Edna Walling

Walling was born in Yorkshire and grew up in the village of Bickleigh in Devon, England, second daughter of William Walling, a furniture dealer's clerk, and Harriet Margaret, née Goff. Her father encouraged her exploration and love of the English countryside and taught her woodworking. Edna was schooled at the Convent of Notre Dame, Plymouth, Devon. When she was fourteen years old the family emigrated to New Zealand and in 1914 moved with her family to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia where her father had gone in advance in 1911.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}

With the encouragement of her mother, Walling was awarded her government certificate in horticulture at Burnley College in December 1917, and after some years as a jobbing gardener she commenced her own landscape design practice in the 1920s.{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s2355524.htm |title=Fact Sheet: Bickleigh Vale |access-date=7 September 2008 |work=Gardening Australia |date=6 September 2008 |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |archive-date=7 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907084623/http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s2355524.htm |url-status=live }} Garden construction rather than horticulture interested her most, and she sought work from Melbourne's architects, and secured commissions including several from the fashionable architect Marcus Martin. She "went on to design some significant Arts and Crafts gardens".{{cite web|last=Vale|first=Anne|title=Walling, Edna|url=http://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders/biogs/WLE0038b.htm|publisher=Australian Women's Archives Project 2014|access-date=5 May 2014|archive-date=5 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505130102/http://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders/biogs/WLE0038b.htm|url-status=live}}

In the 1920s, as Australia's first woman land developer, Walling began to create a village at Mooroolbark on the outskirts of Melbourne called Bickleigh Vale.{{Cite web|url=https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/1856|title=Victorian Heritage Register VHR H2053: Bickleigh Vale|website=vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au|access-date=2019-11-30|archive-date=27 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927203808/https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/1856|url-status=live}} With its unique collection of charming houses and gardens Bickleigh Vale is one of her most acclaimed achievements. It was designed to be 'the nucleus of an English village' and she built the first cottage, named after the village of Sonning on the River Thames in England, as her own home, though it had to be completely rebuilt after a disastrous fire.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12251183 |title=OLD HOME BURNT. |newspaper=The Argus |location=Melbourne |date=22 June 1935 |access-date=30 August 2013 |page=26 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} She sold subdivisions of the land only to people who were prepared to accept designs for a cottage and garden prepared by her.

In 1935 Ellis Stones built a wall for her. Recognizing his ability—which she called 'a rare thing this gift for placing stones' – she suggested that he work for her. She gave him a free hand to create walls, outcrops, pools and paths in her gardens at some of Melbourne's finest homes which assisted in establishing a local garden tradition.{{Cite book|title = Australian Architecture Since 1960|last = Taylor|first = Jennifer|publisher = Australian Institute of Architects|year = 1990|isbn = 0455203512}} Their best collaboration was seen in a free-form swimming pool and outcrop, built in 1939-40 for Edith Hughes-Jones at Olinda, Victoria

Her design practice grew and she worked across Australia, in Perth, Hobart, Sydney, and Buderim in Queensland.Vale, Anne (2009) Exceptional Australian Garden Makers of the 20th Century, PhD thesis, The University of Melbourne: Department of Resource Management and Geography, Melbourne, Victoria Her Victorian commissions included designing the lily pond for Coombe Cottage, Dame Nellie Melba's residence in Coldstream, in the Yarra Valley Ranges; Durro{{Cite web|url=https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/70224|title=Durrol Garden, Mount Macedon, National Trust Statement of Significance|website=vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au|access-date=2019-11-30}} l for Mrs Stanley Allen at Mount Macedon (the garden remains though the house was destroyed by fire on July 11, 2018);{{Cite web|url=https://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/5523871/117-year-old-weatherboard-hill-station-razed-to-the-ground/|title=117-year-old weatherboard hill station razed to the ground|last=D'Agostino|first=Emma|date=2018-07-12|website=Bendigo Advertiser|language=en|access-date=2019-11-30|archive-date=19 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819105747/https://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/5523871/117-year-old-weatherboard-hill-station-razed-to-the-ground/|url-status=live}} Rock Lodge garden for Mrs P.F. O'Collins in Frankston; Cruden Farm garden for Mrs Keith Murdoch (later Dame Elisabeth), Langwarrin{{Citation|title=Cruden Farm|date=2008-02-16|url=https://www.abc.net.au/gardening/factsheets/cruden-farm/9428454|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|language=en-AU|access-date=2019-11-30|archive-date=24 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180424164214/http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/factsheets/cruden-farm/9428454|url-status=live}} and the Marshall Garden{{Cite web|title=Victorian Heritage Database|url=https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/2421|date=June 17, 2002|website=vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au|access-date=2020-05-18|archive-date=15 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200415113359/https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/2421|url-status=live}} in Eaglemont. One of her most intact NSW commissions is Markdale, Binda.{{Cite web |title=Markdale |url=https://www.markdale.com/ |access-date=2024-03-19 |language=en-GB}}

