Gardening / Photography
Book Details

Remembered Gardens

Eight Women and their Visions of an Australian Landscape

Holly Kerr Forsyth

‘There I saw the first olive tree ever planted in Australia; the Cork-tree in luxuriance; the Caper growing among rocks, the English Oak, the horse chestnut, broom, magnificent mulberry trees of thirty-five years growth, umbrageous and green, great variety of roses in hedges, also climbing roses.’
Surveyor-General Thomas Mitchell on Elizabeth Macarthur's garden, 1831

Elizabeth Macarthur sailed into the fledgling settlement of New South Wales in 1790, after a horrific voyage from England.

Opinion

“With Kerr Forsyth’s beautiful photographs and some of Australia’s foremost gardens, this is a joyful commemoration of the role of women in our rich garden heritage. Treat yourself or a friend.”
(Weekend Australian, 8/4/06)

“Remembered Gardens is an impressive achievement and a worthy testament to the work and lives of eight remarkable Australian women.”
(Mark McGinness, The Weekend Australian, 29-30 April 2006)

About this Title

‘There I saw the first olive tree ever planted in Australia; the Cork-tree in luxuriance; the Caper growing among rocks, the English Oak, the horse chestnut, broom, magnificent mulberry trees of thirty-five years growth, umbrageous and green, great variety of roses in hedges, also climbing roses.’
Surveyor-General Thomas Mitchell on Elizabeth Macarthur's garden, 1831

Elizabeth Macarthur sailed into the fledgling settlement of New South Wales in 1790, after a horrific voyage from England. As a comfort and a way to evoke home in this distant and foreign land, Elizabeth set about creating her remembered garden, filling it with roses and oak trees. Edna Walling came to gardening in the 1920s, one hundred and fifty years after Elizabeth's first encounter with the Australian 'wilderness'. Immediately captivated by the natural landscape and indigenous plants, she became a leading proponent of the Australian native garden.

Remembered Gardens is the story of Elizabeth, Edna and six other women whose passions for their gardens and for garden making have shaped our relationship with the Australian landscape.

Through personal records and public archives, Holly Kerr Forsyth brings to life these women's experiences. Their challenging and sometimes tragic stories are set against the backdrop of their gardens, which provided them with sanctuary and a way to express themselves in this often hostile environment. For later women like Edna Walling and Kath Carr, gardens also allowed them to carve out a significant career and reputation.

Beautifully illustrated, Remembered Gardens celebrates these women's lives with more than two hundred photographs of some of Australia's foremost gardens. It is a rich commemoration of more than two centuries of gardening in Australia and of the role of women in establishing a rich gardening heritage. Australia's gardens would not be the same without them.

About the Author

Holly Kerr Forsyth is a graduate of Arts at the University of Queensland, a graduate of Ryde Horticultural College, Sydney, and has a PhD in history from the University of New South Wales. As well as writing for a range of academic and mainstream publications, her writing on gardens can be found each Saturday in The Weekend Australian. During research for this book she travelled throughout Australia, photographing over 700 gardens, and interviewing their owners and creators.

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978-0-522-85243-1