HISTORY Va/e Margaret Darling j7ze Vision Splendid' Queensland conference JOURNAL OFTHE AUSTRALIAN GARDEN HISTORY SOCIETY r Ssiz] "Mjk jVtWjt ^MCHiik wpd Al. ^AUA^ GARDEN HISTORY SOCIETY Patron Sue Ebury - Countess ofWilton Executive Officer Jackie Courmadias Publication Australian Garden History, official journal of the Australian Garden History Society, is published four times a year Editors Christina Dyson Richard Aitken editor@gardenhistorysociety.org.au 8 Eastern Place, Hawthorn East, Victoria, 3 1 23 Enquiries TollFree 1 800 678 446 Phone 03 9650 5043 Fax 03 9650 8470 Email i nfo@gard en historysociety.org.au Website www.gard e n h i sto r ysoc i ety. org.au Postal Address AGHS, Gate Lodge 1 00 Birdwood Avenue Melbourne Victoria 3004 Subscriptions (GST INCLUSIVE) For I year Single $67 Family $92 Corporate $2 1 5 Youth $22 (UNDER 25 YEARS OF AGE) Non-profit organisations $92 Advertising Rates 1/8 page $ 1 32 (2+ issues$l2l each) I /4 page $220 (2+ issues$l98 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 Editorial Advisory Committee CONVENOR Christine Reid MEMBERS Glenn Cooke Timothy Hubbard Colleen Morris Prue Slatyer John Viska ISSN 1033-3673 NATIONAL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE John Dwyer (Chairman) Ray Choate (Vice Chairman) Lynne Walker (Secretary) Kathy Wright (Treasurer) Elected Members John Dwyer Trisha Dixon Burkitt Stuart Read Jan Schapper John Viska Lynne Walker Kathy Wright State Representatives ACT Nancy Clarke NSW Eleanor Dartnall QLD John Taylor SA Richard Nolan WA Caroline Grant VIC Pamela jellie TAS Mike Evans BRANCH CONTACTS ACT/Monaro/Riverina Tony Byrne PO Box I 630 Canberra ACT 260 1 to ny by r n e@efrect. net.au Queensland John Taylor I I joynt St Hamilton QLD 4007 Phone: 07 3862 4284 jht@hotkey.net.au South Australia Ray Choate Barr Smith Library University of Adelaide Adelaide SA 5005 Phone: 08 8303 4064 ray.choate@adelaide.edu.au Southern Highlands Eleanor Dartnall 478 Argyle Street Moss Vale NSW 2577 Phone: 02 4869 I 825 eleanor@dartnalladvisors.com.au Sydney & Northern NSW Stuart Read Phone: 02 9873 8554 (w) stuart.read@planning.nsw.gov.au Tasmania Elizabeth Kerry PO Box 89, Richmond, TAS Phone: (03) 6260 4216 liz.kerry@keypoint.com.au Victoria Pamela Jellie 5 Claremont Cres CanterburyVIC3l26 pdjellie@hotmail.com Western Australia Caroline Grant 9A Grange Street Claremont WA chhgrant@yahoo.com Villa Gamberaia from Edith Wharton’s Italian Villas and their Gardens (1904) — see co-editor Christina Dyson’s 'Notes from a hillside villa’ on page 25. Cover: Photographer Simon Griffiths has extensively documented Margaret Darling’s garden at Woomargama over several years and here we see a quintessential image of the rose garden with rolling paddocks and hills beyond. An appreciation of Margaret’s life and her support for the Australian Garden History Society — penned by friend and colleague Peter Watts — is on page 4. 2 Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 Architecture Branch Library, The University of Melbourne From the chair John Dwyer Let me begin with thanks on behalf of the Soeiety as a whole to the Tasmanian Braneh for the most sueeessful 2010 eonferenee at Launeeston, whieh was thoroughly enjoyed by the members fortunate enough to attend it. For some members this was the first AGHS eonferenee they had attended, and they have been lavish in their praise. I am eonfident that future eonferenees will maintain and even improve upon this high standard. It was very pleasing that the Tasmanian Braneh agreed to inerease the numbers from 200 to 250 to ease the number of members disappointed that they eould not attend, and that Mai Paul took the initiative to plan an alternative optional day to avoid many more being disappointed. This brings me to the question of numbers at future eonferenees, whieh the National Management Committee has eare fully eonsidered at several meetings. It is always unfortunate when we are unable to provide a plaee at our national eonferenee for all of the members wishing to attend. In reeent years this has beeome a pressing problem. Some have expressed the view that our eonferenee should be large enough for all members to attend. But a eonferenee for 2000 delegates would be both unwieldy and laeking in eollegiate spirit. Garden visits as an integral part of the program would be impossible for numbers of that order. The praetiealities of the size of eonferenee venues — partieularly outside major eities — and the number of delegates who ean be taken on garden visits, require that our eonferenees be smaller than that. Prudent fmaneial management means that we should plan for eonferenees whieh will be fully or nearly fully booked, and avoid the wasted eost of empty seats. Many members have argued that we would lose a great deal if we signifieantly enlarged our eonferenees. Where a larger venue is available, we are moving eautiously towards a larger eonferenee. Our plan for the eonferenee at Ballarat in 2012 is for 300 delegates. If we eontinue to have to turn members away, we may eonsider some further inerease for later eonferenees at Armidale, NSW (2013) and in Western Australia (2014). For the 2011 eonferenee at historie Maryborough (Qld), whieh is not a large town, we are limited to a maximum of 200 delegates by what is available at the venue and by way of aeeommodation. Bookings for the Optional Day are, unfortunately, limited to 150 people; the Pre-Conferenee Tour to 60 people; and the Post-Conferenee Tour to 60 people. It remains to be seen whether this eonferenee will be as popular as reeent eonferenees have been, but we will not have the ability to inerease numbers as we did in Launeeston. You will have the best ehanee of seeuring a plaee if you book early, but unfortunately some may again be disappointed. A booking form for the 2011 Annual National Conferenee — to be held in August — is enelosed with this journal. Contents Vale Margaret Florenee Darling AM (1923-2010) PETER WATTS 4 Finding Netherby and its custodian Robert Pulleine CAS MIDDLEMIS 6 Margaret Floekton: botanieal artist PAMELA BELL 12 ‘The Vision Splendid’ Conference Summary DEBORAH MALOR Engaging with the designed landscape JANE LENNON 16 32nd Annual National Conference, Maryborough, Queensland, 19-22 August 2011 21 Victory for Mawallok—andfor the protection of historic gardens PETER WATTS 23 Notes from a hillside villa: Revisiting Villa Gamberaia CHRISTINA DYSON 25 Review essay: Plants from old catalogues STUART READ 26 For the bookshelf 28 Recently released 29 Jottanda 30 Dialogue 31 Society news 32 Diary dates 33 Western Australian landscape forum CAROLINE GRANT 35 Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 3 Vale Margaret Florence Darling AM (lo May 1923-6 November 2010) Peter Watts With the passing of Margaret Darling, the Australian Garden History Society has lost one of its greatest supporters. Margaret served the AGHS as both Chair of its National Management Committee (1990—99) and Patron (1999—2006). At her memorial service at St John’s Anglican Church, Toorak, on 16 November 2010, one of her grandchildren was quoted as saying ‘she was a classic and just got better with age’. With the passing of Margaret Darling, the Australian Garden History Society has lost one of its greatest supporters Margaret Anderson was born in 1923 and attended St Catherine’s, Toorak, a school with which she maintained a lifelong association. She was accepted to study architecture at the Melbourne Technical College (after the war renamed Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology), but war intervened and she joined the Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS), working in signal code breaking. She married L. Gordon Darling in 1945 (dissolved 1989) and while managing a growing family of four children developed a growing interest and active involvement in the conservation of the historic environment. She was a very active Councillor of the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) from 1966 to 1990, serving as President from 1979—82 and then as a Vice-President. In 1991 she became a Member of the Order of Australia in recognition of her service to the Trust. But Margaret was not just one to sit at the board table. And she was certainly not one to squander her privileged personal circumstances. I recall her, on many occasions, lugging heavy boxes of merchandise around the National Trust headquarters at Como that were destined for the highly profitable Margaret Darling pictured in 1 980 during her presidency of the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) — it was at this time Margaret offered the support of the Trust in hosting the first Garden History Conference (at its Toorak property lllawarra) and in the subsequent founding of the Australian Garden History Society. National Trust Women’s Committee shop which she managed — as a volunteer. Through the Women’s Committee Margaret published the wonderful garden books of her close friend, and AGHS benefactor, Joan Law-Smith. I recall her infectious enthusiasm when she read my manuscript The Gardens of Edna Walling dsadi wanted immediately to publish it. Typical of Margaret there was no contract, but a firm ‘understanding’. That was her way — minimum fuss, maximum return. In truth Margaret could have been a highly successful and wily commercial publisher. Margaret was President of the Victorian National Trust at the time it hosted the conference at which the Australian Garden History Society was born and she offered wise counsel on the development of our constitution. As its author I recall her advice: 4 Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 National Trust of Australia (Victoria) ‘Keep it short and sweet or there will be too much to challenge’ — such wise words. Margaret later served the AGHS with distinction, as Chair of the NMC, and subsequently as Patron. No matter what her role Margaret lead with wisdom, graciousness, and enormous energy. When Margaret took the Chair of the Society in 1990 it was emerging from a difficult period. Jocelyn Mitchell had expertly and determinedly guided the organisation back to health after a particularly difficult time and the NMC was looking for someone who could provide a steadying influence and consolidate the gains that had been made under Jocelyn’s chairmanship. We could not have done better than Margaret. She combined an unusual set of skills — understanding the peculiarities of a voluntary conservation organisation, respecting the academic and cultural dimension that underpinned the AGHS, and knowing that hard work and time were needed to do the job well. Equally she knew the importance of the bottom line and together with the Treasurer, Robin Lewarne, nurtured the Society’s finances. Margaret had a keen eye for a column of figures and she kept a tight rein on the financial and administrative aspects of the Society, finishing her term with the AGHS in fine shape. Committee meetings in her elegant apartment overlooking Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens were lively and decisively lead, and always fun. Margaret combined an unusual set of skills — understanding the peculiarities of a voluntary conservation organisation, respecting the academic and cultural dimension that underpinned the AGHS, and knowing that hard work and time were needed to do the job well Margaret’s generosity knew no bounds. As Chair she regularly attended AGHS events all over Australia. Each year, quietly and at her own expense, she visited the state whose task it was to host the next annual national conference. She vetted each garden to be visited, the conference programme, and the venue, and used her formidable skills in tact and diplomacy to ensure that everything would meet her high standards. It was Margaret who suggested, then arranged for, Joan Eaw-Smith to bequeath her book. Kindred Spirits^ to the AGHS. The Kindred Spirits Eund, as it became known, now stands at over $150,000. What a wonderful gift that has been, allowing the Society to foster, in a very tangible way, some of its scholarly, literary, and artistic interests. Margaret too, without any fanfare, made significant financial contributions to the Society. In an act of great generosity she matched the AGHS contribution to the development of The Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens. Richard Aitken, in his Acknowledgements, noted that ‘without it the Companion would surely never have come to fruition’. Ihe garden at Woomargama was her great passion ... an affair of the head and the he art ^ Margaret may have gone but Woomargama remains. Here, in southern New South Wales, Margaret had gardened since acquiring the property in 1965. Her son, Michael, noted at Margaret’s memorial service ‘the garden at Woomargama was her great passion ...an affair of the head and the heart ... and it was fitting that it was at its peak when she died, a living “floral tribute’”. Woomargama was a metaphor for Margaret — elegant, controlled, intellectual, civilised, visionary, and the result of deep knowledge and hard labour. It was not without whimsy too. As her daughter, Clare, noted ‘the cartridges were kept with the hankies’. That was very Margaret. Margaret Darling will be remembered with great affection and deep gratitude by all associated with the Australian Garden History Society. Peter Watts AM is a former Chairman of the Australian Garden History Society National Management Committee. An obituary for Margaret Darling, by Lynne Cairncross, was published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 13 December and in The Age on 27 December 2010. Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 5 Courtesy Michael Treloar Finding Netherby and its custodian Robert Pulleine Cas Middlemis The spirited polymath Robert Pulleine (1869-1935) was an acknowledged specialist in botany and anthropology as well as a highly respected medical doctor Pulleine’s endeavours benefited the Adelaide community and also institutions internationally Robert Pulleine of Netherby Pulleine Street, in the Adelaide suburb of Netherby, is a wistful echo and reminder of the exceptional man for whom it was named. Dr Robert Henry Pulleine. It is easy to imagine from our twenty-first century perspective that we have the priority on communication and travel, but almost loo years ago, Pulleine was in touch with experts worldwide in his fields of interest and passion. He travelled extensively to increase his knowledge and augment his notable plant collection which focused on cacti and other succulents. Pulleine excelled in a wide variety of fields and, maybe more importantly, shared his scholarship with others. Pulleine’s bookplate encapsulated his polymathic interests in the worlds of science, anthropology, and natural history. Robert Pulleine moved to Adelaide with his family in i88i, aged 13. In 1892 he attended the University of Adelaide to study medicine. He moved to Sydney to complete his degree and then began working at Sydney’s Prince Alfred Hospital. He married an Adelaide woman, Ethel Williams, in 1899 and the couple initially settled in Gympie, Queensland, before moving to Adelaide in 1905. The Pulleines spent a year overseas in Germany where Robert worked in an eye clinic at Gottingen University, Dr Pulleine returned to Adelaide in 1907 and established a medical practice with two partners. He was well regarded in this field. Portrait of R.H. Pulleine, c. 1 930 6 Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 Pulleine Family Collection held by DiTostevin Dr Pulleine and his family lived in a house called Netherby. The house had been built in the late 1840s, with a number of owners prior to the Pulleines. One owner, Sir William Morgan, was Premier of South Australia for nearly three years from September 1878, and Netherby saw many official functions during that time. The grounds had 1 1 acres of orangery and vineyards. Morgan was, according to one newspaper article, an expert on citrus fruits and opened up a spring with a plentiful water supply for the ‘orange and lemon trees of every variety’.^ The subsequent owner, keen on maintaining the established orchards, added a gardener’s cottage. After that the property passed into the hands of the Bank of New South Wales. There was a series of caretakers and a few other owners until 1913, when Dr Pulleine and his family moved in. Ethel also gave birth to their fifth child in that year. By 1931 Dr Pulleine was known to have the best collection of succulents in South Australia, comprising almost 800 varieties. One writer commented that ‘notwithstanding his [medical] practice he takes a big interest in his wonderful garden, in ornithology and anthropology and yet he never seems to be in a hurry. How I envy him his calm temperament!’^ William Tibb its, Netherby House, Netherby, South Australia, c. 1 896. [Art Gallery of South Australia (893P6); Presented by the family of Dr R.H. Pulleine, 1989] related to his botanical interests. Fortunately a number of excellent black and white images document the garden, some taken at the time the property was acquired in 1913, others in the early 1930s, and an aerial photograph in 1936. These images can transport the viewer to that point, the day the shutter clicked. Any lack of colour only serves to highlight the layout and foliage variations. An attractive long and wide drive ending in a large loop took the visitor to the house though a rich selection of plant species. Large clumps of dense shrubs along the driveway created a green wall The Netherby garden The structured or formal part of the garden at Netherby during Pulleine’s time was about one sixth of the property. It fanned out westwards from the house and included the main drive. The rest of the land was mostly hedged orchards and open land with overgrown areas containing large pine tree groves, or the ‘Wild Part’ as the grandchildren called it. John Noble recalled that this area was the backdrop for their childhood games. 3 When the wind blew though the pine trees it added a wonderful soundscape. The orchards, to the north of the property, contained citrus and olive trees. It would appear that much of the garden structure at Netherby had been established prior to Pulleine’s arrival. But significantly he augmented it with an extensive plant collection Detail of 1 936 RAAF aerial photograph (north to top of photo) showing Netherby Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 7 United Photo & Graphic Services (image 885/4255-936) Pulleine Family Collection held by Carolyn Semple Pulleine Family Collection held by Carolyn Semple Netherby at the time the Pulleine family took up residence, c. 1 9 1 3- 1 4. and added a sense of mystery to what lay beyond. In neighbouring sections of the driveway shrubs were used giving a more open feel. A stand of trees (possibly conifers) was mirrored across the drive. The lower limbs were removed and they were under planted with low shrubs interspersed with strappy plants. Close to the house, a rock border added formality to the driveway and a similar treatment was used to divide the formal plant beds. Large rocks also littered the beds creating a naturalistic scene. The top section of the loop, close to the house, had a lawn area for children to play. Just a short distance behind the house. Brown Hill could be seen. Rising just 300 metres it was a perfect. lightly treed backdrop. One visitor commented that this ‘old-fashioned’ garden with its trees and shrubs and quaint-looking cacti and euphorbia was a delight to visit. Robert Pulleine did not do all the physical gardening although he was involved. According to the family, three gardeners were employed although two were very old. Pulleine’s botanical interests Sadly both the garden and the house at Netherby are long gone, with numerous houses filling the landscape where the Pulleine children and grandchildren used to play. But the story does not end there as Robert Pulleine’s diverse botanical At the end of one of the garden beds, standing like a proud sentinel, was a five- foot Carnegiea gigantea that Pulleine had managed to safely transport from Arizona. Whilst in America visiting the Boyce Thompson arboretum with a friend, Pulleine had been allowed to 'chose and pack the best medium specimen we could find in an afternoon'. He commented in a letter to Arthur Hill (director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) in 1931 that 'my specimen unpacked without a single broken spine and now after nearly two years is showing quick growth."* Adelaide’s climate proved very suitable for such plants. 8 Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 Pulleine Family Collection held by Carolyn Semple An interesting garden feature of Netherby was its large Oriental-influenced rustic gate (for vehicular traffic) of bamboo and bark-stripped branches. This photograph was taken around 1 9 1 3 so it is uncertain if the gate was installed by Robert Pulleine, although his grandson, John Noble, recalled that the interior furnishings at Netherby were largely oriental style including framed kimono cloths, screens and 'many cabinets full of mysterious ebony, jade and ivory objects, charms, figurines [and] opium weights.'^ interests were wide-ranging. In 1907 he brought to the attention of authorities the potential danger of fruit fly to South Australia, having seen the damage caused in Queensland. He noted that introduction could be ‘as simple as a piece of affected fruit brought over by passengers and perhaps thrown out the window of a train in orchard country.’ Today all interstate travellers to South Australia are asked to heed fruit fly protection measures. In 1909 Robert Pulleine established the South Australian Botanical Club which regularly held its meetings in his medical rooms on North Terrace. Amongst the members and regular attendees was botanist John Black, author of The Naturalised Flora of South Australia (1909) and the later multi-volume The Flora of South Australia. He was considered to be the best systematic botanist in the state for almost fifty years. Another member was Dr E. Angas Johnson, a governor and benefactor of the Adelaide Botanic Garden, who published a number of papers on the history of plants. Club members discussed a wide range of issues including fodder feed, the disappearance of indigenous plants on the Adelaide plains, the merits and disadvantages of growing of spineless cactus, and the value to medicine of Australian plant species. In 1916 Pulleine questioned why the state government was suddenly interested in the Botanic Garden appointments after being unconcerned about the Garden previously, both in its structure and funding. He was questioning the government appointee for the position of director, suggesting that first-class men had been shut out of the process. He supported the board of governors as they maintained a determined attitude with regard to the appointment of a successor to director Maurice Holtze. Pulleine was very keen to establish a herbarium within the Botanic Garden but suggested that the government and the public were inclined to look upon a botanist simply as a sort of herbalist. He keenly defended botanists saying that botany was ‘next to mathematics and was the most exact of sciences’. ‘During the last 200 years especially since Linnaeus’, he added, ‘it had received the attention of men of the highest calibre and greatest intellect.’^ Robert Pulleine also had a passion for Australian flora. He went on a number of excursions inland and interstate to broaden his knowledge on diverse growing environments. He collected many samples, sending them to botanical institutions in Australia and overseas. The State Herbarium of South Australia has over 100 specimens listed under Pulleine’s name. These specimens had been collected between 1905 and 1932 from the Gawler Ranges, Flinders Ranges, and Innamincka in South Australia; Broken Hill and Menindee Lake in New South Wales; the Macdonnell Ranges in the Northern Territory; Herberton in Queensland; and around the south-west of Western Australia. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, received several parcels of plants between 1916 and 1931. In 1926 Pulleine’s daughter visited the director Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 9 Pulleine Family Collection held by Libby and Jim Smith Gravel paths led the visitor around formal island beds in front of the house. Located within the large driveway loop, these beds were densely crowded with plants, succulents interlaced with ground covers. at the Gardens in Kew ‘with a small collection of ephemeral plants ... and a few odds and ends’. One parcel in 1931 from Robert Pulleine was acknowledged by Kew’s director, Arthur Hill, who commented ‘I note that you intend visiting Central Australia again in August, and I shall be very pleased to receive any specimens that you may collect then. Material from South Australia would also be very welcome for the Herbarium.’^ The Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney, also holds over 140 of Pulleine’s specimens. A new species of mesembryanthemum, Carpobrotus pulleinei (now 10 Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 known, after numerous revisions, as Sarcozona praecox)^ from the Gawler Ranges was named after him along with six other species of animals and plants. Apparently after propagating some arid-zone plants Pulleine would post the seedlings to outback teachers to plant in school gardens.® Robert Pulleine was often in touch with individuals in numerous countries seeking to enhance his plant collections. These included Dr O. Burchard of the Canary Isles, Dr O. Luckhoff of Cape Town, Ernst Rusch of South West Africa, Dr Carl Diner, Mrs van der Dijl and Louis Vogts of South Africa, Alain White of United States of America, and Dr Cravely of Madras. In 1932 Pulleine was photographing his numerous euphorbias and hoping to bring out a monograph on them from a photographic view point. Interestingly it appears he was using one of Douglas Mawson’s cameras for this work. The Royal Botanic Cardens, Kew, sent a parcel of euphorbia to Pulleine in August 1932. Although the content is not confirmed, it possibly included Arabian and East African varieties of euphorbia, which had eluded Pulleine to date. During its 1933—34 session Robert Pulleine presented a paper to the South Australian Branch of the Royal Ceographical Society of Australasia entitled ‘The botanical colonisation of the Adelaide Plains’. Published in 1935, this still provides a useful overview of Adelaide’s early plant development focusing on some of the key players and plants. REFERENCES 1 Sunday Mail, 9 June 1928, p.13. 2 Adelaide Advertiser, 17 December 1931, p.i6. 3 Jim Smith (comp.), A Pulleine Family Story: from Yorkshire to New Zealand and Australia, The Author, Tuross Head, NSW, 2000, p.io6. 4 Correspondence from Dr Robert Pulleine to Sir Arthur Hill, 15 June 1931, Held by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 5 Jim Smith (comp.), A Pulleine Family Story: From Yorkshire to New Zealand and Australia, p.io8. 6 Adelaide Advertiser, 1 5 July 1 9 1 6, p. 1 1 . 