BOOKS

VISIONS AND VOICES

Celebrating 25 Years of the Australian Garden History Society

Where have working bees been held in NSW?
Who wrote Kindred Spirits?
What was the theme of the national conference in 1996?
How did AGHS come into being?
When were conferences held in Perth?
In which state will you find Jimbour House?
How many times has Studies in Australian Garden History been published?

For everything you want to know about AGHS get your copy of Visions & Voices: The Australian Garden History Society 1980-2005

To order contact the AGHS office.

Orange Groves, Blackall Range, Queensland about 1870. [©Rex Nan Kivell

PLANTING THE NATION edited by Georgina Whitehead

Planting the Nation explores Australia's landscapes and gardens between 1890 and 1914 offering perspectives on garden design, horticultural developments, city planning, architecture and social history during this remarkable period.
Published by the AGHS to mark the centenary of Federation, this beautifully illustrated collection of essays is an important contribution to garden history that will be enjoyed by all who appreciate our nation's landscape heritage.

208 pages, 250 x 175 mm, hardback, with index.

Contents
JOHN RICKARD
Planting the Nation: The Federal Era 1890 - 1914
SUZANNE HUNT
Where the Sweet Australian Peas Bloomed: State School Gardens in Victoria
OLINE RICHARDS Public Parks and Recreation Reserves in Western Austalia; The Federation Years
NINA CRONE
Symbols of a New Nation: Australia's Flora in the Decorative Arts
SUSAN REIDY Something for Everyone: How Sport & Recreation Bowled into the Australian Garden
HARRIET EDQUIST
Arts & Crats Gardens in Melbourne & their legacy
DAVID JONES
Grottoes, Rockeries & Ferneries: The Creations of Charles Robinette
JEANNIE SIM
A Golden Age of Gardening in the Subtropics
ROBERT FREESTONE
Imagineering the City Beautiful: Parks, Gardens, and Town Planning Thought

The period leading up to and following the federation of the Australian colonies was one of significant transition and reform. Governing the continent was only one concern; education, arts, urban planning, fitness and recreation were also subjects of reform. Transformations in the social, economic and technological structures of western society were making their mark. Major political events were merely part of an even bigger scene, and all this affected not only how we live, but also the landscapes we live in.

KINDRED SPIRITS: A BOTANICAL CORRESPONDENCE
by Anne Latreille

Letters by JEAN GALBRAITH,
Drawings by JOAN LAW-SMITH

Thirty five years ago Jean Galbraith, the noted naturalist, botanist, author and gardener, began corresponding with the aspiring botanical artist, Joan Law-Smith.

Kindred Spirits is the beautiful record of this botanical correspondence, and the friendship that developed between the two. They came from very different backgrounds but were drawn together by their love of plants and nature.

The initial correspondence served to teach Joan Law-Smith the rudiments of botany. Fortnightly from her home in Gippsland in eastern Victoria, Jean Galbraith sent botany lessons and assignments, hand-written on pages torn from a small notepad, to Joan, who lived on the other side of the state. Joan absorbed the lessons, then did the drawings that Jean asked for and posted them back.

Jean's lessons, and the increasingly competent small drawings Joan did in response, form the kernel of the book. This is set against the background of their lives which spanned the 20th century, the superb gardens they made - `Bolobek' at Macedon and `Dunedin' at Tyers - the books they wrote and their contribution to garden history in Victoria and Australia.

Kindred Spirits evokes a gentle more leisurely era. A biographical botanical journey, it is a treasure that will be valued by artists, gardeners, historians and botanists alike. It includes some beautiful watercolour drawings by Joan Law-Smith that have not been reproduced before, and fascinating contemporary photographs.

Melbourne journalist Anne Latreille edited the lessons and letters, and wrote the biographical text. Editor of `The Age' gardening page fro 1985-97 (to which both Jean and Joan were regular contributors), she now works as a freelance writer and editor.

Kindred Spirits: a botanical correspondence by Anne Latreille
Published September 1999, RRP $29.95( incl GST)

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