Vol. 14 No. 5 March/April 2003 HISTORY ; V y Ned— # • ' -V [ / TN -f \ . TV Mii Vl „. '/*&-■' -: SA 4-1, vBiiaW 7 ' T f *rl' LSI V i «Fv AUSTRALIAN GARDEN HISTORY SOCIETY Interpreting landscapes Nancy Tow A Subtropical Garden Jane Lennon Cultural Landscapes Sandra Pullman Charles Bogue Luffman Mission The Australian Garden History Society will be the leader in concern for and conservation of significant cultural landscapes and gardens through committed, relevant and sustainable action. Publication Australian Garden History, the official journal of the Australian Garden History Society, 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 $48 Family $63 Corporate $75 Youth $20 (under 25 years of age) Advertising Rates 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 Road, Promontory Views,Vic. 3959 Phone: (03)5663 2381 E-mail: ncrone@dcsi.net.au Design Jo Waite Design Printing FRP ISSN 1033-3673 John Brookes (Vic.) and John Taylor (Qld.) enjoy conversation at Oakwood, visited during the 2002 Annual Conference in Tasmania. Photo: Helen Page Georgina Whitehead, editor of the AGHS publication Planting the Nation, listens to Ron Hateley of the School of Forestry at Creswick explaining a point during the visit by the Victorian Branch of AGHS. Photo: Robin Hunt The challenge of garden history is identifying and deciphering the layers of meaning in an old garden and establishing its place in a cultural landscape. top left: Darby River, Wilsons Promontory National Park, Victoria, site of early botanising by Field Naturalist groups. top centre: Lavandula, near Hepburn Springs, Victoria, originally settled by Swiss immigrants from Ticino. top right: Designed landscape at Cruden Farm, Victoria, home of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch. bottom left: Churchill Island, Victoria, where Lieutenant Grant attempted to plant wheat in 1802. bottom centre: Hill View, Sutton Forest, New South Wales, for 76 years the country residence of 16 state governors. bottom right: In the 1840s Churchill Island enjoyed a period as a productive farm. Copyright © Australian Garden History Society 2003. 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 circumstances outlined in any agreement between the author/artist/photographcr/illustrator and the Society) without 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 Australian Garden History Vol. 14 No 5 March /April 2003 CONTENTS INTERPRETING LANDSCAPES 4 In my Mother’s Footsteps: the musings of a subtropical gardener Nancy Tow introduces the delights of a garden in South Eastern Queensland. Re-engaging with the Land: designed cultural landscapes In her key-note paper from the 2002 Annual Conference Jane Lennon discusses how Australians regard their landscapes, the adoption of World Heritage assessments of landscape, and the application of cultural landscape categories to Australia. £4 Charles Bogue Luff man: the early years 1862-1897 Sandra Pullman begins a series of articles on the man whose Garden Principles for Australia was published in Melbourne one hundred years ago. £4 Valete Tributes to John Dwight, Helen Bagot and Caroline Simpson £4 Items of Interest £/ Diary Dates ££ On Tour: the golden landscapes of Clunes, Creswick and Talbot Nina Crone reports on a weekend enjoyed by the Victorian Branch in the less frequented goldfield areas of central Victoria. National Management Committee Patron Margaret Darling Chairman Peter Watts Vice-Chairman Richard Heathcote Treasurer Elizabeth Walker Secretary Helen Page Executive Officer Jackie Courniadias Elected Members Max Bourke ACT Stuart Read NSW LeeTrcgloanVIC Dianne Wilkins SA Malcolm Wilson NSW State Representative GabriclleTryon ACT Kate Madden NSW Glenn Cooke QLD Wendy Jovner SA Helen Page VIC Deidre Pearson TAS AnneWilloxWA Branch Contacts ACT/Monaro/Riverina Branch GabriclleTryon 4 Anstey Street Pearce ACT 2607 Ph: (02) 6286 4585 E-ntail: gnnryon@netspeed.coin.au Quknsland Branch Glenn Cooke PO Box 5472 West End QLD 4101 Ph: (07) 3846 1050 E-mail: glenn.cooke@qag.qld.gov.au South Australian Branch Di Wilkins 39 Elizabeth Street Eastwood SA 5068 Ph: (08) 8272 9381 Southern Highlands Branch Chris Webb PO Box 707 Moss Vale NSW 2577 Ph: (02) 4861 4899 E-mail: cwebb@cwebb.com.au Sydney & Northern NSW Branch Malcolm Wilson 10 Hartley Street Rozelle NSW 2039 Ph: (02) 9810 7803 Tasmanian Branch Deidre Pearson 15 Ellington Road Sandy Bay TAS 7005 Ph: (03) 6225 3084 Victorian Branch Helen Page c/- AG HS, Gate Lodge 100 Birdwood Avenue MelbourneVIC 3004 Ph/Fx: (03) 9650 5043 E-mail: helenpagc@bigtiond.com Western Australian Branch Edith Young 21A Corbel Street Shelley WA 6148 Ph: (08) 9457 4956 E-mail: young_ec47@hotmail.com Editorial Advisory Panel Convener Anne Latreillc Members Richard Aitkcn Max Bourke Paul Fox David Jones Megan Martin Prue Slatycr Christopher Verno Australian Garden History Vol . 15 No 5 March/April 2003 3 Colvillea flowering against a blue Queensland sky. THER’S FOOTSTEPS Words and Pictures by Nancy Tow The theme of the 24th Annual National Conference in Brisbane is ‘Tropical Pleasures’. Nancy Tow gives a tantalising introduction to gardening in South Eastern Queensland. Hazards eople who garden successfully in the teeth of Antarctic gales, or perform miracles in thin, stony, waterless soil, are regularly heaped with accolades. But what of those who garden in the lush tropical paradise of the Queensland coast? Despite the words ‘lush’ and ‘paradise’, these gardeners also deserve praise. Surely we should take our hats off to the brave souls who, with courage and faith, spend their lives creating gardens of incredible beauty in the knowledge that in any year their efforts could all be swept away by cyclonic rain and winds. It may not be a well-known fact, but the trials and tribulations of gardeners on South Eastern Queensland’s coastal plain are daunting and numerous. Take my large garden at Wellington Point, in the Redland Shire south of the mouth of the Brisbane River on Moreton Bay. On the face of it you might think there are more pluses than minuses in gardening here. The soil is rich red clay loam (Rraznozcm), the legacy of a huge volcanic eruption from Mount Warning more than 23 million years ago, and it will grow just about anything! The land slopes very gently from west to east and the drainage is very good - too good at times, especially in summer, when I suspect that each time I water my plants, gardens in Brazil benefit! Summer is the most difficult time for gardeners in coastal Queensland. Some people would rather brave the Antarctic gale than cope with our heat and humidity. In the days when this garden was young and huge sweeps ofblue couch lawn rolled away from the house and the future giants being planted were small, one could garden lightly clad. With the development of the garden have come certain hazards - mosquitos, sandflies, spiders, the possibility of an encounter with a snake and the ever-present sun so 1 cannot go outside for some serious gardening without donning a hat, long- sleeved shirt, long trousers, socks, boots and gloves. For most of the year, this means that 1 am gardening in what could be called a personal sauna! It’s frontier stuff gardening in the sub¬ tropics, and not for the faint-hearted! W'hat’s more the red soil leaves a permanent stain, so your shirt, trousers and hat are the oldest ones you possess. I have long ceased to care if unexpected visitors find me looking like a scarecrow. 4 Australian Garden History Vol . 14 No 5 March/April 2003 The fact that the soil will grow anything is small consolation when undesirable plants pop up in plague proportions! Glycine, excellent for fixing nitrogen in the soil, was introduced to the Queensland Tropics from Kenya to replace lucerne as feed. It proved a poor substitute for lucerne. However, having landed on the rich coastal soils of subtropical Queens¬ land, it now calls Australia home, has proliferated mightily, and if undetected in time will climb over every plant in the garden. The Golden Rain Tree (. Koelreuteria paniculata) is a lovely specimen, especially planted in rows by the roadside or up in a paddock. But in a Wellington Point garden, its desirability wanes as millions of seeds fill on the receptive red soil and countless trees come up in the garden beds, the lawns, everywhere. The same applies to palms, camphor laurels and so- called Chinese elms, the seeds of which travel miles and the hapless gardener is resigned to pulling out or cutting down their offspring forever. Furthermore, there must be 5000 miles of vigorous weedy vines, all unasked for and unwanted, travelling above and below ground, up trees and through shrubs throughout this garden. Traditional Queensland coastal gardens, the older and larger ones in particular, have a tendency to look untidy, especially around the back. That is where you will usually find the bananas, mangos and macadamia nuts growing and all can become large and unkempt as they age. My garden is no exception, with bananas, mangos, macadamia nuts, white and black sapotes, grumichama, jaboticaba, feijoa, cainito, dwarf peaches, lychee, citrus, custard apples, avocado, persimmon, and ginger. The first three are in the far reaches of the garden, but most of the others have a neat and tidy demeanour and do not need to be hidden. A slightly bedraggled look is one that a coastal Queensland garden wears with equanimity, and it is part of the established landscape. While it may lack the sculptured elegance of some southern temperate garden landscapes, it is big-hearted, warm colourful, and bountiful. Indeed Mother Nature is so bounteous that, come summer, food literally rains down upon the Queensland coast. Mangos in their thousands fall from trees like shrapnel on to roofs, garden beds, people. The wild life does its best to help, but with humans, possums and flying foxes stuffed to the eyeballs with mangos, there is still a huge wastage. Residents of Brisbane, exhausted from lack of sleep due to the mango artillery on their roofs all night,have to crawl around on the ground and on the roof gathering the rotting fruit, and dispose of it. The Council Waste Disposal trucks were unable to lift the mango-weighted wheelie bins and this method of disposal is now taboo. It is fortunate that the forthcoming National The huge Backhousia Conference will be held during winter as by then citriodora in bloom, we will all be sane again. Inheritance My garden is now 40 years old, and over the years has been loved by our family and favoured by the wildlife that has increased with the gardens evolution. Many of the original gum trees around the perimeter of the land were preserved, and our garden has always been part of a koala corridor. Those large bush trees are now complemented by magnificent specimens of Harpephyllum (Kaffir Plum) grown from a seed picked up in the Brisbane Botanic Gardens by my mother, Brachychilon acerifolius (Illawarra Flame Tree), Grevillea robusta (Silky Oak), Jacarandas, Delonix regia (Poinciana), Brassaia actinophylla (Umbrella tree), Buckinghamia celsissima, Syzygium jambos (Rose Apple), Albizzia lebbeck, various Cassias, including Cassia fistula, Quercus palustris (Pin Oak), and Eucalyptus ptychocarpa (Swamp Bloodwood). What came to be calledTheWoodland Glade is in the centre of the garden. It was created by the planting, in a double circle, of various Callistemons, a Pavetta, a mystery tree - a photograph of which states ‘Northern white ash grown from seed’ - a Liquidambar, a Brachychiton discolor, a large Diospyros kaki (Persimmon), a Schotia brachypetala (Parrot Flower Tree) and a Euodia elleryana. In summer the centre of the glade is shady and cool, and in winter after the liquidambar and persimmon have put on a wonderful autumn display and shed their leaves, it is warm and sunny. One side of the glade is formed by a row of old camellias, white, pink, and red. Between the camellias and the house is an area of blue couch lawn about 50 feet long by 20 wide. At one end is a Magnolia grandiflora, and a Australian Garden History Vol. 15 No 5 March/April 2003 5 