HISTORY AUSTRALIAN GARDEN HISTORY SOCIETY Gardens and Children The Ian Potter Foundation Children’s Garden Charles Bogue Luffinan: the Burnley Years With Mirrors and Rainbows: Edward William Cole Australian History Garden Society 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. Patron Margaret Darling Executive Officer Jackie Courmadias 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 Postal Address AGHS Gate Lodge, 100 Bird wood Avenue, Melbourne, 3004 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 Editorial Advisory Panel Convener Anne Latreille Members Richard Aitken Max Bourke Paul Fox David Jones Megan Martin Prue Slatyer ChristopherVernon FOREWORD / ... a proper garden is one you can do things in ... S peaking about gardens of their childhood people have vivid memories — sticking red geranium petals over fingernails to become a ‘femme fatale’, drawing the stamen through the throat of a honeysuckle flower to savour the nectar, and telling the time by puffing at a head of thistle down. Then there were the favourite cubby houses and hiding places, climbing trees to dizzy heights, daisy chains and conker fights. And excursions to ‘the fair)' tree’, to wishing wells and into forests and the bush. Not forgetting the wonderful scent of boronia or the taste of parsley picked straight from the plant. ‘A garden full of active human beings is one of the most attractive things about Australia’, wrote Tigger Wise in her fascinating book Gardens for Children, essentia] reading for anyone interested in how to mix children with gardens. The design team for the exciting Ian Potter Foundation Children’s Garden now under construction at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne is certainly putting her advice into practice by providing a wealth of things for children to do without preaching or prescription. What children do will only be limited by their imagination. This issue of Australian Garden History celebrates the fun, whimsy and sheer delight of children interacting with gardens encouraged at times by the work of writers and artists. Indeed it is worth visiting libraries and bookshops to discover the wonderful books about gardens and gardeners now available for children. Travellers can also find things to intrigue children — the Jack Cashion topiary figures on the Midland Highway near Oatlands in Tasmania, the Children’s Tree in the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney and the Children’s Fountain in Princes Park Launceston. Personal accounts of the remembered gardens of childhood are an integral part of garden lore. Any contributions from readers would be most welcome. While working as a patrolman in the early 1 960s Jack Cashion clipped his first topiary, near where he had lunch. Gradually a procession of 'rare birds and other creatures' began their stationary procession along the highway between Tunbridge and Oatlands. Courtesy: Central Tasmanian Tourism Centre Nina Crone Copyright © Australian Garden History Society 2003. Ah 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/photographer/illustratorand 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 Vot. 14 No 6 May /June 2003 4 Gardens, Books and Children Nina Crone considers how public gardens have catered for children over the years. ^0 The Ian Potter Foundation Children’s Garden Nina Crone describes an innovative addition to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne. ^4 Charles Bogue Luffman: the Burnley years Sandra Pullman finds an anonymous poem that describes Luffman’s experiences as principal at Burnley College. *0 For the Bookshelf Marion Pennicuick reviews The Prairie Spirit in Landscape Gardening by Wilhelm Miller with an introduction by Christopher Vernon. £0 With Mirrors and Rainbows Ken Duxbury begins a two-part article about energetic, eccentric Edward William Cole and his contribution to garden publishing. Vale Florence Elizabeth (Beth) Bond. £0 Items of Interest On-line Diary Dates National Management Committee Chairman Peter Watts Vice-Chairman Richard Heathcote Treasurer Elizabeth Walker Secretary Helen Page Elected Members Max Bourke ACT Stuart Read NSW Lee Tregloan VIC Dianne Wilkins SA Malcolm Wilson NSW State Representative GabriclIeTryon ACT Kate Madden NSW Glenn Cooke QLD Wendy Joyner SA Helen Page VIC Deidre Pearson TAS AnneWiliox WA Branch Contacts ACT/Monaro/Riverina Branch (i.lhrielle Tryon 4 Anstey Street Pearce ACT 2607 Phi (02) 6286 4585 E-maikgmtryon@netspeed.com.au Queensland Branch Glenn Cooke PO Box 5472 West End QLD 4101 Ph: (07) 3846 1050 E-maikgleim.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@cvvebb.com.au Sydney & Northern NSW Branch Malcolm Wilson tO 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/- AGHS, Gate Lodge 100 Birdwood Avenue Melbourne VIC 3004 Ph/Fx: (03) 9650 5043 E-mail: helenpage@bigpond.com Western Australian Branch Edith Young 21A Corbel Street Shelley WA 6148 Ph: (08) 9457 4956 E-maikyoung_ee47@hotmail.com Australian Garden History Vol 14 No 6 May/June 2003 3 Ga r ’cl e n.5, Books ... imagination is the capacity to go inside experience ... David Malouf by Nina Crone ‘The first thing he saw was Mr McGregor hoeing onions. His back was turned towards Peter, and beyond him was the gate!’ From The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, F. Warne & Co. Ltd. C ertainly the experience of gardens, plants and landscapes has stimulated countless imaginative minds to write poetry, tell stories, paint pictures and compose music. A garden is often where a child first experiences freedom to explore, wonder, daydream and indulge curiosity. It is interesting to review the way public gardens have catered for children over the years. Peter Pan gardens Many gardens provided a focal point for child interest through a statue or sculpture. Think of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, once a wonderful gathering point for nannies perambulating their charges along the Broad Walk in London, or Ola Cohn’s Fairy Tree in the Fitzroy Gardens in Melbourne. But these iconic features miss point in that they create a passive wonder rather than an interactive experience. Too often adults defined their purpose. Oline Richards, referring to a replica of the Peter Pan statue in Queens Gardens, Perth, wrote: The statue was a gift to the children of Perth in the 1920s for their enjoyment and edification. It was hoped that the statue would instil a love of art and foster an Empire spirit in the children and also would place Perth as the leading capital city in the Commonwealth in Empire sentiment. Who would suspect this piece of whimsy to have carried such a weighty responsibility? 1 Furries AND FAIRIES IN THE GARDEN Well-written and well-illustrated books with garden settings and characters relating to plants are also part of childhood. Beatrix Potters The Tale of Peter Rabbit , Cicely Mary Barker’s 'Ihe Flower Fairies and Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden have references to gardens, gardeners and plants but they are overlaid by strong moral messages from adults. The gardens 4 Australian Garden History Vol . 14 No 6 May/June 2003 in these books are now like well-loved but unfashionable watercolour paintings.They reflect the social divide in England at the beginning of the 20th century when children of the middle and upper classes saw a garden rather than knowing it in the hands-on fashion of the working class boy washing die flowerpots. Many Australian children were brought up on the books mentioned above and enjoyed them. Landscape architect Phyl Frazer Simons recalls Ida Rentoul Outhwaite’s pictures and the books The Little Green Road to Fairyland and Flower Fairies of the Spring as significant elements in her childhood." Australian writers and artists like Norman Lindsay, Nuri Mass and May Gibbs found inspiration in local flora and fauna imbuing their characters with a larrikin nature, a taste for adventure and a sense of humour. Australian children came to love gardener Benjamin Brandysnap in The Magic Pudding more than Mr McGregor in The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Fun and games in the park The advent of Swedish drill and physical culture early in the 20th century made gardens a place for physical activity with tennis courts and croquet lawns on English country estates and playgrounds equipped with swings, seesaws, roundabouts and monkey bars in Australian public parks. By the end of the century the skate board area, the bike path and the jogging track had been added and the playground areas frequently languished relatively unused, although today some local councils are renewing these sites. One scheme currently in the planning stage has the playground representing a city street grid with play structures representing some of the city’s features. 3 above: A class of Grade 2 children at Ola Cohn’s 'Fairy Tree’ in 1979. Courtesy Marika Kocsis. Schools and gardens Shortly after Australian Federation, educators like Frank Tate in Victoria saw gardening as a valuable means of developing practical life skills and inculcating a sense of civic responsibility, national below: Detail of the 'Fairy Tree’ showing Australian creatures - kookaburra, lyrebird, emu. Australian Garden History Vol . 14 No 6 May /June 2003 5 above: Children can relate to the characters from The Magic Pudding by hugging, stroking or running around them. below: The playgrounds of the 1960s no longer have much appeal for children. pride and moral probity in children. Arbor Day and Wattle Day were celebrated in town and country alike and school gardens vied for prizes offered by the Australian Natives Association. 