This study considers how environmental concerns helped shape Melbourne's public parkland in the period 1850-1920, when Melbourne's first parks were developed and during which ecology began to replace natural history as the determinant of environmental thought. Theories propounded by such figures as Alexander von Humboldt and George Perkins Marsh profoundly influenced land management around the world during this period, and by relating specific parkland developments to professional and popular ideas about the environment the study aims to place the parkland in an international context. Previous research has given little thought to the effect of environmental thought on Melbourne's parks, except for Ferdinand von Mueller's development of the Melbourne Botanic Garden where the influence is evident. Such influence has not been considered in Clement Hodgkinson's contemporaneous development of the city's other parks and gardens even though, like Mueller, Hodgkinson was closely involved with environmental issues of the day. The Field Naturalists Club of Victoria, of which Mueller was a member, has long been credited with influencing Wattle Park's development early in the 20th century, although there is little critical analysis of the extent to which it was able to bring popular concerns about the environment to bear on park design. The relationship between Mueller's environmental views and actions and his development of the Botanic Garden is discussed first. Connections are then made between Hodgkinson's early experiences as a surveyor, his later work as Victoria's foremost land manager, his association with Mueller, and his design of Melbourne's first parks and gardens. Finally, the FNCV's involvement in park development is examined while exploring the changing nature of environmental thought. Clearly, environmental thought did influence the development of some parkland, but only those reserves administered by Mueller and Hodgkinson and only while the two men remained in control. The success of the FNCV in influencing the future direction of any Melbourne park or garden is not so easily discernible, with little evidence that the Club played an important role in Wattle Park's development.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/210248 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Whitehead, Georgina, rj-gw@bigpond.net.au |
| Publisher | RMIT University. Architecture and Design |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.rmit.edu.au/help/disclaimer, Copyright Georgina Whitehead |
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