The splendour of Castanospermum (Black Bean). Beside the house Brachychiton acerifolius, j s a Backhousia citriodora (Lemon Scented Myrtle) the lllawarra Flame Tree. . „ _ , . , . . . at least 30 feet high, an awesome sight when in flower. This ‘room’ became known as the Secret Garden and in winter, with fewer mosquitos, it is a fine place for al fresco lunches. Near the front steps is a rare ColviUea that puts on its glorious but all too brief display in autumn. When its orange and yellow flowers are finally spent, the presence of the colour orange is maintained by a Holmskioldia sanguinea (Chinese Hat Plant) which has threaded its slender canes upwards through the ColviUea. Next to the ColviUea and flowering with it in autumn is the beautiful camellia ‘Showa-no-sakae’, and beside it grows a Brunfelsia eximir. Adjacent to these and forming the western end of the Secret Garden is a structure which close inspection will reveal started life as an icon that no history of Queensland gardens should ignore, a Hills Hoist. Today it is covered with Lonicera japonica (Honeysuckle), Quisqualis indica (Rangoon Creeper) and Bignonia lindleyana (now Clytostoma callistegioides). From springtime on through summer, it engages all the senses as the honeysuckle and Quisqualis perfume the air, cream and yellow flowers mingling with peachy orange and with the pale lavender of the Clytostoma. Roses, philadelphus, daylillies and cottage garden plants grow in gardens beyond the glade. Perspective It is with quiet pleasure that I can look around this garden and know that it is an original creation. Our family was the first to cultivate this soil. How young our garden history is, especially in Queensland. In the northern hemisphere people have gardened for centuries on land steeped in custom and tradition and chronicled in history. Landscapes perhaps thousands of years old have been preserved or have inspired gardeners who have dug and planted with the ghosts of previous workers of that soil looking over their shoulders. Today, people on the other side of the world make gardens on land across which armies have marched, and across which the changes of history have progressively left their mark. Less than 100 years before we bought it, our piece of land had known nothing but the soft pad of the bare feet of Aborigines and the marsupials and reptiles they hunted. I do not dig and plant where countless gardeners have gone before. 1 follow only in my Mothers footsteps. I have not only inherited her garden, but also some of her traits. I have the same inquisitiveness and acquisitiveness. Mother was always ready to try to grow things that others would not even consider. She adventurously experimented in straying across the generally accepted climatic boundaries, testing to see how far beyond these she could actually go. She successfully grew bluebells for two years running in this subtropical garden. I went to live in Sydney for many years, and having opted to return to live in the subtropics, I wish, perversely, that I could have a blue spruce and a variegated holly in my garden. But even I know when I’m beaten. There actually is a holly in this garden, grown from a cutting my Mother brought back from my Sydney garden. I had forgotten about it, and while rejuvenating a garden after my Mother had died, 1 cut back a rampant Caroline jasmine to discover it had enveloped the holly and a red hibiscus ‘Martha Fleming’ growing beside it. The holly was covered with red berries. But why do I pine for a variegated holly? There are, after all, red berries a-plenty in my garden. The Ardisia crispa ( A.crenulata ) bears beautiful clusters of red berries below its glossy green leaves. Then there are the cotoneasters with their long, graceful drooping canes loaded with berries. The Nandina domestica also sports clusters of bright berries. The answer is that on the few occasions that I have seen a large, healthy, berry-bearing variegated holly I have felt an 6 Australian Garden History Vol . 14 No 5 March/April 2003 enormous sense of wonder. There is something almost mystical about this tree, and its perfect, shiny two-toned leaves seem to emanate power and mystery. My little (five foot) holly, humbly and privately performing its miracle next to a blatantly tropical red hibiscus should perhaps be regarded as mysterious too. When I beheld it proudly wearing its berries, I felt a surge of affection for it, but standing in a wintry garden in the Blue Mountains gazing at a large variegated holly, its cold feet planted in the ancient pagan mythology of the northern hemisphere, I was filled with awe. That sort of feeling is not usually engendered by a subtropical garden such as mine. By day it is a warm, happy, friendly place. It wears the sunny colours of yellow, orange, red and purple at most times of the year. In spring and summer it adds a lot of white, pink and blue. The Woodland Glade is under-planted with ferns, abutilons, bulbs, Euphorbia ‘Snowflake’, Impatiens, Salma, Begonias, Durauta and Ruellia. Every spring the garden is bathed in the perfume of a large Rondeletia amoena, and a hedge of Barleria cristata flowers in pink, blue and white. The beautiful Cardinal vine ( Ipomoea horsfalliae ) grows on a trellis on the north side of the glade. Dracaenas, Mussaenda erythrophyUa (red) and Mussaenda frondosa (creamy white), Clivias, Galphimia glattca, Russelia, Orthosiphon aristatas, Frangipanis, Brunfelsias, salvias, ixoras, azaleas, camellias, and banks of maidenhair and vireyas grow in the shade. Along the front fence orchids grow under trees, and Petrea, Codiaeum variegatum (Croton), Cordyline terminalis, Dracaenas, Dicorisanda, Raphiolepis indica (Indian Hawthorn) are there. Plumbago capensis and Tecomaria capensis have invaded a large and beautiful Rosa laevigata. Further down, are hibiscus, yellow, pink and red, bright pink Anligonon leptopus and scarlet Mabmvisats in a glorious riot of colour, rising from an under-planting of maidenhair fern. Colour, warmth and abundance. That is the essence of a subtropical garden. But night-time in a subtropical garden is another matter. Then the garden does become imbued with an ‘other worldly’ mysticism. On moonlit nights the strange shadows and silhouettes of the trees create an eerie effect and the lawns shine like a wide, silver sea. Scampering across this ethereal expanse, koalas look unreal in the moonlight. The huge shape of a flying fox or an owl sometimes adds a Gothic touch. On moonless nights the stars of the southern sky hang low making a glittering ceiling that encloses the garden in magic. At night the garden is effort¬ lessly seductive. The air is filled with heady perfumes from Murrayas, jasmines, honeysuckle, Nicotiana, Bnmfelsia americana (lady of the night), Quisqualis, stocks and Ccstnun nocturnum (Night- Seen ted Jessamine). From my study I can see (and hear,) as 1 write, a large flock of rainbow lorikeets feeding at dishes of sweet water put out for them. It has been raining and they are hungry. Like them, generations of nectar-eating birds have been coming to this feeder. When there is a dearth of blossom, or the nectar has been washed out by rain, they will congregate in the trees around the dishes. A whistle from me will receive a loud chorus in reply, the click of the latch on the screen door is enough to elicit a roar of anticipation and if, as I walk towards the feeders with my bucket, I call out‘Are you hungry?’, I get something like the Hallelujah Chorus in reply. No picture of a garden is complete without mention of its wildlife. There are no cats or dogs in this garden and there is wild food a-plenty. Here, there is a profusion of bird-life, both resident and migratory. Roscllas, lorikeets, finches, silver-eyes, noisy miners, doves, crested pigeons, spangled drongos, dollar birds, crested hawks, channel-billed cuckoos, blue-cheeked and other honeyeaters, fig birds, olive-backed Rainbow lorikeets feeding in the garden. Australian Garden History Vol. 15 No 5 March/April 2003 7 Bromeliads abound in the orioles, kookaburras, noisy friar birds, wattle birds, grey thrush, pied and grey butcherbirds, frogmouths, and many, many more. Occasionally a blue crane will wander circumspectly through the garden. Peewees and magpies parade their babies. As with all creatures it is the babies that give most delight. The baby rainbow lorikeets, wings outstretched, stagger along the branches swaying like drunken tightrope walkers, their ‘rusty-hinge’ voices begging incessantly. Ringtail and brush-tail possums squabble and play at night. One never grows tired of watching mother and baby koalas together. They often prefer to sit in trees such as the Schotia during the day and move to the eucalypts at evening. We are told that koalas eat only leaves of certain eucalypts. I found one mother and baby high up in one of my callistemons munching the flowers! Accolade A large, old garden is a treasure, and it is a tragedy when one is cut up and destroyed, particularly as they are becoming rare in suburbia. So much garden history is lost. Such a garden has an intimate, harmonious atmosphere achieved by continuity of nurturing over a long time by people for whom every inch of the garden was a personal creation. The large old trees are like sentinels, watching over the people who originally watched over and cared for them. A symbiosis emerges between the plants that have lived together in the garden for many years. The atmosphere of well-being is almost tangible. My parents, but in particular my Mother, created a veritable botanic garden on this piece of subtropical bushland. It is a garden that defies any conventional labelling, a creation influenced by no school of thought or design. Rather, it is a place through which one may make a journey as through Life itself. There is so much to see and so much to learn, and there is a choice of paths to follow as one journeys through. The order in which those who make the journey discover the perspective, delights and experiences offered by the garden, will depend on the decisions they make as the paths diverge and merge. m Nancy Tow began gardening in earnest after becoming interested in the history, and in the culinary uses and decorative properties of herbs. From there her interest moved to Australian native plants, geraniums and pelargoniums, and finally to all plants. For 17 years she gardened on a balcony overlooking Sydney Harbour, gradually accumulating 60 pots. The change to an acre at Wellington Point allowed her passion for plants to emerge and develop on a broad scale. Holmskioldia sanguines, the Chinese Hat Plant. Designed cultural landscapes In this key-note paper delivered at the 23rd Annual Conference in Hobart Jane Lennon presents a valuable overview on the classification of landscape placing some Australian examples into the global framework. T he lines from Judith Wright capture my continuing interest in understanding the forested landscapes of Australia. This interpretation is informed by over 200 years of European interaction with this ancient continent and its distinctive patterns about which we are still learning, ignoring and repairing. My paper will discuss how we Australians regard the landscape, then our adoption of World Heritage assessments of landscape and conclude with the application of these cultural landscape categories to Australia and Tasmania. There is an element of design in all our landscapes, irrespective of their age and scale. Coming to grips with this new landscape Joseph Banks advocated European settlement following his assessment of this land as having economic potential due to the presence of larger varieties of plants despite its barren appearance. Ironically, he is remembered by a genus of flowering plants, Banksia, found generally in sandy heathlands. Eighteen years later, after six months at sea, the new settlers waxed lyrical about the ‘bountiful bush’ and the variety, fragrance, beauty and number of flowering shrubs in an uncultivated state. Disenchantment set in quickly however as they found that heat, aridity, floods and strange soil, bandicoots and caterpillars conspired to defeat their gardening activities — even though these were initially for subsistence, rather than for improvement or aesthetic pleasure. And this theme has repeated itself ever since in the Australian environment. Howard Tanner’s marvellous 1979 travelling exhibition, Converting the Wilderness: The Art of Gardening in ColonialAustralia ,showed us how the new settlers, rich and not so rich, urban and rural, hankered for Home. They emulated the English garden ideal in the Picturesque style by clothing their small parcels of Australian landscape in vegetation familiar to them. We celebrate this inheritance today in the range of loved and listed gardens — here in Tasmania with Government House gardens, with the grand estate gardens of Panshanger, Beaufront, Woolmers, Connerville and Quorn Hall, together with the domestic gardens in Hobart Town and Mills Plains captured in Glover’s paintings. Tanner discussed how the number of non- indigenous garden plants increased rapidly and, whether for utilitarian purposes or for beauty, how they were planted simply in a squared design. A valued seedling from Home — such as chestnut or oak, was given central position and surrounded with a fringe of easily grown flowers. Thus the small-holder garden typical of 18th century England, primarily of vegetables and fruit with a few flowers, took root in Australian soil, becoming part of the vernacular garden tradition portrayed by amateur artists ever since. 