08 February 2025

Edna Walling's stunning garden designs

Edna Margaret Walling (1895-1973) was born in York, second daughter of William and Harriet Walling. Edna studied at the Convent of Notre Dame in Devon, enjoying exploring with dad and the practical arts. Arriving in New Zealand in 1912 with her family, she began a nursing course at Christchurch. About 1914 the Wallings moved to Melbourne where William became a warehouse director.

Encouraged by her mother, Edna studied at School of Horticulture Burnley, gaining a graduate certificate in Dec 1917. She then began work as a jobbing gardener around Melbourne. Asked by an architect to plan a garden, she loved the idea. More commissions came and by the 1920s she had built a successful practice in garden design. She developed a sophisticated style,attracting an equally sophisticated clientele, and rapidly became the leading exponent of the art in Victoria at first, then spread to other states. Her regular gardening columns (1926-46) in Australian Home Beautiful and other magazines extended her influence.

Mawarra in Sherbrooke, designed in 1932
Dandenong Ranges Photography

To some extent, Walling emulated the styles of Spanish and Italian gardens and the work of Sir Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll in Britain. The gardens she created typically exhibited a strong architectural character. For clients in the wealthy suburbs of Melbourne and on country estates, her designs included grand architectural features: walls, pergolas, stairs, parterres, pools and colonnades—woven into a formal geometry. And she always found a space for a wild, unstructured section.

For clients with more modest means, Walling's approach was more relaxed, relying on curving lawns and garden beds to give the illusion of greater space. But rarely were there no stone walls or other structural features. Whether the garden was big or small, she created a succession of pictures. Her handling of space, contour, level and view was brilliant. Equally impressive was her mastery of plants and their visual and ecological relationships. Her gardens were clothed by a soft and consistent palette of plants. She favoured greens and used other colours sparingly, mostly in pastel tones or white. For many clients she produced an exquisite water-colour plan of the garden as a means of conveying her proposals. Most of her gardens were constructed by Eric Hammond. Walling often provided the plants from her own nursery and was frequently on site giving instructions and helping with the physical labour. 

Edna Walling's iconic 1920s landscape design, Sherbrooke 
Heritage listed. Facebook

In the early 1920s Walling had acquired land at Mooroolbark where she built a house for herself, known as Sonning. Here she lived and worked, establishing her nursery and gathering around her a group of like-minded people for whom she designed picturesque 'English' cottages and gardens. She named the area Bickleigh Vale village. Some people, rather unkindly, called it Trouser Lane because of the dress of its predominantly female residents. The village was, and remains, an extraordinary experiment in urban development. In Walling's lifetime, and beyond, it has become a place of pilgrimage for her many followers. She designed several other group-housing estates. One, at Mount Kembla in NSW, was built for Broken Hill Associated Smelters Pty Ltd. Others remained on paper.

By the 1940s Walling's was a household name and she capitalised on her popularity by publishing four successful books: Gardens in Australia (1943); Cottage and Garden in Australia (1947); A Gardener's Log (1948); and The Australian Roadside (1952). A further monograph, On the Trail of Australian Wildflowers, appeared posthumously in 1984. Several more manuscripts were unpublished.

Her influence on C20th gardening in Australia was enormous. The visual impact of the hundreds of gardens she created, her extensive writing, and the respect she commanded from those with whom she worked, including Glen Wilson, Ellis Stones and Eric Hammond, had a considerable effect on the next generation. In the 1980s and 1990s she was to become almost a cult figure for many Australian gardeners and a number of books were published about her work.

The Edna Walling Book of Australian Garden Design,
by Anne O'Donovan, 1980

In the mid-1940s Walling had developed a particular interest in native plants; she had begun using them in domestic gardens in the 1920s. An early and active conservationist, she joined battles to protect the natural environment and crusaded for the preservation of indigenous roadside vegetation. She was an outstanding photographer who always took her camera on her extensive travels. Classical music was another of her passions.

Miss Walling was not a person to be taken lightly. On site, dressed in her customary jodhpurs, jacket and tie, with strong, handsome features, she was energetic, determined and demanding. These character traits often provoked conflict, especially with some of her wealthy male clients. Yet she was also generous, fun loving and good company, attracting many loyal admirers and friends. By 1967, tiring of the characterless suburbs advancing towards Bickleigh Vale, she moved to Buderim, Queensland, to be in a warmer climate and near to her niece Barbara Barnes. Always single, Walling maintained a close relationship with Lorna Fielden, a teacher forwhom she had designed a house and garden at Bickleigh Vale. Fielden also moved to Buderim. 

