Australia's Open Garden Scheme was a non-profit organisation that began in Victoria Australia in 1987 but closed its doors in June 2015 due to financial issues. Its aim was to promote the knowledge and pleasure of gardens and gardening across Australia. Under the scheme, private gardens opened for public viewing for one or two weekends a year. About 650 gardens were opened annually across Australia but declining numbers and competition from groups promoting their own events outside of their booklet meant that it was not viable. Each year over 275,000 adults visited open gardens, together with accompanying children. A schedule for openings across Australia was published annually. [1]
Tamie Fraser was President of the Open Garden Scheme. [2] Neil Robertson was the CEO and Australian Broadcasting Corporation senior executive Thomas Murrell was a director and West Australian chairman for 9 years from 1997 - 2006. [3] His own garden, Chartwell House in Subiaco, Perth was open to the public on 18 October 1998. [4] Murrell was also responsible for expanding the scheme into regional areas in Western Australia and started gardening at the age of 5. [5]
The scheme grew out of the practice in Victoria of "grand" private gardens in the hill country near Melbourne opening occasionally for public viewing for the benefit of charities. However the scheme did not limit itself to large gardens, with many normal-sized suburban gardens, and even tiny inner-city plots, included. Most openings in the southern, temperate zone occurred between October and May, while tropical gardens open during the winter months.
A nominal fee was charged for each viewing. This money was divided with 35% going to the garden owner or their nominated charity, and 65% going to the Open Garden Scheme. After funding the scheme operating costs, the remainder was given as grants to community garden projects, with over $800,000 in grants being made by the end of 2006. Additionally garden owners passed on over $3.5 million to their nominated charities since the commencement of the scheme.
In 2015 new non-for-profit organisations have sprung up to carry on some of the tradition in individual states including Open Gardens SA [6] and Open Gardens Victoria. [7] Both schemes aim to educate and promote the enjoyment, knowledge and benefits of gardens and gardening and are promoting a long list of garden openings from spring through to autumn each year. They have attracted good membership numbers and visitor numbers. Unfortunately, no Open Gardens Group has formed in Sydney, but an Open Gardens group exists in the Southern Highlands of NSW, and the famous gardens of Mount Wilson are generally available for viewing all year round; Spring and Autumn are the most popular seasons.
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity.
The Victorian Artists Society, which can trace its establishment to 1856 in Melbourne, promotes artistic education, art classes and gallery hire exhibition in Australia. It was formed in March 1888 when the Victorian Academy of Arts and the Australian Artists' Association amalgamated.
The National Garden Scheme opens privately owned gardens in England, Northern Ireland, Wales, and the Channel Islands on selected dates for charity. It was founded in 1927 with the aim of "opening gardens of quality, character and interest to the public for charity". The scheme has raised over £67 million since it began, and normally opens over 3,500 gardens a year.
The Worshipful Company of Gardeners is one of the livery companies of the City of London. An fraternity of Gardeners existed in the middle of the fourteenth century; it received a royal charter in 1605. The company no longer exists as a regulatory authority for the sale of produce in London; instead serving as a charitable institution. The company also performs a ceremonial role; it formally presents bouquets to the Queen and to princesses upon their wedding, anniversary, or other similar occasion.
The West Australian is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, The Sunday Times. It is the second-oldest continuously produced newspaper in Australia, having been published since 1833. It tends to have conservative leanings, and has mostly supported the Liberal–National Party Coalition. It has Australia's largest share of market penetration of any newspaper in the country.
STW is an Australian television station owned by the Nine Network that is based in Perth, Western Australia. STW broadcasts from a shared facility transmitter mast located in Carmel. The station callsign, STW, is an acronym of Swan Television, Western Australia.
Garden Organic, formerly known as the Henry Doubleday Research Association (HDRA), is a UK organic growing charity dedicated to researching and promoting organic gardening, farming and food. The charity maintains the Heritage Seed Library to preserve vegetable seeds from heritage cultivars and make them available to growers.
