Williamstown Botanic Gardens – today and in the future

The Gardens are an important cultural institution in Melbourne and Hobsons Bay.  They are not just another green space or park.  Generations of gardeners have tended them and shaped their development as generations of our community have used them and adapted them as a premium public place.

 Like all cultural artefacts, the Gardens tell us something about ourselves as a community.  The attention people in Williamstown (and now Hobsons Bay) have shown in cultivating plants and creating a place of great beauty and interest reflects their collective values.

 Botanic Gardens are unique places within public open space networks.  There is a  management responsibility to ensure that  generations of workers achieve continuity in implementing the design intent as the Gardens mature from the ‘first’ establishing landscape to the ‘second’ maturing landscape (and ‘third’ if you include a valuable but senescing landscape). 

This is made complex by the need for ‘workmanship of risk’ whereby each garden is unique and effectively a ‘prototype’ requiring judgement in making almost every decision without the aid of templates or jigs.  The Head Gardener needs to fully understand the context for their work in a heritage place and be capable of applying appropriate horticulture.

 Community interest and support for places like the Gardens fluctuates over time and in the 150 year life of the Gardens there have been high and low periods reflected in the skills and resources of the people looking after them.  Fortunately, the Gardens are now in a period of great interest and support.  Since the preparation of the Conservation Management Plan in 2001, there has been a sustained effort to conserve the Gardens and restore them to the grandeur of the period of significance.

Some achievements to date include:

·        restoration of the path system in the Pinetum

·        repairing and repainting the main gates

·        restoring and protecting the statue of AT Clark

·        replanting ‘structural’ trees lost throughout the Gardens

·        reinstating a Head Gardener

·        designing and installing the new garden beds on the main axial Palm walk

·        designing new gates for the Giffard and Osborne St entrances

 As the 150^th anniversary approaches there are other opportunities for us to take the Gardens forwards for the next 150 years. This includes:

·        restoring the pond and providing water from sustainable alternative sources

·        creating an ‘annexe’ to the Gardens beside the bay opposite the Pinetum next to the Hatt Reserve junior cricket ground

·        continuing to renew the ‘structural’ avenues and plantings throughout the Gardens

·        implementing the interpretation strategy

·        adapting to the impacts of climate change.

The main challenge for the Gardens in the next 150 years is common to many of our cultural institutions – engaging with the next generation!  Heritage places can be seen to be a bit ‘old hat’ (although I can’t imagine Generation Y using that term!) and we need to be working towards greater engagement and appreciation of the value of the Gardens.

Other significant gardens are meeting this challenge and creating new gardens of contemporary interest.  The Children’s Garden at the Royal Melbourne Botanic Gardens and the Australian Garden at the Geelong Botanic Gardens are good examples. 

We also have the opportunity to create a new and exciting garden within the Gardens depot.  At the moment a substantial part of the depot is being leased to the Richmond Fellowship to provide respite care for families and this is an important service in our community.  However, their services don’t have to be delivered from the Gardens but we can’t make a new garden anywhere else.  With support from the Council, the Richmond Fellowship could to find an alternative location to provide its services. 

If this occurred, the former staff lunchroom and offices could be converted to a visitor information centre/classroom to support visits to the Gardens from all school children in Hobsons Bay (as they visit our historical societies).  This could also be a meeting room for our Friends and glasshouse and growing-on space would be available for other activities.  Most importantly it would provide a substantial and sunny area looking out across Fearon Reserve for the creation of a contemporary garden. 

The Gardens today reflect the plants that have been of interest to people in Williamstown for the past 150 years, particularly the establishment period in the late 19^th century and early 20^th century.  Whilst this is of significant historical interest, a new garden could provide plantings that reflect the interests of residents of Hobsons Bay today and contribute towards the Gardens remaining a vital and dynamic place.