1 A view of Gellibrand Hill Park taken c. 1860 shows Woodlands homestead, centre background, with a dense cover of drooping she-oaks on the hill behind the building. By 1993 it was a different landscape. Photo: Courtesy Dr Alan Roberts When first I knew this forest its flowers were strange. Their different forms and faces changed with the seasons’ change Now that its vines and flowers are named and known, like long-fulfilled desires those first strange joys are gone. My search is further. There’s still to name and know beyond the flowers I gather that one that does not wither- the truth from which they grow. The Forest from Judi th Wri ght’s A Human Pattern: Selected Poems (ETT Imprint, Sydney, 1999) Used with permission. Australian Garden History Vol 15 No 5 March /April 2003 9 ‘Botanical Gardens and Government House, Melbourne', 1876 oil painting by Henry Burn (18077-1884), from the Picture Collection at the State Library of Victoria, At Farm Cove, New Farm, and Eagle Farm the new settlers planted crops for food and experimented in acclimatisation. Bush tucker was never cultivated - macadamias were domesticated much later. Free settlers formed horticultural societies and public botanic gardens were established. As the colony prospered land¬ holders set about designing a setting for their homes. In Van Diemens Land, convict gangs turned the bridle track between Hobart and Launceston into the Midland Highway and arable land along its length was cleared. The resulting landscape, in a cool climate, made for the emulation of English scenery in the Arcadian style of Capability Brown, Humphry Repton and fellow stylists. Hawthorn hedges divided the fields, oaks lined the drive, stone bridges crossed the brooks, and the Georgian house with its pear and apple orchards had a mountain backdrop. - From the earliest years of the Colonies accounts of appreciation of the Australian scenery and its plants were as numerous as those with opposing views. However, natural garden settings using the local bush were rarely used and native plants were chiefly used for their novelty or hardiness, as with the Araucarias like Norfolk Island, Floop and Bunya pines. Indeed, one of my favourite images depicting this disdain is the 1876 painting by Henry Burn. It shows the removal of large native trees, probably river red gums, by draught horse and jinker from the Melbourne Botanical Gardens with the new Italianate Government House glinting on the hill and the Yarra River flowing into the distance. Ironically, the clearing of the native vegetation — and von Mueller’s systems garden - enabled William Guilfoyle to create probably the best example of a designed landscape in Australia. It had large lawns dominating the composition, sweeping across the slope of the land, while offering vistas down to the lagoon from where the Government House tower is the dominant feature. Curving banks of planting separate the various lawns in the traditional landscape manner and, to satisfy the public request for colour and his own ideal of plant textures (both attributes of the Gardenesque), small circular beds were set into the lawn to visually link with clumped trees and shrubs. Guilfoyle is credited with achieving a successful compromise between the two conflicting aesthetic ideals of his time and creating‘a long series oflandscape pictures... all of quite exceptional beauty’ ’’ However, owing to its isolation,Tasmania was little touched by the gold rushes and much of its predominantly Georgian character survived. With its oaks, hawthorn hedges and briar roses, it retained much ofits English influence of colonial days which was lost in the Victorian era on the mainland. Here the Arcadian style gave way to the Picturesque with its Gothic Revival buildings. James Dickinson was one of many 10 Australian Garden History Vol 14 No 5 March/April 2003 garden lovers who developed an appreciation of the Tasmanian countryside through his horticultural work. In his Gardner's Manual for Tasmania , published in 1855, he wrote: We look upon our colonial home pursuits in connection with our garden and fields etc. as likely to lead to a love of country for its own sake. 4 Dickinson also gave much practical advice to gardeners and encouraged them to use fresh animal manures on their plots. Tasmanian horticulture was exported to the mainland with the opening up ofVictoria for settlement - in 1846 Browns River potatoes were supplied for seed to Gipps’ Land squatters. 3 This foreshadowed the much greater export of potatoes from the rich soils of the north coast following the cutting up the land for selection blocks later in the 19th century. Despite the Georgian patterns created on the settled districts, there were vast areas of native forest in the central section of mountains and lakes and in the wetter areas on the south and west coasts. There, magnificent softwoods like Huon pine and celery top pine contrasted with the deciduous beech, myrtle beech, sassafras, towering swamp gums and the scented leatherwoods. From the 1840s moves to protect native fauna were discussed and popularised by Louisa Meredith s ‘bush friends’ culminating in Tasmania being the first colony to protect native fauna, or game species as they were generally perceived, by legislation in 1860. This was followed by the creation of scenic reserves such as that at Russell Falls, and the Queen’s Domain was described as a national park in the 1870s as was the mountain park on the slopes of Mt Wellington. 6 In 1915 the Scenery Preservation Board was created, the first dedicated authority in Australia created specifically to deal with the establishment and management of parks and reserves. By 1922 it had proclaimed 16 reserves including Mt Field, Freycinet, Cradle Mountain, Lake St Clair and Port Arthur. 7 And so scenic landscape became a recognised asset for Tasmania. Its resurrection - or re-positioning as they say in the tourist marketing department - as wilderness and a clean green, natural heritage will be discussed later. The landscape concept The first use of the term ‘landscape’ as a way of viewing the environment (especially in painting), was in China around the 4th century AD. In Europe, landscape protection began with private land-holders creating and protecting landscapes from the 17th century and in the 19th century under the influence of the Romantic painters the first nature reserve created was in Fontainebleau in 1853. The English landscape movement was the catalyst for the formation of the National Trust in 1895, initially to protect landscapes while making them available to an increasingly urbanized society. There was a similar movement in the USA with the creation of the first national park,Yellowstone, in 1872, and the foundation of the Sierra Club in 1892. Separating nature and culture is a western tradition emanating from the Romantic period (mid-18th century to mid-19th century) and it coincided with nationalist sentiment that led countries to consider specific landscapes as symbols of identity. Nature then came to equal culture as exemplified in the Germanic tradition, and ‘natural’ landscapes were celebrated as national symbols through painting and literature including poetry. By the mid-19th century, fascination with wild nature was firmly established as a cause for national sentiment and celebration. At the same time, for the schools of French and German geographers, the word ‘landscape’ began to take its modern meaning of the environment as a synthesis of natural and cultural features. Landscape is both a way of viewing the environment surrounding us and a means of describing the environment to include both its natural and cultural aspects. In Australia for most of last century landscape conservation was linked to the urban parks movement as part of the English ‘garden city’ and town planning developments, or to the national parks and conservation reserves movements. There were moves to protect certain types of landscape such as coastal scenery through municipal planning scheme controls. But this was only part of a much wider global movement especially following the adoption by the general conference of UNESCO in 1972 of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Its purpose is to ensure the identification, protection, cons¬ ervation, presentation and transmission to future generations of the cultural and natural heritage of ‘outstanding universal value’. Identifying landscapes with these outstanding universal values for inscription on the World Heritage List then became a priority for nature conservation and heritage agencies. World Heritage and Cultural Landscapes Although only a few landscapes are truly‘natural,’ in the sense that they have never been subject to human influence, the term‘cultural landscape’has been used increasingly over the last decade to express the idea of a culture-nature linkage in a specific place. Cultural landscapes have a past and therefore exhibit a strong historical component. Many definitions are available but they all emphasise the interaction of people with their environment over time and the presence of cultural values in the landscape. Australian Garden History Vol. 15 No 5 March/April 2003 11 Watercolour sketch made by a visitor to the Villa d’Este in the 1950s. From a private collection. Used with permission. Australia ratified the Convention in 1974 and currently has 14 properties inscribed on the World Heritage List. Although the Convention brought together natural and cultural places under one framework, initially there was no mechanism for recognising sites that were the result of the interplay between cultural and natural values, that is, landscapes of outstanding universal value. In 1992 as a result of concerted efforts to include cultural landscapes on the World Heritage agenda, the cultural criteria were expanded and cultural landscape categories were introduced. Previous to this great gardens like Versailles and the Alhambra had been inscribed as historic sites. The three categories of World Heritage cultural landscapes adopted by the Committee in 1992 are: 1 The most easily identifiable is the clearly defined landscape designed and created intentionally by man. This embraces garden and parkland landscapes constructed for aesthetic reasons which are often (but not always) associated with religious or other monumental buildings and ensembles. 