Behind the Scenes Archivesact

ArchivesACT Behind the scenes ArchivesACT T.e landscaping of Canberra, Australia's national capital, makes it an unusual city. Most cities and towns have parks tucked away in a busy network of streets, houses, shops, schools and public buildings of all shapes and sizes. But in Canberra, streets, buildings and park-land are intermingled. Suburban houses are set back from the road leaving a deep grassy verge; schools adjoin public sports ovals; a man-made lake with gently Instant landscape- a 7m tree is lifted Householders select plants at Yarralumla undulating foreshores meanders into place Nursery through the city and, in close proximity, Parliament House presides over a formal landscape In the same year, Weston, who was Thomas Weston's Yarralumla Nursery which extends across the lake to the Canberra 's first Director of Parks and now produces hundreds of different grandeur of Anzac Parade and the Gardens, selected a site at Yarralumla for native and exotic species providing Australian War Memorial. a permanent nursery. He began testing about 500 000 trees, shrubs and varieties of plants to find out which flowering annuals each year for the would thrive in Canberra's climate. city's landscape development. The Heavy frosts in winter and hot, dry winds Nursery also provides each new in summer were too severe for many household with a free selection of ten C anberra's scenic be-auty is no species and some landscape plans had trees and forty shrubs to encourage the accident. When the site for the national to be modified. It became clear that cultivation of private gardens in keeping capital was selected in 1 908 it was a successful development of the projected with a ·garden city'. windswept plain. But as brick was laid ·garden city' and Burley Griffin's vision on brick and concrete slab joined to of ' great garden and water vistas' would A link between public and private concrete slab, grass was sown and trees require consultation and cooperation garden scenery is created by nature were planted alongside. The roads, the between designer and horticulturalist. strips-the deep grass verges lining buildings and the surrounding each suburban street. The beauty of landscape were designed and This close cooperation continues today. these streets commands attention in its established together. The National Capital Development own right in spring and autumn when Commission, responsible for the street trees burst into blossom or change planning of Canberra, draws on the their leaves from green to a riot of knowledge and experience of the City colour- shades of crimson, amber and Parks Administration-part of the city's gold. management organisation, the Department of the Capital Territory- in matters of design detail and management requirements. City Parks Administration provides most of the plantstock used in city landscaping and maintains it when and wherever it is planted. This maintenance includes the upkeep of street and city trees, picnic areas, parklands, lake foreshores, the sites of all public buildings, and public sports ovals. The area maintained exceeds 6000 ha. Autumn colour in a suburban street Streets, buildings and parklands are intermingled Leisure activities on lake and foreshore Seeds and saplings are not as easy to produce as bricks and mortar: they need soil, water and time- the seasons- in which to grow. So in 1 911, the same year as the Commonwealth Government launched an international competition ~ e foresight of Thomas Weston's for the design of Canberra, work started stock - propagating program and the on a plant nursery. By the time Walter advance planting of shelter and shade Burley Griffin {the young American trees have given the young city an landscape architect who won the established, settled appearance. Even in contest) became Director of Design and 1927 when visitors came to Canberra Construction in 1 91 3 a dedicated and for the opening of the new Parliament expert horticulturalist, Thomas Weston, House they found the main avenues of had supervised the planting of some the skeleton city lined with trees, many 5000 trees and shrubs. of them sixteen years old, matured from ArchivesACT that first planting in 1 911. It is hard to believe that the 11 million trees now growing in Canberra have been planted since then and came from the 1 7 ha nursery in Yarralumla and a 14 ha annex in Pialligo. There are many popular picnic spots in the natural bushland surrounding Canberra and a number of these have been developed intensively to increase their recreational use. Up to half a million people a year swim, fish, canoe and bushwalk in and around these havens of relaxation on the banks of the Murrumbidgee and Paddys Rivers. Anzac Parade, then . and now ... A new man-made lake in Canberra, Lake Ginninderra, situated in the satellite town of Belconnen, is still in the and in Weston Park, an area named in early stages of development and will be memory of Thomas Weston, children maintained in as natural a state as the play in the forts and tree