4 The onset ofWorld War I led to a waning of the school garden movement. A CHANGING VIEW OF GARDENS AND GARDENING When widespread interest in gardening revived in post World Wir II Australia three significant new elements appeared. First, in the late 1960s there was a wave of enthusiasm for Australian native plants as subjects for both domestic gardens and public parks. Next, the late 1970s added a concern for landscape, plant and garden conservation and teachers incorporated environmental studies in the curriculum. The period was also notable for the secondment of teachers to organisations like the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (then the Australian Broadcasting Commission) and to zoos, museums and botanic gardens. Many innovative and imaginative activities and courses developed taking school children out of the classroom and into more informal learning situations although these were still firmly tied to a teaching programme. As the spirit of Reconciliation gathered momentum in the last decades of the 20th century the third element became apparent. It was an interest in indigenous plants in contrast to native plants. Simultaneously the diverse cultures of immigrants to Australia and the exotic plants they were growing in allotment gardens and urban backyards also attracted increasing interest. The horticultural life of the country was immensely enriched. Writers began to pass the new environmental messages on to children in books such as Jeannie Baker s Window and Where the Forest Meets the Sea, Elizabeth Honey’s Fiddleback and Elizabeth Hathorn’s Stephen’s Tree but these admirable works would only reach a limited number of children. At the Landscape Australia Conference in Melbourne last year (2002), Californian visitor and educationist Peggy McLaughlan argued for giving children more opportunity to know gardens and experience gardening. Her plea elicited spontaneous sympathy and support. She contended that in contemporary urban society children had a diminished connection to the natural world, that an abundantly commercial mindset was decreasing scientific and agricultural literacy, and that far too many children suffered from poor nutrition and lacked exercise in a safe environment. The natural tendency to forage was being stifled. Her mission was a garden in every school, just as Frank Tate's had been nearly a century earlier. Agents of change In the 1980s Brooklyn Botanic Gardens in the United States initiated a lively new garden that offered children from the local community the opportunity to experience the joy of plants and grow flowers and vegetables in their own plots. ... Nine-year-olds are tending cabbages or chasing butterflies... the 14-year-olds have developed their own plot, selecting vegetables from a list - cucumbers, beans, tomatoes and parsnips. Initially at least no one worries about Latin names ... By autumn the children are weighing and 6 Australian Garden History Vol . 14 No 6 May /June 2003 photographing their produce. Tire sense of achievement and the spirit of co-operation confirm the value of the Children’s Garden in an urban community: 1 2 3 * * ’ The activities were independent of schools and allowed children to direct and develop their own interests as they chose. For over two decades Brooklyn stood alone in offering a garden site that excited and stimulated children. In Australia it seemed the renaissance of interest in gardens that spawned the Open Garden Scheme and garden tourism was not extending to children. Another refreshing and encouraging sign of change was Tigger Wise s Gardens for Children, published by the Kangaroo Press in 1986. Here was someone who recognised that children related to gardens in a totally different way. Unlike adults, children's favourite plants are likely to be the ones we generally think of as weeds . . . Unlike adults, kids’favourite places in the garden arc rarely the sunny patios where we like to read our papers, but some cool dark cubbyhole behind the shrubs by the back fence. Children rarely use the front garden ... Children don’t care what a garden looks like aesthetically . . . Children like to go round and round . . . Children need territories ... Children like forbidden places ... Children don’t notice the view . . . Children are destructive . . . Children like water and dirt . . . Children like garden creatures . . . Children enjoy scary things. There was advice on the best trees for climbing, and on helping a lawn to survive children, on plants children like to eat, on curiosities from the vegetable garden and ‘over 50 plants with quaint names’. Wisely too, there was advice on ‘what not to plant — poisons, irritants and other backyard undesirables’. Talented artists began to take up the theme of children in gardens in delightful picture story books for the very young such as Robert Ingpen’s The Afternoon Treehouse’ and Quentin Blake’s The Green Ship 7 that introduces children to topiary in a most imaginative way. As the 20th century swung into the 21st century the ground was being subtly prepared for a new way to bring children and gardens together in a public place. 1 Oline Richards ‘Gardens with Public Access: Queens Gardens Perth WA’ Journal of the Australian Garden History Society, Winter 1981, No. 2, p. 29. 2 Phyl Frazer Simons, interviewed by Jane Holth on 26 September 2002 for the Australian Garden History Oral History Programme 2002/2003. 3 ‘Powlett Reserve Playground Upgrade’ described in the City of Melbourne’s letter to East Melbourne residents, dated 5 February 2003. 4 See Suzanne Hunt,‘Where the Sweet Australian Peas Bloomed’, in Planting the Nation, ed. Georgina Whitehead, Australian Garden History Society, Melbourne 2001, pp. 11 -30. 5 Alison Dalrymple, ‘A world of contrasts waits in the Big Apple’, the Age, 24 August 1984. 6 Robert tngpen, The Afternoon Treehouse, Lothian Books, 1996. 7 Quentin Blake, The Green Ship, Jonathan Cape, London, 1998. The moral message ‘Cleanliness is next to Godliness' is implicit in the lines of the Lavender Flower Fairy’s Song. From A World of Flower Fairies Frederick Warne 1990 The Song of the Lavender Fairy “Lavender’s blue, diddle diddle”— So goes the song; All round her bush, diddle diddle. Butterflies throng; (They love her well, diddle diddle, So do the bees;) While she herself, diddle diddle. Sways in the breeze! “Lavender’s blue, diddle diddle, Lavender's green"; She’ll scent the clothes, diddle diddle. Put away clean - Clean from the wash, diddle diddle, Hanky and sheet; Lavender’s spikes, diddle diddle. Make them all sweet! fThe word “blue” was often used in old days where we should say “purple” or “mauve”.) Australian Garden History K>/. 14 No 6 May /June 2003 7 A VISION IN THE MAKING The Ian Potter Foundation Children’s Garden is a seminal leap forward in the evolution of gardens for children. Its emphasis is on offering a stimulating environment for self-discovery adventures. The garden will have greatest appeal to children in the 3-8 year old age group but there will also be activities for older children. It will be: ... a place where children can delight in nature and discover a passion for plants, a garden that celebrates the imagination and curiosity of children and fosters the creative nature of play. Andrew Laidlaw, the Landscape Architect at the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne redefined an area originally set aside as an education precinct. He saw it as a place where children could learn about the natural world around them through play rather than through a traditional education programme. He wanted children's experience of plants to be unstructured so their imagination and creativity would be given free rein. A PLACE TO DO THINGS In The Ian Potter Foundation Childrens Garden there will be plenty of opportunity for physical activity — racing through plant tunnels, climbing up to the Tree House, journeying through the Bamboo Forest, discovering the ruins in the Rain Forest. And also for more leisurely things - observing the seasonal procession from spring blossoms to autumn leaf colour in the deciduous area, growing vegetables in the kitchen garden, examining the bugs and water ‘critters’ under a microscope. That it is all going to be tun is clear from the choice of the iconic sculpture representing the characters from Norman Lindsay’s classic Australian yarn The Magic Pudding. £ Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne There will be several built-structures — a potting shed, a glasshouse and a plant nursery associated with a community parterre kitchen garden where staffand volunteers will help young visitors to propagate, plant and cultivate. Children will be able to work with the horticulturists cultivating the plants, clip the topiary, pick wildflowers in the grassy mounds or run wild in the lavender labyrinths. A semi- defined reticulated water feature will encourage children to explore water play. FUN WITH WATER AND SECRET PLACES The water journey continues into the hidden gorge, held apart by giant slate plates. Stepping stones in a shallow stream provide stopping points to view unusual cascading plants in a mist- filled, light-sensitive microclimate. The water continues around a slight bend before swirling into a shallow rock pool surrounded by a dry, sand-filled arid garden. The contrast in the landscape is reinforced by the juxtaposition of plant material and structures. Leaf shapes, colour, plant heights and root systems inspire investigation into nature’s ability to adapt. A path in the south west leads to a secret‘ruin garden’ where lush vegetation including the giant-leafed Gunnera and the aerial roots of the walking fig (Ficus sp.) will feature as points of inquiry about weird and wonderful plants. Here, children will be able to use collected material to play-act or construct extensions to the ruins in the form of cubby houses and tee-pees. Adjacent to the secret'ruin garden’is an open lawn area bounded by gently rolling grassy mounds creating a quiet play and picnic area. This is a garden of changing colours — pink or white blossoms falling like snow in the spring and golden-red leaves in the autumn. At one end of this garden is a cork oak (Quercus saber) with long, low branches. Its wide canopy provides welcome shade in the summer for activities such as storytelling and performance. 