AGENDA
space the meadow may evoke, but also to the broader,
largely erased landscape history of Sydney.
Themeda, whose distinctive seed heads punctu-
ate the planting, was considered Australia’s most
widespread grass genus prior to European settlement
and its colour, predominantly a summer tan, consid-
ered the defining colour of the country.^5 In the case
of the meadow, a low and varied carpet of grasses with
clear sightlines beneath majestic figs may seem
ecologically incongruous, but it is remarkably similar
to the earliest descriptions of Sydney’s landscape.
These landscapes, described so often as appearing
like a “gentleman’s park,”^6 were noted as the favoured
landscapes of the Aboriginal Eora people.^7 Largely
erased from Sydney, they can be considered the city’s
“lost landscapes.”^8 The negative reaction to the oppor-
tunities the native meadow provides – witnessing
seasonal changes, the succession of species over time
- subtly highlights our ignorance about Sydney’s
seasons and particularities.
If we accept the argument that landscapes
accrue their power, in opposition to other mediations
between nature and culture, temporally,^9 where better
in our designs to express this quality than in planting?
When the elements that distinguish landscape from
related disciplines – an engagement with ecology and
the temporal, a sometimes unfashionably earnest
consideration of genius loci – are avoided in favour of
green veneers, our promotional claims of ecological
stewardship ring slightly hollow. Planting design in
landscape architecture has more to answer to and
more to offer than mere decoration or even ecology; it
plays an active role in contributing to the meaning of
place. The potential for landscape to intelligently
reflect on prevailing concepts of nature, rather than
simply restoring or re-creating past ecologies, provides
a rich area for debate, especially in an Australian
context.^10 The role of planting in contextualization, by
engaging with memory and the temporal, can amelio-
rate the perceived lack of intellectual and emotive
depth of the profession.^11For more coverage (and project credits) on Prince Alfred
Park, see Landscape Architecture Australia 141,
February 2014: landscapeaustralia.com/articles/
prince-alfred-park-1- From Cleveland Street, the view to
a traditional lawn is now framed by the
sometimes brown, sometimes golden
native seed heads of the meadow
plantings, adding a layer of complexity to
the Prince Alfred Park’s overall planting.
Photo: Brett Boardman - Warwick Mayne-Wilson, “The rise, decline and transformation
of Sydney’s parks: three case studies,” Australasian Parks and
Leisure, vol 9 no 4, summer 2006,12–16. - Bill Gammage, The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines made
Australia (Crows Nest, NSW: Allen and Unwin, 2011), 32. - John R. Stilgoe, What is Landscape? (Cambridge, Mass.:
MIT Press, 2015), 5. - Marc Treib, Austere Gardens: Thoughts on Landscape, Restraint,
and Attending (Novato, California: Oro Editions, 2016), 24. - Bill Gammage, The Biggest Estate on Earth, 32.
- Richard Aitken, Planting Dreams: Shaping Australian Gardens
(Sydney: NewSouth Books, 2016), 4. - Grace Karskens, The Colony: A History of Early Sydney (Crows
Nest, NSW: Allen and Unwin, 2009), 46, 58. - Grace Karskens, The Colony, 21.
- James Corner, “Recovering Landscape as a Critical Cultural
Practice” in James Corner (ed), Recovering Landscape: Essays in
Contemporary Landscape Architecture (New York, NY: Princeton
Architectural Press), 1999, 13. - James Corner, “Representation and Landscape: Drawing and
Making in the Landscape Medium” in Word and Image, vol 8
issue 3, 1992, 144. - James Corner, “Recovering Landscape as a Critical Cultural
Practice,” 13.
DEEP SHADE
Dianella caerulea (blue flax-lily)
Dichondra repens (kidney weed)
Microlaena stipoides (weeping grass)
Viola hederacea (Australian
native violet)
SUN SHADE
Cymbopogon refractus (barbed wire
grass)
Dichondra repens (kidney weed)
Eragrostis elongata ‘Elvera’ (lavender
grass)
Microlaena stipoides (weeping grass)
Themeda australis (kangaroo grass)
Viola hederacea (Australian
native violet)
Wahlenbergia stricta (Australian bluebell)(^2) PLANT LIST – CLEVELAND ST MEADOW
30 MAY 2017 LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AUSTRALIA