Walling's expertise as an artist enabled her to produce watercolour plans to convey to clients the ambience of the finished gardens she intended to create.{{Citation | author1=Walling, Edna, 1895-1973 | author2=Australian Broadcasting Corporation | title=Edna Walling | date=2001 | publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/8316096 | access-date=30 November 2019 }}{{Citation | author1=Dixon, Trisha | author2=Walling, Edna, 1895-1973 | author3=Churchill, Jennie, 1951- | title=The vision of Edna Walling : garden plans 1920-1951 | date=1998 | publisher=Bloomings Books | isbn=978-1-876473-01-3 }} Her plans from the 1920s and 1930s show a strong architectural framework with 'low stone walls, wide pergolas and paths – always softened with a mantle of greenery'.Dixon, T., 'Walling, Edna Margaret', in R. Aitken and M. Looker (eds), Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens, South Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 2002, pp. 625–26. She later drew inspiration from the Australian bush, creating a more naturalistic style with boulders, rocky outcrops and indigenous plants. In small suburban gardens, Walling created garden 'rooms' to make the garden appear far larger than it actually was.

Her designs were heavily influenced by her experience of the Devon countryside as a child and designers such as Gertrude Jekyll. The houses of American architect Royal Barry Wills (renowned for his Cape Cod designs) and Lewis Mumford's books, The Culture of Cities and The Image of the City, also provided early inspiration.{{cite book |last1=Watts |first1=Peter |title=Edna Walling and her gardens (2nd edn) |date=1991 |publisher=Florilegium |isbn=0646044664}}

In the mid-1940s Walling concentrated her interest in native plants which she had begun using in domestic gardens in the 1920s. In the 1950s, she became interested in the conservation of roadside vegetation and was a prolific writer in the press on the subject as well as her 1952 book The Australian Roadside. According to Trisha Dixon, Walling was an important influence on Australian gardening, steering tastes away from an Anglo-centric heritage towards a respect for the Australian climate and landscape.Dixon, T., 'Still on the trail of Edna Walling', Australian Garden History, 22 (1), 2010, pp. 21–22.

In 1967, she moved from Melbourne to Bendles at Buderim in Queensland, where she had hoped to further develop the village concept but it did not progress. Despite her ill-health during her last years at Bendle, Walling continued to write prolifically, rewriting manuscripts, corresponding to newspapers on environmental issues, and trying to republish her books. About a quarter of Walling's designs survive and these are held in the State Library of Victoria and in private collections in Tasmania, South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria.