8 Australian Garden History Vot . 14 No 6 Maf/June 2003 top: Site of the Bamboo Forest in March 2003. lower left: Children will work with horticulturists cultivating plants. Photo by courtesy of the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne lower right: David Wong's designs use dried plant material. A TALENTED TEAM Richard Barley, Divisonal Director of Gardens within the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, heads the team comprising Andrew Laidlaw, Landscape Architect, Ros Semler, Visitor Programmes Officer, Christine Joy, Coordinator of Education, Izabella Meraviglia — Crivelli, horticulturalist, David Wong, artist, and Annette Warner, landscape architect. Working with an expert reference panel they took 12 months to develop the conceptual design, the vision and objectives, all focused on bringing together the nature of children’s play with plants and the natural world in the context of a botanic garden. Izabella Meraviglia — Crivelli is particularly interested in plant communities, plant diversity', plant form and the function and the joy of gardening while Annette Warners contribution was her diverse landscape ideas and experience of children’s spaces in other parts of the world. The project also relied on many ‘in house’ experts - Peter Symes, Senior Horticultural Curator, Matt Howard, Project Officer, and David Robbins, Nursery Manager, together with external experts. 10 Australian Garden History Vol . 14 No 6 May/June 2003 Children will find textures that are fluid and soft, evoking delicate sensuous interactions that contrast with the armoured spines of plants that must fight to survive. Nothing without joy Teachers are familiar with the pedagogical ideas of Loris Malaguzzi and the Reggio Emilia educators who nominate delight as the most powerful teaching tool and believe the environment itself is a great teacher. Edna Walling recognised this when she wrote ‘Surely a garden is not a success if it doesn’t bring joy to children.’ Perhaps it is a significant coincidence that the Education Coordinator of the Royal Botanic Gardens Education Service has the name Christine Joy. She emphasises that many teams and reference groups formulated the design and development of The Ian Potter Foundation Children’s Garden and explains that the theoretical basis of the plan is a child-centred approach to pedagogy following the theories of Malaguzzi, Dewey, Steiner and Montessori. Also fundamental to the activities planned for The Ian Potter Foundation Childrens Garden is Howard Gardner’s‘Theory ofMultiple Intelligences’.This recognises different types of intelligences: linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily kinaesthetic, intra-personal, interpersonal and naturalist. It highlights the fact that children learn in different ways and need vibrant, dynamic learning environments. Christine will raise awareness of The Ian Potter Foundation Children’s Garden in Victorian schools through the provision of professional development workshops for teachers, activity trials through holiday programmes, school programmes and special events to learn how children most enjoy connecting with plants and gardens. She will also cultivate people connections so the passion that people have for plants and gardens will inspire children. Her special interest over the last three years has been developing a ‘literature in the landscape’ immersion programme. Roslyn Semler is responsible for interpretive programmes - signs, publications, performance, staff and volunteer-led programmes that aim to inspire interest and curiosity, revealing the less obvious or hidden aspects of the garden. She is finding a band of‘friends’ and volunteers to be storytellers, gardeners, actors, puppeteers, dancers, singers, question-answerers, on-the-spot interpreters and guides to help her look after the casual visitors — the children who ‘drop in’ and explore the garden on an individual basis. A further aim ofThe lan Potter Foundation Children’s Garden is to involve many members of the Royal Botanic Gardens staff - including the scientists from the Herbarium. For example mycologists will talk about what they do, show specimens, describe field trips and give the young visitors an insight into their professional work. The kitchen garden is certain to be a popular place. The emphasis will be on the variety of food grown and the way different cultural groups use it. There will be indigenous ‘bush foods’, distinctively Asian herbs and vegetables, and the opportunity to discover the original home countries of common food such as sweet corn, sweet potato, tomatoes, pineapples or macadamia nuts. The plants will create atmospheres that stimulate the child’s senses, broaden knowledge and invite inquiry. Creativity The artist David Wong, whose imaginative sculptures and constructions using plant material impressed visitors to the 2002 Melbourne International Flower Show, added his creative talents in the planning stage and will act as a consultant as the garden evolves. He is particularly interested in experimental education and he sees The Ian Potter Foundation Childrens Garden as a place where new educational practices will evolve. Should the names of the plants be put on labels in the garden, he asks, or should they be left blank for children to make up their own name for a plant? David has designed the logo for The Ian Potter Foundation Children’s Garden and also its scats and boundary fence. There are many people eagerly watching the construction and planting activity along Birdwood Avenue between the Herbarium and the Visitor Centre - and not all of them are children. The Ian Potter Foundation Children’s Garden is scheduled for opening in autumn 2004. Thanks go to Andrew Laidlaw, David Wong, Izabella Meraviglia-Crivelli, Christine Joy, Roslyn Semler, June Factor and Eleanor Bridger for assistance in the preparation of this article. Their enthusiasm, dedication and creativity will ensure that The Ian Potter Foundation Children’s Garden is a remarkable place. overleaf: Cross-sections for The lan Potter Foundation Children's Garden. Australian Garden History Vol . 14 No 6 May /June 2003 11 Stepping Stones Pond Area Bamboo Forest Island (Landscape The Ian Potter Foundation Children’s Garden k for The Royal Botanic GardensTMelbourne November 2001 Design by A Laidlaw, A Warner, D Wong, I Meraviglia-Crivelli, C Joy, R Semler Gorge Lavender Mound Grassy Mound Work Area Kitchen Garden By Courtesy of the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne In THE SECOND PART OF HER STUDY OF CHARLES BOGUE LUFFMAN, Sandra Pullman discusses aspects of his controversial principalship of Burnley School of Horticulture. A fter 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. It is thought that his wife Lauretta probably encouraged Luffinan to apply for the position of Principal at the School of Horticulture. According to an article on Luffinan that appeared in the Australasian of 25 January 1908 there were only four applicants because the gardens were in such a mess. A person with remarkable skills was needed to fix the problem 1 ... but the difficulty was to get anyone capable of undertaking a task of such magnitude and responsibility.’ 1 Garden design at Burnley The first task was to improve the grounds at Burnley. The gardens were laid out in a formal style that Luffinan did not like. A keen supporter of the natural landscape school prevalent in England at the time, and influenced by William Robinson and Gertrude Jeckyll" he completely redesigned them to be naturalistic. 3 The task was enormous. Luffinan stated, in the report in The Australasian, 25 January 1908, that he was determined to make Burnley a self- supporting institution which orchardists and others could come to and learn from. He wanted it to be a demonstration school, not an experimental station. 4 So he completely altered Burnley Gardens to reflect this philosophy. He believed that ‘gardens should be pure expressions of nature with curved paths and shady glades’. At Burnley, he felt that there needed to be a cool and shady summer garden located in the south east of the property so that one could get away from the hot summer sun. On the north and west he planted a winter garden with deciduous trees. 5 Today visitors can still see some of his original plantings such as the Cercis siliquastrum (Judas tree) and the Luculia gratissima. Student powered cylinder mower, Burnley College, Victoria, c.1890. Male students had to be at least 14 years of age. For the working class child, a garden meant strenuous and monotonous physical labour rather than a pretty picture in a book. Courtesy Archives, Burnley College, University of Melbourne. 14 Australian Garden History Vol . 14 No 6 May/June 2003 LufFman created a villa garden around the principal’s residence planting it with many shrubs and flowering trees, such as Japanese crab apples, cherries and maples. He hated flower gardens so he created curved beds filled with shrubs and running through them were narrow winding paths reminiscent of Robinson’s Wild Garden. 