illustrated. (1997). Notable for evocative photographs by the author. Roger McDonald (ed.), Gone Bush, Bantam Books (1990) An anthology of notable Australian writers who 'take a walk through their chosen territory'. Contributors include Elizabeth Jolley, Judith Wright, Les A. Murray, Helen Garner, Mudrooroo Narogin, Frank Moorhouse, Geoffrey Dutton, Bruce Pascoe and others. A.L. Howard, Trees in Britain, Collins (1946) One of the post Second World War 'Britain in Pictures' series. Illustrations by artists Alicia Boyle, John Crome, John Constable, Thomas Gainsborough, and Paul Sandby among others. Richard St Barbe Baker, I Planted Trees, Lutterworth Press (1944) Personal account of forestry in many countries, including Australia and New Zealand, during the 1920s and 1930s recalling the work of 'Men of the Trees'. 20 Vol. 14 No. 1 July/August 2002 Australian Garden History From the Bookshelf The Tree in Changing Light Roger McDonald, 2001, Knopf, 178 pp. Hardback with dustcover RRP $29.95 ISBN: 0 091 83663 8 Reviewed by Nina Crone Essays and short stories are particularly appropriate to our time conscious life-style, yet relatively few writers embrace these genres. Roger McDonald’s The Tree in Changing Light is a felicitous addition to the collection. It scores well in many ways. McDonald has a wonderful feeling for terrain natal in the tradition of Jean Giono, and there is no better subject matter than Australian trees and landscapes. He gives memorable pictures of the Monaro on a frosty morning, the encompassing and comforting strength of a fig tree in Centennial Park, and the dusty western plains by the Darling River. And he is a brilliant observer of people. Cameo sketches of foresters, tree-planters, fire-fighters, an orchardist, nurseryman, and landscape artist underline human interaction with trees in a down-to-earth way, leaving indelible impressions of larger than life, yet always convincing, characters. Developing a concept of sylvan spirituality is a more challenging task, and McDonald's upbringing in a manse serves him well in the fictional story 'The Secrets of Bi-Shevat' where he uses Anglican and Jewish protagonists. The attempt to describe Aboriginal spirituality in landscape is less satisfactory to my mind through over-writing, but it is a necessary factor in the equation. The final section of the book consists of a random selection of quotations, jottings and impressions evoking the meditative style of Dag Hammarskjold. Altogether there is a mixed palette of fact and fiction and the two instances where McDonald mentions New Zealand provide an interesting counterpoint to the Australian material. The book itself is a stylish publication with engravings by Rosalind Atkins, a distinctive cover and an easy to handle format. The writing is vintage McDonald - direct, lean, sensitive and philosophical. Charles Bridgeman and the English Landscape Carden Peter Willis, 2002, Elysium Press, 288 pp., 252 B&W plates, Cloth Hardback with dustcover Orders: sale@bloomings.com.au Cost: $299.00 RRP $375.00 ISBN: 0 904712 04 4 Reviewed by Marion Pennicuik. Charles Bridgeman and the English Landscape is a reprint of the A. Zwimmer Ltd edition of 1977, but with a catalogue of additional documents, drawings and attributions, and a collection of Bridgeman's drawings and plans, many never- before published. This is a scholarly account of the life and works of Charles Bridgeman, the eighteenth century Royal Gardener and pioneer of le jardin anglais. The book covers Bridgeman's biography, his friends and fellow artists, patrons, royal connections, Stowe and other projects. It has numerous appendices, including his genealogy, royal appointments, letters, an inventory and his will. Of most interest are the reproductions of engravings, drawings and plans showing Bridgeman's designs for various projects. The clarity of reproduction is exceptional, given the age of some of the original engravings and plans. Current photographic images put these designs in 3D perspective. Initially, I was disappointed that there were no colour plates, as the colour dustcover suggests colour