System Garden Podcasts
System Garden Anniversary Lecture Series
Lecture series facilitator is Professor Pauline Ladiges. Each lecture is followed by a Q&A
An Historical Look at the System Garden and Prof McCoy's Plan
– Dr Gwen Pascoe
"The funny little white building behind botany" was once the central tower of an octagonal conservatory which was itself the centre of a formal botanic garden, later known as the System Garden. It represents horticultural ambition, academic ambition, and a 19th Century version of a long traditional of educational botany.
Garden Design from a Heritage Perspective
– Anne Latreille
What makes a garden or landscape important from a heritage perspective e.g. The System Garden shows its history (from 1856) and ongoing evolution, with massive old trees and rare, unusual plants.
The Ellis "Rocky" Stones garden does likewise; but the historic element is somewhat younger – a 1973 expanse of rocks, around which a fresh planting was installed last year.
How do the two compare? What can we learn from Rocky? He created simple yet innovative garden spaces for four decades until the very day he died in 1975.
The University Landscape
A detailed look and conversation about the University of Melbourne’s heritage Landscape.
The System Garden: its design and designer
– Anne Neale
An examination of the origins and implementation of the garden’s distinctive design: circular, enclosed, with concentric and radial pathways, and centred on a remarkable octagonal conservatory surrounded by a moat.
System Gardens and organising nature
Plant Systematics/Plant Evolution and academic use of the garden.