houses A nother notable feature of Canberra urban environment will allow. constructed among pine trees while is its Botanic Gardens. Walter Burley nearby barbecues shaded by eucalypts Griffin· s early plans included botanical are put to good use . gardens with separate areas devoted to different countries of the world. The lake waters extend into the lily Canberra's climate, which has ponds and model boating pools of temperatures falling to - 10°C in winter Commonwealth Gardens, a park and reaching 39°C in summer and a designed by the well - known English rainfall of 665 mm, made this plan landscape architect, Dame Sylvia impossible. A site for a botanical Crowe. Although still under gardens was set aside, however, and in construction, these pleasant gardens are 1949 the first tree was planted. thronged with up to 10 000 people on Sundays in summer whep 'Sunday in the Park' , a kaleidoscope of events, is held. These include open-air theatre, bush bands, games for children and many stalls. Riverside recreation areas are popular The first man-made lake, Lake Burley Students sketching the rainforest gully in Griffin, however, is in the heart of the the Botanic Gardens city and has many lovely shoreline features. The lake, named after Walter Burley Griffin, has heavily wooded bays Canberra Botanic Gardens is devoted ideal for fishin9 and sandy beaches used exclusively to Australian plants and has for bathing; sailing enthusiasts use the largest collection of native Australian jetties and launching areas for their craft, flora in the world. Plants from all over Australia are collected, identified, preserved and grown here. Last year Hauling stepping stones into the river at a alone more than 6000 specimens were picnic spot collected . Manning the fort at Weston Park The Gardens' activities cover research, education and recreation. Last year over 300 000 people visited the Gardens, Parliament House stands at the apex of 6800 of them students. A number of an area known as the Parliamentary trails, each with a printed guide, enable Triangle. This embraces the National visitors to explore and learn for Library, Treasury, other government themselves. Rangers conduct larger institutions and the central basin of Lake groups an~ student~ and a~e available Burley Griffin. Anzac Parade extends for answering questions. from the Australian War Memorial to the base of this triangle. The formal design One trail leads through trees and plants of Anzac Parade and the Parliamentary used by the Aborigines and information Triangle creates a magnificent vista- a on why and how they were used is fitting setting for the nation's ceremonial provided. Another passes through an occasions. eroded ravine showing biological and ArchivesACT geological features while in another area a rainforest has been developed in a A smallunitsetupin 1961 tocarry gully which is almost frost free . out research into the improvement of Hundreds of misting nozzles controlled horticultural techniques and practices by a time clock enable plants normally gives advice and support to the City found only in Australia's warmer Parks Administration and provides rainforest areas to thrive in Canberra. information to the public. The Canberra Botanic Gardens is Canberra's climate has been mellowed operated and maintained by staff in some areas by shelter trees and some situated at the Gardens. Suburban plants previously unsuited to the city can depots house the workforce for the rest now be grown. Experimeritation in this of the city; the maintenance program for area still proceeds. Ground covers and the more than 6000 ha of diversified grasses are tested for hardiness and low land treatments and settings requires upkeep properties. Pest control considerable organisation, management chemicals are put through stringent and, of course, labour. Earth must be trials to verify their safety and dug; ground covers selected and Mowing on a large scale effectiveness. Developments elsewhere planted; grass mowed; weeds, insect in Australia and overseas are monitored pests and plant diseases controlled; with a view to improving the landscape trees watered and pruned; dead plants and reducing maintenance costs in replaced. Canberra. Areas requiring the most• labour intensive maintenance are the C ity Parks employs horticulturalists, school and public sportsgrounds- the arboriculturists, botanists, technical ' major one being the National Athletics officers, tree surgeons, gardeners, Stadium. mechanics, plumbers, carpenters, Today Canberra stands resplendent in bricklayers, stonemasons, painters, a graceful setting diligently created plant operators and labourers. through the vision and aesthetic appreciation ofthe city's planner, the The work ranges from identifying and National Capital Development cataloguing newly acquired plants in the Commission, and the organisation Botanic Gardens' Herbarium to operating behind the scenes- the City transplanting seedlings in the gardens of Parks Administration.

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