In 1926, Walling began contributing regularly to The Australian Home Beautiful,{{Citation | title=Australian home beautiful | date=1925 | publisher=United Press | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/235635615 | access-date=30 November 2019 }} and by the mid-1930s had become an expert photographer in order to illustrate her articles.{{Citation | author1=Walling, Edna | title=[Collection of 600 photographs] | date=1930 | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/167569013 | access-date=30 November 2019 | archive-date=1 February 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201074345/https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/167569013 | url-status=live }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/2323/|title=Edna WALLING {{!}} Artists {{!}} NGV|website=www.ngv.vic.gov.au|access-date=2019-11-30|archive-date=2 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190902031635/https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/2323/|url-status=live}} By the 1950s, Walling had stopped producing her regular column for The Australian Home Beautiful, but continued to write occasional articles for Walkabout,{{Citation | author1=Australian Geographical Society | title=THE FLOWERS OF KOSCIUSKO (1 April 1951) | journal=Walkabout | date=1951-04-01 | publisher=Australian National Travel Association | volume=17 | issue=4 | issn=0043-0064 }}{{Citation | author1=Australian Geographical Society | title=Plants that PROTECT (1 May 1963) | journal=Walkabout | date=1963-05-01 | publisher=Australian National Travel Association | volume=29 | issue=5 | issn=0043-0064 }}{{Citation | author1=Australian Geographical Society | title=THE TREES OF MAROOCHYDORE (1 August 1953) | journal=Walkabout | date=1953-08-01 | publisher=Australian National Travel Association | volume=19 | issue=8 | issn=0043-0064 }}{{Citation | author1=Australian Geographical Society | title=SPARE THE TEA TREES! (1 February 1967) | journal=Walkabout | date=1967-02-01 | publisher=Australian National Travel Association | volume=33 | issue=2 | issn=0043-0064 }}{{Citation | author1=Australian Geographical Society | title=WILDFLOWERS IN VICTORIA (1 May 1968) | journal=Walkabout | date=1968-05-01 | publisher=Australian National Travel Association | volume=34 | issue=5 | issn=0043-0064 }}{{Citation | author1=Australian Geographical Society | title=KNOW THEM BY THEIR BARKS! (1 September 1950) | journal=Walkabout | date=1950-09-01 | publisher=Australian National Travel Association | volume=16 | issue=9 | issn=0043-0064 }}{{Citation | author1=Australian Geographical Society | title=Plants that Border the Great Ocean Road (Victoria) (1 February 1951) | journal=Walkabout | date=1951-02-01 | publisher=Australian National Travel Association | volume=17 | issue=2 | issn=0043-0064 }}{{Citation | author1=Australian Geographical Society | title=The Australian Scene FIGS AND PAPERBARKS (1 March 1965) | journal=Walkabout | date=1965-03-01 | publisher=Australian National Travel Association | volume=31 | issue=3 | issn=0043-0064 }}{{Citation | author1=Australian Geographical Society | title=VICTORIAN POSIES (1 September 1968) | journal=Walkabout | date=1968-09-01 | publisher=Australian National Travel Association | volume=34 | issue=9 | issn=0043-0064 }}{{Excessive citations inline|date=October 2020}} Woman's World, Australian House and Garden, The Sun News-Pictorial and The Age. She continued to send articles to editors until shortly before her death. The Happiest Days of My Life, covering the development of her holiday property at Lorne, was written by Walling but not published until 2008. She was the author of several books on landscape design, and she and garden writer and botanist Jean Galbraith enjoyed a long correspondence, generating materials for an unpublished manuscript 'The Harvest of a Quiet Eye'.:Fletcher, Meredith. (2015). Edna Walling, Jean Galbraith, and 'The Harvest of a Quiet Eye'. Australian Garden History, 26(3), 14-17.

• {{Citation | author1=Walling, Edna | author2=Dixon, Trisha, 1953- | title=Gardens in Australia : their design and care | date=1943 | publisher=Bloomings Books | edition=2nd. facsim. | isbn=978-1-876473-15-0 }}
• {{Citation | author1=Walling, Edna | title=Cottage and garden in Australia | date=1947 | publisher=Oxford University Press | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/21385448 | access-date=30 November 2019 }}
• {{Citation | author1=Walling, Edna | title=A gardener's log | date=1948 | publisher=Oxford University Press | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/9494837 | access-date=30 November 2019 }}
• {{Citation | author1=Walling, Edna | title=The Australian roadside | date=1952 | publisher=Oxford University Press | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/8450309 | access-date=30 November 2019 }}{{Citation | author1=Australian Geographical Society | title=Book Reviews (1 March 1953) | journal=Walkabout | date=1953-03-01 | publisher=Australian National Travel Association | volume=19 | issue=3 | issn=0043-0064 }}
• {{Citation | author1=Fielden, Lorna | author2=Walling, Edna, 1895-1973 | title=The gardener's warning | date=1947 | publisher=L. Fielden | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/18993888 | access-date=30 November 2019 }}
• {{Citation | author1=Walling, Edna | title=The happiest days of my life | date=2008 | publisher=Barbara Barnes | edition=1st. | isbn=978-0-646-49075-5 }}

