As a companion piece to the kitchen garden post, here are some Queenslanders enjoying their outdoor spaces. The special gardening calendar, written by botanist Walter Hill for Pugh’s Almanac, is extracted here.
Elizabeth Weedon in the garden at Springfield, Oxley, Brisbane, c 1889.
Above left: Hon. Sir Augustus Charles Gregory, relaxing after a spot of gardening. Above right: “Young lady tending her garden in Ipswich, c 1895.” (Sure. One does one’s best gardening work in a brutally corseted white costume.)
The Newman family clearly enjoying their garden, c 1890.
Barnes’ Cottage at Cremorne – a rare example of a tropical garden.
Above: Poinciana Regia on the Rawson property outside Mackay. Another example of gardening to the climate.
In the garden of the Doctor’s Residence, Stradbroke Island, c 1885. Attempts have been made to Anglify the landscape, but the proximity to the beach defeated them.Look, if you can’t grow abundant camelias or profusely-flowering verbenas, you can at least have fun in the garden. At least I think that’s what they’re having. Of course, if you can afford a decent chap to do the gardening for you, there are endless opportunities to stand about your formal garden in your formal wear. Presumably, this gentleman’s gardener had read Hill. (I doubt that the gent pictured would sully his fair hands with the scythe or hoe.)
All images are taken from the State Library of Queensland’s digital collection. The featured image is McKenzie’s garden at Kinellan House in New Farm, Brisbane, c. 1868.
Moreton Bay and More 