especially useful at roadsides and large regional
parks. The Western Grassland Reserves, which are a
proposed 15,000 hectare park at the western edge of
Melbourne, could be remarkable, one of the great
parks of the world, but its creation is failing for lack of
imagination and money.
In practice a lot of remnants suffer from insuffi-
cient management – they are damaged, weed-infested,
depauperate and long subjected to abuse. Undoing the
damage takes time and effort. These systems are not
immediately attractive: brown, fire risks, dumped
rubbish, cheap fencing. “Cues to care” is the most
important concept here: add good fencing, some
showy plantings, trees for shade, engaging signage and
water, and you’re halfway there.
What are some of the specific experiential quali-
ties of this landscape that you would like to instill
into the everyday urban environment?
At opposite ends of a spectrum, the beauty of detail
and the beauty of scale. There is something incredible
about being in a vast waist-height sea of rustling grass.
There is a growing awareness of Indigenous land
management practices in Australia, which spanned
tens of thousands of years and dramatically
influenced a landscape that was once considered
wilderness. What are your thoughts on the poten-
tial role of maintenance within designed Australian
landscapes?
Fire is such a strong force. We need to embrace its
benefits and not just recognize its dangers. Small
burns are quite possible and roads make great fire-
breaks. The process of organizing a burn can be an
opportunity to educate the community about the
wonders of our natural systems.
Ecology is currently undergoing a paradigm shift
and there are calls to evolve our approach to conser-
vation. How do you see the role of plants developing
into the future?
This is a complex question. Australia has a higher
proportion of endemic species than any other conti-
nent, and we don’t want to lose that. At the same time,
we have to triage, recognize which fights are worth
fighting. The world is going to be very different in a
hundred years. Connectivity is going to be a key, to
allow species migration and gene flow to happen. We
need regional and landscape-scale solutions enforced
- this isn’t really landscape architecture as we know it,
though perhaps it should be.
Is everyday landscape practice currently fulfilling
its potential role in contributing to biodiversity
conservation?
Not nearly enough. But there are clients and stake-
holders, all in their silos, carrying on about risk
management, who are equally part of the problem.
There’s a lot of good research out there, but bridging
the gap between research and practice is difficult,
especially in projects with tight timelines. We need to
lobby to have research and long-term monitoring in
the early planning stages of large-scale projects.
Designers maybe need to get a bit more humble, aim
for the greater good even if it doesn’t scrub up in the
hero shot. And it’s a matter of recognizing opportuni-
ties and acting on them wherever they appear – that’s
really important given the current lack of good top–
down guidance.INTERVIEW
PAUL THOMPSONSarah Hicks: You have previously observed that
“nothing is new,” that everything has already been
explored in terms of planting design in Australia.
But you also acknowledge that little has really
changed – why do you think this is so?
Paul Thompson: Patterns and approaches to plant-
ing design are universal and timeless, but the
differences are the responses of the climatic region
to the vegetation selected. We become more under-
standing of those responses as we understand site
conditions and the potentials of plant choices.
We’re more empowered in design when we have
more than a working knowledge of our materials.
What’s new is the project, where you combine age-old
design principles with advances in technological and
scientific understanding, applied with imagination
and dare. →Paul Thompson is a specialist consultant to
a number of landscape practices and
institutions. He commenced his design and
construction firm in 1970, specializing in
Australian plants. Thompson has an in-depth
accumulated knowledge of plant performance
for more species than are commonly cultivated.
His work is diverse, ranging from small private
gardens to larger public, industrial and rural
projects, notably the Australian Garden at the
Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne (in
collaboration with Taylor Cullity Lethlean).LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AUSTRALIA MAY 2017 69