6 These areas are under planted with Clivia miniata and ferns and the paths are edged with Mondo grass. He thoroughly understood the principles of gardening being well aware of the importance of soil and how that influenced what could be grown. An ardent supporter of animal manure and its benefits, he did not have cows and heifers at Burnley to teach dairying, but for their manure. He filled in the billabong with Richmond’s refuse, much to the disgust and complaints of that suburb’s residents.' He was a keen supporter of the quaint practice of trenching which today horrifies us, because of the damage it does to the roots of plants. 8 Luffinan understood that gardening was changing, that it was no longer the sole province of the aristocracy, and it now belonged to ordinary people. He felt that the natural style suited Australia better and helped people get away from the urbanised society that Melbourne was becoming. 9 He had very firm ideas about boundaries (fences), paths and lines of approach feeling that gardens should be honestly laid so that they appear strong and permanently attractive. 10 He believed that boundary fences detracted from houses so the garden should be planted to effectively hide the actual limitations. He liked stone or brick walls but believed ‘The most ugly blot on Australian gardens is in the wretched boundary fences.’ (Perhaps here he means paling boundary fences.) He was quite dogmatic in his view that ‘any man building a house costing more than one thousand pounds who failed to build a stone or brick wall should be thrown in the goal and kept there! 11 He asserted that paths should be kept out of sight, that they should not cut through the middle of the lawn, but should go around the configurations of the garden. Only necessary paths should be put in. 1 " Today, in Burnley Gardens one can still get a sense of these hidden paths that are lower than the lawn and garden beds so that they disappear and give an uninterrupted view. Luffinan also believed small houses should have narrow and unassertive paths and that awful cart entrances were totally unnecessary. One could train the wood and coalman to barrow or bag his wares to the house! This would provide an uninterrupted front or side garden. 1 ' The educational offering at Burnley An important tradition that Luffinan continued at Burnley was inviting women to attend lectures. Women had been attending lectures since 1891 when George Neilson was curator of the School of Horticulture, 14 but this was still considered shocking and scandalous. It caused Luffinan to be criticised by his Board ofAdvice and the Minister of Agriculture. The authorities considered the women a nuisance whereas Luffinan maintained that ‘he didn ’/ discriminate work between the sexes’ and that women were better students all over. 15 In his Annual Report to the Department of Agriculture for 1900, Luffinan stated ‘ . . . this institution has for its object the teaching and training of students of both sexes who wish to become orchardists, gardeners and managers of small agricultural and fruit growing estates .’ He believed that horticulture was a science (although it was not generally viewed as one) and the subjects studied that year were chemistry, geology, botany, vegetable pathology, climatology and commercial geography, Luffman’s Plan for a Homestead Garden. From the Victorian Yearbook of Agriculture for 1905, Chapter VI - The Farm Homestead, Produced by the staff of the Victorian Department of Agriculture. Courtesy Archives, Burnley College, University of Melbourne. Australian Garden History Vol. 14 No 6 May /June 2003 15 designing and plotting of homesteads and orchards. Practical subjects included propagation and management of orchard trees, citrus, table grapes, bush fruits, harvesting, storing, packing, marketing, drying and canning of fruit and vegetables. There was also clearing, grading and trenching of land. No distinction in work was made in regard to the sex of the students further than necessary in strength, resources and ambition of each person although Luffman does show some prejudice by believing that due to the ‘preponderance of women students they did better in the classroom than the field. 16 At that time there were 120 lectures and demonstrations over the year. The field subjects considered more valuable for women were garden making and management, table-grape, lemon, bush-fruit and vegetable culture. According to Luffman these were covered because a livelihood could be made from them. Males on the other hand did better in the fieldwork partly because they had more exposure to doing it. The men attended daily from 9am to 5pm and they had to be over the age of 14 years . 1 ' Males also paid a /'5 guarantee for good behaviour and if they did not see the year out they forfeited their deposit. Women had to be over 16 and attend thrice weekly from 2pm to 5pm. Instruction was free and students could study from one to three years. The prospectus states that the rules must be abided by and diaries must be kept. Women had to provide themselves with a uniform dress and pocket tools and approved texts were purchased by all students. 18 During his time as principal Luffman was involved in a scheme for training state-school teachers in horticulture, then part of the school curriculum. In September 1902 he conducted the first classes at Burnley for teachers and published Gardening for Victorian State Schools , 19 Arguments and an anonymous poem Luffman had been arguing with the Minister for Agriculture, whom he thought was an ass, for some time. As legend has it, when Luffman went to ‘to have it out with the brute’ he tore offhis collar and tie and flung them, emblems of respectable servitude, at die Minister’s feet."" Exactly what the dispute was about is unknown, but after Luffman had thrown down the gauntlet he resigned from Burnley College. In the archives at Burnley College there is an untitled poem written under the pseudonym ‘Argus’. Undated, the Miltonic rhythm and the subject matter are reminiscent of Paradise Lost, while the pen-name alludes to the 100-eyed guardian of Io thus hinting that someone was taking up the cause of the Principal in his battle with his Horticultural Board over the place at Burnley. ‘Argus’ provided an interesting preamble to his/her poem: Ostensibly the trouble in the Burnley Gardens, when Mr Luffman, the Curator, refused to speak to members of the Horticultural Board and treated even the Minister of Agriculture with the most distant hauteur, is about questions of pruning and nipping back, and the propagation of phylloxera resistant [sic.] vine cuttings. This is the surface view but in this matter we must put the French motto in practice and ‘Cherchez the Femme’. It is not necessary to search far, for there are over 100 lady students at. the Gardens. The poem goes as far as naming individual, well- respected members of the ‘Hort. Board’, ‘The Serpent Board'. Draper [Charles Draper] was a well-established orchardist from Arthur’s Creek, Lang [James Lang], was^a highly regarded apple grcwer from Harcourt,“ Harris (Joseph Harris] was a nursery proprietor and horticultural editor of the Australasian, and Boyce was a daffodil specialist and nursery proprietor in Balwyn. The case for women being taught horticulture that concludes the poem with the claim that men whose wives have studied at Burnley will indeed be fortunate, may not satisfy the feminists, but it is a delightful suggestion of ‘paradise regained’. The Metropolitan Golf Course After resigning from Burnley College Luffman stayed on in Melbourne to finish his work for the Metropolitan Golf Club in Oakleigh. It was to be one of the few examples of his landscape design work that can still be seen today. Luffman’s connection with the Metropolitan is quite interesting for many of the early female members of the Metropolitan had been students at Burnley. 22 Intriguing questions are raised in Weston Bate’s history of the Metropolitan, Sustaining Their Dream, about whether Rita Godfrey, believed to have attended Burnley, was related to the Club’s architect and whether it was possible that she was one of the many who were smitten by Luffman. Mordaunt (1937) stated in her book that‘he had an uncommon gift of a speaking voice which would charm a bird off a boughT 3 His design for the golf course was avant-garde for the day and involved planting Australian native trees with idea that they would help keep the course dry in winter and preserve the tees and greens in the hot summer. This use of natives, according to Bate reflected the contemporary national feeling at the time and was one reason why Luffman was engaged. He planted Angophora costata, Acacia maidenii, Eucalyptusffcifolia, Banksia grandis and Callitris cohunnaris. This later earned him praise from Edna Walling when she 16 Australian Garden History Vot. 14 No 61 Chty/June 2003 There is a garden, far from busy haunts, Beyond the Richmond quarries, where the din Of city tumult is not heard, and where The perfumesjfom the tanneries is lost In the rich odour which thcYarra yields To glad the summer air. The river winds Round three sides of the garden, and the train Which twice a week to far Glen Iris speeds Circles the other. In this quiet spot, One hundred nymphs in galatea clad Of lustrous brown, with gloves and hat to match Imbibe instruction. Here with hoe in hand They tickle the rude earth until it smiles Golden tomatoes, and anon it laughs In huge pie melons. Here the mellow peach Blushes to find its lustrous sunnyside Out-bloomed by maiden’s cheek. In vine clad bower Of times they sit in lithe and sinuous rows At Lufftnan’sfeet while he holds high discourse Influent