2 The second category is the organically evolved landscape. This results from an initial social, economic, administrative, and/or religious imperative and has developed its present form by association with and in response to its natural environment. Such landscapes reflect that process of evolution in their form and component features. They fall into two sub-categories: • a relict (or fossil) landscape is one in which an evolutionary process came to an end at some time in the past, either abrupdy or over a period. Its significant distinguishing features are, however, still visible in material form. • a continuing landscape is one which retains an active social role in contemporary society closely associated with the traditional way of life, and in which the evolutionary process is still in progress. At the same time it exhibits significant material evidence of its evolution over time. 3 The final category is the associative cultural landscape. The inclusion of such landscapes on the World Heritage List is justifiable by virtue of the powerful religious, artistic or cultural associations of the natural element, rather than material cultural evidence that may be insignificant or even absent. Among the 721 properties from 124 countries inscribed on the World Heritage List at June 2002, there are 30 inscribed as cultural landscapes. There is an over-representation of European landscapes and an emphasis on vineyards. The WHC is aware of this imbalance and actively seeks other types from the rest of the world. Let us look now at some of these outstanding cultural landscapes and the management issues involved for the different categories. A DESIGNED LANDSCAPE: VlLLA D’ESTE, Tivoli, Italy The Villa d’Este in Tivoli, started for Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este in 1550, was designed to form an ensemble typical of the Renaissance. In the 17th century, Bernini contributed many additions to it. However the Villa d’Este is most of all an unrivalled example of a 16th century Italian garden. With its architectural works (palace, fountains, loggias, nymphs, and grottos) and precious decorations such as the pictorial cycles painted by famous artists from the Roman Mannerist school, it represents one of the most fascinating accomplishments of Italian Renaissance architecture. The influence of the Villa d’Este was decisive for the development of the art of European gardens, and it remained an unrivalled model until the French gardens of Versailles and Vaux-le-Vicomte came into fashion. For centuries the Villa d’Este was a not-to-be missed destination on travellers’and artists’ Grand Tours in Italy. It inspired, either directly or indirectly, painters, composers, and writers from all countries. Among Italian monuments, theVilla d’Este is one of the most often portrayed, to the point that almost every European museum has a painting, a watercolour, an engraving, or a drawing portraying it. Today, 500 years since it was built, the Villa d’Este s beauty has not waned: every year hundreds of thousands of visitors come making it one of Italy’s five most visited monuments. This designed landscape is a good example of one that has inspired many variations on its design. Its contemporary restoration problems are also of interest. A continuing landscape: Cinque Terre, Italy The Ligurian coastal region between Cinque Terre and Portovenere is a cultural landscape of high scenic and cultural value. The form and disposition of the small towns, the shaping of the landscape surrounding them, and the overcoming of disadvantages of a steep and broken terrain graphically encapsulate the continuous history of human settlement over the past millennium. There are accounts by Roman consuls of wine exports from the five villages by the sea.The site was inscribed in 1997. The landscape with its steep terraces rising from the shoreline of the Mediterranean Sea was seriously damaged by post-World War II external changes that disrupted the traditional system. People emigrated, the land was abandoned, terraces were collapsing due to lack of maintenance, and viticulture on an economic scale broke down so that grapes had to be imported in the 1980s. Re-vitalisation has come from within the five communities - young people concerned about loss of identity formed a cooperative to produce and market the traditional wine of the region. They also wanted new designs for works in the landscape. This requires more complexity in design to preserve the whole: zoning the terraces according to soils and drainage, prescribing building and housing upgrades, new subdivision, connecting tourists with the terraced landscapes through trekking and education, and being able to purchase abandoned terraces so that external funds flow into site restoration. The 5000 residents asked for ‘national park status’ to protect their World Heritage listed landscape. Now, skilled Albanian refugees are moving in to repair the stone terraces, house prices have risen 300% since inscription, and the new threat is tourism that needs to be managed to support the new open community of the national park. There are 2 million visitors annually of whom 60% are from overseas. In 2001, CinqucTerre was included as No. 74 on the World Monument Watch’s 100 most endangered sites. A management plan is being formulated for Cinque Terre, now a national park following its World Heritage Listing in contrast to the usual situation here in Australia. The plan integrates protection and conservation of the landscape and its continuing use for cultivation. This case study shows the problems of conserving a continuing landscape with a history of viticulture on very steep terrain. Survival of the landscape and its inscribed heritage values is dependent on its continuing economic viability. Many of the Australian landscapes, Uluru- Kata Tjuta National Park, Purnululu, eastern left: Healthy vines above Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre, Italy. Photo: Courtesy Jane Lennon. right: Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy - harbour, churches and vine terraces. Photo: Courtesy Jane Lennon. Australian Garden History Vol. 15 No 5 March/April 2003 13 Uluru Photo: courtesy Jane Lennon Kimberley, Western Australia,Woodlands Historic Park at Tullamarine, Victoria, and Wilsons Promontory National Park, fall into the category of associative cultural landscape. increasing tourist numbers. Recognising how important these issues are and supporting community development prog¬ rams assists in making joint management of the Park strong. As well as caring for country and kin, an essential part of ‘keeping the Law straight’ means ensuring that knowledge is not imparted to the wrong people and that they do not gain access to significant and sacred sites. To deliver appropriate information to visitors, a Cultural Centre, a cooperatively conceived mud- brick ffee-form structure was built in 1995. It acts as the primary information point for visitors, includes artwork, natural history and cultural displays, and is the starting point for Anangu-guided tours. 8 Uluru provides a good case study of the An Associative cultural landscape. efforts required to maintain the social and cultural Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park input for associative cultural landscapes. A cultural landscape may be directly associated with the living traditions of those inhabiting it, or living around it in the case of some designed landscapes like gardens. These associations arise from interactions and perceptions of a landscape, such as beliefs closely linked to the landscape and the way it has been perceived over time. These cultural landscapes mirror the cultures that created them. This is the case at Uluru-Kata Tjuta, where for the Anangu people of Central Australia the landscape is the culture. It‘speaks’ to them and guides every day living through memory and association of features with seasonal and daily rituals and activities. This ‘narrative’ landscape is full of cultural values expressed in stories continuously told by societies without the written word. Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park was inscribed on the World Heritage List for natural values (1987) and for associative cultural values (1994) as a cultural landscape. As a cultural landscape the park represents the work of the Anangu, the Aboriginal inhabitants, and of nature over thousands of years. Inside the park there is Mutitjulu village of 400 Anangu, community workers and some park staff. Regional tour operators bring about 60% of the visitors (approximately 372,000 in 1999) to the Park. The Ayers Rock Resort atYulara adjoins the Park’s northern boundary. For Anangu, primary responsibility is to maintain the law, Tjukurpa, by caring for the land. They want to continue their way of life of harvesting resources, that is hunting and foraging. They also expect to gain from their land being managed as a National Park and from the MAINTAINING AN ASSOCIATIVE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE: PURNULULU, EASTERN Kimberley,Western Australia Purnululu, or the Bungle Bungles, is Australia’s most recent nomination to the World Heritage list. It is considered in part to be a cultural landscape. The landscape has exceptional natural values - 20 million years of weathering has produced the eroded sandstone towers that look like banded beehives. The landscape features are exceptionally beautiful and inspirational. The orange and grey horizontal banding of the cyanobacteria crusts on the sandstone towers highlights their aesthetic features. In addition, there is also a rich mixture of species in the transitional zone between themonsoonal areas to the north and the arid zone to the south including a diverse range ofSpinifex species. The cultural landscape is significant because its people and traditions have survived for 20,000 years, especially through the colonising period. Ngaffan-atigkami is the continuing guiding principle in the living traditions and beliefs of Purnululu’s traditional owners, many of whom live inTurkcy Creek following the pastoral station walk—offs. This culture has remained resilient at a time of great change. This is most evident in the maintenance of connection between people and country, and in the ongoing development of artistic forms from rock art, to ceremonial boards, to internationally recognised art forms. Rover Thomas is one of the most famous Tin-key Creek artists. ' Art has provided the most obvious form for maintenance of the values of this associative cultural landscape. 