Edna Walling, book cover of
The Unusual Life of Edna Walling, by Sara Hardy

Walling died in 1973 at Nambour and was cremated with Christian Scientist rituals.





04 February 2025

Favourite babies' names in Australia, 2024

In my community, a newborn baby is named after the last beloved relative, of the same gender, to pass away. Thus I was called Helen after my late grandmother Hinde, and my son was called Peter in honour of my beloved grandfather Pinchas. The only argument between the spouses is usually which grandparent to honour first.

Although it was only 12 years ago, I was interested to read the names we gave to our newborn babies back in 2012. Now I have read McCrindle Research NSW reported the following 10 most popular names for baby boys and girls in Australia, as chosen in 2024.

What names should we give these beautiful neonates?
Adobe

                  Oliver

                 Noah

                 Henry

                 Leo                 

                 Theodore

                 Hudson

                 Luca

                 William

                 Charlie

                 Jack

The 2024 boys’ list included both traditional names, and unique generation and trending names. Parents of Generation Alpha (the first generation to be entirely born in the C21st) opted for one or two syllable names and tended to choose names that could be abbreviated eg Harry from Harrison and Theo from Theodore

                  Isla          

                 Amelia

                 Charlotte

                 Olivia

                 Mia

                 Ava

                 Matilda

                 Harper

                 Lily 

                 Hazel

The girls top 100 list saw a larger number of names featuring “y” and names ending in “ie”, such as Millie, Billie and Lottie. Parents of Generation Alpha are also inspired by flora and wildlife, choosing names like Lily, Ivy, Willow, Summer, Daisy, Violet, Poppy and Rose.

Names became a generational marker and painted a fascinating picture of the era in which babies were born. Reviewing the decades after WW2 ended revealed interesting insights into the naming patterns of each generation. In the 1950s, names like Maxine and Norman were popular. In the 1960s, Ruth and Frank were popular, followed by Deborah and Neil in the 1970s. Fiona and Ian become popular in the 80s, and Lisa and Scott in the 90s. Turn of the C20th saw names like Laura and Jason become popular, followed by Florence and Reuben in the 2010s, both of which are still on the top 100 baby name list.

Oliver continued its 11-year reign as the #1 boy’s name in Australia with 1,906 occurrences and has now been on top for 11 years. While Oliver’s total number of occurrences in the top ten reduced since 2022, Oliver is still the #1 baby name overall. Demonstrating the popularity of this name, the shortened nickname Ollie has now entered the top 100 in its own right, debuting at #84.

The top 10 baby boy names include the same names as last year, though rankings have shifted. Henry has climbed to #3 from #5 last year. Leo, William, Jack and Luca have moved down the ranks, making way for Theodore and Hudson. Noah (#2) and Charlie (#9) remain unchanged in position.  

 The top baby girl name was contested between Isla and Charlotte for a number of years, but Isla is back at #1 with 1,249 occurrences. Isla has been particularly popular among parents of Generation Alpha, as Isla was in position #34 in 2010 at the conception of Generation Alpha and made her way to the top ten by 2016. Ever since, she has consistently been hovering at the top. Harper makes another entrance into the top ten, having featured in 2017, 2018 and 2019, while Hazel makes her debut to the top ten after residing in the top 100 since 2014 (debuting at #88). Lily has been a popular girls name for the last decade, happily for me. Willow, Ella and Grace moved out of top ten positions for these entrants.

Ten names have entered the top 100 baby names in 2023, highlighting shifting naming trends among new parents. While this year there are less entrants into the top 100 baby name list compared to earlier entrants, these new names reflect how naming inspiration can change in just one year. See Miles who makes the strongest male entrance at 48, plus Owen and August. For girls, note the new appearance of Lottie, Cleo and Riley. Fewer baby boys will be named Connor, Charles and Remy, and fewer girls will be named Eden, Claire and Gracie.