language bubbling like a fount And purling like a brook, of plum and pear, Of apple and of peach, while specimens To illustrate his meaning are discussed By rows of pearly teeth. He further tells Of grafting, pruning, budding, of manures, Of insect pests, which haunt the leafy bower, Of kerosene emulsion, Paris green, Offuminants and sprays. An Eden this Surpassing Father Adam’s, for he had Only one Eve, while Luffman has five score; A paradise wherein they without reproof Eat of the tree of knowledge, and alas, A paradise wherein the serpent lurks, The Serpent Board. The devil takes many shapes, But never any so insidious As when, in airy phrase, he dubbed himself The Hort. Board, and boldly strode Through thefair Eden in the pleasing shape Of Harris and of Draper and of Lang, And others,fitly formed to charm the eye Of simple garden girls, and to beguile The maids from useful studies with the lure Of honeyed spech, but, happily the disguises Of the arch enemy could not avail To blind the eye of Luffman. He espied The forked tail beneath the Harris coat, The cloven hoof upon the foot of Boyce. And with a flaming sword of bitter speech He drove them from the place. Alas they are Old enough to know better. Oh ‘tis said That with fair seeing speech they should disguise Their naughtly purpose. Serpent like they crept Into this paradise upon the plea ’The pruning liked them not. Oh, wicked Board, Oh, sinuous serpent seeking to beguile, Beware of Burnley. Leave the arcadian nymphs To their own Luffman, cease to circulate Your tarradillies, so shall you regain Your characters and this fair land shall be A paradise where happy man shall sit Beneath his vine and fig tree at his ease, None daring lawfully to make him work, What time his wife, thereto by Luffman trained, Do all the garden graft.. So may it be. ARGUS’ ; .. with hoe in hand they tickle the rude earth until it smiles.,Women students at Burnley c. 1900. Courtesy Archives Burnley College, University of Melbourne. X Planting at Metropolitan Golf Club described it as ‘Best collection of native trees and OA. U shrubs in Victoria . Today, Luffman’s legacy is still there and is one of the beautiful features of the golf course. This account of Luffinan’s life and work will be concluded in the next issue with an account of his community lectures, notably the clash with the architectWalter Butler, and of his writings. 1 George Hugh, ‘Luffman’s Retirement’, the Australasian, 25 January 1908, p. 189. 2 J. Patrick, LUFFMAN (N), Charles (Bogue), entry in Richard Aitken & Michael Looker (eds), The Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens, Oxford University Press, in association with the Australian Garden History Society, 2002, p. 381. 3 L. Andrews,‘History of Burnley Gardens 1860- 1939’, Honours Thesis for Bachelor of Applied Science (Hort.) University of Melbourne, 2000, p.177. 4 Hugh George,loc.cit.,p. 189. 5 L. Andrews, loc. cit. 6 ibid. 7 A.P.Winzeried, Green Grows Our Garden, Hyland House, Melbourne, 1991,p. 28. 8 C. B. Luffman, The Principles of Gardening for Australia, The Book Lovers’ Library, Melbourne, 1903, p. 34. 9 M. McBriar/An Edwardian Discussion: Formal or Natural Gardens for Australia?’ Australian Garden History, vol. 1, no. 6, April/May/June 1990, p. 9. 10 ‘Garden Design in Accord with Local Needs’, Journal of Proceedings, vol. 2, no. 2., 1904-05, Royal Victorian Institute ofArchitects, p. 40. 11 C.B. Luffrnan, op. cit.,p. 27. 12 ibid., p. 42. 13 ibid., p.41. 14 L.Andrews, op. cit.,p. 182. 15 ibid. 16 C. Luffman, Report by the Principal of the School of Horticulture, Annual Report 1900, Department of Agriculture, p. 262. 17 ibid. 18 ibid., p.327-8 19 L.J. Blake (ed.). Vision & Realisation - A Centenary History of State Education in Victoria, Education Department,Victoria, 1973, p. 298 and p. 346. 20 E. Mordaunt, Sinabada, Michael Joseph, London, 1937,pp. 118-19. 21 vide Nina Crone, ‘Apples for Gold-Diggers’, Australian Garden History, vol. 13, no. 5, March/April 2002, pp. 7-9. 22 W. Bate, Sustaining Their Dream, Metropolitan Golf Club, Oakleigh, p. 19 and p. 237. 23 ibid. 24 ibid. Sandra Pullman, a undergraduate student at Burnley College, University of Melbourne, is a member of the Garden 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. 18 Australian Garden History Vol. 14 No 6 May /June 2003 -^'OOKSHELf o THE PRAIRIE SPIRIT IN Landscape The Prairie Spirit in Landscape Gardening Wilhelm Miller with an introduction by Christopher Vernon 2002 University of Massachusetts Press Web-site: http://www.iunass.edu/umpress RRP: US$34.95 ISBN: 1 55489 329 8 Reviewed by Marion Pennicuik This book is part of a small library of influential historical books about American landscape architecture, published to commemorate the 1999 centennial of the American Society of Landscape Architects. The selected ‘classics’ have been reprinted with an accompanying essay that provides historical and contemporary perspective. Wilhelm Miller (1869-1938), published The Prairie Spirit in Landscape Gardening in 1915, the first publication to address the question of a truly American style oflandscape design. The 34-page circular was distributed free by the Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station to anyone in the State ‘who will sign a promise to do some permanent ornamental planting within a year.’ Funding for agricultural extension work drove this project and Miller targeted urban residents of Illinois, curators of parks and designers of streetscapes, as well as farmers. The ‘prairie style’ oflandscape gardening was based on ‘conservation of native scenery, restoration of local vegetation, and repetition of a dominant theme.’ It was Miller who coined the term ‘Prairie School’. He promoted restoration of the ‘broad view’— ‘the one that suggests infinity and power’; and, particularly, the ‘long view’—‘the more human and intimate’. Miller suggested idealised urban repetition of the horizontal landform of the prairie by planting of stratified trees and flat-flowered shrubs, to make the infinite intimate and livable. He suggested restoration of the broad view in parks or farms, for‘occasional visits’. Christopher Vernon’s introduction links the ‘prairie style’to Wright and other architects and landscape architects of the Progressive Era and places it in historical and cultural context. He examines Miller’s motives for writing the circular, inspired by the desire to encourage country life, as a counterpoint to the accelerating urbanisation of the United States. He traces Miller’s life and influences on him and the development of the Prairie School, from Frank Lloyd Wright and the Chicago School. He discusses Miller’s association with Jens Jensen, O. C. Simonds,Walter Burley Griffin,Wright and others; and examines the biases in his treatise. The Prairie Spirit in Landscape Gardening is an impassioned historical account. Miller’s argument is contemporary, the illustrations excellent, and Vernon’s essay, selected bibliography and notes illuminate the context. All landscape architects, land managers and students of history will thoroughly enjoy it and seek out more of the series. Other titles cover the work of Copeland, Cleveland, Simonds, Eckbo and Hutcheson. Marion Pennicuick currently edits ‘The Spirit of Progress’for the Art Deco Society. Australian Garden History Vol . 14 No 6 May /June 2003 19 With MIRRORS AND RAINBOWS In a two-part article Ken Duxbury discovers that among the many intriguing CHARACTERISTICS OF A MAN WHO PERSONIFIED THE INDIVIDUALISM AND ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT OF ‘MARVELLOUS MELBOURNE’WAS A LOVE OF FLOWERS AND GARDENS. Above: Edward William Cole (1832-1918) Right: Cover of Cole's Funny Picture Book No. 2 first published in 1907 under the title A Sequel to Cole's Funny Picture Book. THE W: -.'.OPINESS OF 'Tl Yf mank;nd the real^ ! SAEVA1 1 ’’HE WORLD ' MUST COME ABOUT BY : pm PERSON If. EXISTENCE 1 BEING TAUGHT TO L READ Kk AND INDL EtDTO A V THINK- 41 AND MAKE CHILD'S PICTURE BOOK tSMlvN IN THE WORLD as NO . 2 CHILDREN HAPPIER MUSER 4 ^ 41^2 NSTRUCTOR ^ tM*: .vo ,??-tp E dward William Cole, ‘Cole of the Book Arcade’, (1832-1918) is remembered today for several contributions to Melbourne and Australian life and culture. His world famous book arcade eventually ran all the way from Bourke Street to Collins Street with half a mile of public walkways and two million books. Other departments included music, Stationery, fancy goods, artists’ materials, glass and chinaware, tea salon, circulating library, printing works and a ‘Wonderland’ for children, complete with distorting mirrors and cages of monkeys. Hundreds of rainbows (Cole’s personal emblem and registered trademark) adorned the interior and exterior of the arcade, reflected and multiplied by a hundred mirrors. Free music recitals were given every afternoon and evening. It was a place where ‘intellectual, well-behaved people meet and feel happy in the Palace of the Intellect’. 