Person

Walling, Edna Margaret (1895 - 1973)

Born
4 December 1895
York, Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Died
8 august 1973
Buderim, Queensland, Australia
Occupation
Landscape gardener

Summary

Edna Walling was a landscape designer who was instrumental in the development of an Australian garden style. Having qualified in horticulture as one of the first women to study at the Burnley School of Horticulture in Melbourne, her employment as a jobbing gardener soon transformed into garden designer with many commissions. In her designs she drew inspiration from the Australian bush to create a naturalistic landscape using Australian native plants to great effect. Walling was a prolific and influential writer on horticulture and gardens in popular magazines and books including Gardens in Australia (1943) and A gardener's log (1948). Many of her garden plans are in the collections of the State Library of Victoria.

Details

Chronology

1911
Life event - Migrated to New Zealand with her family
1914
Life event - Moved to Australia
1917
Education - Graduated from Burnley School of Horticulture, Melbourne

Related Corporate Bodies

Published resources

Books

  • Dixon, Trisha and Churchill, Jennie, Gardens in time: in the footsteps of Edna Walling (North Ryde, N.S.W.: Angus & Robertson, 1988), 134 pp. Details
  • Dixon, Trisha and Churchill, Jennie, The vision of Edna Walling: garden plans 1920 - 1951 (Hawthorn, Vic.: Bloomings Books, 1998), 150 pp. Details
  • Forsyth, Holly Kerr, Remembered Gardens: Eight Women and Their Visions of an Australian Landscape (Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 2006), 273 pp. Details
  • Hardy, Sara, The Unusual Life of Edna Walling (Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, 2005), 304 pp. Details
  • Watts, Peter, The Gardens of Edna Walling (Melbourne: National Trust of Australia (Victoria), 1981), 136 pp. Details

Book Sections

  • Dixon, Trisha, 'Walling, Edna Margaret' in The Oxford companion to Australian gardens, Aitken, Richard and Looker, Michael, eds (South Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 625-6. Details
  • Jones, David, 'Limestone, Silver Birch, Pelargonium in the Dry State: Uncovering the Designs of Edna Walling in South Australia' in Studies in Australian Garden History, Max Bourke and Colleen Morris, eds (Melbourne: Australian Garden History Society, 2003), pp. 71-89. Details
  • Watts, Peter, 'Walling, Edna Margaret (1895-1973), Garden Designer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 16: 1940 - 1980 Pik-Z, John Ritchie and Diane Langmore, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2002), pp. 474-476. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A160566b.htm. Details

Resources

Helen Cohn

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