14 Australian Garden History Vol. 14 No 5 March/April 2003 Australian Heritage Commission views The use of categories of cultural landscape as defined for the World Heritage Committee in 1992 has become widespread in Australia, although clearly all cultural landscapes will not possess the outstanding universal values that are sought for World Heritage listing. The Australian Heritage Commission has noted that only some cultural landscapes will have heritage significance and that will depend on the ability of the place to meet the various criteria. In particular, the criterion for‘richness and diversity’ (Criterion A3) is used for cultural landscapes as it applies to extensive landscape areas that contain many linked places, not individually significant but of heritage importance as an interrelated entity. In assessing cultural landscapes there is a need to relate the history of the place with the extant features and vice versa. There is also a need to consider other values such as social, aesthetic, religious meanings, the expression of ideas, relationships to other places and linking The AHC uses the World Heritage definitions of cultural landscapes to ensure a consistent approach within the department. However, they acknowledge that these categories have limited use as most places are dynamic and complex and many can be categorised in all three groups. Woodlands Historic Park at Tullamarine,Victoria. This demonstrates the application of cultural landscape categories. William Pomeroy Greene and his entire family emigrated from Ireland in Wm top: Woodlands homestead c.1865 showing the pre-fabricated south wing with Smith, the butler, on the verandah. Photo: Courtesy Dr Alan Roberts bottom: The east wing in 2003 showing the trellis style verandah relocated to this wing c.1919 when the granite piers and new verandah were added to the south wing. Australian Garden History Vol. 15 No 5 March/April 2003 15 top: Woodlands homestead in 2003, taken from the south west showing the verandah added c.1919. bottom: The front garden seen from the verandah in summer 2003. Photos: Nina Crone 1842 and selected land that they named Woodlands near Bulla, north of Melbourne. It was an undulating landscape of open woodland, of mature red gums along Moonee Ponds Creek, rising through scattered grey box with a kangaroo grass understorey to casuarina clad granite outcrops at Gellibrand Hill. The Greenes brought a prefabricated wooden bungalow as well as stud cattle and thoroughbred horses, and moved into their new home on 9 June 1843. Within a few months a large paddock had been fenced and a stockyard provided. Crops, vines and fruit trees were planted — the cultivated landscape. At the house a landscape was constructed in the courtyard between the wings of the buildings — magnolias and pomegranates were planted in July 1843 and three of these magnolias survive today, the oldest documented garden plants in Victoria. Successive owners used the continuing landscape for pastoral pursuits, and stud horse raising was always a feature. Subsequent owners, including Ben Chaffey, were members of the nearby Oaklands Hunt Club that rode through the property. In 1978 the National Park Service acquired the property and restored the garden and buildings as well as commencing a long-term restoration of the woodland. It is managed as metropolitan parkland and horse riding is still permitted with an annual Woodlands Cup to commemorate the Greenes steeplechase riding on the property, an element of the associative landscape. 11 So this one case study shows all categories of cultural landscape in application — the designed garden, the continuing landscape, the landscape associated with riders through the woodlands. 16 Australian Garden History VoI. f 4 No 5 March /April 2003 The cover of the National Parks Association publication Park Watch September 1993, showing Gellibrand Hill Park c.1860 and the same view in 1993. The she-oaks on the ridge have gone and Woodlands homestead is no longer visible. Wilson's Promontory National Park: Whalers’ Huts. Drawing by R. Russell. Courtesy Jane Lennon. Wilsons Promontory National Park, Victoria The ‘cornerstone of the continent’, with one of the largest park management enforced wilderness zones in southern Victoria, is a place with a fascinating history of prior uses. These reflect how natural resources were harvested for various commercial uses that in turn are now reflected in the ecological patterns of the place. Sealing and on-shore whaling gave way to two phases of logging — 50 years apart - then to cattle grazing, tin mining ‘in the national interest’ during World War I and commando training during World War II. Declared a national park in 1898 and as one of the favourite holiday destinations ofVictorians for a century, there is a great opportunity to inform the public on site about the fascinating interaction between human occupation and its ecological impacts.' - However the limited historical story is presented separately as just one interpretive program among many. By denying the impact ofhistorical activities on the structure and composition of the current landscape, the public is not taught to understand the dynamic interplay of human and natural systems operating. This case study illustrates a typical, current view in Australia - that national parks are natural areas - and their cultural history is ignored. The Tasmanian Heritage Council 13 TheTHC (2002) defines a cultural landscape as‘a landscape that results from the interaction of plants, animals and people over rime.’ The Council uses the World Heritage categories of designed, organically evolved and associative cultural landscapes. It believes that ‘cultural landscapes not only represent physical change and history, they are an integral component to many people’s sense of place. Individuals and communities often have a great attachment or sense ofbelonging to specific cultural landscapes.’ Let us examine several of these. Port Arthur Port Arthur was initially established in 1830 as a timber getting establishment employing convicts. It rapidly grew to become a major industrial centre with nearly 2500 convicts by 1843. It was a male prison and its out-stations spread across the Tasman Peninsula forming a cultural landscape of convict endeavours including coalmines and agricultural stations with the guard line chained across Eaglehawk Neck. These were linked by semaphore communication, by tramway, bridle path or sea routes - the latter using convict built boats. The township developed, then following its closure as a convict prison, it largely burnt down. The legacy today is a continuing landscape — with a Georgian landscape framework of the Picturesque which conveys none of the large scale clearing of the bush necessary for fuel supplies, for timber for industrial processing, or for surveillance of convicts. Yet in the continuing landscape there are also small scale relict landscapes such as that around the shipwright’s house and the stone relics of the dry dock where boat building occurred. Into that landscape were 18 Australian Garden History Vet. 14 No 5 March/April 2003 designed components such as the Commandant’s garden, overgrown and abandoned but now recreated, and a garden designed for the pleasure of the officer class to escape from their industrial surrounds. And then there is the most recent designed landscape - the garden of remembrance for the victims of the Broad Arrow Cafe tragedy.' 4 Port Arthur is a complex landscape illustrating all the categories of cultural landscape in its palette. Management of all these components requires different approaches informed by an understanding of the history of each. The landscape is never static and at any one time different policies are required to convey that historical sense, rather than letting Nature take her course and overgrowing the forested edges of the convict Georgian settlement. The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA) covers approximately 20% of Tasmania, 1.38 million hectares in the south west of the island. It includes Tasmania’s four largest National Parks, a range of other reserves and some of the best wilderness areas in south east Australia. The area was inscribed on the World Heritage fist in 1982 and expanded in 1989 in recognition ofits outstanding World Heritage values. Features of outstanding significance include extensively glaciated landscapes, undisturbed habitats of plants and animals that are rare, endangered and/or endemic, representing a rich variety of evolutionary processes, magnificent natural scenery and an impressive assembly of Aboriginal sites that include cave art. Human occupation,since 36,000 years before the present, is denied however by the naming of the place as wilderness. And more particularly, since rising sea levels separatedTasmania from the mainland about 12,000 years ago Tasmanian Aboriginal culture has survived one of the longest known periods of geographic and cultural isolation affecting a society. Archaeological surveys have revealed occupation sites along the coastlines, at the mouths of the retreating glaciers in the Central Highlands, and along pathways linking plain and mountains. At the time of European settlement there were extensive buttongrass plains throughout the south west ofTasmania. Ecologically, it is unlikely drat such extensive plains would have persisted for more than about 250 to 1000 years without human-mediated fires. Aborigines were seasonally active burning patches of land in the early 1800s and creating open country across which Europeans moved swiftly in the 1820s in the midlands. However, there is considerable anecdotal evidence for major changes in the fire regime of south west Tasmania since the removal of the Aborigines in the 1830s resulting in major wide-ranging, landscape-scale fires in the 1890s and 1930s. Aborigines probably used low- intensity fires, mainly in spring and autumn, to flush out game when hunting and to create access tracks. The aim was to create a large number of Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area: Collingwood River buttongrass plain. Photo: Courtesy Jane Lennon. Australian Garden History Vol . 15 No 5 March/April 2003 19 small, recently burnt areas surrounded by thicker vegetation. The slow rate of vegetation change in south westTasmania meant that the distribution of the majority of the current vegetation and soil types (especially peat formation) shows the result of long term Aboriginal land use practices. The coexistence of extensive areas of buttongrass moorland in close proximity to highly fire- sensitive rainforest and alpine heaths also supports the proposal that the Aborigines burnt the former when the wet forest communities, especially those containing coniferous species like King Billy, Huon and pencil pines, were too wet to burn. Given the time period required for successional processes and soil formation, these communities must have coexisted for thousands ofyears.Therefore,some scientists believe that the current distribution of vegetation and soils in this region should not be described as natural and that a better description would be a cultural landscape. 16 Given that buttongrass moorlands and scrub occupy about 53% of theTWWHA in the south west.it could be described as the largest cultural landscape in Tasmania. Conclusion From the first human occupation (at least 50,000 years ago) until the 18th century, rates of change in Australian ecosystems were relatively slow. Thereafter, the speed of change resulting from the extraordinary spread of Europeans across the entire continent in only 200 years has resulted in dramatic changes to some landscapes and has altered the rate and direction of change of others. Consequently, Australia is now a patchwork of overlapping cultural landscapes for which the evidence can be found in the historic places and records that were created in these layers of human occupation. As designed landscapes, gardens evolve and change as they age. They may acquire new meanings over time depending on the imagination of the garden user, they may be seen as art form or heritage, and depending on these perceptions management may vary. As you visit gardens and look at their wider landscape setting you might decipher their history and imagine the layers of meaning they hold. Imagine a public conscious of its inheritance of a designed landscape, a mosaic of gardens from button grass plains, sweeping picturesque estates, orchards and vineyards, to the cottage gardens harbouring much loved plants of long unfashionable varieties. Imagine a public searching for the truths in the landscape, the cultural clues, as envisaged by Judith Wright in her poem. 1 Tanner, Howard , 1979 Converting the Wilderness: The Art of Gardening in Colonial Australia, p. 9. 2 Idem, p. 36. 3 Tanner, Howard and Begg.Jane, 1976. The Great Gardens of Australia, Macmillan. South Melbourne, p. 40. 4 Bligh, Beatrice, 1973, Cherish the Earth, the Story of Gardening in Australia, Ure Smith, Sydney, p. 62 5 Lennon, Jane L., 1975, Squatters, Merchants and Mariners, an Historical Geography of Gipps Land, 1841 -1851, M. A. thesis, University of Melbourne, p. 124. 6 Quamby, Debbie, 1998 ‘The Early Tasmanian National Parks Movement' in Hamilton-Smith, Elery (ed.), Celebrating the Parks: Proceedings of the first Australian symposium on parks history, Mt Buffalo, April 1998, p 160. 7 Idem p. 162. 8 Uluru — Kata Tjuga Board of Management and Parks Australia, 2000. Uluru — Kata Tjuta National Park Plan of Management, Commonwealth of Australia. 9 Environment Australia, 2002. Nomination of Puruululu National Park by the Government of Aust¬ ralia for World Heritage Inscription, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra. 10 Australian Heritage Commission, 2000. Notes on cultural landscapes. 