7 Correspondence from Sir Arthur Hill to Dr Robert Pulleine 4 August 1931. Held by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 8 Australian Dictionary of Biography online edition http:/ / adbonline.anu.edu. au/biogs/Ai 103 i6b.htm 9 R. Pulleine, The Botanical Colonisation of the Adelaide Plains, SA Branch of the Royal Geographical Society, Adelaide, 1935, p.6i. Under a section on fruit trees Pulleine comments that ‘It could be stated without fear of contradiction that no city and community in the world is so famed in regard to variety, abundance, and quality of its temperate and citrus fruits as Adelaide and its vicinity. ’9 Peaches, according to Pulleine’s article, found their way to Adelaide via Sydney’s Darling Nursery in 1836. So it was interesting to find this comment by Arthur Hill in a letter to Pulleine in 1931: ‘I have not forgotten your kind present of peaches to help me on my journey to Melbourne’. Envoi Dr Robert Pulleine died in 1935, aged 66. He was a dynamic character who ‘showed unfailing kindness to all with whom he was associated’. He was connected with many scientific societies and boards during his lifetime including medical, anthropological (although not detailed in this article, his work on Tasmanians and their stone culture, was noteworthy), geographical, and botanical. He held various and numerous official positions within these organisations. He travelled to conferences and presented papers. Although is it difficult to portray the scope of the intellect of this passionate and creative individual in the short compass of an article and despite the fact that the garden and home at Netherby no longer exist. Dr Robert Pulleine has left behind myriad ideas and aspirations on which can reflect. Thanks to members of the Pulleine family including Carolyn Semple, Di Tostevin, and Libby & Jim Smith; Cate Parkinson for her initial research on the subject; the support from Garrick Hill and its director Richard Heathcote; Judy Blood, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney; Hannah Jenkinson, Royal Botanic Garden, Kew; and Peter Guffley. Netherby features in the exhibition ‘Lost Gardens of Adelaide’, on show at Garrick Hill Historic House and Garden until the end of Lebruary 2011 — see for further details. Gas Middlemis is co-author and publisher of Flung Out to Dry: Gilbert Toyne’s classic Australian clothes hoist which chronicles the rich, little known, and intriguing history of an Australian icon, Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 11 Margaret Flockton: botanical artist Pamela Bell The shy but very hard working and intelligent Margaret Flocl xxfci*^ jfvi' uJk^ f*^ feiC ptiU /2 Jtxt^ fu^i ^ Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney Left and opposite: Margaret Flockton’s paintings were widely reproduced as postcards and in a booklet Australian Wild Flowers ( 1 908) — ^this popular illustration of'Christmas Bells and Fern' (Bland fordia nobilis and Blechnum cartilagineum), painted in 1 900, featured in bothi. [Private collection] knowledge’ Maiden wrote to the Under Secretary. ^ By the time she retired from the Gardens in 1927 Flockton was earning the very respectable sum of £300 per annum. Maiden knew what he was doing — here was a highly trained commercial artist, who was also a trained lithographer. Margaret Flockton was employed at the Sydney Botanic Gardens from 1901 to 1927. She was the first botanical artist to be employed full time for a herbarium in Australia. Flockton’s line drawings were reproduced as lithographs, which she made herself. This was unusual, as most artists relied on others to produce lithographs for publication of their art work. Moreover, according to Norman Hall, she was the only female lithographic artist in Australia at that date .5 When Maiden employed Flockton, he had already embarked on two major projects: T/ie Forest Flora of New South (1903— 24), 77 parts in 8 volumes, and A Critical Revision of the Genus Fucalyptus (1903—33), 75 parts in 8 volumes. By the time the Genus Fucalyptus project was complete, Margaret Flockton had contributed 308 detailed images. Each drawing showed up to 45 separate depictions of leaves, stems, buds, flowers, seed pods, and seeds. All were exquisitely drawn, with some seeds and leaves, for example, shown from different angles. All her drawings were arranged into clearly balanced and pleasing designs thanks to her extensive training in drawing and design. She then translated these images into lithographs ready for printing. At the same time. Maiden was working on a second project, the Forest Flora, which like the Genus Fucalyptus, was published in sections by the Government Printer, William Applegate Gullick. This work contained 295 images, 235 of which were by Margaret Flockton while the remaining 60 images were drawn by E.A. King under Flockton’s supervision. This work contains 14 Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 a diverse group of plants, many with lush-looking blooms, graceful sweeping branches, leaves, and distinctive seed pods. The images from the Forest Flora are perhaps more decorative than the eucalypts due to the nature of the specimens. All are shown in graceful and exquisite detail. The patience and skill required to produce these outstanding images, and then to translate them into lithographs is astonishing. Although many of the Flockton drawings survive, unfortunately there are only very few coloured works. These are held by the Royal Botanic Gardens Herbarium and Library in Sydney. Over the years of Flockton ’s employment at the Sydney Botanic Gardens, Maiden gradually acknowledged the enormous contribution she had made to his publications. In the introduction to the first volume of the Genus Fucalyptus^ she is merely referred to as the ‘artist’ although by the end of the final volume Maiden acknowledged; the help I have received from Miss Margaret Flockton ... [which] is immense, and it speaks for itself. She is practically a joint author. Her drawings are alike beautiful and artistic, and the botanist will appreciate them because of their fidelity to nature ... [which has] sometimes brought out a hitherto unsuspected point. In Volume 7 he wrote of his hope that ‘selections from the beautiful drawings of Miss M. Flockton will be found in every school throughout the Commonwealth’. Likewise in the conclusion of Volume 8 of Forest Flora, Maiden wrote ‘It is impossible to say what proportion (a very large share) of the credit of the work pertains to my esteemed colleague. Miss Margaret Flockton ... who has supervised the whole of the illustrations, and who has drawn and lithographed the vast majority of them.’ Again in Volume 8 of the Genus Fucalyptus (1933) we read that many of Flockton ’s images of eucalypts were made from observation of seedlings raised in pots at the Gardens, as Maiden said, through gazing at them again and again. Besides being used for publication Flockton’s drawings were shown ‘before Sydney Scientific Societies’, presumably at lectures. Joseph Maiden also honoured Miss Flockton by naming new species after her: Ole aria flocktoniae, Fucalyptus flocktoniae Acacia flocktoniaem 1909, 19 ii, and 1916 respectively. Both the publications discussed here are in constant use by students of botany, to such an extent that the University of Sydney has published both in their entirety, complete with Flockton’s illustrations, in the SETIS electronic book section of the University of Sydney Library so that these elegant and informative drawings are available, not only to students and botanists but also to the general public.^ Among many other projects that Flockton worked on with Maiden was the research done at the Botanic Gardens on the prickly pear, which became a threat to agriculture throughout Australia. Continued on page 32 Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 15 'The Vision Splendid': 31st Annual National Conference, Launceston, 5-8 November 2010 Deborah Malor and Jane Lennon Conference summary Recording and memory are such subjective matters. Entering the wonderfully rich Victorian atmosphere of Launceston’s Albert Hall on the first morning of the conference, I was immediately drawn to the striking mirror by craftsman Peter Colenette on display. John Hawkins reminded us of that mirror in his talk, referring to its use of treasured Tasmanian timbers, the design incorporating Tasmanian birds on the brink of extinction, and — against the odds of plantation monocultures and ecological change outpacing that of adaptation — the mirror’s iconographic tree of life. The mirror has watched over this conference. The mirror draws on the idea of ‘The Vision Splendid’, the conference theme, in the words of William Wordsworth (from ‘Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood’: 1807) and of A.B. Paterson (‘Clancy of the Overflow’: 1889). This is an important dichotomy, the English romantic, the Australian balladeer. Yes, at the times they were writing, both Wordsworth and Paterson were nostalgic for the past, but in different ways. In their poems, they are also looking forward, to their countries being inhabited in ways almost unimaginable to them. Only that there was a future, was understood. But the aesthetic, the visual sensibility that informed each one’s vision, is of an old country and a new, each writer aware of his changing environment. Wordsworth’s England was being irrevocably changed by the forces of industrialisation and, yes, of tourism. (Wordsworth continually complained about the traffic jams to the Lake District on summer weekends). Paterson was lamenting closer settlement, the demise of the squatter, the increasing control of the ‘long paddock’, the retreat to the cities (‘doubt he’d suit the office’, he quipped of Clancy). He saw the impact on the land of what already had occurred over the previous century, and there was the recognition of not just the fact of continual change under the pressure of a humanity bent on an evangelical view of progress, but humanity’s belief in the rightness of that vision of progress. Wordsworth and Paterson wrote across the period that informed our forefathers’ view of this land, and its subsequent colonisation, the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Underneath all that romantic stuff, they were activists, revolutionaries, rebels against the view of progress at all cost. Wordsworth and Paterson have looked in the mirror. They have not only viewed themselves, and their recent past, but they have looked further back, and attempted to imagine, to envision, what the deep past may have been. Another vision splendid. Of course, they cannot inhabit that past — the past is, indeed, a foreign country, as Lowenthal reminded us. But, like us, they might have thought to use that envisioning for a better future. The odd couple that is Wordsworth and Paterson set the tone for some of the issues raised or tacitly recognised at this conference. There have been moments of conflict, ambivalence, of great questions, comparisons that have not been odious, but have been used to activate ideas. I’ll comment very briefly on some of these issues. Power: In art and photography, just as in the cause of empire and colonisation, there is the conquistador view (a term clearly borrowed from the Spanish conquest of the Americas) — a view that is possession, owning what one surveys, naming it (probably for somewhere in Britain, or for your family ‘back home’). The newcomers to this island, Tasmania, saw the vision splendid, the Aboriginal fire-controlled landscape before them, set about mapping it, controlling the experience of the land through inhabitation, shepherding, then fencing, walls, enclosures, compounds. Keeping out and keeping in. The British or European language of power has been symbolised in hard landscaping that allows the running of beasts, the planting of crops. 16 Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 and manufactury of all kinds. But that language of power is heard most in the public buildings, houses, and gardens of its settler societies. Economics: Once the driving force of colonisation, economics has continued control of the door to exploitation of the land; the driver of destruction of buildings, their curtilages, of trees and their cultural context, of the species of birds and animals that existed in a natural ecology; of the conditions in which plants may survive without a regular dose of chemicals or the importation of water that deprives others less powerful of that resource. Economics is the rationale for manipulating environments without acknowledgement of a wider ecology, both through actions and inertia. It is, of course, the raison d’etre of many planning departments and local authorities. Aesthetics: Otherwise known as the ability to recognise beauty, and to recreate it in that image. A number of speakers and property owners have recognised the hard decisions of satisfying personal taste or the allure of past styles, and the reality of gardening today, with the imperatives of working with climate change and in otherwise difficult conditions, some of which are economic, of course. I sympathise, indeed, empathise, somewhat illogically. I drool over books of Arts and Crafts gardens while waging battle against ivy and blackbirds on a 6o x 6o foot block in suburban Launceston; on our Mole Creek farm, the shrubbery is mowed indiscriminately by wallabies and topiaried by the occasional poddy lamb. The spring creek that borders the garden, fenced and re vegetated courtesy of a National Resource Management grant, is now so clogged with watercress since cattle no longer graze and pug its banks that I could probably redress the overdraft by supplying every restaurant in the state with this green, peppery invader. The ability to look afresh at a site and recognise its changing potential can only come about by looking in the mirror and recognising that a broader understanding of aesthetics, an historically and culturally informed extension of taste, must come into play, in concert with the practicalities of managing a landscape. Time: I have a personal peeve about the idea of the ‘timeless’ garden (with apologies to Trisha Dixon and the many others who evoke this particular vision). What I have found often tacitly recognised in both the lectures and field trips is that time is a major issue for gardens, landscapes, trees, and their place in the broader landscape, built or otherwise. Time is integral to how we understand these places, whose histories we are attempting to retrieve or to bring to notice. We don’t all work on the same time. Tree time is not our time. The experience of human time is now more compressed, more intense, than ever. In the last few days we have looked at sites of great longevity, but with recent gardens, perhaps punctuated by the occasional venerable tree. It is clear that history is not about time, but is simply a series of markers of time ... periodisation. This understanding has huge implications for a garden history society. To lay out a new garden on a site of early non-Indigenous settlement should not be about historical re-creationism — no ball-and-chain gardeners, please — but about an emerging environmental responsibility, that is, to the environment in which you already operate, and the one you will create in the making of a garden. It is not about the romantic notion of inhabiting an imagined past, but about the equally romantic notion of a better future for that site. So, my final issue is history itself As we listened to talks ranging from the broadest historical brushstrokes to the tiniest isolated detail of a birdsong or a flower, it became clear to me that this society for garden history The Great Western Tiers — Kooparoona Niarato local Aboriginal people — form a dynamic backdrop to the Chudleigh Valley. Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 17 Jane Lennon attracts both the Wordsworthians and the Patersonians, those who nostalgically sniff the roses and those who see the past as worth recording, even as it rushes away. Garden historians are dealing with a most ephemeral of histories. We can look at garden plans, scan plant lists, identify the remains of hard landscaping, but it is most difficult to understand how a garden was used. Even the grandest gardens do not easily give up to us the information about how people lived in them, in the past. Of the simpler gardens of farm or suburb, almost nothing remains to tell us of how the vast majority of the population of settler societies lived. Population change and movement — through aspiration or desperation — sees the loss of cultural memory, the loss of a language for what I see as the most important aspect of gardens of the past: how we were when in them. Lucky is a family with a raconteur such as Kenneth von Bibra who can translate that past experience for us. Yet, as I said earlier, recording and memory are such subjective matters. We have been reminded many times over the duration of the conference, of the need to read the landscape, but this takes skill, knowledge, and imagination. It is about being open to possibilities. It is looking at how history has given us what we have in the here and now. It is gut feeling and access to a large database of information that had, until that very moment, seemed trivial. Much like gardening. Look in the mirror, and ask yourself: Should I place that here? Now? In this climate? In this place? Is there a better way? How will my actions be reflected in the future when they will be others’ history? But to conclude. Both Wordsworth and Paterson brought to us a vision splendid that is in the hands of youth — Wordsworth’s Youth ‘still as Nature’s priest’ ; Paterson’s Clancy an individual in harmony with the bush through which he moves. As youth, they look forward, into the future. Simultaneously, they are the future. Now, I don’t really want to comment on the demographic of this intellectual community, the Australian Garden History Society, but I must say this. We are simply custodians — this has been made clear in every talk we have heard, every garden we have visited, every young sapling we have seen, these protected from predators introduced and indigenous by a range of tree guards so varied and ingenious that they could be the subject of a book. So, consider the gardens of your children, your grandchildren. Think. Protect. Record. Act. That is what this conference has been about, in this special place, Tasmania. Reflect on the mirror of the self, the tree of life, and keep your vision splendid. Dr Deborah Malor is Graduate Research Coordinator, in the School of Visual & Performing Arts at the University of Tasmania. Reflections on the designed landscape We were invited to examine Governor Lachlan Macquarie’s ‘Vision Splendid’ two centuries on: ‘the grand view and noble picturesque landscape that presented themselves on our first coming in sight of Launceston and the three rivers and fertile plains and lofty mountains by which they are bounded, were highly gratifying and truly sublime’ — and so it remains. Stimulating morning lectures were followed by bus tours through the rich cultural landscape, the most English corner of Australia with its hawthorn hedges, narrow lanes, stone fences, and Georgian houses surrounded by walled gardens and treed parks. European settlers occupied the fertile valleys along the principal rivers north of the dramatic rising walls of the Great Western Tiers. They found relatively treeless valleys, the result of centuries of firing by Aborigines to maintain hunting areas. Conflict or ‘collision with the natives’ inevitably followed the occupation of their hunting areas and grasslands, and the fortified stone barn complex at Old Wesley Dale in the Ghudleigh Valley built by Lieutenant Travers Hartley Vaughan between 1829 1834 is an obvious testament to this period when the property was known as Native Hut Corner. Richard Dry’s estate of over 30,000 acres near Westbury was commenced in the 1820s and named Quamby, an Aboriginal name meaning ‘a camping place’ or ‘place of rest’. As Henry Reynolds reminded us in question time after his lecture, ‘the settler had to be self aware . . . steel yourself to what you were doing or go home’. In the 1850s Quamby was described as ‘very prettily situated in a large and well laid out park with handsome trees’ and in 1887 there was a garden of ii acres. The main drive of nearly two kilometres still has large trees from the 1850s plantings — maritime pine, oaks, coastal 18 Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 redwood, poplars, ash, and elms — and hawthorn hedges; our stroll along it in the mid-afternoon pale sunshine could have been in England. This was further reinforced by our visit to nearby Exton which was settled in 1820. Extensive hawthorn hedges bordered one-chain-wide laneways seemingly stretching to the Tiers and enclosing rich working farmland. Poplars, oaks, and elms bordered the main drive leading to the double storey house built in the 1840s. Captain Rolland of Port Macquarie fame explored the Ghudleigh valley in 1823 named its features; Gog and Magog, after the gate keepers to Paradise, for the high ground at the entrance to the valley; he gave his name to the highest peak at the end of the valley and called the next peaks Claude, after the great Erench landscape painter, and Van Dyke, after the portrait painter. By the end of the 1820s land grants were given for this valley and Native Hut Corner and Bentley were taken up. Native Hut Corner as we have noted became Wesley Dale in 1834 when Henry Reed purchased it. Reed’s estate extended over 6500 acres employing 84 people at its peak in the 1870s, with the home farm of approximately 2500 acres and the balance leased to tenant farmers. In 1873 Reed commissioned the construction of a grand residence, known then as Mountain Villa, and outbuildings (including a stone granary, coach house, and chapel), and used it as a summer house for holidays from his Eaunceston mansion Mount Pleasant. A giant macrocarpa hedge to the east of the house is the chief garden relic of this era, although eighty per cent of it has been removed. As the house was unoccupied from the 1930s until 1998 this hedge protected it from the elements and intruders. New beech and oak trees have been planted and a large fowl yard added interest for the garden visitors. At Old Wesley Dale a new garden was commenced by the Scotts in 2001 to the west of the fortified barn and features a terrace garden, walled kitchen garden, hedges (including box honeysuckle sculpted as an elephant hedge), and a ha ha between the stock paddock and garden. Similarly Bentley is an old estate from 1829 by 1851 it had six miles of hawthorn hedges which are such a feature of its landscape today. The 1879 homestead extended and modified forms the centre of the garden which now encompasses three lakes beyond the beautiful walls of local stone commissioned by John and Robyn Hawkins. Dolerite sculptures in the garden add close focal interest in a landscape designed to enhance the dramatic views to Captain Rolland’s mountain peaks. At Perth on the South Esk River the Gibson family still farm some 5000 acres including the estate of Scone surrounding Eskleigh homestead and the adjoining Native Point over the river. David Gibson, a former convict from Perth, Scotland, was given the ferry rights over the river by Macquarie on his 1821 tour and from there amassed his estate. His grandson William built Eskleigh in the 1870s planting the trees that are a feature today; cedars, redwoods, maritime pines, Douglas and true firs, alternating with English deciduous trees. Restoration of trees along the drive into Eskleigh is a project of the Tasmanian branch of AGHS. Also in Perth is The Jolly Parmer Inn built in 1826 with a two-storey brick stable. It had five old trees remaining in 1974 — plum, walnut, an ash, and two sycamores — but since then a superb garden with many shade-loving species under oaks, laurels. The conifers of Eskleigh, at Perth, form a living testament to keynote speaker Gwenda Sheridan’s paper The conifer connection’. Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 19 birches, almonds, and hazelnuts has been developed and a walled vegetable garden. The optional excursion on Monday cemented ‘the Vision Splendid’. We visited Mount Pleasant (i86os) in the company of Kenneth von Bibra, Henry Reed’s great grandson, seeing the hilltop estate complete with chapel and tomb ground and mature trees — a tree commemorating the AGHS visit was planted. A working sheep farm, Dunedin first granted in 1804, was visited. It has been in the Scott family since 1878 and the current owner renovated the garden from 1973 again removing 28 huge, overshadowing macrocarpas and hedging the remainder for wind protection while developing a sweeping garden with wide beds including magnolias, chestnuts, birch, sorbus, dogwoods in gorgeous pink flower, maples, elderberries, and underplanting of euphorbias, hellebores, peonies, hostas, lily of the valley, and fritilarias. These are grown from seed in three glasshouses. The rare, eclectic botanical collection presented a harmonious garden but is was also pleasing to see over the garden wall that the cultural landscape sweeping down to the river valley still was pastoral in character. We lunched at Evandale in a large timber hall with beautiful roof trusses — originally part of Fallgrove estate, it was donated to the people of Evandale for their agricultural show held on this site from 1869 until 1980. Warwick Oakman presented an excellent lecture on John Glover, whose bronze statue stands outside the hall in Falls Park. But the highlight was then travelling to Mills Plains nestled in the valley below Ben Eomond and stopping at the spot depicted in Glover’s painting of ‘My Harvest Home’ — the same flats, cattle, and outline of wooded hills. Eittle had changed in 175 years except for a World War I memorial pine tree on the distinctive Pinner’s Peak. At Patterdale, Glover’s home farm, his son’s ‘Annotated panoramic plan of “Patterdale” farm’ (1835) — constructed with a Claude glass and camera obscura — allowed for accurate topographical reproduction of house, garden, and outbuildings. The beds from 1835 with their associated earthworks, paths, boundary fence, gates, and sight lines survive intact and complete. Eucalypts depicted in these paintings remain as mature and over mature trees in the landscape, especially the distinctive manna/ ribbon gum pattern. This place is of extraordinary cultural significance to Australian painting and garden-making due to its intactness and purity in still presenting Glover’s art and landscape intent, its rarity in escaping later redevelopment, and for its record of continuity from the earliest colonial settlement. Without statutory heritage protection, the current owner is preserving the painter’s vale by joining Patterdale and Nile Farm into one farm in excess of 10,000 acres, rotating crops, removing weeds from watercourses, and replanting recent small logging areas. We visited Glover’s grave (1849) at the Nile Chapel, a beautifully simple Greek Revival structure said to have been designed by Glover. It sits solemnly in the landscape below ancient manna gums at Deddington. The final visit was to Dalness where the two-storey brick house, gardens, and curtilage are substantially as set out in the 1830s and now feature the exotic oaks, cedars, bunya pine, and other trees. The entrance drive, hawthorn hedges, century old fruit trees, and parkland have been renovated so that the setting is maintained. The owners, Mackinnon family, are the seventh generation providing a rare unbroken 190-year chain of ownership. Macquarie i 'Vision Splendid^ has survived: we are simply its current custodians National cultural values are protected through the National Heritage Fist, as occurred in 2008 with Woolmers and Brickendon, but these are the only two such landscapes protected in Tasmania. Many properties we visited are on the Tasmanian Heritage Register. It is both the passion for and love of these cultural landscapes by old families and newcomers with the means and appreciation that have maintained this heritage. The introduction of extensive poppy fields and eucalypt plantations needs to be carefully designed to sit in the landscape. Freeways and housing estates could bisect and/or otherwise sever the cultural links and sightlines of these colonial estates. There is no State planning policy to protect these cultural landscapes, no local historic tree register. Design guidelines, discussion, awareness-raising, further historical research, and financial grants for restoration of landscape elements like hedges, and willing workers under supervision are needed. Macquarie’s ‘Vision Splendid’ has survived: we are simply its current custodians and must make the next generation aware of this extraordinary inheritance and help equip them to protect and husband it. Dr Jane L. Lennon AM is a Brisbane-based heritage consultant with long experience in the assessment and management of designed landscapes. 