Thank you to Baby names for boys and girls, Australia Report 2024 by: McCrindle Research NSW  

My grandchildren, born between 2003-11
All have Hebrew or French first names

If I was naming a newborn now, which names would stand out? Most simple Biblical or Russian names would be lovely for a son eg Reuben, Noah, Jacob, Leo or Sasha. For a daughter, I would like to choose a gentle name from nature, probably ending in a vowel eg Lily, Laurel, Grace or Cleo. However, I know that choosing a popular generational name is often the same name chosen by everybody else. When I started high school in 1960, there were 8 Helens in my year!


 

01 February 2025

Modernist art glass: Italy & Australia.

When I was doing art history, Art consisted of painting, sculpture and architecture. Even illuminated manuscripts were studied for their paintings, not for their other art forms eg book binding, printing, wood cuts. And for students who wanted to write academic theses about silver art, ivories, treen, ceramics or textiles, there was always a desperate scramble to find top quality supervisors and examiners.

What changed that for me as a postgraduate was finding other art forms that were fascinating: a] silver art of my beloved Huguenots, b] birth of C18th porcelain in central Europe and c] arrival of art glass in Australia. Art glass, for the purposes of this post, is an object of hand blown glass, designed in the first instance for decorative purposes. 

Sommerso/sunken glass is an art glass from the Italian island of Murano in the late 1930s with two or more layers of contrasting colours. These layers are formed by dipping the object in molten glass; the outermost layer is typically clear. Sommerso was developed during in the inter-war era and its sharp lines and minimal decoration quickly became a popular technique for vases. There is something about the crispness and lack of applied decorative elements on top of Murano that might remind the reader of the Gordon Studio art glass in Victoria.

Gordon, Burnt Earth Bottles,  2010, 
up to 50 cm high

Sommerso glass stem vase, Italy
20th Century Glass

The Scottish duo Alasdair and Rish Gordon graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 1957, then moved to Hadelands Glass Works in Norway. The two artists soon established an engraving workshop in Bergen. Using full lead crystal blanks blown by Hadelands, they started using sandblast in their sculptures, and were there for the beginning of studio glass.

In 1973, Alasdair and Rish returned to Scotland, establishing a studio with Strathearn Glass Company. They would have stayed in Scotland, had it not been for the invitation to participate in Western Australia’s 150th Anniversary Celebrations in 1979. The family decided to emigrate to Australia, and as soon as possible they established The Gordon Studio in Fremantle, a port suburb of Perth.

Their daughter Eileen Gordon was born in Norway and was trained in England, then emigrated to Australia in 1980 with her parents. After a decade of working in glass studios here and abroad, Eileen established the her own studio in 1990. I had seen a lot of the Gordon studio’s loveliest pieces in a retail outlet in Melbourne, but had never seen their gallery and studio in semi-rural Mornington Peninsula.

Gordon, Centrifugal Platter, 2007, 
52cm diameter


Melbourne-born Grant Donaldson, Eileen’s husband, was not born into a glass art family. He left the land and started his career in glass in 1990, assisting his wife in this modern art medium. By 1994 the midlife career change was complete - he sold his farm and relocated Gordon Studio Glassblowers to the beachside resort town of Rosebud. Once Grant was working full time on his own glass art, he too became recognised as an innovative glass blower. Now they are in Red Hill, not far from Rosebud.

Naturally some pieces were more attractive to me than others. I did not particularly like the glass flowers mounted on removable stainless steel rods for planting in the garden; nor the mushrooms, cactus plants or bulrushes. Even the tiny Kaleidoscope Bottles seemed too small and decorated to be truly modern. But the large bottles, vases, platters & dishes are sublime: strong colours, sleek shapes and uncluttered by decorative add-ons. Had I found the centrifugal platters in the middle of Finland or Cuba, I still would have guessed that the colours and shapes were purely Australian. There is something special about the landscapes and seascapes of the Mornington Peninsula, its soils, trees and sunsets.

Donaldson, Jelly Bottles,  2010, 
68cm high

Perhaps the Gordon studio's most prestigious international exposure each year was at the Munich International Craft Fair in Germany, 1999-2000. In Australia the biggest success for the company was at the National Art Glass Gallery in Wagga Wagga. But for children visiting the studio, the highlight was watching the molten glass get coloured, moulded, patted with timber paddles and fired, endlessly.
 