11 Lennon, Jane, 1993. Red Gums and Riders, A History’ of Gellibrand Hill Park, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, East Melbourne, 92 pp. 12 Lennon,J. 1988.‘Timrless Wilderness?The Use of Historical source Material in Understanding Environmental Change in Gippsland,Victoria’, in Australia's Ever-Changing Forests, Canberra. 13 Tasmanian Heritage Council, 2002. Cultural Landscapes brochure. 14 See Canning, Torquil, ‘A Small Landscape with Great Meaning’, Australian Garden History,Vol. 14, No. 4,January/February 2003, pp. 11-13. 15 Lennon, Jane L., 2002. Cultural Values Update of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, unpublished report for Tasmanian department of Tourism, Parks, Heritage and the Arts. 16 Marsden-Smedley, Jon B.. 1998. ‘Changes in southwestern Tasmanian fire regimes since the early 1800s’, Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society ofTastnania, Vol. 132, 1998,pp. 15-29. Jane Lennon is currently an elected member of the Council of the International Centre for the Study oj the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property in Rome (ICCROM), an adjunct professor in Cultural Heritage Studies at Deakin University and an Australian Heritage Commissioner. Her work has been recognised in the recent Australia Day Honours with the award of AMfor ‘service to conservation, the environment and heritage issues’. 20 Australian Garden History Vol . 14 No 5 March/Aprit 2003 Part Charles Bogue Luffman One: the early years 1862-1897 It is one hundred years since Charles Bogue Luffman’s Gardening Principles for Australia was published in Melbourne by the Book Lovers Library bringing its author and hisviewstothe ATTENTION OF WALTER BUTLER AND THE ROYAL VICTORIAN Institute of Architects. In the first of several articles, Sandra Pullman highlights aspects of Luffman’s life and CHARISMATIC PERSONALITY BEFORE HE TOOK CHARGE OF THE Burnley School of Horticulture. C harles Bogue Luffinan was a horticulturalist ahead of his time and some of his ideas are still relevant today such as not copying the garden design of other countries but rather designing the garden for local conditions. He also made a significant contribution to the dried fruit industry in Mildura.to educating the community and to the Burnley School of Horticulture (now the Burnley Campus of the University of Melbourne). His achievements were often controversial as his debate with Walter Butler and his skirmishes with the Horticultural Board about women students at Burnley suggest. A SOMEWHAT MYSTERIOUS CHARACTER Born in Cockington, Devon on the 15th February 1862 to George and Emma (nee Earl) Luffinan, Charles had a brother George Earl who was born in 1857 in Petworth, Sussex. Their father George was a gamekeeper from whom Luffinan probably gained his love of nature. When Charles was young, the family moved to Knowle in Bristol but very little is known about these early years. 1 Luffinan was an interesting, somewhat mysterious character as we do not know much about his personal life. When he resigned from the School of Horticulture he apparently burnt his papers. Elinor Mordaunt mentions in her book Sinabada (1937) that he was extremely attractive to women and they fell in love with him regularly. We also know lie was intolerant of many things such as cars. He was an eternal optimist, but he was also willing and able to deceive people by telling lies about his life, to his advantage - for example he told his family that he was the Director of the Sydney Botanical Gardens and that he had achieved professional status in Melbourne." An individualist and a born wanderer who travelled, as he stated in his book The Harvest of Japan (1920), ‘because I do not, I will not conform.' 3 Luffinan was a romantic through and through. This can be seen in the language of his books, the destinations of his travels, notably Spain a very popular destination at the time, and his fascination with gypsies and the writings of George Borrow who wrote ‘The Zincali: or An Account of the Gypsies in Spain’ in 1841. His romantic streak is also highlighted by his changing name four times - from Charles Luffinan to Charles B. Luffinan, to Carl B. Luffinann, and finally to C. Bogue Luffinann, 4 the name he instructed his publisher, John Murray, in London to use. We get some insight into the man from his one time friend Elinor Mordaunt who shared the principal’s residence with him at Burnley. Mordaunt states in her book Sinabada (1937) ‘He was for ever off on some wild goose chase after some lovely creature or other.’ 5 She describes him as like a Spaniard (a description that would have thrilled him!) — short, strongly built and very dark. 6 He was said to be charming, unforgiving, completely selfish, irritable, but what he knew about horticulture was instinctive. He had an amazing certainty about him. 7 She also claimed he was extremely jealous, a fact about which she had personal experience as he fell in love with her and became extremely possessive. Mordaunt caught him following her in a hansom cab to the Public Library in Swanston Street (now the State Library of Victoria) and that made her furious. She had a blazing row with him over the incident and promptly moved out of the principal’s residence. This jealous and argumentative nature probably Charles Bogue Luffman Photo: Archives, Burnley Campus, The University of Melbourne. Australian Garden History Vol. 15 No 5 March /April 2003 21 top; One of luffman's legacies was the planting at Metropolitan Golf Course where he used Australian native species in thick clumps. above: Tallow-wood (,Eucalyptus microcorys), a favourite Luffman subject, used to good effect at Metropolitan. Photos; Nina Crone led him into many heated and unforgiven arguments and perhaps helps explain why he was always on the move. 8 Somehow though he managed, in these situations, to miss the bad press and turn the event to his advantage . 1 Travels in Spain, MIGRATION AND MARRIAGE When he was in his late twenties, Luffman spent four years wandering and working in the dried fruit industries of Spain, Italy and France. For two of these years, he worked in Spain as the field manager for Delius Brothers at Malaga. 10 This experience gave him good credentials in the industry that, later in life, would serve him well. During Luffman’s travels in Spain, he met his future wife Lauretta Lane (1846-1929) whose father, John Edward Lane, was a naval lieutenant. Educated in France Lauretta was a born reader and was interested in writing and philosophy. She was a dedicated suffragette, helping Clementine Black 'an ardent social reformer’ gather evidence on women in sweatshops. Lauretta met Luffman again in London in 1893 and encouraged him to write. 11 Luffman migrated toVictoria in 1895 and was employed by the Victorian Government in the Department of Agriculture as an advisory instructor to the infant raisin industry in the new settlement ofMildura. But it is thought that he had been to Australia on a previous trip as there is a reference in A Vagabond in Spain about a bullock ‘puncher’. It seems that he saw a team of oxen in Spain that reminded him of a bullock team in Australia. According to John Patrick’s article ‘Charles Luffman and the Edwardian Garden in Victoria’ the locals claimed while he was in Mildura he had worked as a possum trapper and a tram driver. Lauretta Lane followed Luffman to Australia and they were married in St James Church, Melbourne on the 14 December 1895. However, the marriage was brief with Lauretta abruptly leaving in 1902. She moved to Sydney where she became involved in journalism. She edited the monthly publication At Home, was involved in Women's Liberal League and became a delegate to the National Council ofWomen of New South Wales. She also published several books. Will Aylmer: a tale of the Australian bush (London 1909) and a novel, A question of Latitude (London 1911). After she died in 1929, Dame Mary Gilmore established the Laura Bo^uc Luffman literary competition in her memory. ' A CONTRIBUTION TO THE AUSTRALIAN DRIED FRUIT INDUSTRY In 1896 Luffman wrote two pamphlets for the Department of Agriculture as a ‘Guide for Growers’. The first pamphlet, published in January, was the Fig Industry and the second (in July) was the Treatment of the Raisin Vine. In this pamphlet Luffman explained that raisin vines should be grown according to the Spanish method as it suited the Australian climate better than the French method. The establishment of Mildura was a partnership agreement between the colonial government and debenture-holders. Two Americans, Messrs. George and William Chaffey of California were the principal holders and they made many promises. They were paid in grants of land for work they had supposedly done. Apparently they reneged on their promises, for example the Agricultural College agreed to was never built, working plans for construction of the irrigation channels were never submitted (they leaked), and the government of the day was lax in checking that the work had been carried out. All this bungling resulted in the Mildura Royal , r id Commission. On 18 June 1896 Luffman gave evidence to the Mildura Royal Commission, set up to inquire into whether Mildura was a suitable site for growing raisins, muscatels, currants, sultanas and figs. 1 '^ He was interviewed by the Hon. S.Winter Cooke M.L.C. l0 .the Hon.S. Fraser M.L.C.,Mr. Bowser and Mr, Kennedy, Esq., M.R who questioned him on how the Mildura method compared with that of other countries. He replied that the orchardists from Mildura were ignorant of the proper ways to grow and dry the fruit. Fie was asked how favourable the soil was, and he replied that it was not favourable for muscatels and it seemed variable in its depth and suitability. He felt the area was ideal for pudding 22 Australian Garden History Vol . 14 No 5 March/April 2003 raisins. He also recognised that water availability was a very important issue. 17 The Hon. S. Winter Cooke asked about his experience, and Luffinan explained that he had worked for nearly four years in the south of Europe, hiring himself out as a workman to the Delius Brothers, merchants who provided fruit for 17 royal households. ls He was questioned about the overseas markets available to Mildura. Luffinan replied that he did not think that Mildura could compete with the European market because the standard of the fruit there was so high and Mildura was not producing fruit of similar quality. He explained how, in Europe, the fruit was produced by peasants (almost serf like), trained from birth to grow fruit and paid extremely low wages. 1 2 3 4 5 6 ’ Further, Luffinan pointed out that the Mildura growers lacked knowledge and this was responsible for the incorrect practices that affected the quality of the fruit. He explained that if raisins received too much water (which they did) during the growing period, then they did not dry well and became of poor quality. 11 also seems the settlers did not understand the drying process and so were producing inferior fruit. 20 Luffinan was criticised by the newspapers of the day for giving truthful answers instead of saying that Mildura was going to be a wonderful success. 21 But it is largely due to Luffinan’s input on how to grow and dry the fruit correctly, that Australia now has a successful, profitable industry in Mildura. After relinquishing his job at Mildura, Luffinan roved around the country giving lectures and practical demonstrations on various branches of horticulture. He gave up wandering when he was appointed by the Department of Agriculture to undertake the rejuvenation of the Burnley School of Horticulture in 1897. The account of Luffinan’s life and work will be continued in the next issue when his garden design at Burnley College and at Metropolitan Golf Course, and his contribution to horticultural education in Victoria will be discussed. 