20 Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 32nd Annual National Conference, Maryborough, Queensland, 19-22 August 2011 Maryborough is the location for the Australian Garden History Society 32nd Annual National Conference, to be held from 19 to 22 August 2011. This beautiful city, on the banks of the Mary River, is about three hours north of Brisbane by car. The city has many fine nineteenth century buildings, reflecting its importance during the period 1850 to 1900 when it was a busy port and an entry point for immigrants to Queensland. Since then it has continued as a regional centre sustained by sugar, timber, and heavy engineering. The climate is sub-tropical (the Tropic of Capricorn runs through Rockhampton, about 300km north of Maryborough) and so the gardens contain palms, crotons, cordylines, and many other plants with coloured foliage. The buildings have verandahs and hoods over the windows to exclude the heat and light. Queensland’s climate differs from the southern states — it is hot, humid, and wet in summer, and pleasantly cool and dry in winter. Settlers quickly adapted their houses to these conditions and to the building materials to hand, in most places timber. Gardening was difficult, due to the need to grow plants that were not familiar to people from Europe, and the heat and rapid growth made maintenance difficult, leading to simplicity in design and the selection of hardy plants. Rapid growth can be followed by rapid decay, and untended gardens are quickly overgrown. Buildings too, especially those of timber, are attacked by rot and termites in the hot, wet climate, so good design and maintenance are essential if they are to last a century or more. There are gardens of interest in towns and in the countryside which are worthy of inspection and study. The conference will visit domestic gardens in Maryborough both large and small, and there will be opportunities to experience the ‘timber and tin’ housing style of colonial and later Queenslander houses. The conference will also take you into the Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 21 Maryborough hinterland to visit some cattle station homesteads and gardens which tourists usually do not see. The conference will be organised into three mornings of papers and three afternoons of garden visits, plus the optional day. The papers will be delivered in the Brolga Theatre, a large modern conference venue on a beautiful site overlooking the Mary River and next to Queens Park. On the first day the papers will explore Maryborough’s history and environment. Elaine Brown will tell the story of the region’s settlement: export of meat and wool from the hinterland, the gold rush at Gympie, immigration, sugar, and timber industries, and Walkers Engineering works. Malcolm Wegener and Jane Eennon will present the cultural landscapes of the sugar industry and Eraser Island respectively, and a garden owner will introduce some of the places we will see on the garden tours — some of the grand houses and gardens sited on the high bank of the River, and Queens Park, one of ten Queens Parks created in Queensland in the 1870s and 1880s. On Saturday morning Jerry Goleby- Williams will be the first speaker in a session which will explore how Europeans adapted to the land and the climate, especially in their gardens, but also in the design of their houses. Don Watson will describe the evolution of the Queenslander house and Stuart Read will tell the story of John Came Bidwill (for whom the Bunya pine. Araucaria bidwillii, was named), who lived and worked at Maryborough. Catherine Chambers will cover the social history of the domestication of the macadamia nut, which grows wild in the nearby ranges. Ken Brooks will talk about the role of Brennan and Geraghty’s store in supplying plants to Maryborough gardeners in the nineteenth century — this store is a National Trust property which we will visit in the afternoon. Sunday’s papers will start with Jeannie Sim discussing garden writing in Queensland, followed by Anne De Eisle talking about the restoration of Baddow Elouse and its garden, which we will visit in the afternoon. The remaining papers will be about garden plants — Bernadette Turner on Eangbecker’s Nursery, one of the largest nurseries in Queensland; Michael and Kyleigh Simpson on some old garden plants that are well suited to the drier future we face; and Glenn Cooke on Vida Eahey and her choice of species in her paintings of flowers. In the afternoon we will also visit Brooklyn House at Howard, 30km north of Maryborough, which has an engaging history and a reconstructed garden. Monday’s optional day programme will take us into the hinterland to see the gardens and homesteads of three cattle properties, and a flying visit to Broweena, an old sawmilling village. Catering will be by the property owners so expect country hospitality and cooking. The Queensland Branch looks forward to welcoming you to Maryborough in August. Fraser Island If you are coming to Maryborough it is easy to go on to visit Eraser Island, with its World Heritage listed sand hills, forests, lakes, and beaches. The Society has negotiated a tour for members after the conference with Kingfisher Bay Resort on Eraser Island. Travel by bus or your car from Maryborough to River Heads on the morning of Tuesday 23 August and catch the ferry to Kingfisher Resort. The tour includes whale watching on Hervey Bay and a trip to the tall trees, Wanggoolba Greek, Eake McKenzie, the ocean beach, and the wreck of the Maheno. The price includes all travel, accommodation, tours and meals (except for one lunch). A booking form for the 2011 Annual National Conference is enclosed with this journal — book early to avoid disappointment. 22 Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 Victory for Mawallok— and for the protection of historic gardens Peter Watts In April— May last year a Panel Hearing was established by the Victorian Minister for Planning under the Planning and Environment Act 1987 to advise him about the proposed Stockyard Hill Wind Farm, 35 km west of Ballarat in Victoria’s Western District. The proposal was for 242 wind turbines over 156 sq km of rural land. One of the key issues was the impact the proposed wind farm would have on the northerly vista from Mawallok homestead. Somewhere between 20 and 34 turbines, depending on the viewing point in the garden, had the potential to impact the view. These turbines were proposed to be a staggering 135m tall — or the approximate height of a 35 storey building. Mawallok is a significant house and garden, the latter designed by William Guilfoyle in 1909. Guilfoyle’s plan for the garden survives and shows very clearly that the main organising principle around which the garden was created was the northerly vista to the Pyrenees Ranges, and in particular Mount Cole, about 20 km to the north. As a consequence there was a groundswell of support to try and protect the vista critical to this important homestead and garden. Mawallok has a particular Australian Garden History Society connection having been opened a number of times for the Society and also having been the home to the first AGHS Alembership Officer, Alathea Russell, and later to AGHS Chair, Jocelyn Mitchell. A number of people gave expert evidence or oral presentations about this matter at the Panel Hearing. Those arguing in favour of the removal of all turbines in the primary vista included John Dwyer QC in his capacity as Chair of the AGHS, John Patrick, Dr Harriet Edquist, Bryce Raworth, and myself We argued very strongly that the garden This digital photographic simulation demonstrates the effect which the proposed wind turbines might have had on the on the vista from Mawallok garden. Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 23 Courtesy Scenic Spectrums Pty Ltd was of such importance, in a national context, that it deserved to have the vista preserved unencumbered by wind turbines. In my own evidence I described the view as sublime, admitting this was a term I would rarely use to describe an Australian garden. John Dwyer, on behalf of the AGHS, noted in his submission that: This vista is the key element of Guiljoyle’s design, enhanced by the addition of the lake, itself a landscape element very much in the Guilfoyle manner, with similarities to the lake in the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne . The garden forms part of and looks out over a significant cultural landscape. Properly understood, the vista is part of the designed landscape constituted by the garden. The landscape values are of national significance. He further noted that: The AGHS is, of course, not opposed to wind farms . It recognises that society must become less dependent on coal-fired power generation wind farms, and that wind farms are an important, perhaps even necessary development. But wind farms should be appropriately sited. It is simply not appropriate to allow wind towers to be imposed as a dominant feature into a significant cultural landscape. The Panel should do what it can to ensure that the impact on Mawallok is minimised. The Panel completed its report in August 2010 and in late October the Minister advised he had accepted its recommendations in relation to Mawallok. This requires that ‘the 20 turbines visible within the central viewing cone from the Mawallok northern terrace be required to be deleted’. Whilst we would have preferred the turbines to have been removed from view from all parts of the garden (rather than just from the sightlines from the main terrace), it was, nevertheless, a very significant concession. In the words of the Panel: It is our view that the importance of the Mawallok house and garden and the nature and severity of the erosion of the cultural significance of the place are such that on balance this outweighs the benefits to the community of the development of those wind turbines which could have been seen in the central view from the Mawallok terrace and in particular their contribution to renewable energy. This represents a huge victory for Mawallok. It had been argued that, despite the fact that Mawallok itself had heritage protection, this protection did not extend beyond its boundaries. Critically the Panel noted: We arc conscious that the area affected by the view is not included in any heritage control itself ... We are not troubled by the absence of a statutory control over the vista, however. Gonsideration of the effects of use and development on one site upon another site is a fundamental element of planning decision-making and is supported in this case by the decision guidelines relevant to wind farm projects referring to the effects on views and vistas as well as cultural heritage. This has created an important precedent. It will henceforth be much harder to argue that vistas from important historic gardens can be ignored by those proposing major infrastructure developments. This represents a very significant victory, not just for Mawallok, but for the conservation of important historic gardens across Australia. Peter Watts AM is a former Chairman of the Australian Garden History Society National Management Committee and author of the first comprehensive survey of Victoria’s historic gardens (1980). Mawallok wind-turbine victory Jocelyn Mitchell writes thanking the Australian Garden History Society for its support in the fight to remove wind turbines from the Mawallok garden vista. ‘Both John Dwyer for the National Management Committee and Pamela Jellie for the Victorian Branch made written submissions and John additionally made a submission before the Panel Hearing. It is clear from the panel report that John’s oral submission made an impact on the panel and so was a significant input into its decision. A large number of AGHS members also made personal written submissions and my family would like to thank them all. My son and his wife will carry on the maintenance of the Mawallok garden, and, I am happy to say, will continue to share it with garden lovers and the community. Heartfelt thanks to you all.’ 24 Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 Notes from a hillside villa Revisiting Villa Gamberaia This morning I had the pleasure of pouring over a beautiful folio edition of Giuseppe Zocchi’s Udute delle ville della Toscana, e altri luoghi della Toscana (1744) in the Bibliotecca Berenson — leather bound, gold embossed, marbled endpapers, delicious. I was seeking the view of Villa Gamberaia reproduced on the villa’s entry ticket, one of fifty popular prints of Tuscan villas made from Zocchi’s drawings. Such books were essential reading for any eighteenth- or nineteenth-century visitor on the Grand Tour. Early twentieth-century, English-speaking travellers on the other hand might have gathered inspiration from elegant works such as Edith Wharton’s Italian Villas and their Gardens { igog), the two-volume Country Eife publication The Gardens of Italy (1905) with photographs by Charles Eatham and descriptions by Evelyn March Phillips, or Geoffrey Jellicoe and John Shepherd’s Italian Gardens of the Renaissance with several later editions) and their Gardens and Design (1927). Two twenty-first century publications have greatly enhanced my recent visits to the Villa Gamberaia, both edited by historian of the Renaissance, Patricia J. Osmond. Both critically consider the same subject matter yet offer different treatment relative to the research they present. The first. Revisiting the Gamberaia (2004), introduced me to eighteenth- century prints and the twentieth century works about the Gamberaia. The second is a special issue of Studies in the History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes (2002) focused on the Villa Gamberaia. Revisiting offers a richly textured portrait of the garden at the Gamberaia and a historiography of its reception from the turn of the nineteenth century to the 1 970s. A collection of visitors’ impressions, observations, photographs, and drawings, with each essay and author contextualised by Osmond, the book is also a rather wonderful example of interpretation. It brings to life the wider socio- cultural context of a much-admired garden and the fascination it held for a selection of its notable visitors and neighbours. These members of an expatriate Anglo-Elorentine community — ‘the well read and the well bred’ as Katie Campbell neatly put it in Paradise of Exiles: the Anglo-American gardens of Florence (2009) — were linked by a shared passion for writing, acquiring art, cultivating gardens, entertaining, the pursuit of a country life of ease, and a desire (and the means) to escape the modern world. Eucky them ! Other visitors included professionals and students of architecture as well as the emerging academic discipline and profession of landscape architecture — Henry