within. However, in context, the mono plates work well, as they allude to the timelessness of Bridgeman's designs. n This volume is recommended to all students and practitioners of landscape architecture and design, for the detail it provides on one of the original masters of landscape architecture, and of his designs that have stood the test of time. Students of garden history will be similarly enthralled as they study the intricacies of life in the 18th century at court (a world of patronage), and the realities, both fiscal and practical, of implementing garden design. At the time of Bridgeman's death in 1738, the total value of his implements and other belongings at the royal gardens amounted to only £230/1/9 with his books, maps, plans and globes valued at £20. Today, they would be priceless. Many of his plans are now housed at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Elysium Press is to be commended for reprinting this new edition, with the wealth of design detail that it contains. Marion Pennicuik is Editor of Landscape Australia, the journal of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects. Australian Garden History Vol. 14 No, 1 July/August 2002 21 The English Garden A Social History Charles Quest-Ritson Viking/Penguin London 2002. 280 pp. Hardback with dustcover. RRP $79.95 ISBN: 0 670 88768 4. Reviewed by Trevor Nottle In some respects Mr Quest- Ritson takes up the argument again, though from the slightly different perspective - that of the role played by art historians in garden history. Quest-Ritson argues that their influence has been too dominant and that insufficient balance has been given to considerations of social history, economics and politics. This book sets out to redress the balance. Some year ago Tommy Garnett sparked keen debate when he raised the question of whether limited heritage funding for gardens was best spent on detailed conservation studies of particular gardens, or on getting urgently needed conservation work done. THE ENGLISH In a commentary that is lively and comprehensive the author progresses from the year 1500 to the present, offering information that knits together diverse sources into a text that is not over-powered by direct references to art history. This is a refreshing approach and a counter to the work of Sir Roy Strong and others. As a background to garden developments in our own country the book makes elegant and challenging reading. In critical reviews there has already been strong reaction to Quest-Ritson's views, but these in no way detract from his work. Trevor Nottle, the Education Manager of the TAFE Centre for Horticulture at the Torrens Valley Institute, Urrbrae Campus, in South Australia is the author of many books, notably Gardens of the Sun detailing his enthusiasm for plants suited to Mediterranean climates. FL0RILEG1UM REPRINT A History and Bibliography of Australian Gardening Books by Victor Crittenden Mulini Press 2nd Edition 2002 ISBN 0 9499 109 02 RRP $50 An invaluable reference book, now in hardcover, is offered at 10% discount to AGHS members by Florilegium, 145 St John's Road, Glebe, NSW 2037. Phone: (02) 9555 8589 or Fax: (02) 9571 8333. SUBSCRIPTION FORM NOTE - THIS FORM CAN BE PHOTOCOPIED SO THAT THE JOURNAL CAN BE RETAINED INTACT l/we wish to become a member of the Australian Garden History Society and enclose the appropriate subscription. ADDRESS STATE POSTCODE Phone: (Home) ( ) - (Business) l ) F-mail Arlrlrpctc- Subscription Rates (GST inclusive) Please tick the appropriate category 1 1 Individual Member $48 _] 3 year Individual Member $135 1 I Household Membership (2 adults and children) $63 I 3 year Household Membership $171 1 Corporate Membership $75 (Company, Insititution, Library) 1 I 3 year Corporate Membership $210 ] Youth Rate $20 ] * Donation of $. (25 years and under) Cheque/Money Order enclosed (Please make cheques out to the Australian Garden History Society) Please debit my credit card Card No. _ Name:- | | Visacard | | Mastercard - Expiry Date:. ] Bankcard Cardholder's Signature:- Donations: The Australian Garden History Society is affiliated with the Australian Council of National Trusts and is thereby able to benefit from the Trusts' tax deductible status. ‘Donations are welcome and should be made payable to the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) and forwarded to the AGHS Membership benefits: Society s official journal Australian Garden History 6 times a year. Garden related seminars and conferences. Lectures and garden visits. Specialist interstate and overseas garden tours. Opportunity to contribute to preserving gardens for posterity and other special benefits. 