Tony Byrne
tonybyrne@effect.net.au
Chair:
Tony Byrne
Vice Chair:
Helen Elliot
Treasurer:
Robyn Henderson
Secretary:
Nancy Clarke
NMC Representative:
Nancy Clarke
Committee:
Kay Johnston
Rod Holesgrove
Julia Nicholls
Judy Pearce
Linda Spinaze
Marie Wood
The ACT/Monaro/Riverina Branch of the Australian Garden History Society covers southern NSW and the ACT. Each year we organise a number of garden visits and in winter we hold a series of talks on a wide range of historic garden and landscape topics.
Friday 10 September
Visit to two gardens in the Southern Highlands
The AGHS Southern Highlands Branch have invited our members to join them on an outing in September. See the August Newsletter for further details. Members should book directly with the Southern Highlands branch as outlined in the material.
Sunday 24 October
Rock Valley Spring Walk
Rock Valley, Tidbinbilla is a relict cultural landscape that conveys layers of history – over 70 years of farming, several decades of use as a park depot, and more recently, its devastation in the 2003 bushfire. Rock Valley homestead was one of the district's pise buildings but in the post fire years was recommended for demolition. Luckily the building was saved and the pise ruin stabilised and roofed.
The post fire garden, although just a few trees and shrubs is of interest for the way it reestablished itself. The garden is now managed by the Tidbinbilla Pioneers Association in collaboration with the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve.
The October visit will give members of the AGHS an opportunity to hear the Rock Valley story on site, walk around the cultural landscape remnants and discuss future landscape management.
To find Rock Valley — after leaving the information centre, travel along Tidbinbilla Ring Road for approximately 2 km and there is a large sign for Rock Valley on your right.
We will meet at Rock Valley at 10.30 am and after the visit move on to one of the picnic areas and enjoy a picnic lunch together. Bring your own picnic lunch and remember there are no toilets at Rock Valley. We thank Juliet Ramsay for planning this event for us.
Further information: Nancy Clarke, nclarke@grapevine.com.au, Ph 6248 6549.
Cost: $10 members, $15 non-members – see booking form on page 4 of the August Newsletter – alternatively you can email nclarke@grapevine.com.au and pay on the day.
Please make sure you include your phone/email so we can contact you if we have to cancel because of heavy rain.
The English Garden is situated within Canberra’s Weston Park near the Yarralumla Nursery. Its exact origins are unclear but we do know that the oldest trees within the Garden are those which were planted in the time of Charles Weston, the first Superintendant of Parks and Gardens in Canberra (from 1913).
In 2008 the Branch completed a condition assessment of the English Garden and produced a brochure on the Garden. This new information was launched by the ACT Chief Minister, Mr Jon Stanhope in April 2009. At the time of the launch Mr Stanhope announced that funds would be earmarked in the next ACT budget to do additional work in the English Garden and that his Department had invited the AGHS to provide advice on the project. The Branch wrote to the Chief Minister outlining our views on what should be done and recently we have been consulted as plans for new work have been drawn up.
The Yarralumla Nursery records, still in use, provide a unique source of information on the planting plans and plant experimentation that was carried out to develop and establish the Garden City concept for the new capital city of Canberra from its inception and later. Of particular interest is an extensive holding of index cards that record seed acquisitions, cutting material, planting dates and comments for the period from 1913 to the 1960s and a set of ledgers recording seed acquisitions up to the present.
These records are of value to a wide variety of groups including aborists, botanists, horticulturalists, garden and landscape designers, historians tree managers in the private sector and residents of Canberra. However in their present form the records are vulnerable and not easily searchable.
The Branch is applying for an ACT Heritage Grant to have the records digitised and is also seeking to have them listed on the ACT Heritage Register.
A Gardener's City. Canberra's Garden History – Canberra’s millions of trees, its lakes and parks have transformed a degraded limestone plain into one of the most beautiful cities in the world. This video/DVD produced by the Branch traces the development of the city and captures Canberra in full autumn colour. It was launched in 2006 and is available for purchase.
View a clip at www.the-hub.com.au/gallery.php and select A Gardener's City.
Enquiries: Brian Voce email: bvoce@ozemail.com.au
ACT/Monaro/ Riverina branch members are strongly encouraged to receive their branch newsletters and news updates by email. This service helps the Branch communicate better with members and reduces mail out costs.