V. Hubbard, publishing in Eandscape Architecture in 1915, and Jellicoe and Shepherd, among them — whose works and, as a result, the Villa Gamberaia have since occupied an important place in studies of the history of gardens and designed landscapes, including in Australia. The special issue of Studies on the other hand brought to light then-new research on the Villa Gamberaia, from the iconography of its statuary, to the reception of the garden by significant historical figures, and the wider influence of the garden on landscape design in North America. While perhaps the suite of resources across both these volumes might not be available for every significant historic garden, the special issue of Studies offers a constructive reminder about being open to the prospect of new material coming to light — and acknowledging the potential for this material to be diverse and fragmentary in nature — no matter how seemingly well-studied, and the value of questioning received histories and opinions. So, as I continue my informal studies in Italian garden history, I plan to follow Georgina Masson’s advice in Italian Gardens {igbi) and revisit the Villa Gamberaia on a misty April day, ‘when the fresh spring green provides the perfect foil for the brilliance of the tulips, and again in the height of summer with the pink oleander blossom silhouetted against the brilliant blue sky’. Christina Dyson Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 25 Christina Dyson Review essay Plants from old catalogues Sooner or later garden historians want to know answers to questions about plant availability: What plants were available when? What should I replant about my 1930s cottage/ 1850s homestead? Much is available in contemporary accounts, published and unpublished, but three recent Australian sources make this task much easier to tackle. These are the August 2010— launched Hortus Camdenensis prepared by Colin Mills; the Colonial Plant Database, prepared by Colleen Morris and Tony Rodd; and the 2009 book by Margaret Brookes and Richard Barley, Plants Listed in Nursery Catalogues in Victoria 18^^— i88g. Hortus Camdenensis is an illustrated online catalogue of nearly 3300 plants grown by Sir William Macarthur at Camden Park, south-west of Sydney, between ^.1820 and 1861. It is by no means a finished project: Colin Mills has worked on it for the last decade and his research will continue. Emphasis is on ‘illustrated’ — this website has luscious images from (among other sources) Curtis’s Botanical Magazine depicting contemporary horticultural introductions and releases which caused a stir. These are so sharp they’re still exciting. Mills has patiently compiled this wonderful resource using the extensive Camden Park records of plants stocked and sold from its renowned nursery from about 1840, and from garden records (including letters, diaries, and notebooks) of the Macarthur family from the 1820s onwards concerning other plants in the extensive garden. These include Cape bulbs and coral trees first hybridised at Camden — some of if not Australia’s earliest hybridised garden plants (see, for instance, Richard Clough’s article ‘Mr Bidwill’s Erythrina’, in AGH, 3 (4), 1992). Also on the website are notes regarding nomenclature (much changed since the 1820s); influential people such as gardener Edmund Blake; essays by Mills, for example on laying out an orchard in colonial Australia, wine growing and production at Camden Park, gesneriads, gloxinias, and fuchsias; and many references (including many copyright-free images which allow this Hortus to be so ‘visual’). The database is at and is hosted by Colin Mills and Nick Caldwell. The broader Colonial Plants Database contains over 11,000 plants available pre-1860 in New South Welsh nurseries or key gardens. Available at this website is hosted by the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales. Key sources include primary documentation relating to Sydney Botanic Gardens, Alexander Macleay’s extensive Elizabeth Bay garden, the nursery at Camden Park, and the commercial Sydney nurseries of John Baptist, the Shepherd family (Darling Nursery), and Michael Guilfoyle (Exotic Nurseries). I use this source every week — it allows rapid answers to questions such as: ‘When did weeping willows get to Australia?’, ‘What conifers were available in the 1840s?’, or ‘Which persimmon or pear was for sale in the 1850s?’ How delicious to find that today’s dreaded lantana dates from 1839 in Macleay’s garden, camphor laurels were sent to Sydney’s botanic garden in 1827, raspberries were enjoyed by Mrs Macarthur in 1816, Pinus canariensis was for sale in 1 845 from Camden Park, and so on. Clues are rapidly coming to mind about who was donating plants, seeds, or cuttings to whom: dates of introduction or cultivation giver clearer ideas of links — interstate and local. Clues are rapidly coming to mind about who was donating plants , seeds, or cuttings to whom This database is also a work-in-progress — progressive checking of listings occurs against original sources, editorial additions (such as historical and taxonomic notes) are systematically being made, and where possible botanical illustrations from contemporary publications are being included. When this is complete, further listings will be added from time to time. Vegetables and esculent plants are current gaps and priorities. This depends on additional research and editing being completed and checked. Only a portion, for example, of the Guilfoyle catalogue has been added. Similarly, listings from John Baptist’s nursery, ‘The Market Garden’, Bourke Street, Sydney (1861), and Macleay’s horticultural notebooks have only been partially completed. Victoria too is well served in this area. A sell-out when it was first published in 1992, Margaret Brookes and Richard Barley’s Plants Listed in Nursery Catalogues in Victoria i8§§— i88g has been recently republished (2009) by the Garden Plant Conservation Association of Australia. This substantial, spirally bound book (ISBN 978 o 646 50551 o) lists plants sold by a 26 Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 range of key nurseries (numbering 23 in all) including Kardinia, Victoria Seed Warehouse, Royal Nurseries (Hawthorn), and the St Kilda Nurseries (Brunnings) — others such as JJ. Rule (1855) add depth. The focus is on the ornamental garden rather than on food plants of the kitchen garden and agriculture. Much updating of botanical nomenclature has been since the 1992 edition, which itself offered a wonderful list of synonyms and such careful checking and cross-referencing is a feature of this publication. It is both salutary and rather discouraging to note whole pages of ‘lost’ cultivars of petunias, pelargonia, roses, bouvardias, fuchsias, and ferns. Fashion has a lot to answer for today: the selection at Woolworths or Runnings is a pale shadow of our horticultural smorgasbord of a century or century-and-a-half ago. Go ponder! Using these regularly — in conjunction with Margaret Hibbert’s wonderful, out-of-print but still useful The Aussie Plant Finder (which contains an A— Z of plant species and of nurseries growing them) or the NSW Heritage Branch’s Sources of Old-fashioned Plants list (available online at and compiled by your reviewer) — means that much can be understood and still, to some extent, much can be sourced and re-grown, ensuring authenticity and past richness is available today. Make use of these and chase a copy of both books. Of course these point up the usefulness of compiling parallel guides for other states. In Tasmania, Gwenda Sheridan’s work on the Royal Society of Van Diemen’s Land and the Launceston Horticultural Society show the riches of these societies’ records. Botanic gardens and early nurseries in Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia offer similar potential — if ready volunteers emerge. Stuart Read AM is a landscape architect, horticulturist, and historian with particular interests in the origins and movement of plants around the globe. Trained in New Zealand, he finds old gardens more interesting than new ones, and full of useful lessons. Margaret Brookes and Richard Barley’s Plants Listed in Nursery Catalogues in Victoria i 8 yy— i 88 g (2009) is available for purchase via the AGHS website for $30. R Renaissance Tours GARDENS, art CULTURE AROUND THE WORLD A SELECTION OF OUR 2011 TOURS: FOR DETAILED INFORMATION CALL 1300 121 095 OR VISIT www.renaissancetours.com.au GREAT GARDENS OF SCOTLAND WEST COAST & SKYE INVERNESS & HIGHLANDS ABERDEENSHIRE EDINBURGH & GLASGOW Discover some of the world's most famous gardens at the peak of the summer bloom. Plus Scottish history, heritage and hospitality. 04-20 April 2011 CHINA IN THE SPRING SHANGHAI & NANJING SUZHOU & HANGZHOU YELLOW MOUNTAINS BEIJING A thorough exploration of Chinese gardens combined with the many wonders of this extraordinary country, ancient and modern. 12-30 May 2011 FROM THE VENETOI^ M|S^v TO VIENNA ^ ITALY CROATIA - 1 SLOVENIA AUSTRIA L K H Gardens, villas, art, music, food and -^ 2 - ’ wine! From Italy to Austria with ^ Lv - -s Holly Kerr Forsyth via the Adriatic s ' Riviera and the Julian Alps. Photo courtesy Holly Kerr Forsyth June 2011 (15 days) Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 27 For the bookshelf Alison Halliday & Joanne Hambrett,A Passion for Place: gardens of the Blue Mountains, Bloomings Books, Melbourne, 20 10 (ISBN 9781876473778): 242pp, hardback, RRP $59.96 (available from the AGHS for $44 plus postage ) This fine new book, realised with the support of the Australian Garden History Society, celebrates what is arguably the finest group of private gardens in New South Wales, with a major public one (Mount Tomah Botanic Garden) alongside. The three mountain tops — Wilson, Irvine, and Tomah — can be distantly glimpsed from Sydney, part of the Blue Mountains to the west. Favoured from the 1870s onwards as cool mountain retreats from the heat of a Sydney summer, they were much more than that: places of rich soil, better rainfall, and real elevation, where plants requiring conscious seasonal change could thrive. The first settlers at Mount Wilson — who included my in-law. Judge Matthew Henry Stephen — were also entranced by the lush native forest that densely covered the land, but quickly decided that they needed to make their own mark, ‘civilising’ the clearings around their houses with gravelled paths and tiled borders, shrubs clipped to resemble plum puddings, and the residual tree ferns entwined with ivy to suggest strange bottle-like shapes. Almost immediately, a serious commitment to advanced horticulture came to the fore. It was a time of the sophisticated amateur, so connections with the Sydney Botanic Gardens and prominent plant hunters were used to gain rare and unusual plants which continue to give these mountain gardens a special status. we hear individual voices and points of view, and these give a wonderful personal dimension to the story On reflection, it seems remarkable that this is the first significant book on this topic. Alison Halliday and Jo Hambrett’s depth of research over many years means that this is an invaluable record. Thoughtful introductions by Peter Valder and Peter Watts set the scene, and Ian Brown’s remarkable photographs convey the exquisite nuances of the general landscape, and of each garden. Garden photography is a very special craft, and I don’t believe these images could be bettered. Another aspect of the book I particularly like is the quotations from the garden owners. Through these we hear individual voices and points of view, and these give a wonderful personal dimension to the story. Deep-down, real gardeners are almost universally good people, pleased to share their pleasures and successes with others. This comes across in the book, where virtually everyone — doubtless charmed and cajoled by Alison and Jo — were generous with input and access. They have concentrated on the focal points for, in truth, the gardens of the Blue Mountains are rather more numerous and far-flung. Deep-down, real gardeners are almost universally good people, pleased to share their pleasures and successes with others The book also represents an expression of the growth of interest in serious gardening and garden design over the past 35 years. I have fond memories of working with Bruce Mackenzie in 1970, when his was the only full-time landscape design office in Sydney, and I also recall the wonderful, modest but real, financial support provided by Dame Elisabeth Murdoch which enabled the Australian Garden History Society to get properly established. Splendid entities such as this collection of fine gardens only survive through ongoing private enthusiasms and vigilance. Part of the wonder of these mountaintops is that they remain remote and have never been allowed to be suburbanised. Hopefully the wild terrain and the extensive National Parks will help preserve the special nature of the place. This book confirms the splendid qualities of these three mountains and their gardens. A Passion for Place represents a bench-mark in Australian garden history for books covering regional gardens. Howard Tanner Howard Tanner, a Sydney architect, was an early Chairman of the Australian Garden History Society and wrote on the gardens of Mount Wilson in his book The Great Gardens of Australia (1976). 