22 Australian Garden History Vol. 14 No. 1 July/August 2002 Items Of Interest The Flower Borders at Eryldene A small notebook was discovered in a box in the Garden Study at Eryldene. It contained annotated notes of the first plantings of the flower borders. The notes show a list of plants Professor Waterhouse planted in the garden and a progress report on their performance. One page is devoted to a plan of a predominantly pink-and-blue colour scheme for the two front beds leading to the main entrance. A forthcoming exhibition, curated by Zeny Edwards, is based on the diary and pays particular attention to what later became Professor Waterhouse's favourite plants. Most of the early plantings were annuals which shows that the Professor was just like any keen gardener, eager to try new plant releases and colour schemes. The house will be decorated with flowers collected from cottage gardens in the North Shore and arranged by keen gardeners who have an affinity with Eryldene's garden. Cottage plants from collectors and antique books will be for sale during the exhibition and there will be lectures, floral displays, and a Plant Doctor. 10.00am to 4.00pm, on 21-22 and 28-29 September 2002, at Eryldene, 17 McIntosh Street, Gordon. Admission: $10 to aid the conservation of Eryldene garden. Thanks The work of Beryl Black, Nina Crone, Diana Ellerton, Beverley and John Joyce, Ann Miller, Helen Page, Sandi Pullman, Susan Reidy, Kaye and Mike Stokes, Georgina Whitehead and Elizabeth Wright in packing the last issue of the journal is greatly appreciated. National Management Committee Elections The 22nd Annual General Meeting of the Australian Garden History Society will be held in Hobart on Saturday, 5 October 2002 at 8.30am. Items to be included on the agenda should be posted to the AGHS office. Branches are asked to nominate their representative for the NMC and to inform the Secretary, Helen Page, (c/- AGHS office) by 16 August 2002. There will be three vacancies on the NMC this year. Colleen Morris has served the maximum term of six years and must retire. Elizabeth Walker (current Treasurer) and Peter Watts (current Chairman) have served one term of three years and need to stand down but may choose to renominate. Nominations open on 17 July and close on 26 August 2002. To obtain a nomination form, contact Jackie Courmadias on 03 9650 5043 or Toll Free 1800 678 446. Elections offer an opportunity for members to participate in the management of the Society. Each year the NMC holds three face-to-face, full-day meetings in February, June and prior to the national conference. These meetings are interspersed with three one-hour telephone link-up meetings in April, August and December. Elected members serve for a 3-year term and are eligible for re-election for a maximum of one additional term. An allowance to alleviate travel costs for meetings in Sydney and Melbourne is available if required. Action Wanted: Sydney members to have fun at GAL The 'Gardening Australia Live' festival, to be held at the Homebush Showground from Thursday 26 to Sunday 29 September, includes an Australian Garden History stall, set up by the Sydney Branch to promote AGHS, its aims and activities, and to attract new members. Volunteer helpers get free entry. Come as a couple or organise a group to do a few hours on the stall and then have fun seeing the rest of the exhibition. Contact Giles Edwards on (02) 9982 7372 for more details. Remembering Burley Griffin The ACT, Monaro Riverina Branch has written to the National Capital Planning Authority advocating that the original planting of