28 January 2025

Fryerstown Vic: historic gold town

Never heard of Fryerstown in Victoria, just a 10-minute drive south from Castlemaine? Neither had I. Yet the locals say this now-tiny town was once home to 15,000 people during the 1850s gold rush, with hundreds of homes, 30 hotels and an endless supply of freshly brewed beers! It must have been a hopping and jumping place; especially in the early days the town was full of hustlers, drinkers and men wanting to cash in on the gold finds, sometimes violently. The Traveller's Guide to the Goldfields  says that the gold nuggets picked up in this area were particularly valuable.

Fryerstown courthouse 

The good folk of Fryerstown needed community facilities built locally, so that the citizens would not have to travel to the next big town every day. The Fryerstown National School opened in Feb 1853 in a tent at the Commissioners Camp at Golden Gully with 27 pupils. By 1865 loc­als decided that a proper new schoolhouse was needed and in July 1866 a new building was erected. Fryerstown State School No 252 was probably never very beautiful but in the late 1860s the school enrol­ment was 450 pupils, so this building was very im­portant to the Fryerstown community. By 1874 the Education Department had to build additional rooms. The school served the town well until 1967 when it closed for lack of interest; the last 3 students were relocated.

Fryerstown School
MelbournePlaygrounds

Post Office was opened in 1854, a courthouse and police lockup were built in 1880. The court was later converted into a private residence, but we can guess from photos what it looked like back then - ornate bluestone foundations, baltic pine timber, pressed metal ceiling, slate roofing, cruciform shape, cathedral ceilings and leadlight windows.

By the late 1850s, surface gold in the area was beginning to diminish, so if gold mining was to continue, they would need larger companies to raise finance. From Britain. Richard Luke Kitto was a Cornish immigrant, engineer and surveyor who arrived in 1856, and started mining. He was appointed the Mining Registrar at Fryer's Creek in 1860. Kitto obtained the lease of the Duke of Cornwall Quartz Mining Company, to raise capital to dig out the deepest gold. In 1867 he sailed to England to raise the capital required, forming the Australian United Gold Mining Company in 1868. It may not have been the greatest of successes, financially speaking, but the Duke of Cornwall Mine still stands.

The Methodist Goldfields Chapel church was built in 1861 when gold prospectors were flooding into the area. The stone building was used as a church until 1971 when it was sold and turned into a holiday retreat.

Perhaps the nicest facility arrived when the local inhabitants of Fryerstown decided to build a memorial to show their sorrow for the fate of the explorers who had sacrificed their lives in crossing the continent. The doomed explorers, Burke and Wills, both died in June 1861, so it was amazing that the money was raised by the end of that year! There was actually an outpouring of grief for these heroic men across the state. By 1862 monuments had been erected in Back Creek Cemetery Bendigo, on the hill overlooking Castle­maine, in Beechworth and of course Fryerstown. Then Ballarat erected their Explorer's Fountain.

Mechanics Institute, 
named in honour of Burke and Wills
Victorian Places

The foundation stone for the small brick place was laid in mid 1863 and the Mechanics Institute was completed four months later. The Mount Alexander Mail reported on the successful opening ceremony of the Mechanics Institute Hall in front of 160 honoured guests. The Fryers Town Band played a selection of airs that enlivened the whole proceedings, as did speeches about the importance of knowledge, and having the means of reading and learn­ing available to people. Other rural Mechanics Institutes were certainly the intellectual and literary centre of those towns, but in Fryerstown it was the social centre as well.

The Burke and Wills Mechanics Institute in Fryerstown celebrated its 150th anniversary in Aug 2013. To celebrate, Hall Trustees invited past and present locals to a modern equivalent of the opening event. Teas, music and speeches!

Duke of Cornwall Mine
Dreamstime

And there are still some other Fryerstown sites of great interest to the history buff. The state school had to be restored in 2011 as part of a service for tourists i.e to improve accessibility to the Gold­fields Track, a walking & mountain bike track connecting Ballarat and Bendigo via small towns in between. And to provide support for the Victorian Goldfields World Heritage Bid that was largely focused on Castle­maine’s Diggings National Heritage Park.

These days the Fryerstown Hall is best known for its annual an­t­ique fair every Australia Day long weekend, attracting a nation­wide commitment by stall holders and thousands of visitors. It is an old building which requires maintenance and that is why the fair, which is a huge undertaking for a small town, is run each January. The fair will ensure that the hall is kept going and maintained for future generat­ions. First held in 1975, the Fair is one of the largest in Australia. And the recently refurbished old Fryerstown School was also opened for inspection.

Goldfields Chapel, opened for services in 1861
Riparide