1 1837-1956, St. Catherine's House England and Wales, June Quarter, Lid — Mak 2735, La Trobe Library, State Library, Swanston Street, Melbourne 2 Patrick,J.,n.d., Charles Luffinan and the Edwardian Garden in Victoria, p. 1 3 Luffinan C, LL, 1920, The Harvest of Japan, T.C & E.C. Jack, Ltd, 35 &36 Paternoster Row, E.C. London, p. 57 4 Patrick, J., n.d., Charles Luffinan and the Edwardian Garden in Victoria, p. 1 5 Mordaunt, E., 1937, Sinabada, Michael Joseph, London, p.l 17 6 Patrick,J., n.d., Charles Luffinan and the Edwardian Garden in Victoria, p. 1 7 Mordaunt, E., 1937, Sinabada, Michael Joseph, London, p. 114 8 Mordaunt, E.. 1937, Sinabada, Michael Joseph, London, p. 117 9 Patrick,J., n.d., Charles Luffman and the Edwardian Garden in Victoria, p. 1 10 Nairn, B., Serle, G., (ed), 1986, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Patrick, J.,Vol 10,1891-1939 Lat-Ner, Melbourne University Press, Carlton,Victoria , p. 166 11 Nairn, B., Serle, G., (ed), 1986, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Bettison, M., J.,Vol 10,1891-1939 Lat- Ner, Melbourne University Press, Carlton,Victoria, p. 167 12 Nairn, B., Serle, G., (ed), 1986, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Patrick, J.,Vol 10,1891-1939 Lat-Ner, Melbourne University Press, Carlton,Victoria , p. 166 13 Nairn, B., Serle, G., (ed), 1986, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Bettison, M.,J.,Vol 10,1891-1939 Lat- Ner, Melbourne University Press, Carlton,Victoria, p. 167 14 The Mildura Cultivator, 20th June 1896, Royal Commission, N.B. McKay, Midura p. 1 15 1896-1897, Mildura Settlement- Report of a Mildura Royal Commission, Papers present to Parliament Session 1896 Legislative Assembly Vol. Ill No. 19, Australian Parliamentary Papers Box, LTMS 1896 V3 & 4,1897V1,V66, p. 125-128 16 Owner of Murndal, the large pastoral run on the Wannon River in the Western District. 17 1896-1897, Mildura Settlement- Report of a Mildura Royal Commission, Papers present to Parliament Session 1896 Legislative Assembly Vol. Ill No. 19, Australian Parliamentary Papers Box, LTMS 1896 V3 & 4,1897Vl,V66,p. 126 18 1896-1897, Mildura Settlement- Report of a Mildura Royal Commission, Papers present to Parliament Session 1896 Legislative Assembly Vol. Ill No. 19, Australian Parliamentary Papers Box, LTMS 1896 V3 & 4,1897 VI.V66, p. 125-128 19 1896-1897, Mildura Settlement- Report of a Mildura Royal Commission, Papers present to Parliament Session 1896 Legislative Assembly Vol, III No. 19, Australian Parliamentary Papers Box, LTMS 1896 V3 & 4,1897VI,V66,p. 125-128 20 1896-1897, Mildura Settlement- Report of a Mildura Royal Commission, Papers present to Parliament Session 1896 Legislative Assembly Vol. Ill No. 19, Australian Parliamentary Papers Box, LTMS 1896 V3 & 4,1897VI,V66,p. 125-128 21 The Mildura Cultivator, 11th July 1896, Royal Commission, N. B. McKay, Mildura p. ??? ❖ Sandra Pullman, an undergraduate student at Burnley College, University of Melbourne, is a member of the Landscape Committee of the National Trust (Victoria). She contributes articles on garden history to the ‘Age’ and is particularly interested in the work of early Burnley graduates. Australian Garden History Vol. IS Nc 5 March/April 2003 23 V" John Dwight inspecting a vandalised tree, c.1970. Source: Helen Lloyd. Reprinted with permission. (Horace) John de Fraine Dwight 1908-2002 ne of the quiet and obscure yet most significant contemporary horticulturists and landscape designers in South Australia passed away in November 2002. In many ways his inclusion and entry in the Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens (2002) came about due to a series of accidental discussions. Yet when the initial research started exploring the life and unfolding the role of this individual, his significant contribution to the South Australian landscape became far more important to recognize. John Dwight was born in Hanwell, Middlesex, within a large farming family and with the promise of academic possibilities. Economic times in England thwarted his career advancement so he migrated to Sydney in 1928 and established a small landscape design-and- construct business at Killara servicing the North Shore region. With the advent of WorldWar II he was drafted into an essential services position with Philips Electrical due to his adopted Quaker faith. During the War he was transferred to Philips’ operation at Hendon in South Australia where he was in charge of the prototype shop. The transfer meant changes for his family but his passage on the train through the Adelaide Hills produced a dream to purchase a large allotment and to retire there. It was a dream that he later realised. In 1950 Dwight was appointed Foreman of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens under director Noel Lothian and the Dwight family resided in the North Lodge until 1954. During these years Dwight managed both the Gardens and the Government House grounds. It was a chance discussion with state governor Sir Robert Nicols that introduced him to the State Housing Minister, Denis Cardedge. This meeting, and the job offer to head the newly established Parks and Gardens Section of the South Australian Housing Trust in 1954 as Parks and Gardens Officer, resulted in the position he held until his retirement from theTrust in November 1973. The role and impact of the Trust as a public house provider was far more significant and numerically prolific than in any other state in Australia. During the 1950s the Trust was in a major expansion role. Immediately Dwight had to devise and manage the complete planting of Elizabeth new town, including establishing nurseries and work crews, as well as supervising the landscape design and plantings of every Housing Trust project in South Australia. Because of this position Dwight became a good friend to many senior South Australian politicians and bureaucrats including Premier Tom Playford and Trust Chairman Alex Ramsay and their families. Between 1954 and 1973 he was directly involved in the landscape design and plantings for many notable sites - the Adelaide Festival Theatre grounds and fernery, many South Australia country public hospitals and high schools, the Lyell McEwen Hospital grounds, most of the factories, public buildings and the civic centre erected at Elizabeth, the Lutheran Homes at Tanunda, Condor Laucke’s property at Stockton, and plantings around the Brukunga mines. Dwight also assisted Alison Ashby atWittunga in pruning and propagation, designed and planted the Pin Oak Tiers retirement village in Stirling and the David Whibley Memorial Garden in the Stirling East Cemetery, and he taught landscape design and gardening at the WEA in Adelaide. During 1975-1977 he visited and advised on planting strategies in Darwin following Cyclone Tracy. 24 Australian Garden History Vol . 14 No 5 March/April 2003 Throughout these years Dwight prepared, photographed and wrote the influential Trust publication unassumingly called the Gardening Handbook (1960). The Handbook became the introduction guide for all new Trust residents and a standard bible on how to plant and manage their Trust allotment or plot. A second version was specially prepared for Trust properties inWhyalla- Port Pirie-Port Augusta (1970). The words, recommendations, drawings and photographs in these texts all came from Dwight who perceived that he spent some 60 hours compiling the first handbook, but his daughters recall paper strewn throughout the family residence for nearly three months while it was being written. A practical down-to-earth gentleman, Dwight had an encouraging and supportive air to his activities and friendships. He always sought after your health and welfare before stressing the need to ‘talk to your plants’ and to look after your ‘worms and weeds’. A public park in Elizabeth honours his life and contribution to the Elizabeth community,and the Elizabeth Downs Combined School recently recognised his contribution in a new mural for the school. David Jones Acknowledgments: Helen Lloyd, Fran de Garis, Tony Whitehill, and John Dwight. Helen Rosemary Bagot nee Bakewell 1915-2002 elen Bagot passed away over Christmas 2002 after continuing medical comp¬ lications and deteriorating health. Helen’s activities in Adelaide were many and diverse but none so strong as her commitment to the Girl Guides Association, to the Australian Red Cross Society and to her gardens. Born into the Bakewell family, she grew up with a love of gardens inherited from her father and the family’s summer residence in the Hills. The gardens of Korralla on Mt Lofty Ridge Road served as her summer childhood retreat until the property was transferred, eventually being renamed St Michael’s House. The house and gardens were totally destroyed in the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires. Married to John Hervey Bagot (b.l910),son of architect Walter Bagot (1880-1963), John and Helen moved into Nurney House and Forest Lodge following Walter’s death in late 1963. With them moved their family of three children and Nurney House immediately became the family’s plains residence for most of the year while the children were schooled and Forest Lodge was the summer residence. This maintained the tradition established by John Bagot (1849-1910) who erected and planted Forest Lodge in the 1890s and resided in the original Nurney House:a tradition continued by Walter and Josephine and their family when John died in 1910. Helen loved the gardens of Forest Lodge yet recognised that it was beyond her capacity, with the support of her husband, to adequately care and look after the property. The quiet aging and deterioration of the vegetation and the loss of features in the garden deeply concerned her. During the Australian Garden History Society Conference in Adelaide in 1982 members had perhaps the last opportunity to view the garden and be guided around the grounds by John and Helen. The Bagots made considerable effort at that time to ensure that garden was well presented. John and Helen drew considerably upon Tony Whitehill’s advice and mine about what species to plant and what was feasible management given their curatorial role of the property. Helen’s strong heart to the garden of Forest Lodge will be missed. David Jones Caroline Simpson nee Fairfax OAM 1930-2003 aroline Simpson died suddenly and unexpectedly at the age of 72 on 3 January 2003 after being diagnosed with a heart condition. Caroline had served on the National Manage-ment Committee from 1986 to 1990 and regularly attended annual conferences and other AGHS events. She was always willing to host events at her house in Sydney and in doing so helped get the Sydney and Northern NSW Branch established. Caroline contributed entries to the Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens on William Hardy Wilson (to whom she was related), Dame Helen Blaxland, Garden Island, Diana Pockley and Paul Jones. She was also a contributor to Australian Garden History. By an act of serendipity there arc two photographs of her in the issue that came out just after her death. The elder daughter of Sir Warwick and Lady (Betty) Fairfax, Caroline had been brought up in privileged circumstances being educated at Ascham in Sydney and later at a finishing school in Switzerland. For many years she had pursued her interests in architecture, conservation and history. When her half brother, Warwick Fairfax, bought out her share in the Fairfax media conglomerate in the late 1980s Caroline found herself with the means to indulge her wide interests. Caroline was a great advocate of Australian history and the conservation of places of historic significance and received a medal in the Order of Australia in 1999 for her services to conservation. She had a special interest and deep knowledge of early colonial New South Wales and was an avid collector of pictures, furniture and objets d’art from this period. These she generously displayed Australian Garden History Vol. 15 No 5 March /April 2003 25 Maui* Pamhmamn. The logo for the 24th Annual Conference is based on an art nouveau glass window design adapted by Michael Barnett. in a private museum, Clyde Bank, in The Rocks in Sydney - a house she had purchased especially to show the collection to the public and where she presided over a ‘salon’ of collectors, dealers, architects, historians, curators and others who shared her interests. Her latest collecting interest was of colonial pictures from various parts of the British Empire and more recently her attention had turned to collecting material relating to slavery. Never afraid of a stoush Caroline threw her support behind many conservation battles in Sydney. She was a great supporter of die Mitchell Library in Sydney, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Jacobean Singers, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London and of die Australian Dictionar)’ of Biography which she ‘rescued’ at the time of financial crisis with a donation of $100,000. In 1999 she spearheaded and funded the Diana Pockley Horticultural Library at the State Library of New South Wiles that reassembled a collection dispersed six years previously. Caroline assisted the publication of a number of important books and provided an annual scholarship for an Australian to attend the Prince of Wales Architectural Institute. In the true spirit of a great philanthropist her patronage was often silent and unrecognised. Caroline was so impressed with the Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens that she had offered to fund a project for the Society to develop an accessible archive for all the material that had been gathered to produce the Companion. When 1 suggested to her that we were talking about a large sum she said: ‘Never mind. It is important that it be done and done properly. What we need is to put it all on a CD ROM.’ ‘Do you realise what that will entail?’ I enquired. ‘I have no idea, but my grandchildren use them all the time and they tell me they store lots of information and we have to keep up with the times.’ Sadly that project may now never come about. Caroline Simpson was a larger than life character - generous, stubborn, kind, irascible at times, energetic, formidable, endearing and ever willing to support a good cause. In his eulogy at her memorial service her son, Edward, summed her up her legacy as ‘the selfless passion of a woman of substance’. She would probably have been surprised, and amused, by the recognition she has received since her passing. Caroline will be missed by all in the Society. Peter Watts Many members of the Society attended Caroline’s Memorial Service at All Saints’Anglican Church, Woollahra on 21 January 2002. ITEMS _ of INTEREST Can you help? L ast year the Sydney and Northern New South Wales Branch toured Rookwood Necropolis where the recent restoration work in older parts of the cemetery impressed them greatly. Now, the Friends of Rookwood have asked AGHS if it can help locate a copy of the catalogue of the Enfield based potter E Liebentritt & Sons. The Liebentritt Company was responsible for the many beautiful urns and edging tiles at the cemetery. Most have been lost so the Friends are anxious to locate a copy of the sample catalogue for clues on the design of lost works. Silas Clifford-Smith (02) 9569 3417 would be most appreciative of any leads on this company. Living links to the past Melbourne is well served with links to the past through collections in its museums, libraries and art galleries, but each day people pass living links to bygone days - the trees planted by our pioneers. Kathryn Reeves, a leading landscape photographer has used her camera to capture trees that have a legend, are majestic or just beautiful. The result is 40 magnificent traditional black and white toned photographic prints in the exhibition Significant Trees at 80 Gold Street, Collingwood from Saturday 22 March until Sunday 20 April. For viewing contact Ellie Young (03)9415 9559. Appreciation The assistance of Di Ellerton, Laura Lewis, Helen Page, Sandi Pullman, Kaye and Mike Stokes, Georgina Whitehead and Elizabeth Wright in packing the last issue of the journal was greatly appreciated. 26 Australian Garden History Vol. 14 No S March/April 2003 ~^IARY ~^ATFS Valuable Swampy Land! Sydney - until 1st May 2003 - a display, tracking the early European market gardens of the 1830s and the Chinese market gardens that followed them from the 1880s onwards, at the George Hanna Memorial Museum and Library, 2 Hatfield Street, Mascot. Hours:Tuesday to Friday 10am to 6pm and Saturday 9.30am to 12noon. (Museum closed on Monday and Sunday). Presented by the City of Botany and the Botany Historical Trust. Further details from the Curator on 02 9366 3544. March 1 Saturday -16 Sunday Sydney, Royal Botanic Cardens — Botanica 2003 - The Art of the Plant. An exhibition and sale of 100 botanical illustrations organised by the Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens. Venue: Lion Gate Lodge. Free entry. 2 Sunday Southern Highlands, Btirradoo — Jazz in the Garden at Coolliata, an 1880s garden in Burradoo. Enjoy the music and a brunch from 10.30am to 1pm. Contact: Chris Webb (02) 4869 2692. 8 Saturday Queensland, Brisbane - Lecture by Jeannie Sim ‘Ferneries of Shade and Delight’ at Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens. 16 Sunday Sydney, Governrtient House — Triple Bill - a Garden to Commemorate the Centenary of Federation, a Rooftop Garden and a Rose Garden. Bookings: Malcolm Wilson (02)9810 7803. 19 Wednesday Victoria, Melbourne — Working Bee Bishopscourt (Melway 2G D3) Contact Helen Page (03) 9397 2260. 22 Saturday — Sunday 20 April Victoria, Collingwood - Significant Trees - photographs by Kathryn Reeves at 80 Gold Street, Collingwood. For viewing contact Elhe Young on (03) 9415 9559. 29 Saturday Melbourne, Olinda — Working Bee at Folly Farm. Contact John Isbel (03) 9728 2973. 29 Saturday & 30 Sunday Melbourne —The Growing Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne will hold their Autumn Plant Sale: on Saturday from 10am till 4pm, and on Sunday from 10am till 3pm. Entry from E Gate, Birdwood Avenue (Melway 2L B2). Enquiries (03) 9836 2862. April 2-6 Wednesday to Sunday Melbourne, Carlton Gardens — Melbourne International Flower Show in the Royal Exhibition Building and the Carlton Gardens. 8 Tuesday Sydney, Royal Botanic Gardens — Banks Florilegium:Talk and Exhibition Viewing. 10.30am to 12.30pm OR 5.30pm to 7.30pm. Bookings essential (02) 9231 8182 (business hours), Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney $ 17, others $20 (includes refreshments). 13 Sunday Sydney Branch - An Outing to Dangar Island. For further information contact Colleen Morris (02) 9660 0573 Sydney, Castlecrag - Walter Burley Griffin Society’s Castlecrag Festival - walks and stalls. For further information contact Malcolm Wilson on (02) 9810 7803. 16 Wednesday Victoria, Melbourne Working Bee Bishopscourt (Melway 2G D3) Contact Helen Page (03) 9397 2260. 19 Saturday and 20 Sunday Victoria, Churchill Island- Annual Working Horse Festival — Adults $12 (concession $8), Children $6 Family $30. All revenue supports house, garden and animals on the island. Call 1300 366 422 for details. 25-29 Friday to Tuesday Victorian Branch — FiveJJayTrip to Mungo NathitraLTarkVMjidura, PinkTakeS^^ft^e idvGorner wrdlKoHsermtd Gwen Elliot. 30 Wednesday Sydney, Royal Botanic Gardens — Colonial Art and Sculpture:Talk and Walk. 10.30am to 12.30pm. Dr Garry Darby will speak on colonial art. Bookings essential (02) 9231 8182 (business hours). Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney $ 17, others $20 (includes morning tea). May I- 4 Thursday to Sunday Sydney, Darling Harbour- Sydney’s Garden and Flower Show in Hall 1 at the Sydney Exhibirion Centre and inTumbalong Park and the Chinese Garden of Friendship. Open daily 10am-5pm and Friday, 2 May 10am- 9pm. Adults SI5 Children (aged 5-16) $8 Children (under 5) Free. For further information and concession rates contact Jenny Westdorp (02) 9977 0248. 6 Tuesday Sydney, Royal Botanic Gardens — The French Connection:Talk and Walk. 10am to 12noon. Join Helen Williams and Rosemary Blakeney to hear about the contribution made by French botanists, artists and gardeners. Bookings essential (02) 9231 8182 (business hours). Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney $17, others $20 (includes morning tea). 29-30 Saturday-Sunday Queensland, Mount Glorious - Open Garden Days at Phoenix Sculpture Gardens, Mt Glorious. ADVANCE NOTICE II- 13 July Brisbane - 24tli Annual National Conference ‘Tropical Pleasures’ Australian Garden History Vol. 15 No 5 March /April 2003 27 The Golden Landscapes of Clunes, Creswick and Talbot By Nina Crone Photos: Robin Hunt B oth the boon and the bane of the gold era were evident to members of the Victorian Branch who visited Clunes, Creswick and Talbot. Much admired were the civic splendour of town halls and the boundless landscapes chosen as residential sites by those who struck it lucky. Richard Ellwood, who built Laurel Bank was among the first to find gold at Kingston, while Andrew Munro speculated in mining stock, became a director of the Madame Berry Mining Company and commissioned architect William Brazenor to design the 20- room Federation style mansion, Snizort, at Ascot. But what really impressed was the work ofjohn La Gerche, whose vision of restoring the land denuded by mining and unregulated wood cutting led to experimental planting that turned a forest full of diggers’ holes and gullies into ‘the most valuable forest land in Victoria’. Ron Hateley set the scene with a talk and a tour through the School of Forestry at Creswick where the Old Hospital and Dr Tremearne’s House set the cameras clicking. At the Creswick Museum the group admired superb paintings by T. G. Moyle,WilliamTibbits and the Lindsays, and purchased copies of A Forester’s Log , Angela Taylor’s excellent biography of La Gerche. It added much to the afternoon tramp along the La Gerche Walking Track through the Sawpit Gully Plantation and to appreciation of the Old State Nursery Office, a ‘shingle and stick’ style building designed c. 1911 by Adam Coulson, a carpenter employed by the Forests Commission. UnderVal Lawrence’s leadership an enthusiastic group of ‘Friends’ is working to restore the once renowned Park Lake at Creswick. Their welcome and the notes prepared by Kevin Tolhurst offered a fascinating picture of this pleasure garden in its heyday when a fine fernery graced the shore of the lake and attracted many visitors. In Clunes the bane of mining was again present. An enormous mullock heap from the Bute and Downs Mine still overshadows Sebastopol.The property has been in the same family since 1849 and its venerable conifers, remnant stone walls, grotto and charming cottage perched on the edge of the escarpment overlooking the site of former market gardens and orchards along the creek exudes the ambience of a bygone era. A blustery wind added to the sense of anticipation as archae¬ ologist David Bannear led the way through a maze of tracks in the Talbot State Forest to find the site of Stony Creek School 'hidden away in the heart of the forest, used only for mining purposes’. To see the remains of the patriotic garden beds de-veloped by the students under the guidance of the remarkable Miss Elizabeth James and described so eloquently by Suzanne Huntl was to encounter history first hand. There was much else too - the bluestone bulk of Anderson’s Mill at Smeaton, the Avenue of Honour at Kingston, the sump¬ tuous dinner in Clunes Town Hall, Queen’s Park in Clunes, and the floriferous bounty at David Glenn’s Lambley Garden Nursery. And finally the meticu¬ lously maintained property. Mount Mitchell, with its Italianate homestead enclosing a memorable courtyard and sur¬ rounded by a 10-acre garden. All peppered with facts and anecdotes from the inimitable Kevin Walsh. 1 Hunt, Suzanne,‘Where the Sweet Australian Peas Bloomed’, Planting the Nation, Australian Garden History Society, 2001, pp. 11-30. top: The Old Creswick Hospital, now part of the School of Forestry, above: David Bannear on site in the Talbot Forest, left: Avenue of Honour, Kingston. right: Remains of garden beds at the site of Stony Creek School in the Talbot Forest. Print Post No. 34584/0016