Vol. 17, No. 2 September 2006 - Indigenous Flora and Fauna ...

A formal indigenous garden at Fawkner
By Neil Huybregts and Brian Bainbridge
Fawkner Community House is located in the centre
of the C.B. Smith Reserve on Jukes Road in Fawkner,
not far from Merri Creek. When the house opened in
2001, the garden was in poor condition, lacked any
areas for people to congregate and harboured environmental
weeds like ivy and desert ash. A dense
hedge hid the house from public view.
Following a working bee during which the hedge was
removed from the front garden, a few of us got
interested in the idea of creating an indigenous
garden at the House. The informal indigenous garden
at the Fawkner Library was commonly seen as
messy, brown and drab by the locals, so in 2002, a
few of us decided it would be good to create a formal
indigenous garden in an attempt to marry sustainable
gardening practices with local sensibilities. The
Fawkner Indigenous Garden Group was formed and,
in early 2003, a Sustainable Moreland Environment
Grant was obtained from the City of Moreland and
work began in earnest.
including Italian, Greek, Arabic, Yugoslav, Dutch,
German, Maltese, Polish and ‘Anglo’. Less physically
able participants were included with tasks such as
making the excellent lunches (feasts!). The physiotherapist
from Fawkner Community Health Service
came to teach muscle warming-up exercises and safe
working techniques.
The final working bee was held with the Fawkner
Arabic Women’s Support Group who filled and
planted out large concrete planter boxes which had
been donated by Council. John Vestjens, a member
of the group and a cabinetmaker by trade, built some
seating around the paved area.
A number of community meetings were held to
discuss the project and the form that the garden
would take. Merri Creek Management Committee
were approached to provide expertise in plant selection
and garden design and Brian Bainbridge, a
Fawkner resident who is expert in indigenous flora
became involved. Brian led an initial workshop to
explore what we would like from the garden and then
developed draft plans which were further ‘workshopped’.
Renovations to Community House delayed garden
development but, in February 2004, the group finally
got stuck into the real work.
We were clever enough to realise we needed professional
advice on the paving design and installation and
Damian Bateson, a landscaper who was on the VINC
Board of Directors, was commissioned to direct and
assist with the paving installation at working bees.
Damian knew exactly how to do many things that we
seemed unlikely to work out by ourselves. His expertise
laying-out, levelling and laying the pavers and
working with a bunch of amateurs was invaluable.
Seven working bees were held over several months.
Up to 25 people were involved in each working bee –
weeding, digging over, shaping and levelling, laying
paving, planting and cooking community lunches for
participants. Residents attended from cultural groups
The garden is divided into four ‘rooms’ defined by
clipped hedges of Rock Correa (Correa glabra) and Smallleaved
Eutaxia (Eutaxia microphylla var. diffusa) (below
the eaves) and lines of Spiny-headed Mat-rush (Lomandra
longifolia) and Black-anther flax lily (Dianella revoluta
sensu lato). Sheets of Tufted Bluebell (Wahlenbergia
communis) and Common Everlasting (Chrysocephalum
apiculatum) and Berry Saltbush (Atriplex semibaccata,
selected to underplant a mature small Eucalyptus
leucoxylon cultivar) fill in the foreground and surround a
large mosaic bird-bath made by the Fawkner Youth
Group. A staggered row of Lightwoods (Acacia implexa)
along the barbed-wire-topped cyclone wire front fence
were selected for their light shade, rapid growth and
narrow, high canopy to reduce the visual impact of the
fence while still keeping the house visible from the
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Indigenous Flora and Fauna Association Inc. (Incorporated Association No A0015723B)