Introduction

The Main Lawns And Lily Ponds

The Sunken Garden

Shady Walk

Azalea Lawn

The Rose Garden

The Oak Lawn And Herbaceous Border

The Native Garden

History of the Gardens

Virtual Tour

The first stage of this garden was designed by Kath Deery and features raised beds, incidental paths and a mixture of Australian plants. While a wide range of Australian species were planted many succumbed to root-rotting fungi which are so prevalent in the soils of century-old gardens and to the cooler Melbourne winters. Despite these disappointments,

 

this landscape is particularly lovely during winter and spring.

The second stage of the Native Garden has as its focus a magnificent water feature designed and built by Rob Boyle, a Burnley graduate. His strong use of rocks and his emphasis on contours, land and water, evoke the strength of the Australian landscape; its vastness and simplicity. The planting in this second stage, involving a number of Burnley staff and students, is more recent and concentrates on the use of native species indigenous to southern Victoria and the Melbourne region. With its extensive swards of tussock grass, kangaroo grass and forbs, it is essentially a nature garden, which is at its best from spring to autumn.

The native garden contains specimens of the Eucalyptus camaldulensis (River Red Gum), which pre-date European colonisation of the site. The oldest is a superb tree that is well over 350 years of age, and stands testament to a time when the Yarra River was much closer to the college boundary. They are a reminder of another people and another history that related to the site for thousands of years before Burnley Gardens came to occupy its magnificent position

 

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