Macedonian Australians are Australian citizens of Macedonian descent. Many arrived in the 1920s and 1930s, although larger numbers came to Australia after World War II and the Greek Civil War. By far the largest wave of immigration was during the 1960s and 1970s. As of the 2021 Australian census, Macedonian is the most-spoken Eastern European language in Australia.
Bankside Open Spaces Trust (BOST) is a horticulture, gardening and management of urban open space charity, based in Bankside, the southern bank by the River Thames, Southwark, Central London, England. BOST works local communities and organisations in London, such as Tate Modern community garden, to improve, create and enjoy the parks, gardens, green spaces, and, passive and active recreation areas.
Garden tourism is a type of niche tourism involving visits to famous gardens and botanical gardens and places which are significant in the history of gardening. Garden tourists often travel individually in countries with which they are familiar but often prefer to join organized garden tours in countries where they might experience difficulties with language, travel or finding accommodation in the vicinity of the garden. In the year 2000 the Alhambra and the Taj Mahal both received over two million visitors. This poses problems for the landscape manager.
Carrick Hill is a publicly accessible historic property at the foot of the Adelaide Hills, in the suburb of Springfield, in South Australia. It was the Adelaide home of Sir Edward "Bill" Hayward and his wife Ursula, and contains a large collection of drawings, sculptures, antiques and paintings. Completed in 1939 and built in the style of an English manor, it is one of the few period homes in Australia to have survived with its grounds undiminished and most of its original contents intact.
Exceptionally strong relations exist between the Commonwealth realms of Australia and the United Kingdom, marked by historical, cultural, institutional, extensive people-to-people links, aligned security interests, sporting tournaments, and significant trade and investment co-operation.
Creative Lives is an arts organisation based in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The group was originally founded as Voluntary Arts in 1991 to promote creative cultural activity. In June 2021 the organisation was renamed "Creative Lives". It is supported by funders including the UK Arts Councils and the Irish Arts Council and charitable trusts.
Australian Poetry is a national not-for-profit organisation representing Australian poets, based at The Wheeler Centre in Melbourne. The organisation was created in 2011 by the amalgamation of Poets Union Inc., based in New South Wales, and the Australian Poetry Centre Inc. of Victoria.
YHA Ltd, trading as YHA Australia, is a not-for-profit of members trading corporation providing hostel and other accommodation, travel and associated service in Australia. It is a member organisation of Hostelling International.
Garden sharing or urban horticulture sharing is a local food and urban farming arrangement where a landowner allows a gardener access to land, typically a front or back yard, in order to grow food.
The Auburn Botanic Gardens are a botanical garden located in Auburn, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1977 and covers an area of 9.7 hectares. There are two lakes, a waterfall and bridges. Duck River winds through the garden. The garden is maintained by Cumberland Council. It is open daily, and there is a small entry fee on weekends. The Japanese gardens, which have hosted couples from overseas, are one of the main attractions.
The Society for Underwater Technology (SUT) is an international learned society for marine science and technology with headquarters in London, England that was founded in 1966. There are branches in Aberdeen (Scotland), Houston (USA), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Newcastle (England), Perth (Australia), London (England), Melbourne (Australia), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Singapore, Norway (Bergen), China (Beijing) West Africa (Nigeria), the Middle East (UAE) and new branches in early stages of development in St John's Newfoundland & the Eastern Mediterranean to be based in Cyprus. Membership is open to individuals, companies, and institutions with a genuine interest in the broad field of underwater technology. SUT is registered as a charity in the UK, other branches are constituted as charities or 'not-for-profits' as per local legislation.
This page combines data from 13 written reference books about Australian heritage gardens, covering 200 years of garden heritage. Private gardens have been excluded from the list.
Elsie Margaret Wagg was an English philanthropist. She is credited with creating the idea of opening gardens for charity, and co-founded the National Garden Scheme.