Walling never married and called herself a 'misfit' or 'odd', and as she dressed in a masculine manner and cropped her hair short, male clients were unsure how to react to her.Peter Watts, Edna Walling and her Gardens, Balmain, Florilegium, 1991, p.17.Skene, Judy (1996) 'Gardens of Their Own: Exploring the Garden as Feminine Space'

1996 Conference Proceedings Though she had long working association with Eric Hammond and Ellis Stone, her succession of female assistants and close relationships with women including Esmé Johnston{{Citation | author1=Johnston, Esmé | title=The girl who loved donkeys : a biography of Edna Walling | date=2007 | publisher=Barbara Barnes] | edition=1st | isbn=978-0-646-47437-3 }} and poet Lorna Fielden{{Cite web|url=http://www.tantamount.com.au/walling/info/pages/mp4227.htm|title=Fielden, Lorna|website=www.tantamount.com.au|access-date=2019-11-30|archive-date=1 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201074345/https://www.tantamount.com.au/walling/info/pages/mp4227.htm|url-status=live}} and friendships with other women who lived openly in a partnership, like bookshop owner Margareta Webber with Dr Jean Littlejohn, and landscape architect Mervyn Davis (her name was Welsh) and Daphne Pearson, have led some researchers to the conclusion that she was lesbian, though Walling herself, who lived through Australia's more conservative, homophobic cultural period,{{Citation | author1=Robinson, Shirleene | title=Homophobia : an Australian history | date=2008 | publisher=The Federation Press | isbn=978-1-86287-703-0 }} made no such admission.{{Citation | author1=Sara Hardy | title=The Unusual Life of Edna WallingPaperback | date=2005 | publisher=Allen & Unwin | isbn=978-1-74114-229-7 }}Martin, Sylvia. "A Garden of Delights." Hecate's Australian Women's Book Review 17.2 (2005): N_A. She mentored the rural garden designer Kath Carr for many years. A design commission prompted her move to Bendles in Buderim in Queensland 1967, where she was later joined by her companion Lorna Fielden, who had been a teacher at MLC and also edited Walling's writings. Walling died at Nambour on August 8, 1973, and Lorna 4 years later; she and Edna are buried there side by side under two trees.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bickleighvalevillage.com.au/uploads/4/4/8/0/44808483/sue_burston_talk_edna_walling_21_october_2017_realm.pdf|title=Edna Walling|last=Burston|first=Sue|date=2017-10-21|website=Bickleigh Vale Village|access-date=30 November 2019|archive-date=1 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200401024319/https://www.bickleighvalevillage.com.au/uploads/4/4/8/0/44808483/sue_burston_talk_edna_walling_21_october_2017_realm.pdf|url-status=live}}

{{reflist}}

• {{Citation | author1=Hardy, Sara | title=The unusual life of Edna Walling | date=2005 | publisher=Allen & Unwin | isbn=978-1-74114-229-7 }}
• {{Citation | author1=Dixon, Trisha | author2=Walling, Edna, 1895-1973 | author3=Churchill, Jennie, 1951- | title=The vision of Edna Walling : garden plans 1920-1951 | date=1998 | publisher=Bloomings Books | isbn=978-1-876473-01-3 }}

• {{Australian Women's Register|AWE0119b|Edna Walling|archive=20030526211409}}
• [https://www.tantamount.com.au/walling/ Edna Walling website produced by Tantamount Productions and the State Library of Victoria]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070812131900/http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/collections/treasures/walling/index.html Edna Walling's Manuscript]
• {{Australian Women and Leadership|WLE0038b|Edna Walling}}

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Category:1895 births

Category:1973 deaths

Category:Australian landscape and garden designers

Category:Garden writers

Category:Women horticulturists and gardeners

Category:20th-century Australian women scientists

Category:Australian women photographers

Category:20th-century Australian photographers