Sara Hardy Writes

  Enjoy a fascinating talk at the State Library of Victoria as we shine a light on the life and iconic work of Edna Walling hosted by expert horticulturalist  Millie Ross  (Gardening Australia) , in conversation with Edna Walling experts,  Sara Hardy  and  Trisha Dixon . When: 16 April 2024, 6:30pm–8:00pm, Conversation Quarter, State Library Victoria, Melbourne Free to listen onsite plus online live streaming Bookings required:   www.slv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/ life-and-work-edna-walling If you’ve walked through a garden with low stone walls, mossy boulders, meandering paths, self-seeding flowers and groves of silver birches, the design has likely been influenced by Edna Walling. At a time when most women were expected to be homemakers, Edna Walling was pioneering landscape architecture in Australia, designing enchanting gardens across the country for notable clients like Dame Nellie Melba, Dame Elizabeth Murdoch and Sir Frank Packer. Despite her pro...

  This image comes from a postcard printed in the UK circa 1910. The caption reads: Picturesque Devon, Bickleigh Vale, Nr Plymouth . When Edna Walling chose the name for her envisioned self-made village (though it was just two dwellings at the time, Sonning and The Barn) I think she was remembering a beloved place from childhood, called Bickleigh Vale. The reverse of the UK postcard declares: 'Bickleigh Vale is a favourite resort with the inhabitants of Plymouth, from which it is only situated a very short distance. If there is one season in the year in which the Vale is more picturesque than in another it is in the spring, when the delicate foliage of the ash still retains its freshness, and the earth beneath is literally carpeted with a brilliant growth of bluebells and anemones.' I reckon they are silver birch in that picture, one of Edna's oft used trees in her landscape designs.  Edna Walling spent her childhood in Plymouth, and each Sunday, she and her father would ...