trees near the lake which were burnt out in the Christmas Day fires, be duplicated as far as possible. The planting was to the design of Burley Griffin. Suggestions of eucalypts or radiatas would radically change the original design. A generous donor The Sydney Branch has donated $250 to the Eryldene Trust for border plants, $1,000 to the National Trust for repairs to an urn at the Norman Lindsay Gallery and has sponsored an AGHS subscription for gardening staff at Vaucluse House. Nominations for the Victorian Fleritage Register The Victorian Branch is preparing nominations for the Victorian Heritage Register. Among them are Mawarra, which Walling considered her finest work, individual nominations of five properties in Bickleigh Vale and the Burnley Gardens property of the University of Melbourne. New working bee sites The gardens at Purrumbete, the original Manifold homestead notable for interior woodcarving by Robert Prenzel and murals by Walter Withers, and at Creswick Park Lake are new additions to the growing list of AGHS working bee sites in Victoria. Australian Garden History Vol. 14 No. 1 July/August 2002 23 14 Sunday HoUse Up the _ Sydney, Vauclu f ov Colonial 2a,d»WV,:A"AH=.r f O dreda „ d seventy ye ecewe d three Wentworth, ts ^ . plants from ornamental ca professor Australia, its bree ' Aj' t p e decline personalities invoWed>e ^ he a0d thS n the20th century. 10am 9SnUS llSforVaucluseHouse 12OOO u \20 for others includes Members, $2 Boo klngs rightre freshme si8 6866 essential on (02) 28 Sunday ipe Wor king Bee - Victoria, Castle Contact: lV«oad» f Helen Page (03) 4 Sunday aG M at 11.30 a™ Tasmania, Botanical Steven Corbe«. Ga „Uhe Botanical Gardens. Director ot tne 6 Tuesday R ; ver jna AGM ACT ,Monaro R o Ven sD . scovery 5.30pm m g Black Mountain. Theatre at CS LocU wood on res^rrchinS and writing Botanical Gardens of Australia. esbtri - . * Boval Botanic Gardens Friends of R y d winter Cranbourne - M oreland Lecture Day at City Coburg f ro m Auditorium, Urqua , Running Wild 10.15 am t° COOP^n Role for Local in the City- an g t j a ne Plants. (A' ista ' Merri Creek Shepherd) and_The ™ project (Tony Faithful > ^ phone Bookings essentia • (03) 5990 2200 i o 90 Saturday SS C ^^’ 397 22 “ ^SnVage (03) 9397 2 Z60 (• __ M e w Norcis Western Austra Davi d Workshop wit her Power Dolan Rational Guidelines to consider the N nd {o r Museum^ ndudes co ach Keeping P' ace *, , works hop, travel,'i9 ht un 1 aa n e ry visit and s^|r^ Ausm ' i8 on (08) 9427 2770. Gar ; rn NSW AGN1 - will speak *<**+■* 12 Thursday . ■ a Booklet Launch - ln = Fifield, Yass, NSW 14-1 S Sept^;. Dis covery ViCt T„d ed by Kevin Walsh. Weekendled V k _ forestry, •Historic Cresw s , n Arboretantaan ^bets S T Enquhi«A ^ Chapman F ““ V rltecc Giles Edwards Iw^ferntorede^ls. .au 8 Thursday AG Mat7.30pm Victoria, Melbo • Herbarium, WMUe d^SntW°~.nte3in.he followed at8 P J The 2002 Lecture artificial Deflowering of N^tur^or flowers as a' k ^ rs; Richard ephemera. P h Anya - ^na Admission (at the door): P $ r 2 r, ;GHS m embers,Sf5non- members. 2 260. \ Helen Page (03) ^ 27-30 September Barker _ Western Austra 11 , M (f drive tour Country ^ekend. 5 n e stirling in Mt Ba a contact Edith Young Ranges area. Cont (08) 9457 4956 E°?s^Vr' C»(.r.n e «: Gar<1 '" a ° Imagine*** 1 ' ^ SS^«G.,d.nViA°« (optional) / i 7.11 October / ^ North-West y gc Norxn-^^—- / Country Gardens _En.7a.corr Country — vvww.montaza.com a 11 Sunday . Botanic Frie !l dS s 0 aanbourne - Third Winter 03 navatWongaPatk Lecture Day at ^ ders Av e, C °mm a U S k Rom 10.15 am to 4.00 Wonga Par ^. . k Fa rming to pm. F rorn F,r , Dr Robyn Adams) -- M onaro, m'-""- ro“^ aiF “ de “ i,!Phone (03) 5990 2200. of 23 November A CT, Monaro, R' verl " _ . . Paiarang, NS Christmas 8 December t nris«i«»- ^SfSS K beadvi»d. Christmas ■ . —1 > /1 CD( (U») riA' — 28 Sunday Fremantle AGM WeStem ntt Fremantle Challenger 12 noon at c ou th Terrace, TAFE Building, Ca( . 0 | Mansfield Fremantle Speaker- | unc h •Gardens of Contact: ($20) will be pr 4956 Edith Young (08) 9 4 SSSft SS st. Gardens in Noosa . AUSTRALIAN GARDEN HISTORY PRINT POST NO. 345842/0016