20 Australian Garden History Vol. 14 No 6 May /June 2003 Cole is perhaps even better remembered today for Coles Funny Picture Book (first published in 1879, and still in print) with its multicoloured rainbow cover. It has amassed sales of well over one million copies. He was sometimes considered an eccentric crusader for diverse causes such as a new world religion (combining the shared wisdom of existing religious beliefs), for World Federation, for rational dress and an end to tight lacing, the impossibility of'white Australia’, the eradication of the pernicious tobacco habit and its replacement with the apple eating habit... and for his constant barrage of press advertising, most of which he wrote himself. Most famously he advertised — very successfully — for a good wife. E.W. Cole also made a remarkably wade, diversified and characteristically idiosyncratic range of contributions to gardening and horticulture and such related fields as botanical exploration, fruit and cotton growing, and the creation of a ‘people’s fernery’ in the very heart of Melbourne’s central business district. The Early Years Edward Cole was born on 4 January 1832 at Tenterden, Kent, son of Amos Cole, a rural labourer, and his wife, Harriet. His father died when he was only three or four years old, but his mother soon remarried. From an early age flowers fascinated Edward. In 1902, at the age of 70, he recalled: ‘When 1 was a child, my grandmother, who loved flowers dearly, had a beautiful garden with an immense variety, and although sixty years have intervened, / can remember almost every kind of flower in it. I also remember that when a child of six years old, I was delighted to find some French Marigolds growing in the small garden of a new house which we moved into [after Cole’s mother remarriedj; the delight which the practical possession of that little group of flowers gave me I have not forgotten and probably never will forget.’ He added: 7 love flowers, but circumstances have always prevented me from indulging in a garden; yet whenever I go into a new country, I always make for the gullies and mountains to gather wildflowerS.’ In 1850, with £20 and very little education, Cole migrated to the Cape of Good Hope where he engaged in some botanical explorations. In 1902 he recalled that: ‘Many a time I have wandered by myself among the karoo and the kloofs and mountains to admire and gather wildjlowers. Cape Colony, dry and thorny as it is, in variety is like a botanical garden; I have stood in one spot and seen thirty or forty different plants around me.' Two years later Cole sailed for Melbourne, no doubt attracted by the gold rush, but also perhaps, repelled by racial tensions at the Cape, and went to Forest Creek Diggings but ‘soon decided that he had neither the physical stamina nor the gambling instinct for mining, and sold lemonade instead.’ He soon saved enough money to engage in unsuccessful land speculations at Casdemaine. In 1861, with the photographer George Burnell, Cole rowed 1500 miles down the River Murray from Echuca taking photographs along the way, including one of the very few photographs ever taken of Aboriginals constructing a canoe from the bark of a River Red Gum. Cole also collected seeds of native flora, with some intention of starting, some time in the future, an unusual garden comprised of native Australian wild flowers and shrubs. Cole never had the opportunity to establish this garden, but eventually passed the seeds on to Ferdinand von Mueller at the Melbourne Botanical Gardens. These aw the books Bought by the boy, They gave him pleasure, They gave him joy, These books from the House Thai COLE built. The Bookseller In the early 1860s, Cole ran a pie stall in Russell Street, and also researched (in the State Library) and wrote a pamphlet The Real Place in History of Jesus and Paul proclaiming his religious views. Cole could not find a publisher, but, undaunted and with the intention of eventually printing and selling the book himself, he gave up his pie stall and opened his own second-hand book stall in the Eastern Market in September 1865. Cole’s bookstall prospered. In 1873, aware that the Eastern Market was to be demolished and rebuilt, he moved to a shop in Bourke Street East. He turned it into what he advertised as ‘the prettiest site in Melbourne’ - glittering with mirrors and shining with brass. Two little mechanical men at the entrance, turned over a series of advertising boards which fell against each other with a tinny clash, thus catching the attention of the ear as well as the eye. 1 Cole also installed cane-seated chairs on which people could be comfortable while they read any book, right through if they wished, without ever being pressed to buy. He dressed his staff in brilliant scarlet jackets and after midday, a pianist played popular tunes. Although highly profitable, the arcade was, in many respects as much a place of public resort, entertainment and public education, as a purely commercial concern. iNSHRATION FROM A RAINBOW Ever searching for new and better ways to promote and advertise his book arcade, Cole sought some familiar symbol that people would notice. ‘He was standing one Sunday in Baron von Mueller’s Botanical Gardens when in the sky Australian Garden History Vol. 14 No 6 May /June 2003 21 Right 'The Young Fruit Gatherer’. An illustration from The Happifying Garden Hobby. It shows apples and a bonny child underlining Cole’s assertion that, for health, apples were better than cigarettes. From E. W. Cole, The Happifying Garden Hobby, E.W. Cole Book Arcade, Melbourne 1918 Below: The distinctive rainbow sign boldly painted over the entrance to the Cole's Book Arcade. above the lake a rainbow appeared. He heard children drawing their parents’ attention to it. Excitement rose in him. Was there anything more attention catching than this beautiful natural wonder? ... He engaged a team of painters and sign- writers on the Monday morning. Their first job was to paint the Arcade’s entire front white to throw up the great black letters of Cole’s Book Arcade Then from the verandah roof, to arch over the name and down to the roof again, they painted a brilliant rainbow. Before the paint was dry he had decided to register the rainbow as his trademark ... whenever a rainbow appeared in the sky, it would spectacularly broadcast a delightful reminder of Cole’s Book Arcade to everyone, young and old, far and wide. A shy man Coles boldly advertised in a full column of the Herald, 5 July 1875, for a wife. A month later he married the only serious respondent - Eliza, youngest daughter of C.J. Jordan, a timber merchant of Hobart. They had two sons and four daughters. Cole’s Publications Cole’s most successful publication, Cole’s Funny Picture Book, appeared with great publicity on Christmas Eve 1879 at the price of 1/-. The book's remarkably diversified contents included edifying health, moral and religious tenets mixed with subtle advertising. The images stamped themselves indelibly on children’s minds: the stunted smoking twin and the healthy non¬ smoking twin. Cole’s Patent Whipping Machine for Flogging Naughty Boys in School, a picture of a gigantic sea serpent transporting books from England and/or America to Cole’s Book Arcade. The serpent’s back is a series of rainbow arches, each one carrying a pile of books, while the serpent’s head carries a banner emblazoned with a rainbow and the words ‘Bound for Cole s Book Arcade Melbourne’. Cole could therefore possibly be accused not only of commercialising the sign of the covenant, but also the Rainbow Serpent of Aboriginal mythology, and his ‘rainbow arches’ preceded McDonald’s ‘golden arches' by nearly a century. The Funny Picture Book included at least two poems with gardening themes and a tighdy- printed page on the language of flowers, a very popular subject in the Victorian era, concluding with the observation that: ‘Flowers smell the sweetest and look the loveliest of all earthly things, and most men and women throughout the world dearly love them, and hope to dwell beyond the grave where ‘Everlasting spring abides, and NEVER WITHERING FLOWERS.' 22 Australian Garden History Vol. 14 No 6 May/June 2003 Can j-( t almost any Book you want. lo choose front p«UCOND HAND BOOKS ETfTCIOMtRVALBUMS MUSIC 1 .! Sometime in the early 1880s, Cole produced his first gardening book — or booklet, Cole’s penny gardening guide: what to do each month in theJlower, fruit and vegetable garden: information on fruit presenting and some useful household hints. This 22-page paper-covered volume is described in Victor Crittenden’s bibliography of Australian gardening books as ‘a delightful little book’. It is highly likely that Cole’s Penny Garden Guide enjoyed wide sales, and brought gardening information within easy reach of even the least affluent of gardeners. However the booklet is now very scarce, probably because of its small size and paper cover, while the likelihood of damage through storage in garden sheds where leakages, insect damage and neglect have taken their toll, make it very difficult to obtain. A Fernery in Melbourne’s retail HEARTLAND When the rebuilt Eastern Market proved to be a white elephant, Cole leased the whole interior in 1879 and turned it into a bazaar, with a band and innumerable sideshows to heighten ‘his’ end of Bourke Street. The City Council was dismayed at such frivolity and for four years raised obstacles to each renewal of the lease. These tactics made Cole think of a bigger arcade where his flair for earning the goodwill of thronging customers would be unrestricted. In 1882 he negotiated the freehold of Augustine Barbete’s Spanish Restaurant on the south side of Bourke Street, between Swanston Street and Elizabeth Street, right in the retail hub of Melbourne - a site now occupied by David Jones. He virtually gutted the building. The two More than Two Million Rooks Evcfy Sight-1 seer in the City of Melbourne should visit COLE’S BOOK ARCAOE. It i* entirely an Austra¬ lian institu¬ tion. being] the Arst of its kind Opened any¬ where. and at the pre¬ sent lime on- etfti ailed in any city of | the world, it is 3 stories high, 600 feet deep,| and an aver-' age width of 45 feel, wfth, (routage* to] tkiurhe and | Collins Sts . | the two main arteries of] Melbourne;] its public walka are half a mile! lung, its gal- j leriea are supported on I brass pillars, while htin- d re d » of rainbows (the trade mark) deco-] rate the in- trior and exterior of I he estab¬ lishment. There are IW) mirrors tastefully placed thro¬ ughout the building. present Arcade was opened on Cup’ Day. 1 «l»i. and has bren visited every day (except Sun days), yeur in. year out, by an average o f 5,000 people, so that dur¬ ing the first 35 years of ilsexistem-r. more than 50 million visits wete paid to " There 1 are several miles of shelving and 5.000 cedar drawers. The plan of book- d r a w e r s greatly fa¬ cilitates the minute classification so that one can find .with rase, any book wanted on any sub¬ ject. There are two Re¬ tail Depart- Books, one in Bourke Street, and one in Collins Street, and a Urge Whole¬ sale one of three stories brlween the twn. The Secondhand Book Depart¬ ment Is 150 fret by 40, There ore many other Departments including New and Secondhand Music. Sta- lioatry Fancy Goods Artists' Ma¬ terials, Toys, Art. Glass, and China Ware. Tea Salon. Circu¬ lating Libra¬ ry, Priming Work*, etc., tic. Free music recit¬ als are given ■very after¬ noon and evening. In¬ tellectual, well-behaved people col- Ie c 1 and friends meet and Ie e 1 happy in the Palace of upper floors became circum-ambulatory balconies so that daylight from an arched glass roof reached the ground floor. To the shine and glitter of the original mirrors and brass pillars, he added larger ones. A row of mirror faced obelisks ran down the centre of the arcade and rainbows appeared throughout. Police had to control the crowds when in opened on Cup Day 1883. A few years later, Benjamin Fink,‘the greatest land boomer of them all', purchased the property between Cole’s Arcade and Little Collins, and rented the building to Cole allowing the arcade to extend from Bourke Street through to Little Collins Street. There was, however, a right-of- way 16 feet wide and 50 feet long separating the back door of the two buildings. Cole’s fertile imagination — possibly aided by Fink’s influence with the City Corporation — converted the laneway into a shady bower of tree ferns and other lush greenery with a trickle of water to simulate a mountain stream. Rustic timber benches were provided and portable cane chairs. Finally an aviary was added. It featured a profusion and diversity of parrots and birds, all selected for their talking ability. Above: The interior of the Book Arcade from the Bourke Street entrance looking south. The fernery was reached through the far door. Left: A shady bower of tree ferns and other lush greenery. Australian Garden History Vol. 14 No 6 May /June 2003 23 The Apple is the Best Fruit in the World Apples refresh Man and make Him Healthy From E. W. Cole, The Happifying Garden Hobby, E.W. Cole Book Arcade, Melbourne 1918. Cole’s biographer, his grandson Cole Turnley, notes that the fernery ‘soon became the Arcade’s most popular section. Marvellous Melbourne for all its new and wonderful tall buildings, its cable trams and electric lighting, hadfew facilities for a quiet rest from the bustle. Cole’s fernery was a fragrant, pretty place where one could chat with a friend, eat a cut lunch, or meet a sweetheart. It became as much a feature of Melbourne itself as a feature of Cole’s Book Arcade.’ In 1879, Melbourne City Council adopted new regulations for ‘keeping order upon and preventing obstruction of, the carriage or footways of the city’. They also gave police the authority to move on ‘offenders’, thus Cole’s fernery, and indeed the entire Arcade, was one of the few places where weary visitors, mothers and children, invalids and the elderly could rest. It set a trend as photographs taken in the 1890s of Royal Arcade show a row of tree ferns down the centre and some wicker chairs, and there was a large latticework fernery at the Royal Exhibition Buildings. Cole’s Arcade reached its zenith in 1900 when business expanded across Little Collins Street with the roofing over of Howey Place and the purchase of property at 246 Collins Street where another large painted rainbow directed customers through the back entrance. Further attractions were added, most notably the installation of a menagerie display of live monkeys, located behind the upper storey windows of the Bourke Street shop. Despite Cole’s personal interest in the‘speech’of monkeys and their role in nature as the ‘animal next to man’, arguably their primary purpose was to attract children to the Arcade. First gardening publications Cole’s first major gardening publication Cole’s Australasian Gardening and Domestic Floriculture was written by W. Elliott and published in 1897 (the date on the cover) or possibly 1898 (the date on the title page). The author had, for 25 years, been the horticultural editor for the Melbourne Leader newspaper, and he died just prior to the book’s publication. The book therefore reflects a high-Victorian, rather than pre-Edwardian or ‘approach to Federation’ attitude. The first edition of the book contains 362 pages, has a paper cover with a floral motif, but no other illustrations. Victor Crittenden writes in his bibliography that the book was ‘Written with Melbourne in view, Elliott claims that the main object of landscape gardening is to bring together and cultivate the most beautiful, useful or novel vegetable productions from all parts of the world. He gives a description of gardens planning and layout. This is the best description of late 19 th century garden design in Australia. There are also some notes on gardens for rented houses and suburban gardens.’ The book appears to have been reprinted several times, with the text unaltered, but with different advertising material. 1 own a hardbound (green cover with flora chrysanthemum illustration) copy with the title page dated 1903, and bearing the notation 1200/7/903 which presumably means that 1200 copies of the book were printed in July 1903. The edition of the book is of particular interest in that the front endpaper contains a 2- page spread of some of the gardening books then on sale at Cole’s Book Arcade. Included are such Australian gardening books as The Flower Garden and Shrubbery by W. Clarson (1/-), The Kitchen Garden and Cottager’s Manual and The Fmit Garden (2 volumes) by the same author, while Hie Australasian Fruit Culturalist by D.A. Crichton, relatively expensive at 12/6, was likely to appeal mainly to professional orchardists. The overseas, mostly British, publications include specialised books on such subjects as carnations, chrysanthemums, cactus, begonias, and roses, carnations and picotees, strawberries, cucumber and asparagus, and the fascinatingly titled Multum-in-Parvo Gardening or 620 aYearfrom One Age by S.Woods.The advertisements are also very interesting, including those of G. Brunning & Sons St Kilda Nurseries, the Gembrook Fruit Tree Nursery of G.A. Nobelius and Doncaster Spring Pumps‘made of gun metal throughout’. 1 Some readers may remember seeing these little men at the Old Melbourne Science Museum, advertising such displays as ‘Atomic Physics and Nuclear Energy’. In the second part of the story of Edward Cole, Ken Duxlwry will discuss The Happifying Garden Hobby, other publications including a work on cotton growing, and Cole's own garden at Earlsbrae House in Essendon, now LowtherHall Girls School. Ken Duxbury has a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from Melbourne University. He has worked in urban and environmental planning and as a consultant on historic gardens. Among his interests are research into public gardens and postcard collecting. 24 Australian Garden History Vol. 14 No 6 May /June 2003 Florence Elizabeth (Beth) Bond 1924-2003 B eth Bond died suddenly on 3 March 2003. She was in Suzhou near Shanghai with her husband Lindsay on a tour prior to the International Camellia Society Congress in China. Many of her Australian Garden History Society friends were among the mourners at the memorial service at St Martin’s Church, Killara on 13 March. Beth and I made up the ‘Sydney Committee of the AGHS’ from 1989 to September 1991 when a larger committee was formed. Previously we had been told that Sydney people were not interested in gardens, and that‘anyway, there were no good gardens in Sydney!’ Beth was a hard worker who held various offices on the branch committee that we established. In September 1989 we arranged the Sydney Branch’s first ‘big’ function, a Macquarie Street Walk, which covered the Government House Gardens and included the ‘new’ Rose Garden in the Botanic Gardens. By coincidence on Sunday 16 March 2003, the Sydney Branch of AGHS held a well-supported Macquarie Street Walk to view the new planting at Government House and the plans for the Federation Garden. The group then continued on to the roof top garden of the Conservatorium of Music and to see the new plans for the Rose Garden in the Botanic Gardens. ROOKS _ about Gardens for Children The book shelves in the shop at theVisitor Centre in the Royal Melbourne Botanic Gardens has an enticing collection of books for children and lending libraries are also an excellent source of inspiring material. Here are some titles worth seeking. Avis Acres, The Adventures of Hutu and Kawa, Reed, 2002 Quentin Blake, The Green Ship, Jonathan Cape, 1998 Tomek Bogacki, My First Garden, Frances Foster Books, New York, 2000 Eric Carle, TheTiny Seed, Hamish Hamilton — Puffin, 1987. Helen East, Eric Madden, Alan Marks, Spirit of the Forest, Frances Lincoln Books. Robert Ingpen, TheAfternoonTreehouse, Lothian Books 1996 Philippa Pearce, Tom’s Midnight Garden, Puffin Books, 1976 Suzanne Tommes, Wally’s Big Big of Gardening, Abbeville Kids Colin Thompson, The Paradise Garden, Jonathan Cape, 1996 Angela Wilkes, My First Garden Book, Hodder and Stoughton, 1992 Beth’s mother gardened until she was over 100 years old and gave Beth her love of gardening. Beth was an exceptional plants- woman with an extraordinary memory and an extensive knowledge of plants. She could always be relied on for advice on some obscure horticultural problem. In her very self-effacing way she attributed her great success as a gardener to the fact that her Beecroft garden was built on an old dairy farm with excellent soil. Her garden was opened many times over the years for charity and other interest groups. Her skills in gardening were shared with her husband Lindsay and passed on to her daughters, Jennie, Catherine and Robin. Beth was a foundation member of the Beecroft Garden Club and held the office of chairman. She was also a member of the Cottage Garden Club and with her husband Lindsay, she was a very active member of both the International Camellia Society and the Australian Camellia Research Society. She and Lindsay regularly attended conferences and lectures organised by the International Camellia Society and by the Australian Garden History Society. Her warm friendship, energy and knowledge will be sorely missed. Robin Lewarne Australian Garden History Vol . 