28 Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 Recently released Myles Baldwin, Ruro/Austro//an Gardens, Murdoch Books, Millers Point, NSW, 2010 (ISBN 978 1 74 1 964707): 288 pp, hardback, RRP $89.95 Many old favourites in this survey along with some less well-known treats, all beautifully photographed by Simon Griffiths. Whilst the bounds of historical knowledge are rarely challenged here, Baldwin’s breezy prose and deft garden selections have plenty of potential for future garden historians, capturing a snapshot of early twenty-first century concerns amongst a diverse group of highly motivated, rural Australian gardeners.. Tony Hall, The Life and Death of the Australian Backyard, CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood,Vic., 2010 (ISBN 9780643098169): I76pp, paperback, RRP $69.95 The Australian backyard is taken for granted — its historical origins here treated succinctly — yet this environmental and sociological survey demonstrates that its form, functions, traditions, and meanings are under threat, its size shrinking (dramatically demonstrated with aerial photographs) and its role changing. Hall challenges our planning systems and offers suggestions for future policy directions that acknowledge the backyard’s significance. Rebecca Jones, Green Harvest: a history of organic farming and gardening in Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood,Vic., 2010 (ISBN 9780643098374): 208pp, paperback, RRP $49.95 Commencing with the coalescence of interest in the 1 940s of Australian growers in organic farming and gardening methods, the author groups her raw material around four themes — ‘Soil’, ‘Chemical free’, ‘Ecological wellbeing’, and ‘Back to the Land’. With a focus on personal stories rather than public perceptions, each theme is represented by a case study (from post-war farmer Harold White to contemporary gardening author Jackie French). Imaginatively researched and lucidly presented. Michael Pearson & Jane Lennon, Pastoral Australia: fortunes, failures & hard yakka; a historical overview 1788-1967, CSIRO Publishing in association with the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts and the Australian Heritage Council, Collingwood, Vic., 2010 (ISBN 9780643096998): 232 pp, paperback, RRP $69.95 Australia’s garden history and her pastoral history have enjoyed a long association, with the fortunes of the latter impressing strongly on the former; both thrived on water, settled land, and favourable seasons. Pearson and Lennon — both experienced heritage consultants — have undertaken a great service in this thematic history, synthesising a vast range of material in a comprehensive and truly national framework. Libby Robin, Chris Dickman, & Mandy Martin (eds). Desert Channels: the impulse to conserve, CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Vic., 20 1 0 (ISBN 9780643097490): 352pp, hardback, RRP $59.95 This detailed survey brings together the work of a large and diverse group of researchers, managers, and custodians, all working towards the conservation of a harsh landscape at the south- west corner of Queensland, one of channels and flood plains juxtaposed with immense sand dunes, distant physically and mentally from the populous eastern seaboard. The reader is left with a sense of inherent complexity but also of hope for enhanced understanding and prudent stewardship. Clare A.P.Willsdon, /mpress/on/st Gardens, published by National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2010 (ISBN): available directly from the Retail Department, National Galleries of Scotland for £20 postage inclusive (please mention Australian Garden History to take advantage of this offer) Based on a touring exhibition of the same name, this beautifully illustrated book showcases Impressionist garden paintings from the 1870s— 1910s (with a selection of earlier and later works for context). Although a strong art history case is presented for the ‘Impressionist garden’, this book perhaps unwittingly reinforces the need for further garden history scholarship in a neglected area — internationally as well as for an Australian context. John Wrigley & Murray Fagg, Eucalypts: a celebration, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW, 2010 (ISBN 978 1 74 1 759242): 352 pp, hardback, RRP $65 There’s a lot to like about this book from two doyens of Australian flora: accessible presentation, lively text, crystal-clear images, concisely presented botanical information (sensibly grouped in an appendix), and wide-ranging enquiry. The cultural history presented is largely a story of appropriation across a diverse spectrum, although the history of garden usage presented here is diffuse, perhaps due to the paucity of detailed research on this critical question in Australian garden history. Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 29 Jottanda Australian convict sites Eleven Australian convict sites have recently been collectively inscribed as a cultural site on the World Heritage List by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Intended to represent Australia’s convict heritage, the listing includes several gardens and designed landscapes associated with convict activities, including Old Government House and Domain (within Parramatta Park), Port Arthur historic site (including the Commandant’s garden), the Tasmanian estates Brickendon and Woolmers, Kingston and Arthur’s Vale historic area on Norfolk Island, and Hyde Park Barracks (including the forecourt and barrack yard). Vigilance is needed, though, in the face of development pressures which could adversely affect these outstanding significant sites or their contexts, whc.unesco.org/en/list Documenting Hallgreen In addition to organising the very successful Launceston conference, AGHS Tasmanian Branch members have also been investigating and documenting the significant garden of Hallgreen at New Norfolk. Read about this fascinating project in the latest issue of Tasmania 40° Souths 58 (Spring 2010). www.fortysouth.com.au NSW Heritage Volunteer Awards Congratulations to recipients of the recent New South Wales Heritage Volunteer Awards. Amongst those whose work involved garden and landscape history we might enumerate Dr James Broadbent, well known for his research and his work in conserving Cox’s Cottage at Mulgoa; Emma Brooks- Maher, a tireless worker in the recognition and protection of Haberfield, Australia’s seminal garden suburb; Kath Smith, a valued volunteer for the Eriends of Eagan Park; Long Swamp Cemetery Volunteers, whose dedicated work 50km south of Bathurst has transformed this once-neglected cemetery; the Bodalla 150 Committee, whose work celebrates the sesqui-centenary of Thomas Mort’s model dairy farm and village; and Penelope Pike, a deeply committed and active volunteer at Eryldene. Penny is an AGHS member and gave a collective speech on behalf of all recipients, making a plea for additional ‘small grant’ fund allocations by state and local government bodies.). Historic Gardens of Perth In May 2011 the Western Australian Branch of the Australian Garden History Society will hold a photographic exhibition ‘Historic Gardens of Perth’ in the ground floor exhibition space of the Perth Town Hall. The exhibition will run from 13 to 24 May. ‘Historic Gardens of Perth’ will cover a selection of Perth gardens including plant nurseries, market gardens, private pleasure gardens and public parks, most of them within the city precinct. By highlighting many largely unknown gardens, the exhibition will provide an overview of horticultural practice and changing trends that resulted from the growth and development of the city. As well as showcasing private gardens, it will look at the role played by key public official and municipal gardeners, who, in guiding plant selection and garden design, laid the foundations of many current city streetscapes. The exhibition, which is being funded by the WA Branch and the AGHS National Management Committee, with generous assistance from the City of Perth, will promote the importance of parks and gardens in the history of Perth. Much of the supporting research and material of this significant part of the city’s cultural heritage has not been viewed by the broader public, and will be brought together for the first time. Held to commemorate the twenty-first anniversary of the WA Branch, the exhibition aims to raise awareness of the role and work of the Society in the local community, and will draw on the research and curatorial expertise of John Viska, Lisa Williams, Elizabeth Hof, Gillian Lilleyman, and Ruth Morgan. After the exhibition closes, research and graphic display material will be donated to the local studies collection at the City of Perth Library, expanding and extending the material’s accessibility to the general public. Curious Colony Due to popular demand the exhibition ‘Curious Colony’, curated by Newcastle Region Art Gallery (catalogue reviewed in our last issue), is now on view in Sydney at the S.H. Ervin Gallery until 20 Eebruary 2011. www.nationaltrust.com.au 30 Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 Lorrie Lawrence (1938-2010) Victorian Branch members were saddened to learn recently of the death of Irma Lorraine Lawrence. Better known to all as Lorrie, she was a keen AGHS member with professional interests in garden design and journalism. Her life and career are summarised in Anne Latreille’s obituary, published in The Age, 28 December 2010. Bellfield photographs In the recent article on Bellfield by Carol Liston {AGH 22 (i), 2010), we were pleased to include Dialogue Leach’s leaf morphology exposed Richard Nolan writes from Adelaide following our editorial on Sam Leach’s painting Proposal for a Landscaped Cosmos {AGH, 22 (i), 2010): ‘I am undertaking university studies for my graduate diploma in art history, and am also professional horticulturist, having had a career spanning twenty five years with Botanic Gardens of Adelaide. My immediate impression of Leach’s painting was that it was atypically Australian. While the habit and bark characteristics of the deciduous tree depicted may have been similar to the Southern beeches {Nothofagus sp.) with distribution from Tasmania to South America, the leaf structure and shape in his painting are not those of beeches {Fagus and Nothofagus spp.) but that of European oak {Quercus sp.) a genus confined to the northern hemisphere. While beeches and oaks are in the same botanical family Fagaceae, it is obvious to me that Leach has copied the oak leaf structure directly from the seventeenth-century Dutch landscape work by Adam Pynacker, Any art critic or judge unless botanically trained or self taught may not pick up the subtleties in the different leaf structure and morphology between northern and southern hemisphere flora, whereas I can ! The mountainous landscape in Leach’s painting could at a glance be representative of Tasmania, but the vegetation depicted is definitely not Australian. Deciduous beech {Fagus sp.) and oak, both deciduous and evergreen {Quercus sp.) occur across North America, Europe, Asia, and Japan, while Southern beech, mostly evergreen and some photographs taken by Daphne Kingston of the property in the late 1990s. The co-editors apologise that the image with the spiky agave on page 8 was mis-credited and should also have acknowledged Daphne Kingston. We thank Stuart Read for reminding us of the value and breadth of artist and author Daphne Kingston’s work in recording aspects of western Sydney’s disappearing cultural heritage — in particular slab farm buildings and other vernacular architecture across the Cumberland Plain — much of which might otherwise have disappeared from the record. semi-deciduous {Nothofagus sp.) occur in Chile, New Zealand, Tasmania, Victoria, and New South Wales. A single evergreen species Nothofagus moorei is found in northern NSW and southern Queensland. The best known of the Southern beeches in Australia is the myrtle beech {Nothofagus cunninghamii), so named because of its small, glossy, myrtle-shaped, evergreen leaves. One species in Tasmania is the much shorter and but shrubbier, less common, deciduous Nothofagus gunnii, locally known as ‘Tanglefoot’, Thomas Shepherd’s sons Richard Clough writes from Sydney: ‘I enjoyed the July— September issue of the journal especially Carol Eiston’s article. Shepherd’s two eldest sons came with the party [i.e. to New Zealand in 1825 then to Sydney two years later] and were still about when he drew up his will. It would be interesting to find out what happened to them. He was, or rather appears to have been, unusually hard on them. There must be some story worth unearthing.’ Blue Gum A number of interstate members have expressed interest in obtaining copies of Blue Gum, the newsletter of the Tasmanian Branch of the Australian Garden History Society. Blue Gum incorporates articles as well as programme information and is produced in quality hard copy. It is not on the web, but we plan to include a list of contents of the AGHS web site. Copies can be obtained for a small fee to cover production and postage ($5) by contacting Ivan Saltmarsh at or (03) 6227 8515. Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 31 Society news Subscriptions Although the National Management Committee never likes to increase membership fees, the cost of membership has not increased since 2007. Membership fees cover the cost of producing our wonderful journal but only a portion of administration costs and we rely on profits from conferences and tours to top up the cost of administration. We do need to keep abreast of the rise of the costs over the past three years and therefore revised fees recently set by the NMG are listed on page 2. Your AGHS membership also supports the important advocacy and research work this respected organisation does on behalf of garden history in Australia at both a national and branch level. Members enjoy receiving and reading the journal and having the opportunity to attend stimulating national conferences and tours, and the many and varied informative and social activities, all of which the NMC and all local branches strive to provide for members. Packers for last journal Thanks to those who assisted with packing our last issue of the journal: Diana Ellerton, Fran and Mai Paul, Anna Howe, Pamela Jellie, Jane Johnson, Rosemary Kiellerup, Laura Lewis, Sandra Torpey, Georgina Whitehead. Continued from page 15 Flockton made several hundred quarto drawings of Opuntia species from the plantation at the Botanic Gardens, Sydney. Fourteen articles on the opuntia, illustrated with her fold-out coloured plates, were published in the Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales (1911 — 17). Flockton was invited to contribute botanical drawings to other projects outside the Gardens, in Queensland, the Northern Territory, and Victoria. She was, for example, one of a group of botanical illustrators employed to work in conjunction with Dr Ethel McLennan, the distinguished plant scientist at the University of Melbourne.