Gardens of Celebration

'St Kilda Botanic Gardens trashed by Australia Day revellers' trumpeted the headline in the Bayside (Melbourne) Leader newspaper on 31 January.  The story, accompanied by a photograph of discarded rubbish, bottles, and (if my eyes don't deceive me) clothes, told the tale of some several thousand folk who gathered in St Kilda's historic botanic garden to celebrate our national day with a big noisy and fairly messy party.  Ball games, drinking, loud music and shenanigans inevitably ensued, and things apparently became quite ugly as the evening arrived.

Image from Bayside Leader newspaper - StKilda Botanic Gardens trashed on Australia Day

I only mention this as a marked contrast to the wonderful celebration of Australia Day in two outstanding private gardens on the Mornington Peninsula (SE of Melbourne) on the same day.  The Paul Bangay designed 'Bagnols', and garden designer Rick Eckersley's own 'Musk Creek Cottage' were the two gardens opened for a twilight celebration of our diverse garden culture.  

'Bagnols'

'Bagnols' near Shoreham demonstrated the familiar Bangay styling, with influences from the provinces of France - quite controlled forms of evergreen hedging and trees, defining spaces and presenting a fascinating interplay between mass and void, vertical and horizontal planes.  Nearby 'Musk Creek Cottage' was a different kettle of fish, where sinuous paths led the visitor to decks, across reed beds, around a dam, and through woodland.  Contemporary sculpture sat within mass-planted ground layers, and individual trees presented their own artful contributions.  

Folk relaxing at 'Musk Creek Cottage'

Visitors at both gardens enjoyed beautiful food, including all-too-tempting skewers of fresh strawberries alternated with marshmallows.... delicious, and almost a health food!  Paella artisans plied their trade, the obligatory sausages sizzled, local wineries plied their products, and the coffee cart ran hot.  Classical guitar music greeted visitors at 'Bagnols', while at 'Musk Creek Cottage', a three-piece jazz ensemble entertained the company, perfectly.

So - this is about respect for our gardens.  The unfortunate experience of the St Kilda Botanic Gardens was an example of a garden being used as a site for celebrations, but where the fact of it being one of Victoria's more significant historic botanic gardens was not in the equation.  It was simply a backdrop for 'celebratory' misbehaviour.  The visitors to the two Twilight Gardens on the Mornington Peninsula went there to enjoy our garden diversity, which is in itself a reflection of our varied cultures in Australia. These two gardens played their role as mediums for social connection and interaction, as ever they do.  But how often do good news stories such as this get the media's attention?  Sadly, a mound of rubbish usually wins out. What does this say about our nation?