14 No 6 May/June 2003 25 ITFM.S of INTEREST An invitation from Dunedin arden history enthusiasts visiting New Zealand in the next couple of months should spare time to visit an exhibition in the impressive new library at the University of Otago. Cultivating Gardens: practical gardening advice through the ages opened on 21 March and will continue until 27 June. Of particular note are Philip Miller’s The gardeners’ dictionary [1731], John Evelyns Sylva [1664], Maria Jacson’s Florist’s Manual and John Abercrombie’s Every wan his own gardener [1797]. Important New Zealand items include George Chapman’s Handbook to thefarm and garden [1826], early editions of Brett’s and Yates’garden guides, and colourful handbooks on rose, vegetable and fruit growing. Hours are 8.30am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday, at the de Beer Gallery, Special Collections, First Floor, Central Library, University of Otago, Dunedin. Further information can be found on www.otago.ac.nz. One in a hundred Peter Valder’s Gardens in China, published by Florilegium, has been awarded an American Library Association ‘Choice’ award for 2002. This prestigious award is given to the 600 ‘most valuable reference books published’ each year in the United States of America. As there are more than 60.000 books published each year in the USA, this is indeed an accolade. Celebration The National Herbarium of Victoria, one of Australia’s oldest scientific institutions celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. It houses Victoria’s collection of preserved plant, algal and fungal specimens that together with an extensive library of botanical literature and art works make up the State Botanical Collection. The Herbarium was established with the appointment in 1853 of the first Government Botanist, Ferdinand Mueller. His herbarium building was replaced by the current structure, built in 1934 and extended in 1988, that now holds over 1.2million plant specimens. Together with other herbaria around Australia, the national Herbarium ofVictoria is currently working towards creating ‘Australia’s Virtual Herbarium’, an ambitious project to give global access to Australian specimens through a central Internet site. The electronic collection will contain information about plant names, distribution, images, descriptions and associated biblio¬ graphic files. Thanks Di Ellerton, Jane Johnson, Laura Lewis, Ann Miller, Sandi Pullman, Susan Reidy, Georgina Whitehead and Elizabeth Wright cheerfully inserted the conference brochure into the last journal for mail-out. Thanks to all for a speedy and efficient job. ON-LINE Upgrade for www.gardenhistorysociety.org.au The Australian Garden History Society web-site is currently undergoing an upgrade to provide on¬ line booking for conferences, tours, membership payments and the purchase of publications and gifts. The individual branch pages will be maintained in the re-designed site architecture. LeeTregloan, a member of the National Management Committee is taking on the responsibility of webmaster, while Max Bourke,Jackie Courmadias and Nina Crone make up the web-site sub-committee. The Society owes a debt of gratitude to Dr Dinah Hansman, the inaugural webmaster, who set up the web-site and maintained it over the past three years. Our sincere thanks go to her for this valuable and important contribution. Watch for further details of progress in the next issue of the journal and keep logging on to www.gardenhistorysociety.org.au. 26 Australian Garden History Vol. t4 No 6 May /June 2003 -^1 ARY AT E S May 1-4 Thursday to Sunday Sydney, Darling Harbour— Sydney’s Garden and Flower Show in Hall 1 at the Sydney Exhibition Centre and inTumbalong Park and the Chinese Garden ofFriendship. Open daily 10am-5pm and Friday, 2 May 10am- 9pm. Adults $15 Children (aged 5- 16) $8 Children (under 5) Free. For further information and concession rates contact Jenny Westdorp (02) 9977 0248. 3 Saturday Tasmania, Hobart- Bus Trip to view Northqfagus gunnii. In conjunction with the Friends of the Royal Tasmanian Botanic Gardens an excursion to Mt Field National Park to see the newVisitor and Interpretation Centre and a walk to Russell Falls, before departure for Lake Fenton to view the Northofagus gunnii and lunch at Dobson Lake. Cost $27. Contact: Alison Parsons (03) 6224 9522. 6 Tuesday Sydney, Royal Botanic Gardens - The French Connection: Talk and Walk. 10am-12noon. Join Helen Williams and Rosemary Blakeney to hear about the contribution made by French botanists, artists and gardeners who collected, described, named and propagated Australian flora in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Bookings essential (02) 9231 8182 (business hours). Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney $ 17, others $20 (includes morning tea). 21 Wednesday Victoria, East Melbourne - Working Bee at Bishopscourt Helen Page (03) 9397 2260. 25 Sunday Western Australia, Gin Gin - Day Excursion. June 14 Saturday Tasmania, Hobart- Seminar ‘Work on Old Gardens’ — 2pm at Runnytnede.There will be two speakers and some practical work. Cost: $10 (includes afternoon tea) for AGHS members, $12 for others. Limit 50 persons. Contact: Alison Parsons (03) 6224 9522. 18 Wednesday Victoria, East Melbourne — Working Bee at Bishopscourt Helen Page (03) 9397 2260. 28 Saturday Victoria, Beaufort — Working Bee at Belmont Helen Page (03) 9397 2260. July 11-13 July Brisbane - 24th Annual National Conference ‘Tropical Pleasures’. 16 Wednesday Victoria, East Melbourne — Working Bee at Bishopscourt Helen Page (03) 9397 2260. 27 Sunday Western Australia, Gosnells - AGM Day - a visit to a pioneer cemetery at Kenwick, lunch and AGM at Gosnells Hotel followed by a visit to the Wilkinson Homestead in Gosnells, formerly the Orange Tree Farm Museum. Advance Notice August 7 Monday Victoria, Melbourne - AGM Victorian Branch at 7.15pm followed by a Lecture ‘The Getty Garden: the Garden, the Art Museum and the Death of Art’ given by Associate Professor David Marshall of the Art History Program of the School of Fine Arts, Classical Studies and Archaeology, University of Melbourne, at Mueller Hall, Birdwood Avenue South Yarn). Time :8pm. Cost:S12 ($16 non¬ members). Details Helen Page (03) 9397 2260. 9-10 August Tasmania, Launceston - AGM Tasmanian Branch combined with a Seminar ‘The Chinese Connection’. Further information: Alison Parsons (03) 6224 9522. October 13 Monday Victoria, Melbourne National AGM 7.15pm, followed by a Lecture ‘Walter and Marion Burley Griffin and their Melbourne Influences’ given by Christopher Vernon from the Faculty of Landscape andVisual Arts, University ofWestern Australia, at Mueller Hall, SouthYarra. Time: 8pm. Cost $12 ($16 non-members). Details Helen Page (03) 9397 2260. Australian Garden History Vol 14 No 6 May /June 2003 27 Described by Edna Walling as a ‘symphony of steps and trees’, the majority of the gardens at ‘Mawarra’ remain as they were when Edna designed them in 1927. ‘Mawarra’ has never been open to the general public. Privacy and seclusion have been the priorities of the previous owners. But now, for those who understand the essence of an old garden and the magical qualities that lie within, ‘Mawarra’s’ new owner, Mr. Jess Exiner has opened a ‘Garden Stay 5 . He and his partner, Jonathan Seares, offer an unforgettable ‘Garden Experience’ where their guests are invited to indulge in some of the pleasures that living on a property like ‘Mawarra’ can provide. © Explore inner tranquillity around the reflection pond with a cognac or a cup of camomile tea. © Spend time reading many of the 1st edition books by Edna Waling whilst reclining on one of the ‘davbeds’ in the Manor House library. © Take gentle exercise in ‘Mawarra’s indoor heated swimming pool. As one would expect, only two parties of guests are accommodated on ‘Mawarra’ at any one time in either ‘Wendy’s Cottage’ Designed as a child’s playhouse in the early 1930s, ‘Wendy’s Cottage’ was styled on The Little House’ at Royal Lodge for the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. It is now a fully self-contained cottage for only two adults. or ‘The Lodge’ A1917 Arts & Crafts style home on 3 acres of parkland which has become an extension of the land held by ‘Mawarra’. For bookings and further information on ‘Mawarra’ and our ‘Garden Stay’ please contact Jess Exiner or Jonathan Seares. Telephone (03) 9755- 2456 Fax (03) 9755-1969 Email info@mawarra.net.au [Advertisement] Print Post No. 34584/0016