^ She also painted wildflower borders for studies of butterflies in Dr Riches in his Scenic Gems of Australia. Another private endeavour was her book of a series of twelve paintings of Australian Wild Flowers published by the New South Wales Bookstall Company in 1908. These images were subsequently published as lithographs and postcards in five or more formats for the next decade. An unpublished album of delicate illustrations of lichen is held by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney. After her retirement, Margaret Flockton wrote a series of children’s stories, which although unpublished are now held by Sydney’s Mitchell Library. The name Margaret Flockton, once known to only a few people outside the Sydney Botanic Gardens, has now become widely known throughout the world, thanks to the international Margaret Flockton Award for Scientific Botanical Illustration, an award initiated by botanical artists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney. She is also justly acclaimed throughout the world of scientific botanic illustrators, artists, collectors, and plant lovers and her published botanical drawings remain an important resource for all lovers of Australian flora. REFERENCES 1 For information on the Flockton family I am indebted to Louise Wilson’s unpublished manuscript on her family history. 2 ‘Margaret Lilian Flockton’, Dictionary of Australian Artists Online , accessed i/i/i i. 3 J.H. Maiden to Under Secretary, 24 August 1909, letter book A17, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney. 4 Helen Hewson, yoo Years of Botanical Illustration., CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Vic., 1999, p.i6o. 5 Norman Hall, Botanists of the Eucalyptus^ CSIRO, Melbourne, 1978 (quoted in Hewson). 6 The Sydney Electronic Text and Image Service , accessed i/i/ii. 7 Joan Kerr (ed.), Heritage: the national women’s art book. Craftsman House, Roseville East, NSW, 1995, p.178. Pamela Bell is an art historian. After teaching art history at the University of New South Wales she became the first Curator of the University of Sydney Art Collection where she also reinstated and ran the University of Sydney Art Gallery. She is now an independent curator and art valuer. 32 Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 Diary dates^ FEBRUARY 20 1 1 Exploring Government House grounds Victoria Tuesday 8 An escorted walk and talk in the Government House grounds, followed by a BYO picnic tea. Meet at the gates in Government House Drive (Melway 2F, K 1 1) at 6pm. Soil fungi and microbial action Sydney and Northern NSW Thursday 10 Biologist Dr Peter McGee will speak about revitalising degraded soils, for instance those in ex-industrial sites becoming public parks. 6pm for 6.30— 8.30pm, Annie Wyatt Room, National Tmst Centre. Cost: $20 members, $30 non-members. Bookings essential. For bookings and enquiries contact Jeanne Villani on (02) 9997 5995 orjeanne@villani.com New Holland from a botanical perspective West Australia Friday 11 Lecture by Dr Michael McCarthy entitled ‘The Exploration of New Holland: a botanical perspective’. Details to be confirmed. For information contact Caroline Grant via email on chhgrant@yahoo.com Historic garden visits Tasmania Sunday 20 Historic garden visits including Marlbrook near Pontville. Details to be confirmed. For further information contact Liz Kerry via email on liz.kerry@keypoint.com.au Morning talk for armchair travellers Victoria Thursday 24 Committee members will share their garden discoveries on their travels in 2010. Kathy Wright visited 27 small gardens in public spaces in New York, Pamela Jellie took a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater in Pennsylvania, and John Dwyer, whilst in the UK, visited Snowshill Manor and a Baroque garden in the Cotswolds. roam. Domain House, Dallas Brooks Drive, South Yarra. Cost: gold coin donation. MARCH 20 1 1 The Resource of Landscape forum West Australia Saturday 12 Landscape forum at The University Club of Western Australia, entitled ‘The Resource of Landscape’, which will include a presentation by Richard Aitken on ‘The Garden of Ideas’. Details to be confirmed. For information contact Caroline Grant via email on chhgrant@yahoo.com Flora of Sydney's Cumberland Plain Sydney and Northern NSW Wednesday 16 Talk by ecologist Dr Doug Benson on the diverse and threatened flora of Sydney’s Cumberland Plain, which he has documented over two decades and which is facing both habitat loss and some revival. 6pm for 6. 30-8. 30pm, Annie Wyatt Room, National Trust Centre. Cost: $20 members, $30 non-members. Bookings essential. For bookings and enquiries contact Jeanne Villani on (02) 9997 5995 orjeanne@villani.com The Garden of Ideas Queensland Sunday 20 Lecture by author and curator Richard Aitken showcasing the touring exhibition ‘The Garden of Ideas’. Date, venue, and other details to be advised to branch members closer to the event. Tour of the Bulla and Sunbury region Victoria Sunday 20 Bus tour of the Bulla/Sunbury region, which will include a visit to Woodlands Homestead, the Alister Clark Memorial Rose Garden, and Rupertswood Mansion. 9am, Victorian Arts Centre, St Kilda Road, Melbourne. Cost: $85. Booking details are included on a flyer enclosed with the journal. Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 33 Gould's book of plants Victoria Thursday 24 A lecture on Gould’s book of plants by Associate Professor Hamish Maxwell-Stewart and Eleanor Cave. This lecture enthralled members at the Launceston Conference so we are pleased to have it presented again in Melbourne. 6pm for 6.30pm lecture in Mueller Hall, The Herbarium, Birdwood Ave., South Yarra. Cost: $15 members, $20 non-members, $5 students with student card. Enquiries to Pamela Jellie (03) 9836 1881. APRIL 201 1 Historic qardens around Campbell Town Tasmania Early April (to be confirmed) Historic gardens and houses will be visited in the Campbell Town area, including Rosedale. Details to be confirmed. Eor further information contact Liz Kerry via email on liz.kerry@keypoint.com.au Kokoda Track Memorial walk Sydney and Northern NSW Sunday 3 Walk among the ambitious plantings and memorials commemorating Australian WWII service men and women in Papua New Guinea, on the Kokoda Track Memorial walk. Bedlam Bay Park, Concord West. 2-4pm, meeting place to be advised on booking. Cost: $15 members, $25 non-members. Bookings essential. Eor bookings and enquiries contact Jeanne Villani on (02) 9997 5995 orjeanne@villani.com Cottesloe Civic Centre West Australia Sunday 10 Talk by Ann Eorma on the Landscape Management Plan for the Cottesloe Civic Centre. Details to be confirmed. Eor information contact Caroline Grant via email on chhgrant@yahoo.com MAY 201 1 The Garden of Ideas ACT /Monaro /Riverina Thursday 12 Lecture by author and curator Richard Aitken showcasing the touring exhibition ‘The Garden of Ideas’. Venue: National Library of Australia; time and other details to be advised to branch members closer to the event. Historic Gardens of Perth exhibition West Australia Wednesday 11-Wednesday 25 This exhibition featuring early Perth gardens will be held in the foyer of the Perth Town Hall. Details to be confirmed closer to the date. Lor information contact Caroline Grant via email on chhgrant@yahoo.com Historic Gardens of Perth exhibition opening West Australia Friday 13 Historic Gardens of Perth exhibition opening at Perth Town Hall. Other details to be confirmed. Lor information contact Caroline Grant via email on chhgrant@yahoo.com Birchgrove walk Sydney and Northern NSW Saturday 21 Discover Mort Park and Ballast Point Park (both former industrial sites, now two contrasting modern harbour-side parks), and a couple of enchanting private gardens in very diverse locations. 2— 5pm, meeting place advised on booking. Cost: $15 members, $25 non-members. Bookings essential. Lor bookings and enquiries contact Jeanne Villani on (02) 9997 5995 or jeanne@villani.com JUNE 201 1 Hawkesbury disappearing agriculture day Sydney and Northern NSW Sunday 19 Discover UWS Richmond Campus’s Secret Garden and Lederation era grounds on this self-drive afternoon tour of Hawkesbury Harvest (farm gate) and Hawkesbury Artists’ trails. 10.30— 5pm, meeting place to be advised on booking. Cost: to be advised. Bookings essential. Lor bookings and enquiries contact Jeanne Villani on (02) 9997 5995 orjeanne@villani.com Winter lecture Victoria Sunday 19 Diana Snape will talk on the history of the use of Australian native plants in garden design and by garden designers, many of whom are known to her, who have promoted the use of native plants in designed landscapes. 6pm for 6.30pm, Mueller Hall, The Herbarium, Birdwood Ave., South Yarra. Cost: $15 members, $20 non-members, $5 students with student card. Enquiries to Pamela Jellie (03) 9836 1881 34 Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 ‘Understanding Place: the resource of landscape', Western Australian forum, Saturday, 12 March 2011 Caroline Grant Longstanding member John Viska recalls that the Western Australian Branch of the Australian Garden History Society was formed over 20 years ago, around the time of Australia’s bicentennial celebrations, and when John Sales (gardens advisor to the English National Trust) toured Australia. To celebrate its twenty-first birthday, an exhibition of early gardens of Western Australia has been planned with sponsorship from the City of Perth and the AGHS National Management Committee. ‘Historic Gardens of Perth’ will run from 11—25 May 2011 at the Perth Town Hall. At the same time that the WA Branch was planning this exhibition, development pressure on Perth — resulting from the minerals boom — was building. New plans have created renewed concern about the Swan River foreshore and conservation of the historic plantings there. Our Society’s website states: Formed in igSo, the Australian Garden History Society brings together people united by an appreciation of and concern for our parks, gardens and cultural landscapes as part of Australia’s heritage. The Society promotes knowledge of historic gardens and research into their history. It aims to examine gardens and gardening in their widest social, historic, literary, artistic and scientific context. It could be argued that gardening in its widest sense involves the treatment of whole landscapes. Feelings about the broader landscape in Western Australia were piqued recently, for instance, when a coal mine was proposed for the Margaret River region. The mine would rely on road transport of coal through the vineyards to Bunbury for shipping, and many local people are concerned about the effect of the proposed mine on the water supply as well as the amenity of the area. If Western Australia had a sound landscape assessment system it is unlikely a coal mine would be proposed for a landscape with important scenic values, high economic values (in terms of the wine produced), and the tourism revenue that the area generates. The proposed mine lies within the town’s water catchment, with all the implications for surface water collection, interference These two views of Kings Park, Perth (above and overleaf), encapsulate both the beauty and management challenges of designed landscapes — if such well-known landscapes pose dilemmas for planners, how much more crucial are the myriad decisions about lesser-known places often made in the absence of any rigorous planning assessment. Australian Garden History V0I.22 N0.3 January/February/March 2011 35 Caroline Grant with aquifers, and subsidence, that a coal mine brings. Concerns about landscape protection have been voiced by the National Trust and other amenity groups in Western Australia including the Guildford Society. In September 2010 Heritage Victoria ran a landscape forum supported by representatives from the AGHS and Australia ICOMOS, and AGHS Chairman John Dwyer has subsequently offered national support to hold such an event in Western Australia. The National Trust of WA has offered support while Juliet Ramsay, chair of the National Scientific Committee of Cultural Landscapes and Cultural Routes committee of Australia ICOMOS, also offered her services. The landscape forum, ‘Understanding Place: the resource of landscape’, to be held in Perth on Saturday, 12 March 2011, will be opened by the Vice-Chancellor of Western Australia and eminent agricultural scientist Professor Alan Robson. The forum’s objective is to create a multi-disciplinary setting in which the concept of landscape can be discussed, and issues relating to Western Australia’s landscapes aired. A range of presenters and audience participants with experience in considering landscapes in a broad sense will be invited, to help draw together a common set of values and meanings. As the population of the state grows and concentrates in the south west, and as housing subdivisions and infrastructure infiltrate agricultural areas, state planning initiatives and private property rights are increasingly likely to conflict. From a democratic point of view, it is important to share information and perspectives to inform the landscape management process. Simon Lang and Marion Blackwell will inform the audience about the natural history of Western Australia; its geology, soils, and its special flora. Craig Burton, Stuart Read, Juliet Ramsay, and Richard Aitken will explore case studies and ideas elsewhere in Australia which have dealt with natural history. Aboriginal occupation, layers of European history, heritage significance, and the political aspects of these cases (including World Heritage listing). We will also hear from Stephanie Clegg, Tara Cherrie, and Ruth Morgan discussing local issues. Apart from AGHS members and National Trust members, it is hoped to draw an audience from local government and the general public, including farmers, land developers, and concerned individuals. Updated information will be posted on the AGHS website regularly. AUSTRALIAN GARDEN HISTORY Mission Statement The Australian Garden History Society is the leader in concern for and conservation of significant cultural landscapes and historic gardens through committed, relevant and sustainable action. Phone: 03 9650 5043 ■ ToIIfree: 1800 678 446 ■ www.gardenhistorysociety.org.au